The best of 2013

[Rob Wick]

2013 was an annus horribilis for me in terms of reading. Of course, the other reason the year sucked (a little incident with my heart) had something to do with the lack of reading I completed this year. I have an account on Goodreads which keeps statistics on all the books I've read since I signed up. I only completed 17 books this year, although that represented slightly over 5,700 pages. Three of the books I completed were for my own book, and two were books I reviewed for the Lincoln Herald. A coworker and I keep tabs on what we've read over the year and then each select a book of the year. I generally try to get through 30 books a year, but she often reads as many as 60 or 70 and sometimes even 100 (and that's books no shorter than 300 or so pages).

So, the top five books for me in 2013 are as follows (#1 is my book of the year, and I only consider books I've completed, so The Bully Pulpit is not on the list)

1. All the Great Prizes by John Taliaferro. A biography of John Hay has been long overdue. John Taliaferro's is a fascinating read and provides a clear picture of the man. There are some irritating mistakes, such as Taliferro's promotion of Albert J. Beveridge to the vice presidency under Theodore Roosevelt (it was Charles W. Fairbanks), and I thought the history of Hay and John G. Nicolay writing their massive biography of Lincoln was too thin, but this will serve as the standard biography of Hay for years to come.

2. All in the Day's Work by Ida M. Tarbell. Had I not been writing about Tarbell, I doubt I would have ever read her autobiography. That would have been my loss. From a historian's perspective, Tarbell's autobiography serves sometimes more to conceal than to shine light on her thoughts, but it's important to remember she was writing long before tell-all's became the rage. Even in her dotage, Tarbell's writing remained powerful and sharp. Having her letters, it's easy to see what was left out (and why) but anyone interested in Tarbell must start with this necessary work.

3. Success Story: The Life of S.S. McClure, by Peter Lyon. In an age when the term "genius" gets thrown around too casually, Samuel Sidney McClure was the real deal. This older book, written by McClure's grandson, only occasionally drops into hagiography. The remainder of the time, Lyon is quite clear that for all of McClure's ability, the one thing he lacked, especially after he and John S. Phillips ended their business partnership, was a governor on his mania. Lyon details the good along with the bad, including McClure's philandering, which Ida Tarbell feared would take all the good she and the other muckrakers did and, should it ever become public, brand them as hypocrites in the public eye. Anyone who reads The Bully Pulpit should also read Lyon's book to get a more detailed picture of just who S.S. McClure was.

4. The Selected Letters of William Styron. At 700 pages, this was the longest book I read this year. When I first read Sophie's Choice (after seeing the movie) I was awestruck. Reading Styron's work is like savoring a fine wine. It's best done in small sips rather than big gulps. That is what makes reading his letters so effective. Much of the book is devoted to Styron's first novel, Lie Down In Darkness, a literary homage to William Faulkner, whose influence on Styron pervades the text. The evolution of such books as The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice make for interesting and poignant reading. Styron's legendary feud with Norman Mailer, which Styron later admitted was generally his fault, is detailed as is Styron's admiration for James Jones. Styron's letters to his father are deeply touching.

5. Lincoln's Humor and Other Essays by Benjamin P. Thomas. Michael Burlingame has done the Lincoln community a large favor by collecting these essays, many of which were previously unpublished. The only issue I found with this edition of the book was the poor binding, which seems to bedevil Burlingame's work as anyone who has tried to hold his massive two-volumes on Lincoln can attest to. Thomas's work clearly reflects his time, and some of his conclusions have been proven wrong, but the strength of this book lies in the exhaustive footnotes inserted by editor Burlingame.

An honorable mention has to go to Chicago's 1893 World's Fair by our own Joe Di Cola. I wish I had had this book when I read Devil in the White City. It was clearly a labor of love for Joe and deserves a place on every forum member's bookshelf.

Other books I finished in 2013 (in no particular order):

This Living Hand by Edmund Morris
Lincoln's New Salem by Benjamin P. Thomas
The Great Agnostic by Susan Jacoby
Good Prose by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
The Best American Essays, 2012, edited by David Brooks
The Memoir of a Publisher by F.N. Doubleday
Forty-One False Starts by Janet Malcolm (the WORST book of 2013)
Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin
Oak Ridge Cemetery by Edward Russo, Curtis Mann and Tim Davlin.
A Punishment on the Nation edited by Brian Craig Miller (reviewed)
Hoax by forum member Edward J. Steers Jr. (reviewed)

So, what did you read?

Best
Rob