San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
BEST OF 2018: 100 RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis, by Martha C. Nussbaum (Simon and Schuster; 272 pages; $25.99). Nussbaum’s latest book figures as a kind of case study, exceptionally topical and plainly written, applying some of what she has understood to a singularly distressed moment of America’s common culture.
The Monk of Mokha, by Dave Eggers (Knopf; 327 pages; $28.95). By turns hilarious and harrowing, Eggers’ book chronicles the story of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a thoroughly winning entrepreneur — raised in the Tenderloin — who goes on a quixotic mission to bring Yemeni coffee to the world.
Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over, by Nell Painter (Counterpoint; 331 pages; $26). Why would anyone willingly set aside a powerhouse Princeton career to inexpertly take up a paintbrush? “Answer: The pursuit of pleasure.” Like much of the book, this response is unexpected and refreshing.
Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China, by Rao Pingru (Pantheon; 363 pages; $30). This book by a 95-year-old Chinese man who experienced firsthand the ideological and cultural upheaval of the world’s most populous country showcases both the storytelling and visual art of surely one of the most late-blooming — and extraordinary — talents in memory.
Patriot Number One: American Dreams in Chinatown, by Lauren Hilgers (Crown; 324 pages; $27). Hilgers’ superb account of Chinese immigrants tells a powerful human story about America and the world in 2018.
Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History, by Stephen J. Zipperstein (Liveright; 288 pages; $27.95). Zipperstein’s excellent narrative illustrates how horrors perpetrated against Jews in Europe before the Holocaust would reshape the image of czarist Russia, alter U.S. immigration policy and even help launch the NAACP.
The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy, by Anna Clark (Metropolitan; 305 pages; $30). Clark’s book is an exceptional work of journalism, a thorough account of a stillevolving public health crisis, one with an unmistakable racial subtext.
Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, by Maryanne Wolf (Harper; 260 pages; $24.99). Wolf ’s book is one of the most comprehensive looks to date at how and why widespread use of digital technology is eroding our deep reading abilities, our attention, our memory and our general cognitive capabilities. The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World, by Sarah Weinman (Ecco; 306 pages; $27.99). In her suspenseful, insightful and moving book, Weinman digs deep into the details of the Sally Horner abduction and finds a strong connection between it and Vladimir Nabokov’s nowclassic novel.
Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border, by Octavio Solis (City Lights; 168 pages; $15.95). In his first book, Solis, a playwright and director, writes about charged fragments from his childhood in El Paso, Texas, short chapters that he terms retablos, after a form of devotional painting in Mexican folk art. His prose is loaded with fervor; his sentences often take surprise turns. Robin, by Dave Itzkoff (Henry Holt; 529 pages; $30). Itzkoff ’s breathtakingly good biography about Robin Williams is one of the best books ever written about anyone who sees no way out of life except by trying to make people laugh.
Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion, by Michelle Dean (Grove Press; 362 pages; $26). Dean’s exceptional book moves beyond individual biographies of writers — among them Joan Didion, Zora Neale Hurston, Dorothy Parker and Rebecca West — to show what the whole of their experiences taken together mean.
Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic, by David Frum (Harper; 301 pages; $25.99). This account by the respected conservative author offers a persuasive and detailed account of how Trump is undermining American institutions, including the presidency itself.
Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley, by Adam Fisher (Twelve; 512 pages; $30). Fisher transcends tedious rehashing of valley lore or recycling of hoary Steve Jobs anecdotes and instead supplies an account fully worthy of its subject.
We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, by Adam Winkler (Liveright; 471 pages; $28.95). Winkler provides a lively, fascinating and timely account of the campaign of American businesses to gain constitutional protections in what he deems one of the most successful, yet often overlooked “civil rights movements” in our history.
What Are We Doing Here? Essays, by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 315 pages; $27). Robinson’s latest collection is by turns invigorating, learned and problematic in ways that generally enhance its overall appeal. At the core of the book is her passionate argument that we must reassess the history of the United States.
The White Darkness, by David Grann (Doubleday; 160 pages; $20). Grann’s rich, tight narrative tells of the exploits of Henry Worsley, who followed in the wake of Ernest Shackleton’s polar adventures.