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‘Tis the season to curl up with a book or five!
In the annual tradition, here’s the list of favorite books from Marsh Consulting’s management team. Looking for past roundups? Here’s 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.
In this crazy year of real estate transactions, a move, launching our young family into a new life on the other side of town, and getting a puppy, I tried to stick with my perennial New Year’s resolution of reading for 5 minutes every night. Even that super low bar was sometimes (often) too high, but I did manage to add a few new favorites to my book list in 2022. I guess next year it’s time to bump the goal to 6 minutes, which research shows can lower stress levels by 68%!
Maybe one of these will solve your last-minute gift idea problems. 😉
10. “She Come by It Natural” by Sarah Smarsh (nonfiction). This Dolly Parton tribute was first a magazine series pondering the path and nature of Dolly’s success. Dolly is one of a kind, obviously, and Smarsh draws attention to ways that she blazed her own trail of feminism that didn’t fit into anyone else’s party or movement. It’s a quick, fun read and definitely unique.
9. “The Last Thing He Told Me” by Laura Dave (fiction). A psychological thriller that sneaks along, this is a good vacation read. The main character is the recently married wife #2 who is stuck holding her new family together when her groom disappears in a cloud of tech-company fraud. Maybe a timely gift for the person in your life who is most obsessed with the SBF crypto scandal?
8. “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr (fiction). Doerr won a Pulitzer for his second novel “All the Light We Cannot See,” and this is his third novel. He weaves together multiple story lines reaching way back into the past – 15th century Constantinople – and all the way into the future – on a space colony infiltrated by a pandemic. It’s fun to watch him weave the stories together and I love his direct but warm writing style.
7. “Our Country Friends” by Gary Shteygart (fiction). This is another fun vacation read. Picture it: a pandemic. A crew of college friends, now in their 40s or 50s, find themselves living out the early pandemic at the multi-house vacation property of their Russian immigrant friend, a successful movie producer. An “Actor” is among them, a thinly disguised version of Tom Cruise, and scandal ensues. Despite the fun, I felt like this story also made some thoughtful points about the paths of first- and second-generation Americans. Come for the scandal, stay for the insight.
6. “My Year With Eleanor” by Noelle Hancock (nonfiction). I’m a sucker for books about year-long experiments. This one is a writer in NYC in her 20s who decides to live according to one of Eleanor Roosevelt’s principles – to do one thing that every day that scares her. She starts with things like skydiving but then ends up in some truly interesting turf related to kicking her secret sleeping pill habit and committing to her longtime boyfriend. I was surprised at where the book went.
5. “Sea of Tranquility” by Emily St. John Mandel (fiction). Another pandemic book – that’s three if you’re counting! – but of a totally different tone. This one is more of a novella, so read it start to finish on your next flight. It’s kind of ethereal and thrilling all at once. There’s time travel involved. Just try it.
4. “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah (nonfiction). This was the best memoir I read this year. Noah hasn’t actually time traveled but he might as well have, listening to his stories of how different his childhood in South Africa was compared to his adult American life. He’s a great storyteller and I felt like I got to travel myself to this alternate time and place.
3. “The Least of Us” by Sam Quinones (nonfiction). Quinones wrote the mind-blowing “Dreamland,” and this follow-up was equally mind-blowing. He explains what’s happening with drugs in America today, both through the economic story of how and why we have fentanyl and meth floating around everywhere all the time, and through the real humans who get tangled up in these forces. It offers perspective on why there are encampments in every city and what a complicated problem it is to undo, bringing compassion and reason in equal measure. It might not sound like a page-turner, but I promise it is worth it!
2. “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller (fiction). I didn’t know I needed the love story of Achilles in my life, but I did. This book has the kind of plot-driven structure that just picks you up from page one and charges forward, like “City of Thieves,” one of my favorite novels under the sun. Don’t miss out.
1. “Monkey Grip” by Helen Garner (fiction). When I opened this book in a Christmas present last year, I thought, there’s no way I’ll read this – and then it landed itself at my #1 spot. It’s in the cannon of Australian literature, something I was not looking to explore, and it represents the beginning of “grunge lit,” a category I never knew or cared existed. It’s the story of a woman in 1970s Australia who is in love with a heroin junkie. Get this one for yourself or the person you know who likes weird books – it’s jammed full of dated Australian slang and the plot seems unworthy of sympathy – YET – it’s weirdly beautiful and I just could not put it down. There you have it – the unexpected #1.
Thank you for another fantastic year of challenging and interesting work. I am so grateful to my wonderful clients and look forward to more marketing adventures together in 2023.
Wishing you all a holiday season of peace, joy, loved ones and loved books!
Looking for help with financial content in 2023? Reach out and let’s talk about your project needs.
Posted By
Carolyn
Categories
Compound Return Newsletter, Content Marketing, Freelance financial writer