Eric Alterman’s Year-End Recommendations:
Read these novels:
Nathan Hill, Wellness
Hugo Hamilton The Pages: A Novel
Martin Riker, The Guest Lecturer
Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions for You
Elizabeth Strout, Lucy By the Sea
Emma Cline, The Guest
Eleanor Cotton, Burnam Wood
Richard Ford, Be Mine
James McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Also these new/old novels:
The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael Katz
Thomas Mann, New Selected Stories translated by Damion Searls
William Faulkner, Stories (Library of America collection)
Charles Portis, Collected Works (Library of America collection)
Books that disappointed me, but perhaps it’s just me:
Zadie Smith, The Fraud
Naomi Klein, Doppelganger
Jonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime Novel
Catherine Lacy, Biography of X
Curtis Sittenfeld, Romantic Comedy
Books that both saddened and disappointed me:
Paul Auster, Blaumgartner
Recommended non-fiction books:
Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine (a terrific holiday gift, by the way)
John Le Carre, Tim Cornwall, A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré
Frank Castigliola, Kennan: A Life Between Two Worlds
Tracy Daughtery, Larry McMurtry: A Life
Sly Stone, Ben Greenman, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir (A question of taste, really)
And especially, Eric Alterman, We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel
(now available on audio)
https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Not-One-Americas/dp/046509631X
Recommended books that are better listened to rather than read:
My Name is Barbra, read by Ms. Streisand
Tom Lake, read by Ms. Streep
Podcasts that have significantly improved my life:
A History of Rock in 500 Songs
Cocaine and Rhinestones
Recommended Movies:
Stop Making Sense
The Hit Man
Oppenheimer
RMN
Asteroid City
Afire
Showing Up
Killers of the Flower Moon
She Came to Me
Priscilla
Barbie
May December
Fallen Leaves
The Sweet East
Past Lives
La Syndicaliste
Saltburn
Good Movies I saw that the Rendezvous with French Cinema festival at Lincoln Center:
Revoir Paris
Other People’s Children
The Innocent.
+
Good Movies I saw at the Jewish Film festival at Lincoln Center:
America
Farewell, Mr. Haffman
June Zero
March ‘68
Haute Couture
Where Life Begins
Much hyped movies I found to be just OK:
TAR
Anatomy of a Fall
Maestro
Movies that exceeded my low expectations:
The Tom Cruise and MI movies.
In retrospect, I should have skipped:
Napoleon
The Holdovers
Fingernails
Eileen
The Royal Hotel
Quiz Lady
The Marvels
Highly Recommended TV Series:
The Bureau
A French Village
The Diplomat
Lucky Hank
Succession
The Last of Us
Slow Horses
Borgen
Not “highly,” but still recommended:
The Fall of the House of Usher
Old streaming shows that work well as comfort food when you’re doing something else but want the TV as company:
The Bob Newhart Show
Castle
Mindy
Moonlighting
Archer
LA Law
Suits
30 Rock
Expensive CD and DVD box sets that work well as gifts for people who still collect them:
Eric Clapton, The Definitive 24 Nights Super Deluxe
David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos
Bob Dylan, Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions 1996-1997 The Bootleg Series Vol. 17
Various Artists Looking For The Magic: American Power Pop In The Seventies
Hot House: The Complete Jazz At Massey
The Grateful Dead (with members of the Allman Brothers)
RFK Stadium, Washington, DC 6/10/73
Genesis: The BBC Broadcasts
Another excellent present recommendation: