2021, a year's worth of books

2021 was the year I finally read Robert Caro’s books.?They've been on my reading list for years, I would invariably go to get his book on Robert Moses on the reader, not be able to find it, and move on to something else. This time I put in an order for the hard copy.

It's basically a masters in urban planning and city politics, with a diploma in NYC, and one of the absolute best and most illuminating books I've ever read. I went on to devour his four books on LBJ, as well as Caro's stopgap on his approach to writing and research.

What I find so illuminating about Caro’s writing is the way he’ll tell a story deeply and persuasively from one person’s perspective, say LBJ, until you’re feeling what he felt towards others like Bobby Kennedy – then he’ll switch perspective, and do the same in reverse. He's able to set out one view of a situation that seems rock solid and then a page later demolish it by showing the same situation from another vantage point.

Although I'm hoping against hope Caro finishes his fifth and final book on LBJ, I can't help feeling he's wasted on the despicable people he channelled his energies into – it's often in the discursive sections on the fight for black rights and the lives of women in Depression era Texas hill country where he really soars.

8. The power broker – Robert A Caro?

23. The years of Lyndon Johnson: The path to power – Robert A Caro

26. The years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of ascent – Robert A Caro

27. Working – Robert A Caro?

35. The years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the senate – Robert A Caro

48. The years of Lyndon Johnson: The passage of power – Robert A Caro

If there was a by-product of reading Caro, it was an itch to be working on an election campaign again. And also thinking really hard about the tough problems of making change in government and elsewhere.

Tufte's book on visual communications was such an eye-opener, and Heifetz is such a fascinating thinker on governance. I first came across his writing when I did the Sydney Leadership course a few years ago, but for various reasons, never got the chance to go as deeply into his writing as I wanted to – I've got another couple of books for 2022. Tufte and Heifetz's books, too, are an essential education.

George Megalogenis is always a must read, Sean Kelly's book offered rare insights into the Prime Minister – incredible timing, too. Gideon Haigh’s book on Doc Evatt, a figure I’ve always been intrigued by, was fascinating, particularly on his role in the legal understanding of negligence and duty of care – now mostly seen as evidence of nanny state – but reading this, you can’t imagine anyone wanting to go back to the brutal carelessness that came before.

4. How to win an election – Chris Wallace?

12. The prince – Niccolò Machiavelli

14. The visual display of quantitative information – Edward R Tufte?

16. The peacemaker’s code – Deepak Malhotra?

25. Quarterly Essay: Exit Strategy – George Megalogenis?

29. Reveille for radicals – Saul D Alinsky?

43. On doubt – Leigh Sales?

47. The Game: a portrait of Scott Morrison – Sean Kelly?

50. Leadership without easy answers – Ronald A Heifetz?

52. The brilliant boy: Doc Evatt and the great Australian dissent – Gideon Haigh?

54. Talking to strangers: What we should know about the people we don't know – Malcolm Gladwell

I grew up in the Blue Mountains and kids from the city just seemed infinitely more knowledgable and worldly. I was fixated on studying architecture until my year 10 work experience in the government architect's office in Canberra. But despite a career that's taken me into geophysics, journalism and politics, I've found my way back to urbanism and architecture in my new job this year.

Annalee Newitz's Four Lost Cities was a fascinating tour back to the earliest cities, while I loved the School of Life's children's book on architecture – particularly the idea of recipes for what works in cities, and thinking about neighbourhoods and precincts rather than star buildings (even though I love a lot of those stars).

Stuck in Sydney, Stef Orazi's book on the Barbican was a brilliant escape. I'd never really twigged the difference from so many other brutalist projects, including Sirius here in Sydney, with the Barbican originally built for middle class and wealthier Londoners living in the City. Along with the gorgeous photography, it added so much to my understanding of that project, which I've always loved.

6. The well-tempered city – Jonathan FP Rose?

7. Killing Sydney – Elizabeth Farrelly?

20. What adults don’t know about architecture (School of Life)?

21. Four lost cities – Annalee Newitz?

28. The Sydney culture essays (Committee for Sydney)?

31. The Australian ugliness – Robin Boyd?

34. Where are the women architects? – Despina Stratigakos?

37. A city is not a computer – Shannon Mattern?

39. He who must be Obeid – Kate McClymont & Linton Besser?

44. The Barbican estate – Stef Orazi?

46. After the Australian ugliness – Naomi Stead?

Being the year it’s been, well, being a science fiction fan has rarely felt so right. I've been reading Jo Walton's book for a few years now – she's a re-reader, unlike me – and this was a collection of her blog posts on her compulsive re-reads. I'd read a post and be thrown into a book, read a post and be thrown into another book. It was a fantastic guide to some thrilling sci-fi.

Cixin Liu is incredible, everything he writes is worth reading. Ballard's High Rise felt apposite, with us all confined to our homes (and me working on urban policy again). Malka Ann Older's Infomocracy was a last minute addition – I bought it for my sister for xmas and thought I'd better read it first to make sure I stood by it as a present (I did). I pushed Newitz's Autonomous on anyone and everyone, and Delany's Nova was brilliant too.

10. A shadow in summer – Daniel Abraham?

11. A betrayal in winter – Daniel Abraham

13. An autumn war – Daniel Abraham

15. The price of spring – Daniel Abraham

18. Nova – Samuel R Delany?

32. What makes this book so great – Jo Walton?

36. Autonomous – Annalee Newitz?

38. Hold up the sky – Cixin Liu?

49. High-rise – JG Ballard?

51. Infomocracy – Malka Ann Older??

I started the year with Julia Baird's wonderful biography of Queen Victoria, an absolute page turner. I had been meaning to read it for years, and was glad I finally did. Snow Country by Kawabata was mournful, while Pip Williams' Dictionary of Lost Words was a sweet wonderful book to (nearly) end the year with. Just what I needed.

It was a weird kind of joy to read two books from friends I admire – Safdar Ahmed's Still Alive, a bleak, brilliant book on his work and friendship with refugees at Villawood (I'm so proud to have played a small supporting role when I was at GetUp); and one of my favourite writers Anwen Crawford, and her poetic No Document.

1. Victoria, the Queen – Julia Baird?

2. Cliffs of Fall and other stories – Shirley Hazzard?

3. Writers on writers: Shirley Hazzard – Michelle de Kretser?

5. People in glass houses – Shirley Hazzard?

9. No document – Anwen Crawford?

17. Dark emu – Bruce Pascoe?

19. Still alive – Safdar Ahmed?

24. Alexander Calder – Susan Braeuer Dam?

33. Nakano Darling – Chris Wu?

40. Walden – Henry David Thoreau?

41. Nina Simone’s gum – Warren Ellis?

42. Civil disobedience – Henry David Thoreau

45. Snow country – Yasunari Kawabata

53. The dictionary of lost words - Pip Williams

For the past five or so years I've had a growing passion for hiking, really ever since I read Cheryl Strayed's Wild. This year I really stepped it up, joining one of the country's oldest bushwalking clubs, and doing several off track walks around Cox's River and Wollangambe Crater, as well as heading down to the Royal National Park on my own. Caro Ryan's a member of the club, and her book on navigation has been a great education.

I was in Canberra just before we locked down again in June, and visiting the National Arboretum rekindled my passion for bonsai. I've had a few failed attempts, but this time I searched out good books for Australian conditions and climate, and, while stock plants are hard to come by right now, I'm working on a bougainvillea I rescued from the street a few years ago. It's going pretty well so far.

22. Bonsai in Australia – Dorothy Koreshoff?

30. Bonsai with Australian native plants – Dorothy Koreshoff

55. How to navigate – Caro Ryan?

This year, maybe more than any other, stuck in the house day after day for unrelenting work, whipping up lunches and doing tech support for kids doing school from home, limited to a 5km radius, etc, it's been a salve to get out of it all in a good book.