Best Book Lists

I'm collecting "Best Book of the Year" lists and Holiday Gift Guide lists. Here's what I've found:

• Atlantic Monthly's list. With an audio explanation.
• Megan McArdle's Book List
• Eliot Spitzer discusses three books that help explain the economic crisis. (I saw him on MSNBC a few weeks ago shining up his image. Take notes, Tiger.)
• The New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2009.
• more to come.

Comments

[Marya]

Don't forget the scandalous all-male one from Publisher's Weekly, which has taken a lot of heat (justly, I think).

[bj]

So, for those who have read them, are any of them suitable for a kid? (i.e. the Great Crash, Money Mischief, Only Yesterday, Once in Golconda, The Great Depression: A Diary).

She's reading Doonesbury now (as a historical text). It's kind of funny -- I know that Doonesbury is not history, but cool. We've discussed Ronald Reagon, "Women's Lib", the AIDs crisis, and beach rights) as a result. It's been fun, 'cause it's not "dumbed down" for kids (I find that a lot of the even decent stuff for children is). I also like that Doonesbury is contemporaneous, forcing us to recognize what the events were at the time, rather than what impact they had down the road.

[Megan McArdle]

Depending on how old the kid in question is, The Great Crash or the Frederick Lewis Allens. Although now that I think about it, Money Mischief is also definitely something a bright tween could handle.

[bj]

Thanks Megan. We'll check them out. And, if you're looking for children's books :-), I thought the Kit American Girl overview of the depression was quite good. There is watered down kid stuff, but there's also a kid-friendly description of reduced demand and the economic effects. We both read that last year, in December, at the beginning of the meltdown, and it explained a lot to my kid.