Reader’s Notebook, 1/2/25

I completed my final book of 2024 late Saturday/early Sunday as I was battling some insomnia. It was my 62nd book of the year, making 2024 one of my best reading years ever.[1] I read seven books in two different months, six books in three separate months, and never fewer than three books in a 30/31-day stretch. Pretty good work. Now I get to start all over again.

The Siege – Ben MacIntyre
I’ve read two of MacIntyre’s books before, and heard about this latest one via a couple different podcasts. It relates the 1980 takeover of the Iranian embassy in London by Arab terrorists. Our generation remembers the Iranians occupying the US embassy in Tehran well, but I did not remember this event, which lasted for six days that spring.

MacIntyre spoke to many of the surviving hostages, police and military, and government officials involved in the event, which allowed him to piece together a highly detailed, very British accounting of every moment of the crisis, from before the terrorists – who had the stated goal of autonomy for an Arab-majority province in Iran – entered the embassy to the quick but problematic assault by British special forces to free the hostages.

It is a fascinating tale not just for the shady motivations of the terrorists, more on that in a moment, but for how it was one of the first public uses of British SAS forces. The unit had existed since World War II – as one of MacIntyre’s other books outlines – but was barely known to the British public until they stormed the embassy. Quite different from America, where our special forces have always been celebrated as both the elite of the elite and as a warning to forces that want to do us harm.

Now to the terrorists. While most of the force were Arab Iranians who truly sought the autonomy back home they believed the Islamic government had promised them when they supported the 1979 revolution, the power behind them was much less narrowly focused. The organization, training, and money all came from Iraq, leading directly to Saddam Hussein and the super terrorist Abu Nidal. Saddam wanted to embarrass and destabilize the new Shiite government in Iran, hoping to increase his own power in the region. This disastrous event in London was one of the direct causes of the horrific Iran-Iraq war, which lasted for eight years. That, in turn, led to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, as Iraq wanted to take possession of Kuwait’s oil reserves to stabilize its economy after the Iran war. Which led to US troops being stationed in Saudi Arabia before liberating Kuwait. The presence of which was one of Osama Bin Laden’s motivations for declaring a holy war against the US. And you know what happened from there.

Anyway, a highly interesting read about a seemingly unimportant blip in history – to most Americans – that ended up being massively impactful on all of our lives.

There Was Nothing You Could Do – Steven Hyden
I intentionally saved this for the end of the year. What better way to wrap up the 40th anniversary of the greatest year in pop music history than with a book about one of that year’s biggest albums?

In Hyden’s latest, he takes on Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA, the biggest, most popular, and perhaps most impactful album of The Boss’ career. However, this is not just an assessment/break down of the album itself. Hyden takes a long look at where Springsteen was when he recorded the album, how he was already struggling with the weight of success and popularity. How the E. Street Band was already beginning to fracture ever-so-slightly. How Springsteen took a deliberate step back on Nebraska. How, despite their huge differences in sound, how many of the songs on Born In The USA were recorded around the same time as Nebraska was. Biggest of all, Hyden examines what the USA cycle did to Bruce and how he changed in the years after, from pulling back further from the pop mainstream to separating from the E. Street Band to becoming more overtly political.

Bruce Springsteen is one of the most important and influential artists of the rock era. Because of that, whether you like him or not, his story is important. And the most important part of his story is the point where he both embraced popularity and decided that wasn’t for him.

Favorite Books of 2024

I’ve written about every book I read this year already, so no need for blurbs about my favorites. Here’s a list of the ones that I enjoyed the most. Not all of these were new releases.

The Peacock and The Sparrow – I.S. Berry
Calico – Lee Goldberg
Brooklyn Crime Novel – Jonathan Lethem
The Family Chao – Lan Samantha Chang
Chain Gang All-Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The Wager – David Grann
Carrie Soto Is Back – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) – Jeff Tweedy
Middle of the Night – Riley Sager
Nuclear War – Annie Jacobsen