Reading: 2021

I read (sometimes reread) across economics, history, politics, science, and fiction, as well as other forms of writing such as doctoral theses. This page collects brief notes on books I found illuminating, enjoyable, or worth revisiting in 2021.

2021

The Luminaries — Eleanor Catton (2013)

Fiction | historical fiction

A remarkable novel: ambitious, intricate, and deeply immersive. Its structural daring, astrological motifs, and even the chapter-opening “soft spoilers” all add to the richness rather than detract from it.

Trade Wars are Class Wars — Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis (2020)

Non-fiction | trade | political economy

A sharp and original argument that many international trade conflicts are in fact rooted in domestic distributional problems. One of the book’s strengths is that it shifts attention from slogans about trade to the inequalities that often sit behind them.

Klara and the Sun — Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)

Fiction

A beautifully controlled novel, and my real entry point into Ishiguro. The book is quiet, moving, and philosophically suggestive without ever becoming heavy-handed.

Young Soeharto: The Making of a Soldier, 1921–1945 — David Jenkins (2021)

Non-fiction | Indonesia | history

One of the most intelligent and meticulously researched books I have read on Indonesian history. Jenkins writes with extraordinary care, and the result feels likely to become a major reference on Soeharto’s early life.

The Kite Runner — Khaled Hosseini (2004)

Fiction

A novel I should have read much earlier. It is beautifully paced, emotionally powerful, and one of those books that offers a humane way into the history and tragedy of a place.

The Resilient Society — Markus K. Brunnermeier (2021)

Non-fiction | economics | public policy

A timely and persuasive book on resilience as a framework for thinking about shocks, adaptation, and public policy. It brings together a wide range of contemporary concerns under a clear and useful analytical lens.

The Lantern Boats — Tessa Morris-Suzuki (2021)

Fiction | history | East Asia

A sad and elegant novel about espionage, love, and betrayal in postwar Japan. It also gave me a new appreciation for Morris-Suzuki’s range as a writer.

Other books read in 2021

The following titles were also part of my 2021 reading.

Kura-kura Berjanggut — Azhari Aiyub (2018); Amba — Laksmi Pamuntjak (2012); The Lowland — Jhumpa Lahiri (2013); Inheritance of Loss — Kiran Desai (2006); Wolf Hall — Hilary Mantel (2009); Bekisar Merah — Ahmad Tohari (1993); Agricultural Development: New Perspectives — Keijiro Otsuka et al. (2021); Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth — Avi Loeb (2021); How to Avoid Climate Disaster — Bill Gates (2021); Resetting the Table — Robert Paarlberg (2021); The Committed — Viet Thanh Nguyen (2021); The Plague Cycle — Charles Kenny (2021); The Splendid and the Vile — Erik Larson (2020); A Wink from the Universe — Martin Flanagan (2018); A Stroll along Ryukyu Martial Arts History — Andreas Quast (2015); Life History — Gregory Clark (2021); The Distributional Impacts of Trade — Jacob Engel et al. (2021); Bubble of Revolution? — Neel Mehta et al. (2019); Okinawa Kobudo Vol. 1 — Andreas Quast (2013); Okinawa Kobudo Vol. 2 — Andreas Quast (2013); Yogya Yogya — H. Gendut Janarto (2020); The Box — Marc Levinson (2016); Shuggie Bain — Douglas Stuart (2020); The True History of the Kelly Gang — Peter Carey (2007); At Night All Blood Is Black — David Diop (2020); Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood — Danny Trejo and Donal Logue (2021); Bad Muslim Discount — Syed M. Masood (2021); The War of the Poor — Éric Vuillard (2020); Reset: Restoring Australia after the Pandemic Recession — Ross Garnaut (2021); Foreign Investment and Industrialization in Indonesia — Hal Hill (1988); Making Foreign Investment Safe — Louis T. Wells and Rafiq Ahmed (2007); Dark Academia: How Universities Die — Peter Fleming (2021); Bettering Humanomics — Deirdre Nansen McCloskey (2021); The Politics of Inner Power — Ian Douglas Wilson (2002); Love in the Time of Cholera — Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1985); A Passage North — Anuk Arudpragasam (2021); The Story of a Brief Marriage — Anuk Arudpragasam (2016); Levels of Life — Julian Barnes (2013); Admiring Silence — Abdulrazak Gurnah (1996); Hojo Undo — Michael Clarke (2009); Pachinko — Min Jin Lee (2020); Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World — Adam Tooze (2018); Ankō Itosu — Thomas Feldmann (2021).