It is late December, and therefore time for the least-anticipated literary prize of the year – The Johnny Bingo Award! I’m sure you all remember how this works, but just in case here is a cut-and-paste reminder of the rules:
This award too has only one criterion – for a book to be eligible, I had to have started reading it this year. It could’ve been written by a blind Greek poet in the 8th century BCE or be an unpublished galley hacked from an MFA candidate’s MacBook in a Brooklyn cafe. As long as I read the first paragraph before Dick Clark’s puppeteer walks him through the New Year’s Eve Countdown, it can be a winner.
There is a significant difference between The Johnny Bingo Award and the slightly more prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature: there is a chance you may have heard of my authors!
The Nobel Prize for Literature should be renamed “The Nobel Prize for a Random European Author Nobody Reads”. This year, it went to somebody named Annie Ernaux. As is often the case with the Nobel Prize for Literature, after the winner is announced readers all over the world say “Who?”, then go to the person’s Wikipedia page, which has like one paragraph, and then try to buy the book, and find it is out of print.
This is not a new phenomenon for the Nobel Prize. In the 19th century they skipped over Leo Tolstoy and Mark Twain – who were beaten out by such literary giants as Bjornstjern Bjornson, Jose Echeragay, Henrik Sienkiewicz, and Rudolph Christoph Euken. In the 20th century, Joyce, Nabokov and Proust were defeated by Lagerkvist, Andrik, and Elytis.
So Cormac McCarthy*, my old friend, you may have published some masterpieces, but you committed the unpardonable sin of being liked by Oprah, The Coen Brothers, and actual readers. No Nobel for you!
* McCarthy published two novels this year, his first in 16 years. But alas he is not eligible for a JB as Santa Claus (actually my son) gifted them to me 4 days ago, and I have yet to read them.
On to the Johnny Bingos!
Best Biography
Peter the Great: His Life and World, Robert K. Massie
When Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, some ill-informed TV talking heads said he wanted to bring back the glory of the Soviet Union – to be the next Stalin. But well-informed historians said no – he wanted to bring back the glory of Mother Russia – to be the next Peter the Great.
Robert K. Massie is the preeminent English-language historian of the Romanov Dynasty, and his biography of Peter has sat on my shelf a long time. I bought it not long after reading his thrilling masterpiece, Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty.
Putin's blunder* finally inspired me to pull this one from the shelf, and it is well worth the 1000+ pages. Like all great history, it illuminates our world while telling a thrilling story from the past.
* By the way, remember how everyone thought the Russian army was going to roll through the Ukraine with ease? Well, if you were reading Freetime you may have been more skeptical. I wrote this piece the day before the invasion. As I said above, history is almost always a better guide to the present than the TV news shouters.
Best Newly Discovered Dead Writer*
In a lifetime of reading mysteries and thrillers, not sure how John MacDonald slipped through the cracks. Most famous for the Travis McGee series and his novel The Executioners (which inspired the two Cape Fear movies, the original with Robert Mitchum and the remake by Scorsese), MacDonald is a fascinating guy whose Wikipedia page is way more interesting than Annie...oh shoot I forgot her name already...
I like my serial private detectives (and McGee is kinda sorta one) to be resourceful and tough, but also flawed, intellectually-inclined, and a bit of a wise-ass. I'm about 1/3 through the 21 McGee novels, and looking forward to the rest of them.
* if you're new to the Johnny Bingo Awards, you should know I just make up categories whenever I feel like it. Speaking of which...
Best Book by a Newly Discovered Contemporary Writer
When you read as much as I do, you sometimes worry you're going to run out of great books But then one day you see a tweet about Don Winslow retiring from writing, and all sorts of book people with good taste are heartbroken about the retirement of Don Winslow, and I'm over here saying, "Uh, who is Don Winslow?"
So I did some research, and decided to read The Force by Don Winslow. And I get why people are so upset. Dude is good. I am very much looking forward to reading The Cartel trilogy in 2023.
Oh, and I suspect he'll be back. He's retiring from writing novels to make political videos opposing Trumpism. Which seems like maybe not a long-term gig?
Best Book Recommended by a Friend
The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero, Timothy Egan
As a Civil War guy (not a buff), I was aware of Thomas Meagher as the general of the legendary Irish Brigade (or, The Fighting 69th). But I had no idea that was only part of his extraordinary life.
He was an Irish revolutionary, famous for his stirring oratory. He was sent to the penal colony in Australia, from which he escaped in dramatic fashion. A penniless immigrant in New York, he won the heart of a beautiful and wealthy socialite, who was devoted to him despite (or because of?) her family's disapproval. After the Civil War, he became Governor of Montana, and died a mysterious death in the Old West. And yeah, was one of the best fighting generals on either side of the Civil War.
That, my friends, is a life.
(Hat tip to my bro-in-law Jocfun, who also recommended a Johnny Bingo runner-up, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz.)
Best Book by a Film Director
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
This year I read two books by successful film directors, so let's make it a category! Making Movies by Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, and much more) is a highly readable, slightly dated book about how he makes movies. From the script to working with actors to editing and lighting and so much more - it's a fine behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a director.
But if you like QT movies as much as I do, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy his own novel based on his latest movie. In part, it is a fleshing out of the story. And in part, it is much more interior monologue from key characters. But mostly it is an excuse for Tarantino, through his characters, to geek out on film.
Best Book of the Year
A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
This was one of the first books I read in 2022, so the words to describe it don't come easily. But it reminded me a bit of some of Mark Helprin's finest books.
Helprin is, to my mind, the most underrated novelist of my lifetime. He didn't start out that way...one of his early novels, Winter's Tale, received (on the front page of The New York Times Book Review, no less) one of the most gushing reviews ever written:
"I find myself nervous, to a degree I don't recall in my past as a reviewer, about failing the work, inadequately displaying its brilliance". Benjamin Mott
Mott was not alone. His first few novels all received this sort of adulation. But the literary world lost interest in Helprin, I think perhaps because some of his politics, particularly in regard to Israel and Palestine, were unacceptable to the literary elite.
Anyway Helprin's best novels have a mix of history, magic realism, philosophy and poetry that really speak to me. A Gentleman in Moscow is more realism than magic. And it has a core of stoic philosophy at its heart.
But spending a few hundred pages with Count Alexander Rostov will make you feel better about humanity, and perhaps about your own life.
Congratulations to all the winners!
n.b. All the links to books here are to Bookshop.org. I like the convenience of Amazon as much as the next guy, but if you want to buy online and still support independent booksellers, please shop at Bookshop.org.
