I've been logging my reads onto my virtual bookshelf over at Goodreads, the most delightfully unsocial of social media, for well over a decade. It's a useful record of what I've read, and, roughly, what I thought of it. Since I’ve named my Substack ‘Bookscetera’, I should probably say something about books sometimes.
To wit, here are 7 books that I gave four enthusiastic stars in 2022.
Deep Sea and Foreign Going: Inside Shipping, The Invisible Industry That Brings You 90% of Everything (Rose George) - This book is a thoughtful exploration of the modern container shipping industry - from how the container changed the world, to modern-day piracy, to the obscenely exploitative conditions that color most merchant seamans’ lives. A fascinating and deeply compassionate look behind a dirty curtain at the industry that underpins the global hyper-capitalist order.
Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket (Hilma Wolitzer) - How has Hilma Wolitzer stayed off my radar all these years? What a wonderful introduction to her sharp and moving writing. And that she wrote the final story in this collection at age 90 or so blows my mind!
The Rag and Bone Shop: How We Make Memories and Memories Make Us (Veronica O'Keane) - I learned so much (most of it depressing) from this book. Writing at the intersection of neuroscience and psychiatry (with a bit of literature and philosophy thrown into the mix), O'Keane explains how the brain processes sensory experience into memory (giving rise to intelligence, emotion, etc.). One for anyone who appreciates Oliver Sacks.
About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks (David Rooney) - Rooney knows his stuff. About Time is an erudite study of horology and the impact of clocks on human societies, from their role in regulating markets to morality to war and beyond. Highly recommended!
Things I Didn’t Throw Out (Marcin Wicha) - I read this in early 2022, and apparently gave it four stars, but didn’t write a tiny review at the time, and find now that I can remember almost nothing of it. A man in post-Communist Poland remembers his mother? Possibly because he is clearing out her apartment after her death? It must have been deeply emotionally resonant at the time, but alas, my memory is not what it used to be.
Look Again: How to Experience the Old Masters (Ossian Ward) - My art phase continued apace with Ward’s look at the Old Masters. It was ‘a joyful read’, according to my one-sentence review at the time.
The Language of Cities (Deyan Sudjic) - Another four-star read that I captured no review of and can barely remember. I seem to recall it was a dry and academic read (and not in a good way), and so I wonder if my four stars might have more to do with my deep and abiding love of cities than the book itself?