Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis (23)

I used to think that growing up would be awesome. I would have money, freedom and responsibility for determining my future. Unfortunately for my childhood dreams, growing up has been a series of disillusioning realizations.

Lately, books haven't helped muster optimism. The Imperfectionists was about work making life miserable. And Liar's Poker told the story flawed and unjust system that exists in the real world. A conservative- free market-capitalist-libertarian, has a certain faith in the market to balance the sale and purchase of goods and services according to what they are worth to the people selling and receiving them. Liar's Poker reinforced the lesson that this just isn't always the case.

Liar's Poker is hilarious and easy to understand. Michael Lewis wrote down his experiences working for a Wall Street company in the '80s as a bond trader. He sort of stumbled upon the job and admits to having no idea what he was doing at the time, so the descriptions of bonds aren't too technical or confusing. Don't get scared away knowing it's about trading mortgage bonds, the book is really more of a narrative featuring the ridiculous people who traded bonds than about the actual trading.

The stories of traders and Wall Street can really upset any belief in the fairness of the market as it is. Lucky for the reader, Lewis can accurately caricature his former bosses, so Liar's Poker doesn't gets too depressing.

Well, thanks, world, for being disillusioning.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (22)

The Imperfectionists is arranged in short stories, which is getting pretty common in novels this year, about people who read or work at an international newspaper headquartered in Rome. I know very little about newspapers and reporting since I get my news from Infomania and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, so I read the more general theme - the intersection of work and personal life. The various characters offer perspectives on office politics, a job's effect on marriage, hating a job but never leaving, and becoming useless in your career.

It's smooth and readable but not mindless and certainly not light or fun. As the book continues, there is a steady decline in the ratio of humor to depressing misfortune. Short chapters allow for a workday or nap in the sun to interrupt the story. Rachman writes well and honestly about people. Even if the reader has never traveled internationally or had any experience with journalism, there are characters from life in the story. Just don't pick up this book if you're in the mood for optimism. Even the epilogue is disheartening.

A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff (21)

Joanna Smith Rakoff wrote A Fortunate Age about a very detailed and specific subculture - Jewish, liberal, upper middle class, city dwelling Gen X-ers. The main characters are five liberal arts Oberlin grads. The book dips into their personal narratives as they go to grad school, make it big, make it nowhere, marry, breed, and halfheartedly try to remain friends in the decade after their undergrad days together.

I'm from a slightly different subculture. I lived a pretty homogeneous life until public high school, when I encountered and befriended people from different classes, religions, political parties. I remember hearing about the dot com boom, but I was really just thinking about Sailor Moon at the time. Because I and my closest friends are still childless and not quite 30, I think I'm missing something in Rakoff's novel.

The timing and style of the book are interesting in a jumbled way. Each character tells a bit of the story from a half stream of consciousness, half omniscient third person point of view. The reader experiences memories in the middle of action. Sometimes just as you get involved in a character's life, the chapter ends, and you're moved on to less sympathetic person. But it's like life. We narrate our own lives, judge our friends from our view, and hear mutual friends' theories on each other.

It's a serious and complicated novel about relationships and personal struggles. It's the post adolescent coming of age - which seems like how coming of age comes now a days.