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I, Claudius by Robert Graves: This was my favorite book of the year. I really couldn’t put it down. It’s just a classic injustice/revenge story, with a lot of poisonings and beheadings, following the life of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who unexpectedly (especially to himself) became Emperor of Rome in the 1st century A.D. Graves makes Claudius into a wholly sympathetic, pretty funny lead character, who basically watches on the sidelines while his family kills each other off. On something like the second page, Graves (as Claudius) is right on when he says something about how this won’t be another “he begat he who begat him who begat him…” bore. If you really dig it, I’d recommend continuing on to Claudius the God, which picks up right after I, Claudius ends. It’s another 900 pages or so. By the end of that one, you’ll have had your fill. (Although, later I did rent the BBC documentary too … I loved it!)

Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan:  I’d never really known the chronology of Frank Sinatra’s career, especially the rough times. This book charts his early life in Hoboken and years as a rising star, but most interesting is his reinvention of himself in the late 1940s. He really fell out of favor with the public after being listed as unfit for duty in WWII, and over the next years, while his superstar wife, Ava Gardner, was sleeping with every man she could get her hands on, he sank deeper and deeper into a Jack Daniels-depression and plunged out of the spotlight. But even as rock ‘n’ roll was eclipsing his big-band standards as the music de jour, Frank somehow found a new voice (with help from his new string arranger Nelson Riddle) and climbed back to the top. Anyone with even a passing interest in Frank should check this one out.

King Suckerman by George P. Pelecanos: I’m from D.C. originally, so I get a kick out of the hyper-local scene here, and all the little historical details. Not sure if that will resonate with anyone else. This is a thug and cop novel with shotguns and drugs. This is not the D.C. you will find if you go there today.

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins: This guy is not afraid of diving into the serious shit. It’s a first-hand account of the fighting and aftermath in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over and over you just can’t believe what you’re reading.

More from A Year in Reading 2011

Don’t miss: A Year in Reading 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

The good stuff: The Millions’ Notable articles

The motherlode: The Millions’ Books and Reviews

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