Recently Mentioned Books

4. Tom Paulin, Writing to the Moment, Selected Critical Essays 1980-1996 .  I loved this book, which (by a very important metric) caused me to buy at least five additional books on Amazon.  One of Ireland’s greatest poets writing an appreciation of other English-language poets and writers.  A 1996 book, but one of my most exciting reads for the year.

3. Roberta A. Ness, The Creativity Crisis: Reinventing Science to Unleash Potential .  A good overview of why innovativeness has declined and what might be done to restore it.

2.Bengt Jangfeldt, Mayakovsky: A Biography .  A non-fiction work translated from Swedish to English is virtually guaranteed to be good.  This book brings major advances to our understanding of Mayakovsky’s life, although it is perhaps for those who already have an interest in the topic.  That’s me.

1. Hilda Hilst, With My Dog-Eyes: A Nove l.  Life as an academic, as viewed by the Brazilian avant-garde.  This underappreciated novel is available in English for the first time, recommended to those who think they might like it.

Run the Jewels 2 and St. Vincent I might pick as runners-up.

Run the Jewels 2 and St. Vincent I might pick as runners-up.

3. Calypso Craze, 1956-57 and Beyond .  From the Bear label, this is by an order of magnitude the best Calypso compilation ever.  Seven CDs, and you don’t need to buy any more Calypso again.  You’ll also learn how much influence Calypso has had on subsequent popular music, including Chuck Berry (“ Havana Moon “), Harry Nilsson, and a good deal of rap, among others.

2. D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah .  Self-recommending.

1. Aphex Twin, Syro .  Especially impressive after such a long hiatus because his later recordings were not always first-rate.

The author is Barry Eichengreen and the subtitle is The Great Depression, The Great Recession, and the Uses — and Misuses — of History .  My copy has now arrived.

This book is interesting throughout for its treatment of fiscal and monetary issues during the time of the French Revolution.  It is not geared toward current macroeconomic debates, but arguably that liberates it to be more interesting on the historical side.  The author is Rebecca L. Spang, of The Invention of the Restaurant fame.

This book is interesting throughout for its treatment of fiscal and monetary issues during the time of the French Revolution.  It is not geared toward current macroeconomic debates, but arguably that liberates it to be more interesting on the historical side.  The author is Rebecca L. Spang, of The Invention of the Restaurant fame.

This is from Karen Dawisha’s more-important-than-ever Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? :

She is trying to tell me that I should attempt Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren again.  She recommends re-reading Neal Stephenson’s Anathem , but can’t bring herself to say it is good.  Overall buying this book caused me to make four additional Amazon purchases, a good sign that is was worth my while.

That is the title of the new Jo Walton book, and the subtitle is Re-Reading the Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy .  It is an extended paean to the pleasures of re-reading, exhibiting a taste which is interesting , useful, and yet uneven (fifteen separate works by Lois McMaster Bujold are covered, each with its own chapter.  I do like her, but…).  Most of the book offers analyses of individual works, here is one broader bit:

By the way, Uwe Tellkamp’s The Tower [Der Turm] is now out in English .

8. Geoffrey Hill, Broken Hierarchies, Poems 1952-2012 .

7. Andy Weir, The Martian .  Ostensibly science fiction, but more a 21st century Robinson Crusoe story — set on Mars of course — with huge amounts of (ingenious) engineering driving the story.  Lots of fun, many other people have liked it too.

6. Hassan Blasim, The Corpse Exhibition and Other Stories of Iraq .  Short stories about the conflict in Iraq, by an Iraqi.  I expected to find these widely heralded stories to be disappointing, as the premise is a little too easy for the Western critic to embrace.  But they are excellent and this book is one of the year’s best fiction releases.

5. Clive James, Poetry Notebook 2006-2014 .  A superb book, one of the very best appreciations of poetry and introductions to poetry of the 20th century.  This book has received raves in the UK, it is not yet out in the U.S.

2. Michael Hofmann, Where Have You Been?: Selected Essays .  Excellent and informationally dense literary essays, I especially like the ones on the German-language poets and writers, such as Benn and Walser and Bernhard and Grass.

1. Adam Tooze, The Deluge: The Great War and the Remaking of World Order, 1916-1931 .  This one also starts slow but after about 13% becomes fascinating, especially about the internal politics in Germany and Russia, circa 1917-1918.

That is the new book by Joshua D. Angrist and J ö rn-Steffen Pischke, from Princeton University Press, and the subtitle is The Path From Cause to Effect .  I have not yet had a chance to peruse this book, but the odds are very high that it is a very strong contribution.  The Amazon link for the book is here .

9. Andrew Zimbalist, Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup .

8. F. Bailey Norwood, et.al., Agricultural & Food Controversies: What Everyone Needs to Know .