Backlist Book Guide
My top-rated paperback books from recent years
I normally have two options for where to pick up books: my local bookstore or the library. Given how expensive habitual book purchasing can be, especially if the purchases are new releases in hardcover, I’m a frequent patron of my branch of the New York Public Library. But use of the library also requires patience and a smidge of organization - patience to wait for a book to become available after placing it on hold and then organization to make sure it gets read before its due date.
In most of my posts, especially my monthly round-ups, the books that I highlight are new releases, typically having been published this year or at the end of last. New books are more likely to be popular, which means they probably also have long waits at the library. For this post, I want to try something a bit different and recommend “backlist books,” meaning books that were not published during this calendar year and are out in paperback. My grandma suggested a post like this because she noticed long wait times at her library for the new releases I was recommending - thanks for the suggestion, Grandma! I hope that by recommending slightly older books you might be able to get them from your library quickly or they will be cheaper to buy when you go to your local independent bookstore or peruse my new Bookshop page (you can also click the title of each book listed below to go directly to that book on my Bookshop page).
Most of the 15 books on this list are new recommendations, i.e. I haven’t written about them before, and all are books that I have read in recent years and loved. I think they each deserve renewed attention even if they aren’t still on bestseller lists.
Non-Fiction
How to Hide an Empire - Daniel Immerwahr
History of American Colonialism, Rating: 8/10
When considering historical empires, we typically think of the British, French, or Ottomans. We don’t often think about the United States, which expands far beyond the fifty states. How to Hide an Empire tells the story of American territorial expansion in two parts: the physical claiming of land from Puerto Rico to the Philippines before the Second World War and a more modernized form of influence using cultural, political, and sometimes military persuasion in the years after 1945. This book re-approaches a typical understanding of American history and taught me about places often-overlooked and under-studied.
Catch and Kill - Ronan Farrow
Harvey Weinstein/Me Too Investigation, Rating: 8/10
In 2017, Ronan Farrow began an investigation after hearing long-whispered rumors about Harvey Weinstein’s predatory sexual behavior. As the details of Farrow’s story started to fill out, he began to notice suspicious things around him. Sources would suddenly stop talking. People were following him. An accidental email sent from a secretive private spy firm provided the final tip-off that Weinstein had hired private operatives to derail not just his story, but his entire career. Catch and Kill is the story of both Harvey Weinstein’s transgressions as well as the lengths to which Weinstein and those around him went to cover up the truth. This is a fast-paced piece of investigative journalism that reads like a thriller, and is a fascinating inside account of one of the first people to break a story that set off the #MeToo movement.
The Spy and the Traitor - Ben Macintyre
Cold War/Espionnage, Rating: 10/10
This book might possibly be one of my favorite books of all time. Although it is non-fiction, this book reads like a novel. The Spy and the Traitor follows the life of Oleg Gordievsky, a career KGB agent who rises to the top post in London while also working as a double agent for MI6. As a double agent with nearly unrestricted access to information on both sides, Gordievsky worked to foil Soviet intelligence plots and de-escalate nuclear tensions between the major powers. This is a book about chance and the way that well-sourced intelligence can alter the course of history. The high-stakes scenes of this book take place in the later years of the Cold War, emphasizing the prolonged extent of the tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies and their lethal stakes.
The Fifth Risk - Michael Lewis
Government Bureaucracy, Rating: 9/10
In the years during and immediately following the Trump presidency, it felt like a new memoir or exposé was released every month detailing chaos and incompetency. While The Fifth Risk, published in 2019, also centers around the Trump years, it tells a story much larger than the specific administration. Michael Lewis centers his book around a seemingly boring topic - the intricacies of bureaucracy. This bureaucracy, however, is the foundation of our country and is responsible for everything from public health guidance, to the safety of food and drugs, to climate regulations, to the weather predictions we rely on every day. Without dedicated public servants leading these agencies, the foundation of our government is prone to erosion, which was on full display during the Trump years when political appointees interested in personal gain and devoid of relevant experience took control. I urge people to read this book to understand the consequences that befall us if we are not careful with who selects who serves in positions of immense, if not popularly acknowledged, power.
The Education of an Idealist - Samantha Power
Political Memoir, Rating: 10/10
Power’s path to becoming the United States Ambassador to the United Nations feels improbable and pre-destined at the same time. Power was born in Ireland in 1970 and moved to the United States when she was a small child. In 1995, she moved to Bosnia to cover the Bosnian Genocide, despite a lack of journalism experience. Her time in Bosnia provided the material for her 2003 Pulitzer Prize winning book A Problem From Hell, which caught then-Senator Obama’s attention. When Obama won the presidency, Power was brought on to the National Security Council as a Special Assistant and later became the U.S. Ambassador to the UN in 2013, the youngest-ever U.S. Ambassador to serve. Throughout her illustrious career, Power never lost faith in the way America’s stature on the global stage could be used to end atrocities. The intensity in this idealism sometimes brought her at odds with Obama and other members of his team, but also earned her a reputation as a dogged worker intent on improving people’s lives. Power is an exceptional writer, and every part of her personal journey is interesting and inspiring.
Winners Take All - Anand Giridharadas
Wealth Gaps, American Society, Rating: 9/10
Winners Take All is a critical assessment of people with wealth and power who disguise themselves as agents of social change. Giridharadas argues that the world has been functioning within a type of large-scale system of trickle down economics, in which the rich fund projects that align with their ideas of how societies should operate, thus shaping how the world operates in turn. Giridharadas takes aim at global thought summits like Davos or Aspen, and is heavily critical of tax loopholes and lobbying that corrupt the idealism of equal representation and healthy democracies. There are certainly contradictions in this book - Giridharadas is himself connected to the Aspen Institute, but the book is thought provoking and four years after reading it I still think about his arguments.
Fiction
Writers and Lovers - Lily King
Contemporary Fiction, Rating: 10/10
Casey is an aspiring writer struggling with the recent death of her mother. Intent on a fresh start, she moves to Boston where she waits tables and works on her novel. Although most of her friends have moved on from their creative passions to start families or pursue more practical careers, Casey is intent on making it, despite all the obstacles in her way. This is an absolutely lovely book, possibly one of my all time favorites. Lily King, also one of my favorite authors, has written characters that are beautifully compelling, complicated, and complete. This is a quiet story full of power and I urge anyone who has not read this book to pick it up.
Disappearing Act - Catherine Steadman
Mystery/Thriller, Rating: 8.5/10
Mia is a British actress who comes to Los Angeles for "pilot season," a series of high-stress auditions where actors and actresses hoping to make it in the industry try out for a slate of upcoming roles. While waiting for her turn at one audition, Mia meets Emily. Right before Emily's turn, she asks Mia to top up her parking meter, handing over her keys in the process. When Mia returns, Emily is gone. After a few days of silence, she receives a text from Emily's number asking if she can come by Mia's apartment and get her items. When she opens the door it's not Emily standing there but someone impersonating her. What happened to Emily? How far does the conspiracy go? This is the best kind of mystery thriller, one that I could not put down as I neared the final third of the book. There is no excessive gore or violence, but rather slow creeping suspense and tension that culminates in a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.
Beach Read - Emily Henry
Fiction/Romance, Rating: 9/10
January is a “women’s fiction” writer, struggling to overcome writer’s block after the loss of her father and desperate for her work to be recognized in the way that she thinks her books deserve. With a deadline looming, January goes to a beach house that her father has left her in his will to get away from distractions. While there, she accidentally reunites with Augustus, an old rival from her writing classes at college who inadvertently lives next door and happens to be a renowned and respected author of literature. Hoping to force one another to respect the work that they each do, January and Augustus accept a challenge to write a book in the other’s genre, and along the way learn that their assumptions might have been just that. (They may also fall in love, but you have to read the book to find out). I’m currently reading Emily Henry’s latest, Book Lovers, and it is proving to me that this author is one of the best in the genre.
Fleishman is in Trouble - Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Contemporary Fiction, Rating: 9/10
Toby Fleishman, New York doctor and newly divorced, is shocked when after dropping off their two kids for the weekend, his ex-wife Rachel does not return. The new life that he expected to build post-divorce did not include full-time parenting and it certainly did not involve a missing ex-spouse. As Toby looks for answers he is forced to consider the legacy of his marriage and the reasons for why Rachel may have decided to go. Fleishman is in Trouble is a funny book with bumbling characters and vivid scenes of New York. It is simultaneously entertaining and perceptive on issues of marriage, dependency, and love.
The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
Historical Fiction, Rating: 10/10
The Nickel Boys tells the story of Elwood Curtis, a young black boy from Tallahassee who is unfairly incarcerated at the Nickel Academy, a juvenile detention reformatory. It is the 1960s, and although black and white boys are housed in the facility, treatment is segregated and conditions are horrific. As a means of survival, Elwood quickly develops a friendship with another boy, Turner, who pushes the boundaries of a school unafraid to push the limits of the law. This book is based on a real reform school in Florida that was recently discovered to have buried the bodies of countless children housed in the facility. Whitehead’s story is equal parts powerful and incredible, expertly crafted and fully deserving of its Pulitzer Prize.
Disappearing Earth - Julia Phillips
Contemporary Fiction, Rating: 9/10
How many books have you read set in a far-off town in northeastern Russia? Not many, I’d assume, which makes Disappearing Earth so captivating from the very start. In chapter one, two sisters go missing off a beach near the coast of Japan and Alaska. Each subsequent chapter is told from the perspective of a different woman in the community who are all connected to the crime, exposing readers to the broad expanse of viewpoints as well as the varied geography that makes up the region. Underneath the surface-level plot line of the missing girls sits a story of ethnic tensions between the indigenous population and the European Russians who migrated east during the Soviet-era and yearn for a more organized past.
The Parade - Dave Eggers
Contemporary Fiction, Rating: 9/10
Two private contractors are sent to an unnamed country to pave a road connecting one side to another. The country is recovering from a long civil war and the completion of this road, which will be marked with a parade, is meant to herald a new era of peace and connection. Armed with their equipment and strict protocols, the first man is intent on putting his head down, completing his assignment, and then going home. The second man is adventurous and wants to see the area and connect with its people. While the initial premise of this book - road construction - might not seem particularly interesting, I can assure you that this slim novel is riveting from the start to its shocking conclusion. Dave Eggers is a masterful storyteller who knows his way around a sharp story packed with political punch.
Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell
Historical Fiction, Rating: 9/10
Much has been written about the life of Shakespeare and his work. Hamnet, a stunning book by Maggie O’Farrell, examines the life of Shakespeare without ever once mentioning his name or even focusing on him as the central character. Instead, the protagonist is Agnes, the wife of a young Latin tutor and future playwright, who raises her children in Stratford-upon-Avon as her husband’s career takes him to London. Agnes raises their children alone for most of the year, teaching them naturalist techniques that she learned as a girl. But just as her husband’s popularity sores, a bout of the Black Death sweeps across the country and roots itself within their family, providing inspiration for one of the playwright’s greatest works.
A Burning - Megha Majumdar
Fiction/Indian Politics, Rating: 9/10
A glib comment on Facebook made by Jivan, a Muslim woman living in the slums of India, places her at the center of a terrorist investigation after a devastating attack on a train. Looking for a scapegoat, Jivan is arrested by the authorities who ignore her alibi in order to maintain the facade of an easy explanation: Muslims attack Hindus. A Burning tells not only the story of Jivan, but also the stories of other disaffected people in the community, including PT Sir, a gym teacher who discovers his path to celebrity through a right-wing Hindu political party and Lovely, a transgender woman working to prove Jivan’s innocence while struggling to survive in her own right. A Burning is a fantastic debut about politics, mob mentality, and the cost of aspiration.
All of these books and every other book that I’ve recommended can be purchased on my new Bookshop page. I earn a small commission on any purchase you make in my new digital store.