My Favorite Book of 2011

You Think That’s Bad

You Think That’s Bad is an odd title for a book, but it actually works for what the book is trying to do. Jim Shepard puts together 11 short stories about people in various places around the world and various times in history and puts the reader in their shoes. The one unifying aspect of all these people is that they are all pretty miserable. With the title of the book and the various protagonists, it implies a Canterbury Tales-esque meta-narrative that perhaps somehow all these people are stuck in some inn somewhere that is beyond time and space with each person telling their own stories of woe (of course, interrupting the previous story teller with “you think that’s bad!”). Or maybe these stories are somehow all connected with some sort of reincarnation thread and they are the same soul going from unfortunate fate to unfortunate fate, imprisoned by their karma. Either way, the short story construction of each tale gives a slice of the life of somebody in a pretty bad situation. Whether it is a woman trapped in the desert searching for the citadel of the Assassins, an engineer trying not to be drowned in the Netherlands, a lonely man defending northern Australia from the Japanese in WWII, or being a servant to a serial killer and rapist in 15th century France, none of the stories really start or end with happiness. But while none of the stories really gives the complete picture of any their unfortunate protagonists, what makes You Think That’s Bad great is how each story adds a piece of the puzzle and creates a tapestry of human suffering about how  humanity deals with its heavy load.

What also makes this tapestry compelling to read is how the book takes real events and people and weaves them into those stories. The biggest highlight is how Mr. Shepard takes Eiji Tsuburaya, the man behind the visual effects in Gojira (aka Godzilla), and creates the best some of the best historical fiction based in Japan since James Clavell’s Shogun. The amount of both real historical knowledge and genuine human emotion injected in each story makes each tale of human suffering a treat instead of a trudge. Though beware, this book gets into so many real depressing truths in the world that I would recommend only reading one story at a time. Though to be honest, I found the book so good, that I found it often hard to stop at just one story. The ability to be both soul-crushingly depressing and yet so compelling to read is what makes this my favorite book of 2011.

Runner Up: Bossypants

Memoirs are a dime a dozen it seems like, but Tina Fey’s Bossypants is one that nobody should miss. It is equal parts funny, introspective, and it is a great case for Tina Fey being one of the funniest people in America today. Reading about her struggles growing up and becoming the successful person she is now is inspiring, but the hilarious way she makes fun of herself and the world around her is fantastic. Perfect book to wrap up this winter and give a read.