MY TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2019
This is not a list of books published in 2019 but the top ten books I read in the past year, 2019. The lineup is dominated by fiction, memoirs, and a blend of the two. It has been an exhaustive process whittling down the list to ten because of the sheer number of incredible books I read in 2019. ..
10. “What Money Can’t Buy,”by Michael J. Sandel.
Michael Sandel is a professor of politics at Harvard and is one of the best-known public intellectuals in America. In his book, “What Money Can’t Buy”, Michael Sandel questions the central theme of capitalism using everyday examples of the increasing consumerism of our present lives. He challenges the neo-liberal economic notion of the neutrality of the market and calls us all to question the place of capitalism in our society. From concierge services in the USA and China to “janitors” insurance, Prof Sandel shows how markets reflect and promote certain norms. It raises important questions about the ethics of advertising. In concluding the book, Prof Sandel invites us all to reflect on the following words, “The question of markets is really a question about how we want to live together. Do we want a society where everything is up for sale? Or are there certain moral and civic goods that markets do not honour and money cannot buy?”
9. “Homegoing,”by Yaa Gyasi
Homegoing is the debut novel of the young Ghanaian author Yaa Gyasi. A historical fiction of epic proportion, the novel explores the devastating impact of the transatlantic slave trade on 18th century Asante and Fante societies. The novel spans over 7 generations of the mysterious woman Maame (also known as the “fire woman”), and her daughters Esi and Effia and their descendants separated by warfare, colonialism, and a multiplicity of other issues in both Ghana and America. Homegoing goes beyond the usual narrative of pointing out slavery as cruel to examining its impact on the present generation in a very nuanced manner.
8. “Born a Crime”by Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah’s incredible journey from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Showbegan with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such an act was outlawed by the apartheid regime. Born a Crime is an appealing, fast-paced and intense read. It chronicles Trevor’s troubled childhood, through to his troubled years at school, his brief stint in prison and his reverence for his grandmother and mother. The book is a compelling human story of survival.
7. “White Teeth”by Zadie Smith
White Teeth was the novel debut of the then 24-year-old Zadie Smith who had just graduated from Cambridge in 2000. A deeply plotted novel, Smith, writes explicitly about contemporary multi-cultural Britain through the lens of three culturally diverse families. White Teeth is a tour to the London suburbs where British of Asian origins struggle to integrate in England. The book is a representation of Zadie’s life. She was born in London to an English father and a Jamaican mother. This book encompasses a nuanced analysis of a lot of subject including: immigration, family, religion and culture.
6. “Go Tell it on the Mountains”by James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain is a very sensual novel which was heavily influenced by Baldwin’s complicated relationship with his stepfather. The novel is set in the 1930s Harlem. John Grimes, the 14-year-old son of a fierce Pentecostal preacher, struggles with his growing sexual awareness. The radical nature of Baldwin’s writing on sexualized spirituality taken in the context of 1953 American literary scene shows how far ahead Baldwin was ahead of his times.
5. “The River Between”by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Ngugi wrote this novel in 1965. This novel was published just a year after the publication of ‘Weep Not, Child’ (1964). The River Between addressed in a unique way the complex issues Africa had to grapple with at the advent of colonialism. The main character in the book is a young man, Waiyaki. Waiyaki is raised traditionally but educated in white schools, charismatic and a natural leader among his people, and a man who believes that only in unity can their society survive and retain its own identity in the colonial world. Ngugi skillfully shows cultural conflict as a result of colonialism on African society.
4. “The Thing Around Your Neck”by Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi
The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of 12 short stories, focusing mainly on the lives and experiences of Nigerian women. Throughout all the stories, you can feel the melancholy and disappointment in the writing. Despite the bleakness of most of the stories, Chimamanda’s narratives have something of the fascinating appeal. From the stories focusing on gang violence and police brutality in Nigeria, old men remembering the Biafran war; this collection of short stories is similar to Chinua Achebe’s short essays in ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ in its universal applicability to a host of countries in sub-Sahara Africa.
3. “Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left”by Roger Scruton
Roger Scruton is the author of more than 30 books and one of Britain’s leading conservative intellectuals. This book is a collection of a series of devastating critical polemics against the leading intellectuals of modern left-wing thinking. I must warn though that it is not an easy read in terms of its complexity. Roger Scruton remains the biggest influence on my thinking on political philosophy. My understanding of conservatism; ‘a defense of our home’ has largely been down to his lectures. Perhaps, that explains why I still managed to finish this rather difficult reading.
2. “Democracy Stories from The Long Road to Freedom”by Condoleezza Rice
As a child, Condoleezza Rice was an eyewitness to the awakening of racial freedom, when her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, became the bastion of the civil rights movement for black Americans. In this book, Rice explains what these epochal events teach us about democracy. At a time when people around the world are wondering whether democracy is in decline, Rice shares insights from her experiences as a policymaker, scholar, and citizen, in order to put democracy’s challenges into perspective.
1. “Maid: Hard work, low pay, and a mother’s will to survive,”by Stephanie Land
Stephanie Land shares her real-life experiences as a single mother working as a maid on minimum wage in contemporary America. In so many ways, Stephanie’s story mirrors the stories of so many single mothers across the world. Stephanie was 28 when she unexpectedly got pregnant with her first daughter. This pregnancy meant Stephanie had to forfeit her admission to a creative writing programme at the University of Montana. With little help from her abusive boyfriend, Stephanie found herself working on minimum wage, homeless, and navigating the bureaucratic processes of the welfare system to survive. This is not a book on policy on welfare or politics. It is a compelling story of one woman who from growing up in a middle-class home became homeless, struggling to fend for her daughter.