A weird year, especially bookwise.
I don't usually read a lot of books in spanish, but this year I did (however, none made it to my list) I don't read many fiction books, but this year I did. I guess I delve into uncharted territory and the results were different, I loved some books and I got bored with a handful of them.
My full list for 2020 is here.
A Gentleman In Moscow By Amor Towles
This year was stressful and one of the consequences I had with that was the difficulty to read. I spent many months without reading and this was the first book I could finish in a while.
Quickly, I felt transported to the Metropol Hotel (I spent a good amount of time on Google Maps ‘walking around the hotel’) and to the life of Count Alexander Rostov, the book was absolutely immersive, atemporal and filled with amazing characters. I wish I could've stayed longer with Count Rostov.
The Unpublished David Ogilvy By David Ogilvy
Fun fact about me, I studied marketing - advertising and when I did, I was on the copywriting side of the world. During those years, Ogilvy, Burnett or Thompson were the best copywriters ever and to be honest, they still are. However, what I loved about these guys is how smart they were; to write good copyrights, you need to be clever, witty, and a pragmatic-dreamer thinker, so when you read about what these geniuses thought about the world, you enter a world that is amazing, complex, funny and uncanny. The unpublished David Ogilvy is all of the above. You will learn how to sell the aga rice cooker or how to hire-and retain -the best talent for your company.
The White Tiger By Aravind Adiga
I bought this book at a bookstore in Oxford. I started reading while having soup and bread. I could not stop until I was done. On the train back to London and at home, I went through the story of Balram Halwai in a few days. After living in India on 2 occasions, I have an idea about the country, and specially NCR and Bangalore, the 2 cities where I’ve lived, that’s why it was so easy to get absorbed by the story of this complex, smart and entrepreneurial man. I can’t endorse this book enough, it is a delight from beginning until the end.
Talking To My Daughter: A Brief Story About The Economy By Yaris Varoufakis
Another delightful reading, Varoufakis - greek economist and politician - writes such a didactic, fun and insightful book about the economy, why we need it, how it impacts us nowadays and how we can do something about it.
In my opinion, someone who really knows his stuff is able to explain the most complex subjects in a didactic way and Varoufakis is the right man to get the job done.
The Fifth Risk By Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis is an amazing storyteller, from Moneyball to The Undoing Project, his writing has made him a powerhouse. The Fifth Risk is another one of those amazing books, the summary of the book captures the essence to a T
Michael Lewis’s brilliant narrative of the Trump administration’s botched presidential transition takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its leaders through willful ignorance and greed.
At the end of the book I was so happy that Trump was only months away from losing to Biden (there was never a doubt on my head abut Biden’s victory), Lewis’s book depicts all the atrocities that the Trump administration’s ignorance has brought and all the consequences on the short and long term the americans have to deal with.
As you can see, different genres and flavours for a crazy year. If I had to squeeze another one, I’d go with a hidden jewel: Short Stories By Advertising Titan Leo Burnett.
