Looking for book ideas? Check out our 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 reading lists!
Brazil: A Biography (Audible). Just finished listening to this 28 hour history of the country. I can't imagine living or working in Brazil and not having read this comprehensive history that dates back to Brazil's "discovery" in the 1500s. I plan to read the book itself over the next few months and take copious notes! Essential Brasil read.
The Collector of Leftover Souls: Field Notes on Brazil's Everyday Insurrections. This book is a collection of essays by reporter Eliane Brum. In it she sheds light on different facets of Brasilian society normally buried in darkness: Os povos indígenas, minorias sociais, os povos que vivem à margem da sociedade, longe dos núcleos de poder. Essential Brasil read.
Why I am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today. Great read--my full review is here.
Beartown. Recommended to me as "Friday Night Lights" except with hockey. That's a pretty fair description for this fast-paced read. Set in the backwoods of a dying hockey town in Sweden--it's got sports, betrayal, and possibly murder--sports noir at its finest. And it's a trilogy!
Clandestine in Chile. Don't recommend. I really looked forward to reading this novel since I've always loved the magical realism of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. To be clear, Marquez has some beautiful writing but this journalistic retelling of filmmaker Littins secret mission to film inside Chile and expose the brutality and horror of life under Pinochet reads less like a spy novel and more like an ambling fait accompli/much ado about nearly nothing.
Brazillionaires (Audible). Incredible Michael Lewis-style tale of the rise of the 21st century rise (and fall for some) of a billionaire class in Brazil told against the backdrop of corruption, favelas, soccer stadiums, kidnappings and Miami real estate. This book offers keen insight into the Brazilian psyche and society writ large. Essential Brasil read.
Greenlights (Audible). Don't read this, I repeat, don't read this. LISTEN TO IT! The audible version is narrated by author Matthew McConaughey and he's phenomenal: vulnerable, funny, self-deprecating, raw, and at times outrageous! The book is partly autobiographical and partly self-help as he shares his struggles, failures, triumphs and lessons for the reader.
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Seen (Audible). A phenomenal and important read. I listened to it on Audible and about 1/3 of the way through I found it so incredible that I ordered a physical copy so I could reread it make extensive notes. Author David Brooks offers a framework by which one could be not a better leader but a more caring and empathetic friend and person in general. I particularly enjoyed some of the questions he uses to better understand where people come from. One example: In your family what was one thing you could never do?
How to Stop Time (Libby). By the author of Midnight Library (my review here). Author Matt Haig is a gifted storyteller and I loved his tale of this secret society of quasi-immortals who through a genetic anomaly age only 1 year for every 14 years on earth. It contains all the best elements of historical fiction as the main character's life span centuries, as well as love and loss, and humor. But what it as good as Midnight Libary? Not quite. Toward the novel's end if fizzles a bit, almost as if the author had grown weary--along with the main character--of living and loving across centuries.
Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream (Brazil book). Prodigal daughter/Journalist Julianna Barbassa returns to her home city after a childhood spent largely abroad. Part memoir, part expose, part investigative journalism that covers the national and city politician's ill considered efforts to prepare the city and populace to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Her thorough reporting brings the reader behind the fabric of Brazilian government and societal machinations, triumphs, and dysfunction. Essential Brasil read.
A Promised Land (Libby). It's riveting. This 700 page (29 hours!) memoir was recommended by a high school classmate of mine in his bi-monthly book newsletter: Mountain Prairie. Here's a quote from his writeup:
What I look for in a memoir: Fun-to-read writing; laugh-out-loud humor; deep dives into the “why” of pivotal decisions; a detailed understanding of the people/places/experiences/cultures that shaped the author’s worldview; enlightening historical context; the author’s most brutal challenges and how they were overcome; opportunities to evolve my thinking on a few topics; humility; passion; purpose; commitment; optimism; self-doubt; extreme hard work; and crazy behind-the-scenes stories. What I don’t look for in a memoir: To have my preexisting opinions confirmed; to agree in lockstep with the author’s ideas/choices/worldview; surface-level boringness; or prose obviously written by a team of insufferable PR suits. Conclusion: This book met and/or exceeded all of my criteria and now sits alongside Acid for the Children and Shoe Dog as an all-time favorite memoir.
This memoir delivers--engrossing and full of insights into what a president goes through on a daily basis--from thought process, to congressional politics to family dynamics. No matter your politics you'll enjoy this humble and thoughtful retrospective. It ends right after they kill Osama so I cant wait for the next book!
The Invisibles (Brazil book). Came across this book on a colleague's bookshelf and he kindly let me borrow it. I liked it so much that I ordered a copy of my own! A British woman and a Brazilian man fall in love in the 70's and have a child. Unfortunately, he falls on hard times and ends up jailed under the military dictatorship. His wife and child flee to England and never return believing him dead...until some 30 years later when a news clip give his son hope his father might still be alive in Rio. Thus begins a journey for one man's father but also his long lost country--all against the backdrop of a class/tranche of society that often feels invisible--hence the name. Brasil read.
Demon Copperhead (Libby). My friend who pastors at Doxology Church in Arlington (amazing place by the way) mentioned this book during a sermon in which he was talking about timeless stories. He discussed this novel in the context of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield as a story that tells a story and a struggle that transcends time periods and locales. This Pullitzer prize winning tale is a HARD read that lays bare the realities of the foster system, rural America, the opiod crisit and growing up as a teen today. The narrated version is INCREDIBLE to listen to--HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
A Death in Brazil. Currently reading. Brasil read.
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer. Currently reading. Incredible.
Cutting for Stone (Libby). Current listening. Been on my list for ages.
Embarrassing List of Books I've said I'm going to finish for several years:
Tribe of Mentors. Currently reading for the last three years. My full review will be here...one day
The Italians. Was reading but misplaced the book. If I find it I will finish it.
