Son of Elsewhere.Elamin Abdelmahmoud. A young Sudanese immigrant to Canada comes to realize his blackness.Its convoluted and winding and dude would have been labelled a weirdo by me in my youth, which makes it more poignant.
The BlackTongue Theif.Christopher Buelman.Best fantasy book i've read in a few years.Tender, weird as fuck, funny and engaging.
A Promised Land.Barack Obama.Finally got around to reading this.I disagree with almost all of his foreign policy and this cemented my view that he is constantly seeking to justify his decisions and be liked.But this is a fascinating view into the mind of the leader of the world's foremost power.He is unquestionably the most intellectual president the US has ever seen.Regardless of your politics a must read.
1. "RE: Favourite reads off 2022," In response to Reply # 0 Wed Dec-21-22 03:09 PM by makaveli
Can't Stop, Won't Stop by Jeff Change- basically a book on the history of hip hop- learned some new things about a topic i already knew a lot about.
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died by Seamus O'Reilly-memoir about an irish kid who lost him mom at a young age and his dad taking care of him and his many brothers and sisters. sad and funny. he grew up near Derry during a time of war.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kenneddy Toole- not much of a moral to this story but it is very funny.
Tainos and Caribs- history of the indians who lived in the DR and surrounding areas.
The Desus and Mero book- it was pretty funny but honestly i wasn't blown away by it.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon- mystery/love story based in Barcelona in the 1950's. solid, entertaining, easy read.
“So back we go to these questions — friendship, character… ethics.”
And appreciated how it explained just what made him special. I can only imagine how much musicians get out of it.
from my Goodreads:
If you’re a musician/drummer you have to read Dilla Time. I’ve never played an instrument. (I’m worried music will lose its magic.) I glossed over excellent technical explanations because of that.
I appreciate the book not shying away from his negative traits. The book covers more estate drama than I cared for. (Sadly that’s legacy too.) It covers Okayplayer a bit which I’m sure is how I learned about Dilla. (Charter Member!)
Also Charnas’s prior book, The Big Payback, was just fantastic.
{sidenote: It kinda blew my mind that one of the first tracks Dilla produced was on Poe’s first album. In ’96 she crowd surfed over me in a Dayton parking lot and her brother wrote a favorite book, House of Leaves.}
3. "How Buildings Learn - Stewart Brand" In response to Reply # 0
In reading Brand’s bio I was surprised to learn his proudest creation wasn’t the Whole Earth Catalog but this book on how buildings change over time. I'd have to agree with him, which is weird since the contents shouldn't be groundbreaking.
sidenote: I'm at 101 books for the year! Airhorn sounds!
5. "Off the top of my head I’d say " In response to Reply # 0
Feast Of The Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa All three essay books by Hanif Abdurraqib, read all of them back to back and thoroughly enjoyed them All About Love by bell hooks was another one I thoroughly enjoyed this year Dilla Time by Dan Charnas was also great Play Their Hearts Out by a journalist who’s name I’m forgetting was also a dope read
I’m sure there are more that I’m missing that I read this year but these are the ones that stuck out
12. "Hanif Abdurraqib is fantastic." In response to Reply # 5
Love him. Love that I head down random youtube and wikipedia searches while reading him. Love how I'll get emotional about artists I've never even cared about prior. Love that he's from Ohio.
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
General Discussion
