strangers drowning

Interesting but oddly unsatisfying. Not sure what more I could have wanted, perhaps a bit of a deeper reflection on how cultures have viewed do-gooders or saints over the centuries and why that might be different now. That said, Macfarquhar's refusal to overanalyze her subjects was probably the right choice. Also, I appreciated that some of the people she speaks about are well-known modern-day saints, like the guy who founded the leper colony in India or the nurse in Central America, and others are not famous but struggle with the same overwhelming drive to do good for others at their own emotional, psychological, financial expense.

Macfarquhar does discuss throughout (in chapters alternating with the essays describing her do-gooders) of the role of saints in society, why not everyone can be saints, and so on. Those parts felt tantalizing but short of real exploration or insight. Contrast with Awakenings, which is devastating.

little failure

Laugh-out-loud funny. I'm not a big memoir reader but I enjoyed this. There is something strange about reading someone's self-excoriation, a tension between what seems like real raw honesty and the self-love that has to precede writing about yourself in public. Similar to confessional stand-up, maybe.

books read 2016

1. Little Failure, by Gary Shteyngart
2. Strangers Drowning, by Larissa Macfarquhar
3. The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
4. Euphoria, by Lily King
5. The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon
6. Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple
7. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, by Hilary Mantel
8. A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel
9. Mottled Dawn, by Saadat Hassan Manto
10. In Persuasion Nation, by George Saunders
11. The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
12. After the Prophet, by Lesley Hazleton
13. Call for the Dead, by John Le Carré
14. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin
15. Kindred, by Octavia Butler
16. The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert
17. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
18. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
19. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
20. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman
21. Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, volume 1: The Structures of Everyday Life, by Fernand Braudel
22. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
23. The Once and Future King, by T.H. White
24. The Givenness of Things, by Marilynne Robinson
25. Introduction to Card Magic, by Roberto Giobbi
26. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le Carre (nth time)
27. Managing to Change the World, by Alison Green and Jerry Hauser
28. Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King
29. The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf
30. Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
31. The Trespasser, by Tana French
32. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen