Jeremy Blachman's Weblog: 2012

Books 2011

The "What I'm Reading" sidebar tells me I've read about 65 books this year.  The six best, as I skim the list:

Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Candice Millard's Destiny of the Republic -- I promise, it makes James Garfield's life and murder far more interesting than it sounds like it will be.  I'd see the movie.

Tina Fey's Bossypants

Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother -- Probably the book I had the most conversations about this year.  I expect my wife and I will raise our kids considerably differently from how Amy Chua describes raising hers, but her book (and related WSJ columns) got us talking about what we think worked and didn't work about our own parents' styles, and Chua's book, whether you agree or disagree with anything she says, is a quick, compelling read.  Although, now 10 months later, the one thing that sticks the most is about the standards she held her *dogs* to -- disappointed that she couldn't train them to be more intelligent....

Michael Levy's Kosher Chinese -- Memoir of an American teaching English in rural China.  I would caution potential readers that he eats some crazy stuff in this book.

Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life -- I wouldn't say it's the Bill Bryson book I've enjoyed the most (that would be I'm A Stranger Here Myself, his collection of notes about returning to America after a couple of decades away), but he can make anything awfully readable, even a tour around his bathroom.  It's long, probably longer than it needed to be, but still pretty darn satisfying.

The New Republic: Fact-Checking the Candidates on... Everything

I've got a piece on The New Republic's website this morning, satirizing the fact-checking that goes on for the Republican presidential debates.  Will it be too long before they're not just fact-checking the debate answers, but the backstage candidate banter beforehand?  A quick excerpt:

Rick Perry: “Good evening, Mitt.”

FACT: Merriam-Webster defines “evening” as the period between sunset and bedtime. The sun had not fully set when Governor Perry made this statement.

Mitt Romney: “You too, Rick. Nice tie.”

FACT: In an independent study conducted by our partners at NeckwearSurveys.com, only 21 percent of likely voters rated Perry’s tie in the “nice” category, with 17 percent calling it “fair,” 36 percent calling it “blue,” and the remaining 28 percent undecided.

Check it out.