Good Reading (2019)

I saw one of those "list your 5 favorite books you read in 2019" things online which sparked this list, a couple of which I've mentioned before, so in case you are looking for something to read:

The Path to Power by Robert Caro.  The first of his 4 volume (to date) biography of Lyndon Johnson.  The best political biography I've ever read.  Worth reading even if you think you're not interested in LBJ or even hate him.  A riveting study of how political power is accumulated and exercised and the astonishing personal drive, energy, and ambition it takes to achieve.

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe.  The Troubles in Northern Ireland, an investigation into the disappearance of the mother of several young children during the 1970s, and a revealing and, at times, shocking story of the tangled loyalties and betrayals that took so many lives and changed the lives of those who survived.

In Hoffa’s Shadow by Jack Goldsmith. Goldsmith’s stepfather is Chuckie O’Brien who worked for Jimmy Hoffa for decades and has long been suspected of involvement in his death. While I already knew Goldsmith as a Harvard Law School professor who led the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice during President GW Bush’s first term, I had no idea he was related to O’Brien. This is both an informative and touching story about the Hoffa years, the investigation of his death, and also of Goldsmith’s relationship with his stepfather, who he adored when growing up, disowned as a young man in order to further his career, and ultimately reconciled with.  It's also an expose of some of the FBI's more unsavory law enforcement techniques over the decade and its impact on how Goldsmith now thinks about government tactics in this area. And perhaps, perhaps, the reader will learn the truth about Chuckie O’Brien and Jimmy Hoffa.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. The fictional story of a Russian nobleman who returns after the Revolution and in 1922 is sentenced to permanent residence in the Metropolitan Hotel in Moscow which, should he ever attempt to leave, will result in his execution.  At times charming, at times terrifying.

Labryinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The final book of his four volume The Shadow of the Wind series which I’ve read over the past two years. Set in Barcelona from the early 1920s to the early 1960s, it centers around a bookshop and a strange, hidden locale – The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Combines mystery, compelling characters, the tortured history of Spain during those years, and a touch of the Gothic (which I usually don’t care for but works here).