For all of the books that I have read over the years – both for fun and for my work with WGTD – I don’t think I have ever taken the time to amass an end-of-the-year Top Ten Favorite Books list. I am finally doing it now because 2020 has been a year in which books were a source of sustenance like they have never been before. Yes, there has been plenty of binge watching of everything from Schitt’s Creek to Hazel reruns – but with all of the time I have had to spend in front of a screen for zoom meetings, voice lessons and interviews, it has been plain old reading that has truly kept me sane and whole. Here are the ten books that top my list of favorites for the year. By the way, this list is limited to books I ‘had to’ read for my radio program, where I got to interview the author(s). But in each and every case, reading these books was a complete pleasure. Here they are, in no particular order: 
ONE. I was excited about this interview from the moment I heard who had written it. Lucinda Robb is the granddaughter of Lady Bird Johnson – and Rebecca Boggs Roberts is the daughter of Cokie Roberts. These lifelong friends cowrote this fascinating book that celebrates the amazing exploits of the suffragists who worked so tirelessly, passionately and creatively to secure the right for all American women to vote. But this is not just a book about the past- it is also about how the activists of today can learn a great deal from what the suffragists did and how they did it. At a glance, it might seem farfetched that we who live in the era of the internet, social media, artificial intelligence and the like would have anything to learn from the likes of Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony – but we absolutely do. By the way, this book is by no means a children’s book – but you could certainly give it to a young reader with every confidence that they would get a lot out of it. 
TWO. This is a baseball book about far more than just baseball. Brad Balukjian collected Topp’s Baseball Cards when he was a kid. As an adult in his early 30’s, he sent away to Ebay for a pack of vintage cards from 1986, which was the last year he actively collected baseball cards, and proceeded to try and meet each of the dozen-plus major league ballplayers who happened to be represented in those particular cards and who were still alive. One intriguing aspect of the Topp’s cards is that they showcased players of every stripe- from superstars to average journeymen- and it was the latter sort of player that most interested Balukjian both then and now. This book chronicles his tireless efforts to meet the surviving players from this set of cards (some welcomed his request- others not so much-one not at all) … and the deeply personal encounters he ends up having with some of them. 
THREE. This is a gripping and illuminating account of an incident which occurred in downtown Dallas, Texas on the night of July 9, 2017, when five Dallas police officers were shot and killed at a Black Lives Matter demonstration. The author, Jamie Thompson, vividly describes the central events of that evening- and their context- through the eyes of a number of different people: a single mother who was at the demonstration …. a black ER physician at one of the hospitals in the heart of Dallas …. the acting police chief …. a hostage negotiator on the scene …. and more. But this book’s most lasting value is in how it guides the reader to confront the most difficult questions around policing and race – and does not allow the reader to settle for shallow, simplistic answers. I interviewed the author not long after the city of Kenosha found itself shaken to its core by the Jacob Blake shooting and the demonstrations and riots that followed in its wake
FOUR. I do much more non-fiction than fiction for “The Morning Show,” but once in a while a novel comes along that grabs me by the shoulders and does not let go. Meredith Hall’s Beneficence is such a novel. It follows the lives of four members of a dairy farming family in Maine – and what happens to them when unexpected and terrible tragedy strikes. Hall has drawn characters that are fully authentic and multi-layered …and the dynamics between them feel just as authentic. She shifts the narrative voice between three characters- the mother, the father, and the daughter- the sort of device that I tend to find irritating and confusing. But she uses it brilliantly and I found that it gave this book a rich, pulsing life and energy.
FIVE. You have maybe read books that follow the format of the Oral History, in which the voices of a wide range of participants are gathered together without the intrusion of a third-person narrator. I have read books about Star Trek, Saturday Night Live, and Must-See-TV written in this format, and I have loved each and every one of them. This book may be my favorite of them all. It helps that I am a huge fan of the television show, and this ever-fascinating book takes us behind the scenes and helps us understand how this wonderful program first took shape and managed to sustain its excellence through its long run. It helps that every single cast member plus every important staffer was willing to participate. Any fan of this show will enjoy this book, if for no other reason because it will surely deepen your appreciation for Modern Family and its groundbreaking greatness.
SIX. An amusing book about incontinence? Luce Brett’s PMSL is that and so much more. She has written a disarmingly honest account of the ordeal she has endured after incurring injuries during childbirth which left her seriously incontinent at the age of 33. There is almost nothing funny about what she has experienced, and yet she finds an amazing amount of humor where others might only see heartache and humiliation. In a world where just about any topic is fair game, incontinence remains a truly taboo subject – but she takes it on wholeheartedly. I came away from this book with tremendous admiration for the author – for having the courage to tell her story in this way, and for having the skill to tell it so brilliantly well.
SEVEN. Some books are about wonderful people who inspire us – people we try to emulate – people we admire so much that we wish there was a way to clone them, because the world needs many more such people. And then there are books about awful people who did awful things – and we read such books in the hope that we will be properly prepared if the same sort of awful person comes along. Larry Tye has written an incredible book about the infamous Joe McCarthy, the single worst thing that the state of Wisconsin ever gave to the world. But the book does far more than just describe McCarthy’s awfulness. It also helps explain it- and also talks about the context in which McCarthy emerged and managed to do such terrible damage (and those who wittingly or unwittingly helped enable his awful legacy.)
EIGHT. This book made the list at least in part because it was so incredibly thrilling for me to be able to speak with Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series. (I have been a huge Star Trek nerd for as long as I can remember.) But as it turns out, this book exceeded my every expectation. Part of the reason is that Koenig has a very interesting personal story and he tells it quite well. He is willing to share honestly about every aspect of his life, including the crippling anxiety issues that caused stuttering, fainting spells, short-term memory loss, and more. He also chronicles the up’s and down’s of his career in television, which consisted of far more than Star Trek. And needless to say, he has plenty of interesting insights to share about Star Trek- both the TV series as well as the films that followed in its wake.
NINE. Fern Schumer Chapman is a very gifted writer from northern Illinois who first came to my attention because of her memoir Motherland, in which she chronicles the experience of accompanying her mother back to Germany to revisit the hometown that she fled as a youngster just before World War Two. Chapman’s latest book was written this spring not long after the sad shadow of COVID-19 descended on this part of the world. It’s a children’s book which she designed in order to explain to her young granddaughter Harper why they could no longer have their weekly visits (which were known as Harper Thursdays.) Our interview tuned out to be a deeply moving conversation about one of the saddest aspects of the pandemic …. how it meant the cessation of visits between grandparents and grandchildren. Of all of the author interviews I did this year, this is the one that generated the most comment.
TEN. I am always thrilled when a new book about the presidents crosses my desk – and this one was my favorite of 2020. Team of Five tells the story of our five ex-presidents who were alive at the time that this book was begun … Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter …. and the intriguing relationship that they have between them. (Among the biggest surprises: some of the closest friendships within this exclusive club are friendships that cross party lines!) Kate Anderson Brower writes with marvelous discernment about each of these men and their legacies – and does not shy away from discussing President Donald Trump, the withering criticism he has directed at all of his living predecessors, and the high probability that he will have absolutely no interest in joining their ranks. Fascinating stuff!
Every such list needs at least one Honorable Mention, and here is mine:
ELEVEN. Usually I don’t care for books that blend fact and fiction – so when I like a book that does that, it means that the author has done it very well indeed. Darin Strauss’s novel is based on a idea that his grandfather may have met Lucille Ball – and that they might have actually had an affair in the early 1950’s, while she was married to Desi Arnaz. While that particular part of the book is fiction, it is told within the all-too-real context of the turbulent marriage that caused Lucille Ball such heartache. I found this book quite compelling and am really glad that I read it. I strongly recommend it to anybody who would like to know more about Lucille Ball and this sad facet of her personal life.
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I would be remiss if I didn’t briefly mention some of my other favorite books of 2020 – but which did not make the list because I didn’t get to interview the author. Top of the list is The Promised Land by Barack Obama …. a wonderfully crafted book that I am still finishing. Other favorites from the year include Alex Trebek’s The Answer Is … Reflections on My Life, Chasten Buttigieg’s I Have Something To Tell You and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (who I interviewed about her previous book The Warmth of Other Suns.)
Happy reading, everyone!