Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee — This captivating epic follows a Korean family over decades during the Japanese occupation of Korea, migrating to Japan early in the novel. Tash Aw (Guardian): “A long, intimate hymn to the struggles of people in a foreign land.” Krys Lee (NY Times): “Each time the novel seems to find its locus — Japan’s colonization of Korea, World War II as experienced in East Asia, Christianity, family, love, the changing role of women — it becomes something else. It becomes even more than it was.” I loved everything except when a character warned me, “If you like everything you read, I can’t take you that seriously.” Hey, I don’t like everything I read.
Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi — When Ada is born in southern Nigeria, she brings a spirit along with her. Not her spirit, though. It’s another, who shares control of her thoughts and actions. Over time, more spirits appear, one after a sexual assault in college. The result is wild swings of personality and shifts in gender identity. Emezi (who has told their own story of gender dysphoria) provides a potent voice to depression and despair. Emezi writes, “After you have let the wilderness in you come out and play, after you have spilled your darkness in front of a stranger, it can be difficult to look at them in the sentience of daylight.” And later, “it was as if staying alive just gave everyone else time to leave you.” I never completely got lost in the story emotionally, but I respected it. Susan Straight (LA Times): “Emezi’s lyrical writing, her alliterative and symmetrical prose, explores the deep questions of otherness, of a single heart and soul hovering between, the gates open, fighting for peace.” Tariro Mzezewa (NY Times): “Remarkable and daring… “Freshwater” builds slowly, but that only crystallizes how fractured Ada and her personalities are. As the voices in her head get louder and grow hungrier, the story gains momentum.”
Doomed Interventions: The Failure of Global Responses to AIDS in Africa, by Kim Yi Dionne — Through a healthy mix of ethnographic fieldwork, original survey collection, and large-scale survey analysis, Dionne shows that international donors care a lot more about HIV/AIDS than African do. And yes, that includes Africans who have family members with HIV. One reason is that even Africans who are infected with HIV share a lot of their needs with their neighbors — clean water and good jobs, to start. “By privileging donor priorities over citizen priorities, global elites cripple states’ abilities to implement policies representing citizens’ interests.” The title is overstated: Internationally funded AIDS treatment has saved countless lives. But “looking at our failures to improve the human condition can help us formulate better strategies and approaches going forward.”
The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath, by Leslie Jamison — I just loved this mix of recovery memoir, an exploration of the historical link between addiction and literary creativity, the racial and class divide of addiction public policy, and more. “All my life I had believed — at first unwittingly, then explicitly — that I had to earn affection and love by being interesting, and so I had frantically tried to become really…interesting.” A little sprawling but I really enjoyed it. As an added bonus, development economists Dean Jamison and Julian Jamison make cameos in the book. “My oldest brother, Julian, taught me how to solve an equation for x when I was seven. ‘Great,’ he said, ‘but can you solve when x is on both sides?”
Three Shadows, by Cyril Pedrosa (translated from French by Edward Gauvin) — How far will a parent go to save their child from death? This is an urgent little fable in a graphic novel format. “In this our springtime there is no better, there is no worse. Blossoming branches burgeon as they must. Some are long, some are short.”Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, by Kate Raworth — Raworth proposes that the field of economics has led to a narrow global focus on economic growth, and that instead we should focus on a social foundation for all the world’s citizens, as well as protecting the environment. The book is filled with nuggets on the history of economic thought (“At the end of the nineteenth century, the sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen berated economic theory for depicting man as a ‘self-contained globule of desire'”) and the power of a good diagram (“if drawing new pictures sounds frivolous to 
you — like mere child’s play — believe me it is not”). Raworth includes lots of policy proposals (including LOTS of taxes) with little consideration of the incentive effects of taxes, and I sometimes felt like she was attributing self-interest itself to economics — whereas I’m inclined to believe it predates the discipline. I also didn’t feel like she reckoned with how attractive a single goal — or a handful of goals — is to get your mind around (more stuff — i.e., GDP growth! less poverty!) as opposed to a long list of items (social equity! clean water! housing! protect ozone! something about phosphorous!). Still, I admire her consistent optimism, boldness, and creativity, and as she quotes the poet Taylor Mali, “Changing your mind is one of the best ways of finding out whether or not you still have one.”
you — like mere child’s play — believe me it is not”). Raworth includes lots of policy proposals (including LOTS of taxes) with little consideration of the incentive effects of taxes, and I sometimes felt like she was attributing self-interest itself to economics — whereas I’m inclined to believe it predates the discipline. I also didn’t feel like she reckoned with how attractive a single goal — or a handful of goals — is to get your mind around (more stuff — i.e., GDP growth! less poverty!) as opposed to a long list of items (social equity! clean water! housing! protect ozone! something about phosphorous!). Still, I admire her consistent optimism, boldness, and creativity, and as she quotes the poet Taylor Mali, “Changing your mind is one of the best ways of finding out whether or not you still have one.”
Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan — An untenured economics professor at NYU takes a ten-week summer vacation during which she doesn’t once think about her research? Now THAT sounds like fantasy! Seriously, it’s a fun, light book about a Chinese-American economics professor who doesn’t realize that her boyfriend — also a professor — is one of the wealthiest (and sought-after) men in Singapore until she joins him on a summer vacation. Lots of drama ensues!Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty — Three families attend a barbecue in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Something bad happens. The effects ripple. This multi-family drama reveals itself bit by bit with great humanity. Moriarty 
employs rotating narrators but focuses on two women who have been uncomfortable friends since childhood. On childhood: “No one warned you that having children reduced you right down to some smaller, rudimentary, rudimentary, primitive version of yourself, where your talents and your education and your achievements meant nothing.“ On white collar malaise: “Sam felt himself break out in a cold sweat at the thought of how little he was achieving at work. He had to get something done today. This couldn’t go on much longer. He was going to lose his job if he didn’t find a way to focus his mind.”
employs rotating narrators but focuses on two women who have been uncomfortable friends since childhood. On childhood: “No one warned you that having children reduced you right down to some smaller, rudimentary, rudimentary, primitive version of yourself, where your talents and your education and your achievements meant nothing.“ On white collar malaise: “Sam felt himself break out in a cold sweat at the thought of how little he was achieving at work. He had to get something done today. This couldn’t go on much longer. He was going to lose his job if he didn’t find a way to focus his mind.”
Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York, by Roz Chast — Chast — who
you might know from her New Yorker cartoons — writes that “this book is a sort-of guide and also a thank-you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere.” It’s fun and useful. I laughed aloud repeatedly, and I will surely give a copy to future New York-bound friends. Chast loves New York! She shows that you can do ANYTHING in that city.
Shade the Changing Girl (Volume 1): Earth Girl Made Easy, by Cecil Castellucci et al. — Okay, so a bird creature (Loma Shade) from another planet steals a “madness coat” from a museum and uses it to take over the body of an teenage earth girl in a coma. It turns out that the earth girl was manipulative and mean, and people on Loma’s home planet are after her — they want that coat! Occasionally
confusing but gorgeous visuals and fun story, with a healthy appreciation of poetry: “There is a poem for every feeling. It’s what gets me through when fear threatens to overwhelm.” Included among the “best graphic books of 2017.”Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor — In this, the climax to 
the Binti trilogy, Okorafor fuses taut, tragic action and surprises while furthering the themes of alienation (in this case, with actual aliens!) and personal growth.
the Binti trilogy, Okorafor fuses taut, tragic action and surprises while furthering the themes of alienation (in this case, with actual aliens!) and personal growth.Ms. Marvel: Mecca, by G. Willow Wilson et al. — If you haven’t read the 
adventures of Kamala Khan — aka Ms. Marvel, Pakistani-American Muslim superhero — then go do it right now! Start with No Normal. Mecca — volume 8 in the series — continues the tradition!
adventures of Kamala Khan — aka Ms. Marvel, Pakistani-American Muslim superhero — then go do it right now! Start with No Normal. Mecca — volume 8 in the series — continues the tradition!Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling — I just read this 
to a couple of my kids. It’s still a great read!
to a couple of my kids. It’s still a great read!Imagine Wanting Only This, by Kristen Radtke — “There is little linear plot in Imagine Wanting Only This, even though each of the eight chapters finds Radtke at a slightly different stage of her life … becoming obsessed with the history of ruins and disasters. At each point, she seeks answers to her nagging life questions while also
attempting to escape her reality” (Arnav Adhikari in The Atlantic). I had trouble engaging with the existential questions at the heart of this book, but Radtke captures perfectly the reason that I go to sleep listening to things — to escape the million thoughts in my head (see picture). Included among the “best graphic books of 2017.”
attempting to escape her reality” (Arnav Adhikari in The Atlantic). I had trouble engaging with the existential questions at the heart of this book, but Radtke captures perfectly the reason that I go to sleep listening to things — to escape the million thoughts in my head (see picture). Included among the “best graphic books of 2017.”
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