2024 Reading List

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

The Extraordinary Mountain Creatures of North America.  My 12 year old daughter Betty's first (self) published novel.  

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 City in Ruins (Libby).  This is the third in the Danny Ryan trilogy by crime writer Don Winslow.  Racing narrative--great beach read/listen.

Because of Winter. Amazing debut novel by author Nikki Brochetti.  

2021 Reading List

This year we moved from Addis Ababa to Naples, Italy. We spent our first 65 days upon arrival in Naples living in a two bedroom base apartment while we house hunted out in town. It was a tough transition to say the least and we are only now even starting to get into a rhythm. All that to say I didn't do very well taking notes and doing reviews for each book as I read.

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (Zambia) Emily said she appreciated the story's honesty and eye-opening to both the beauty and sorrow of life. The author shared a unique perspective of a white girl living in Africa during the period of political independence.

When We Believed in Mermaids. Emily liked it.

Behold the Dreamers (Cameroon). Excerpt: The novel’s power comes in Imbue’s ability to capture both the strengths and the hollowness of the promise of America. The reader sees the rise and good fortune of Jende as his chauffeur position gives him relative wealth and burgeoning opportunities for his family. As his wife enjoys the fruit of this labor her attitude toward America slowly shifts as does her resolve to stay in the country. My full review is here.

Lion Mountain (Tunisia). My full review is here. Excerpt: In the story, famed Tunisian author Mustapha Tlili paints a secluded village modeled on Feriana, the home of his youth. It’s an ancient place lost amidst the desert steppes but which has persisted through the centuries--sheltered always under the shoulder of Lion Mountain. He describes “a geography more than physical or human: sacred...In this mystical topography, landmarks determining the rights of each and every individual were perfectly clear.”

The Desert and the Drum (Mauritania). My full review is here. Excerpt: “From the moment they arrived, the strangers stole something essential from us, without us feeling we had the right to protest.” This comment by the young Bedouin narrator Rayhana encapsulates the modern-day struggle that Mauritanian author Mbarek Ould Beyrouk seeks to describe in The Desert and the Drum. In Rayana’s case, these “strangers” were a mixture of fellow countrymen and foreign investors looking for minerals. The theft in question is not one of gold or ore but of proximity and privacy.

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (South Africa). You may know Trevor Noah as the host of the Daily Show but long before he entered the mainstream he was a derelict kid born to a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father--one who appeared colored* to those around him but who was raised in the Xhosa culture. 

*In South Africa, the term colored is a self-descriptive and does not carry the same pejorative/racist meaning it does in the U.S.

 

The Dissent Channel (Sudan/South Sudan). During a Famous Rivers Africa Group session, we discussed the memoir with the author Lizzy Shackleton. You can read co-founder Fadji's summary of the excellent book here.

The Promise (South Africa).  My full review is published on "Beyond Achebe: Reading the Continent" here.  Excerpt: Of course one isn’t awarded the Booker prize for penning a surface-level story about a white family in South Africa. Rather Galgut has written a soaring multi-decade exposition on the promise of a post-Apartheid South Africa writ large. It’s a story that encompasses South Africa’s promises to its black and coloured people (click here for further background on the use of the word "coloured" in South Africa), the ANC’s promises to its constituency (more on those lapsed promises here), as well as the psychic overstep of whites deigning to keep promises that never should have been had to be made in the first place. In the latter case, the promise (even when well-intentioned) can become more about the giver than the recipient.

Missionaries . DoDReads published my full review here. Excerpt: Reading Marine veteran Phil Klay’s (author of National Book Award-winning short story collection Redeployment) new novel forces readers to step back and consider the “progress” and globalization of American warfare since 9-11. The novel accomplishes this by examining the decades-long Colombian civil war through the converging lives of a weary American war-zone journalist, an American Special Forces Officer, a career Colombian Army officer, and an orphaned Colombian village boy-turned-killer.

Homeland Elegies. DoDReads published my full review here. Excerpt: Pulitzer-winning author Ayad Akhtar charges that America is a “buffer solution” that “keeps things together but always separated” in his unforgettable novel-cum-memoir,

Quiet Cadence. DoDReads published my full review here. Excerpt: The novel’s violence is unrelenting, random, and total. Its first death is a dead body literally flying through the air. Bloodied appendages, spilled guts, burned bodies, sheared limbs—the gore stacks up with each patrol. The reader dreads turning each page knowing it will bring only more pain, more loss. The newly arrived 19-year-old Marine narrator PFC Marty McClure captures the constant terror after one booby-trapped explosion: “Then the panic hit me: Do I have all my parts? Propped on my elbows, I began a terrified inventory, slowly, in no logical order.”

Talking to Strangers. DoDReads published my "backpage notes" here. Excerpt: As a society we are not equipped to talk to strangers so when things don’t go as expected--we blame the stranger as our immediate reflex. Instead we need to recognize our own limits to decipher and truly understand strangers and instead embrace humility and restraint.

American Dirt. My full review is here.  Excerpt: This is a brutal, violent, and necessary novel. Author
Jeanine Cummins holds nothing back as she pulls the reader into the suffering and anguish that propels countless migrants to make the dangerous journey.

Project Hail Mary (Audible). Martian author Andy Weir returns to outer space with a tale that is equal parts nerdy and hokey as he introduces us to Ryland Grace, a failed scientist and reluctant hero. When scientists discover that the sun is slowly being sapped of its power, Grace finds himself in the middle of a race to save earth (and possibly the universe) from extinction. Hail Mary stands as an ode to the STEM community as Weir doesn’t shy away from the complex math and science required to give earth even the smallest chance for survival. That he’s able to package complex technical information amidst a bracing narrative is a testament to the author’s writing prowess.

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness (Audible): Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. An eye-opening (and heart-opening) look at one woman's experiences growing up and working in "a world make for whiteness." She writes beautifully and with a vulnerability and urgency that asks the reader to wake up and caste aside complacency. “I need a love that is troubled by injustice. A love that is provoked to anger when Black folks, including our children, lie dead in the streets. A love that can no longer be concerned with tone because it is concerned with life. A love that has no tolerance for hate, no excuses for racist decisions, no contentment in the status quo. I need a love that is fierce in its resilience and sacrifice. I need a love that chooses justice.”

Steal Away Home: Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson, Unlikely Friends on the Passage to Freedom (Audible). An incredible tale of friendship, faith and sacrifice.  Charles Spurgeon is, of course, the renowned "prince of preachers."  Authors Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey tell the story of his friendship with African-American missionary Thomas Johnson against the backdrop of Spurgeon's own struggles with depression, anxiety and gout.  

Raising Up a Generation of Third Culture Kids. While this book is targeted towards parents' raising kids overseas, most of it applies to to military families. The author posits that kids growing up as "third culture" (i.e., in a culture that is not the same one as their parents) often end up with enormous amounts of  grief/trauma.  If this isn't productively processed throughout their formative years they will end up with a "grief tower" that grows and grows until it tumbles once they are young adults in their 20's.  We actually went through the author's course/study with friends while living in Addis.  

The Happiness Advantage (Audible). This book was just okay.  Save yourself and watch his Ted Talk here.
His takeaways are good though and focus on positive psychology and how you can boost your happiness through meditation and focus.  “Even the smallest moments of positivity in the workplace can enhance efficiency, motivation, creativity, and productivity.”

The Anomaly (Audible).  I first heard about this novel in a NYT article that mentioned the now available translation of the book that had enraptured France during the COVID lockdowns.  The premise is that there's some sort of time-continuum split where a flight lands with the same people and same plane that had landed months earlier.  The narrative follows the lives of various passengers (to include an assassin) and the governments' attempts to deal with the fallout.  

2020 Reading List

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa (South Africa) *Audible
This book traces the origin of South Africa and the discovery of gold and diamonds there that sparked off a bloody conflict with Britain that ultimately led to the consolidation and foundation of the apartheid republic that existed until 1994. This detailed history should be mandatory reading for any budding Africanist.  The main criticism one might find with Meredith's exhaustive history is its decidedly white-western focus.  This likely stems from the challenge in finding primary source material which could help better capture more of the African perspective.
My full review is here.

Don't Save Anything
Salter’s wife put together a collection of his essays and articles and entitled it “Don’t Save Anything”. The title comes from Salter’s long time advice “don’t save anything”--meaning don’t reserve any writing ideas or details for a later piece, rather pour everything you have into each piece. It’s a fitting title representing some of the best writing from Salter, the authors’ author. In particular, I was struck by the Salter’s terrific profile pieces in the book--I’ve never read such masterful writing in this genre. Reading them made me wish he’d done biographies.  My full review is here.

The Art of Fiction
In his inaugural lecture as a UVA Kapnick Distinguished Writer-in-Residence, Salter offered that “books are passwords”, this is the idea that among those who are well read--books are a connection, a filial link of brotherhood amidst theretofore strangers.  Reading Salter's lectures in this slim collection affirms the notions that I (most of us?) have about great and famous writers--about their life experiences and methods. For any fan of Salter these lectures are essential reading, chocked full of autobiographical details on the author and his views on writing, literature, and life.  My full review is here.

Educated *Audible
"Educated" is the story of how one Mormon (ish) girl overcomes a childhood under the reign of an (undiagnosed) bi-polar, off-the-grid father who believed that the "end times" are imminent and enforced his own brand of extremist Mormon values upon his value.  Not to mention the author's psychopathic brother Shawn who belongs in jail, not free on the streets. While Tara's mere physical survival makes this memoir incredible, it's her own grit in persevering to educate herself, eventually getting a PhD from Cambridge that is most stunning.  This accomplishment from someone who never stepped foot in a classroom as a child, and whose "homeschooling" experience involved sitting in a room by herself with textbooks. You'll tear (and tear) through this story and be left contemplating both the power of family and the individual. My full review is here.

The Submission
The 2011 American Book Award Winner* "The Submission" is a backwards look at the psyche and soul of an American public that will never stop grieving 9-11.  Published a decade after the attacks, author Amy Waldman imagines a world where the design of the 9-11 Ground Zero memorial is open to anonymous submissions (hence the story's name) and the winner turns out to be a *gasp* American Muslim.  In this story's case the winning architect is a non-practicing, non-fasting, decidedly lower case muslim (in reality the actual real-life 9-11 architect was an Israeli-American). Waldman has a journalist's eye for detail and speech and has penned an engrossing novel that does the hard work of not offering an easy ending but instead forcing the reader to grapple with their own assumptions, doubts, and memories.  My full review is here.








The Insanity of God (Somalia) *Audible
At on point author Nikk Ripken's NGO was the ONLY ONE operating in Somalia--his team of 8 was feeding 50,000 refugees a day and running mobile health clinics around the country.  Without his efforts countless hundreds of thousands would have starved.  When no one else was there--he was--serving and loving the Somali people.  It was in his years there that he also learned the costs though of following his calling--he lost a son and hundreds of Somali friends who ended up believing in Jesus. He had this to say about religious persecution: “I’d never met a believer in persecution that wasn’t running for their life,” said Ripken. “In those years in Somalia, we had 150 followers of Jesus in the country. When we left, only four were left alive. They hunted them down like we would hunt animals in rural Kentucky. They killed four of my best friends in one day in Somalia." My full review is here.


Being Mortal
Early on author Atul Gawande captures the decision that we will all make (ideally) before we grow old: “how to make life worth living when we’re weak and frail and can’t fend for ourselves anymore.” More specifically, he seeks to find out “how [can] people age without having to choose between neglect and institutionalization? Most frightening is his conclusion that for the majority of the medical community “hope is not a plan, but it is our plan.” My full review is here.

Blessed Child
The premise is that an American baby named Caleb is given to an Ethiopian monastery after his mother is murdered by invading Eritrean forces. 10 years later his life is in jeopardy and a Peace Corps worker and Red Cross nurse rescue him and take him to the U.S. In the United States, we discover that Caleb can heal people and that senior politicians want him dead. This political thriller unfolds as the central characters grapple with the idea of miracles in the modern age and what is more important: healed hands or healed hearts?  My full review is here.

Mrs. Bridge
With a careful eye and razor sharp bite, author Connell captures a period in American history for the well-heeled social strata decades before the sexual revolution, feminism, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement. The reader will see the slowly building revolt bubbling beneath the surface in subtle ways. Take for example when Mrs. Bridge spies a book called “Theory of the Leisure Class” in a bookstore: “She experienced a surge of resentment. For a number of seconds she eyed this book with definite hostility, as though it were alive and conscious of her. She went inside and asked to see the book. With her gloves on it was difficult to turn the pages, so she handed it back to the clerk, thanked him, and with a dissatisfied expression continued to Bancroft’s.”  My full review is here.

Lives Other Than My Own
In this memoir, French author Emmanuel Carrere takes issue with Fitzgerald's well known assertion that "All life is a process of breaking down" as he peers into the life of Juliette, carefully building a picture of her circling journey from tragedy to love to passion and back to tragedy as her cancer returns to deal its final blow. And while her body was indeed breaking down--she lived her life fully for her children, her husband, and notably for the French people affected by the country's consumer law. Carrere noted the power and necessity of connection, stating: "And that is the worst of fates: never to have been seen, never to have been acknowledged.” The people and couples described in "Lives Other Than My Own" all shared a similar triumph amidst tragedy--having been seen--having been loved. My full review is here.

She Would Be King (Liberia)  In her debut novel Wayetu Moore channels Philip Hitti's idea of lawful magic (see Hitti's History of Arabs for more background) as she joins magical realist authors like Couto, Martel, and Marquez in her telling of an alternative origin story of the Pepper Coast lands that would become Liberia. In her novel, Moore has decided to focus not on Liberia's historical realities and details but rather on highlighting the people and ideas that would become Liberia.  This shift allows the reader to more thoughtfully ponder the roles of justice, religion, and slavery against the backdrop of the most unique colonialist setting on the continent.  My full review is here.

By Night the Mountains Burn (Equatorial Guinea)  This novel takes place back during the colonial era on one of Equatorial Guinea's neglected islands--the country itself is run from its capital city Malabo on its largest island called Bioko. A frequent critic of dictator Obiango, the self-exiled author tells a tale in this novel of a marginalized community that survives (sometimes) on the narrowest of margins depending on passing European ships and a strange periodic washing ashore of squids. Life on the island revolves around the ocean and the canoes which the entire community bands together to create and which men are buried in when they die. My full review is here.

Death Be Not Proud  The name of this 1949 memoir was taken from the English poet John Donne’s poem of the same title: “Death Be Not Proud.” In it the author and father John Gunther recounts the life and death of his son who passed after a struggle with a malignant brain tumor. Much as Donne pushes back against death’s supposed power, so does Gunther as he celebrates the vitality and beauty of his son Johnny’s life saying that the book’s purpose was for him “to write, as a mournful tribute not only to Johnny but to the power, the wealth, the unconquerable beauty of the human spirit, will, and soul.” My full review is here.

The Red-Haired Woman   On the surface the novel is about a boy serving as a well apprentice in post-WWII Turkey, two possible murders, one case of possible incest, and late 20th century capitalism in the country. These subject cut quite a wide swath, particularly because Pamuk uses them comment on political exile and the deep cutting power of father-son relationships.  My full review is here.

American Spy  (Burkina Faso) This novel is both a fictionalized telling of Burkina's President Sankara’s downfall and a commentary on what it means to be a black woman in both an American and African society. The novel’s protagonist is a black female FBI agent named Marie who is haunted by her sister’s death and stifled by the lack of opportunity in her office. When she gets a chance to become a real spy she dives into it but soon realizes that many of her assumptions may have been wrong. My full review is here.

Burn-In  In the authors' latest novel/future historical fiction, the writing duo tackles a future in which AI, drones and robotics have continued their current development trajectory to the point where they’ve consumed every aspect of American life. Unfortunately, these “developments” have left gaping vulnerabilities within the US infrastructure that are exploited by a group of homegrown terrorists. My full review is here.

Call Sign Chaos

Yes, Call Sign Chaos is a biography of one of the Marine Corps’ more storied and legendary generals, but it’s also a primer on leadership, and a first person account of the wars America fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Here's his leadership philosophy distilled to its essence:  Have a bias for action. Set the tempo for that action and reward those who meet that tempo or exceed it. Speed is king because time can’t be recovered once it’s lost. Reward the initiative of those under you--even when they fail.  My full review is here.

That Will Never Work  In this book, equal parts origin story, startup manifesto, and leadership manual, author Marc Randolph recounts how Netflix grew from an idea bandied about in a beaten-up Volvo to a $194B global behemoth.  Listening to the book on Audible lends an added layer of depth as Randolph does the narration. The listener can experience the story as a conversation, hearing Randolph’s intonations, frustrations, humor, and jubilance as he speaks of the ups and downs of pursuing his passion while also discovering his own limitations.   

For military service members and veterans, Randoph’s tale offers three valuable imperatives: create your origin story, embrace the startup manifesto, and lead with self-awareness and vision.  DoDReads published by full review on its website here.

Chasing Black Unicorns (Nigeria)  My full review will be here after I complete the interview with the author.

Designing Your Life: A Framework For Building A Life You Can Thrive In:.  I also purchased the accompanying workbook which is excellent!  The author's use design prototype theory to lead readers through a process of self-reflection and self-discovery.  This is an ESSENTIAL read for any veteran considering a transition from the military, or for anyone considering a career pivot.  

If I Have to Tell You One More Time.  Emily said this secular book had a lot of interesting points and useful parenting techniques but there were parts that a Jesus-following parent might need to pair with truths like grace, mercy, and forgiveness to more effectively speak to your children's heart language.  

My Mother's Secret
Emily loved hearing the different perspectives of multiple narrative characters and the author's sparse direct writing. In particular, she was struck by the mother's courage, resolve and steadfastness in the novel.

Awaking Wonder  Emily said it's a great book for parents regardless of whether you homeschool or not.  Packed with reminders and tips on how to instill a love for learning and reading and curiosity in your children.  

The below are pending reviews from Emily still: 

The Grumble Free Year

Searching for Certainty

Girls Club 

Teaching From Rest

Where the Light Gets In 

Sold on a Monday 

Secrets of a Charmed Life

The Tattooist