Photo by Michael T. Ruhl
A few weeks back, DCist was approached by the folks at Politics & Prose, who wanted to know what kind of books we enjoy when we’re not neck-deep in posts. The Cleveland Park bookshop is doing an in-store feature in June about local bloggers and whatnot, and asked us to contribute a short reading list of three titles, which will then be featured in the store’s front window and on its website for the entire month.
To that end, Martin and I will each select a book, but we’re leaving the final pick up to you, dear readers. That’s right: You get to have some input here and tell us (within reason) what Politics & Prose’s customers should be reading.
Martin’s Pick: Too Big to Fail, by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
To me, the world of finance is big mystery. I don’t own stock, am not an investor and had no real understanding of what exactly caused 2008’s near-meltdown of the U.S. economy, no matter how often people repeated “credit default swaps” to me. Sorkin’s Too Big to Fail not only made the entire financial crisis understandable, but zeroed in on the frantic negotiations between the outgoing Bush administration, investors and the banks that were eventually called in to save them. Sorkin spares no details, but he doesn’t let the volumes of information he includes bury the basic narrative—Wall Street got us all really close to economic calamity. Sorkin’s ability to weave so many characters and events into a single story is a great service to journalism and a huge detriment to my sanity—I still can’t believe that the world of high finance is held together by such improvised accounting.
Ben’s Pick: The Map and the Territory, by Michel Houellebecq.
Admittedly, I’m only about halfway through Houellebecq’s latest novel, which was first published in 2010 and finally released in the U.S. in January, but it’s becoming clear why this, and not any of Houellebecq’s previous four novels was awarded the Prix Goncourt. For starters, The Map and the Territory is far less sex-drenched than Houellebecq’s previous work, but that’s not to say its at a loss for absurdity. Houellebecq’s portrait of an artist named Jed Martin is rivetingly funny, even as it turns into the author’s version of detective fiction following an exquisitely painterly murder scene. And while Houellebecq inserting himself into his stories is nothing new, one has to admire what the author is willing to put his fictional self through. It’s enough of an escape after a hard day of blogging, if not any less madcap.
Readers’ Pick: OK, here’s where you come in, dear readers. In the comments below, make your suggestion for what volume should round out this list. But we’re giving you a few ground rules.
1. No advice books: Whatever for Dummies, titles about raising children or empty self-affirmations just aren’t our bag. We’re not saying this needs to be staid and prosaic, but give your suggestion a little bit of intellectual heft. Don’t give us a self-help book. As George Carlin once said, reading someone else’s book isn’t self-help—it’s help!
2. No Fifty Shades of Grey: The unfortunately spelled erotica trilogy was self-parody from the get-go. It is descended from Twilight fan fiction, of all things. Unless you can make a seriously mind-blowing argument in its favor, consider E.L. James’ collection of mommy porn a non-starter.
3. Subject to our final approval: Politics & Prose is letting us pick three books. With Martin and I each making our own selections, that means we can only pluck one of your suggestions. If there’s a wide consensus around one nominated book, we’ll go with that. If not, we’ll consider the best arguments and cull the final selection from there. So make it count. We’ll announce the Readers’ Pick at the end of the day.
