I'm a big reader of nonfiction. Please help me decide on my nonfiction read for December. If you haven't read any of the books, feel free to nudge the one that is most interesting to you (I added a bit of extra information, where necessary). If you know of other books on the subject that might be equally compelling (fiction, too), feel free to suggest them. Thanks!



Devil In the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The War: A Memoir by Marguerite Duras
Facing Athens: Encounters with the Modern City by George Sarrinikolaou
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell
The Remarkable Mrs. Ripley by Joan W. Goodwin (self-educated classical scholar who, with husband, ran 19th century New England boarding prep school for Harvard-bound boys while raising seven children.)
War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam by multiple authors
1776 by David McCullough
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang
Ad Infinitum: A biography of Latin by Nicholas Ostler
Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World by Yang Erche Namu (portrait of a 20th century girl growing up in a matrilineal society in a remote region of China
The Mummy Congress: Science, Obsession and the Everlasting Dead by Heather Pringle
Heloise and Abelard: A New Biography by James Burge (One of history's greatest love stories is retold using the recently discovered lost letters.)
The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos and the Murder of Jose Robles by Stephen Koch
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into A War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer
Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris

The only one of those I've read is The Professor and the Madman, which got rave reviews all over. I thought it was tedious though. No nudge on that one.

I read The Professor and the Madman too; while I didn't find it tedious, it was not a real exciting read. But I'm interested in words and dictionaries and the Victorian age and that sort of stuff. I would probably nudge 1776 more.

I've ogled the cover blurbs of many on your list as they've come across the circulation desk at work, but I haven't actually read any of them.

One I hadn't heard of, though, is The Remarkable Mrs. Ripley. I work in the library of a New England boarding prep school (formerly predominantly for Harvard-bound boys, though now considerably more diverse), so that's definitely the one that caught my eye! I've just checked our online catalog and see that we have it, so it'll definitely be going on my TBR pile. If you read it first I'll be interested to hear what you think.

I've read two of those. The Devil in the White City gets my major/first nudge. 1776 is also good and gets my second nudge (my minor nudge). I'll also suggest you consider the Gertrude Bell one--I bought it just the other day and would like to hear more about it.

I give a firm nudge to 1776. I haven't read it, but have read McCullough's John Adams and Truman biographies, and I've heard him speak. He has the ability to get me totally engrossed in his subject matter, even at the lengths of those two volumes. His Johnstown Flood is very high on my non-fiction TBR stack.

I'm going to nudge Factory Girls not because I've read it but because that's what I'd pull out of the pile today if that were my TBR pile:-)

I agree with staffordcastle on The Professor and the Madman. It was a good read, and I am not regretting to have spend my time on it, but some of the other books look at least as promising.

I have read Devil in the White City and give it my nudge. Excellent book and interesting the way the author weaves the two stories together. This book was more successful than his last one, Thunderstruck, in my opinion.

I have read Thunderstruck which was good, so if The Devil in the White City is better, that would be a good nudge.

I understand that David McCullough is a good writer but I am not a huge US history fan, so it still sits on my TBR pile.

I enjoyed The Professor and the Madman, and remember thinking he was a good writer; not earth shattering but worthwhile. The War: a memoir by Duras looks intriguing.

Two good non-fiction books I have read in the last few months are The Slave ship: a Human History by Marcus Rediker, and The Vertigo Years by Philipp Blom

Message edited by its author, Nov 28, 2008, 12:32am.

I'm going to nudge The Mummy Congress since it's the only one I've read. I don't remember too much about it since I read it awhile ago but I gave it an 8/10 in my database so I must have enjoyed it.

Happy reading with whatever you choose!

I will nudge The Professor and the Madman because I enjoyed it, and Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations because it is a book I would like to read (and it sits somewhere in the house, in one of the TBR piles of my dear SO).

Message edited by its author, Nov 28, 2008, 8:00pm.

I'm going to nudge Arc Of Justice because I'm thinking of getting it, and I'd like to hear what you think!

Read Leaving Mother Lake. The prose is not the greatest, but the story is fascinating: an account of a matriarchal society in a remote area of China. Apparently, there's been some solid scholarly work done recently. I've been meaning to take a look at that, but my road to hell is paved with so many intentions, it runs long and deep into hell.

I haven't read any of these, but have heard about Factory Girls and I think it sounds interesting.

I heard that 1776 is really good, although I have not read it -- so a nudgoid for that one.
--BJ

I have not read any of these...

However: My mother has read The Devil in the White City. She did not like it, though the rest of her book club did.

FWIW..?

So many interesting choices... I have not read any of these, but my husband thought The Professor and the Madman was only so-so. If I were going to pick for myself, the ones calling me would be The Mummy congress and Leaving Mother Lake, so I'll nudge those.

Thanks everyone. It looks as though 1776 and The Devil in the White City are the nudges. I think I'll go with 1776. I've read McCullough's John Adams, which was terrific. Right now my nonfiction book is The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism, and I think my next fiction book will be the second choice from my last nudge, Julian Barnes' Arthur and George. If anyone has read/reads Barnes' latest, Nothing to be Frightened Of, I'd love to hear about it. Sounds interesting. Thanks again. I'll be back, asking for another nudge, sometime in the new year.

Message edited by its author, Dec 6, 2008, 7:48am.