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Books of the Year

 The NYT has named its 100 books of the year; I'm never crazy about this list, and I'll add my own titles here.


*"The Devil at His Elbow." Alex Murdaugh came from a crime family, but he took things "farther" than anyone he was related to. He developed an addiction to Oxy, and he began stealing from his clients to fund his need. But his law partners were on the verge of finding out--so, to create a distraction, Murdaugh murdered his own wife and son. But then the murder plot threatened to unveil itself--so, as a *new* distraction, Murdaugh arranged to have himself shot in the head. This is an insane story, and "Devil" is a work of art.

*"War." Like "Wicked," this is a frenemy tale, the story of Joe Biden and Bibi Netanyahu. As Biden grows increasingly uncomfortable with Bibi's self-serving and thoughtless behavior, he falls back on an anecdote. "Let me tell you about when I met Golda Meir...." Eventually, an Israeli observer becomes tired of Biden's gassy storytelling and says: "I'll tell you about ANOTHER Golda. She is my daughter, she lives in Israel, and she is afraid to leave her house right now...."

*"Still Sal," by Kevin Henkes. One of the NYT's failures of imagination is that it assumes there is a barrier between "children's fiction" and "literary fiction." But most serious readers understand that this is a misstep. "Still Sal" taught me more about my own daughter than just about any other book I've encountered. I was also happy to see myself--"Mr. Miller"--again and again, on the page.

*"The Expat," by Hansen Shi. A young Princeton grad gets recruited to steal industry secrets--and mail these secrets to China. But the FBI finds out. To save himself from prison, the grad must then act as a "double agent." He can trust neither China nor the United States. His discomfort is sort of enthralling; also, the book taught me a bit about China's twenty-first century. Wonderful writing.
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