The 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge Part X: Politics, Economics & Business, Commentary

Those of us living in the United States have a presidential election looming in just a few weeks (in case you have missed this news... *eyes roll*) So I thought this would be a good month for us to focus our non-fiction reading on questions of politics, and extend it to questions of economics and even business, since we have a businessman running for president, and economic questions always are at the heart of political campaigns.

That said... You don't need to read about political campaigns, the United States political process, or the presidency. You can read about international politics, about political ideas, about the United Nations; you can read about capitalism and communism; you can read a book about business, like Chaos Monkeys, about Silicon Valley. I think I'll read The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. You could read any of the many new books written about the race issue in the United States. There are books about the refugee crisis in Europe that are definitely about politics. And so on. The books just need to involve political issues or figures in a significant way -- or businesses or economic questions.

As usual, please do share what you plan to read, and come back and tell us all how it's going.

What we are reading:






On the horizon (what is left of it...)

November: Essays: Self explanatory; any anthology!

December: Quirky/Who Knew? A non-fiction book that defies easy categorization, or could fit into three or four different categories.

If you've got questions about this month's challenge or in general, post them below, or shoot me a PM (this may be fastest) and I'll get back to you as rapidly as I can.

I've not done so well in these challenges so far. I have Debunking Utopia: exposing the myth of Nordic socialism by Nima Sanandaji home from the library.

I meant to read the old "classic" The Conscience of a Conservative last month, but of course it fits nicely into October's theme, so I'm going to try again to get to it.

>2 avatiakh: Well, it's not a competition! As long as it throws up some interesting reading ideas and you have fun following along... And feel free to throw up some ideas for how to make the challenges work better for next year, if we repeat the non-fiction group in 2017, too.

>3 laytonwoman3rd: That sounds very timely. I sometimes wonder what Goldwater would think of "his" Republicans. Some of what is happening reminds me of his rhetoric, but some of it makes me think he'd be spinning in his grave, very very rapidly.

I will be listening to Freakonomics as soon as I finish my current audiobook. If I have time, I'll also read Free to Choose.

I am planning to listen to $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin.

Politics... I don't know. I will be back if I can think of one to read. Maybe the bio of Rosa Luxemburg I've been meaning to read for ages...

Argh. I read Trump: the Art of the Deal in September, now I need to find something else to fit October's challenge...

I think I'll pull The Prince off the shelf for this month's read.

Got a recommendation, so I'm going to try to find Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? for October.

>6 katiekrug: That is an excellent book, and I'd recommend it to anyone curious about acute poverty and its causes. I think I read Hillbilly Elegy because of someone's recommendation in a previous challenge here, and that would be great, too.

>8 fuzzi: Freakonomics is excellent! It doesn't have to be politics -- it can be economics or any issue that might come up in a presidential debate, perhaps? I realize that there is a bit of an overlap...

My apologies again for not being on the ball. I've got a friend who has been very seriously ill in hospital for the last five weeks. They were assessing him for a heart transplant and caught colon cancer. He's struggling to recover from that operation with great difficulty. Left him tonight en route for a CAT scan to find out why he can't eat/digest anything at all. At least two to three weeks more in hospital; two weeks without any food and on feeding tube. This on top of my mother having a TIA and ending up in hospital while she was visiting me in Boston last weekend. So I have not been on top of this challenge at all. Mea culpa.

I'm planning to read Hero of the Empire, the biography on Winston Churchill by Candice Millard, this month. Would that fit this month's challenge?

>12 brenpike: Churchill was a politician, and that marked the beginning of his political career, so sure! (Can you tell how liberal I'm being??)

>13 Chatterbox: recognized and appreciated :)

>11 Chatterbox: (((((hugs))))) hope things improve soon for everyone.

LT can wait, RL is more important.

I'm going to finish reading Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. I started it with my book club a few years back and didn't finish it. It's a wonderful book, but tough reading. I just set it aside and it was pining away in the pile.

>15 fuzzi: Thanks; that's what I've been telling myself. Have been largely off all social media for a week or so.

I plan to read The Fire This Time, edited by Jesmyn Ward, this month, which should fit this month's theme.

I will have to check my stacks and see what I have. I know I one of the THomas Friedman books somewhere, but since I am still trying to finish the science ok from August (almost done have only 50 pages left) I will finish that one first. Then will go on to new topic.

>18 kidzdoc: Yup, and if you don't finish it, it can be carried over into November's essay anthology theme... win/win...

I was thinking of Between the World and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Would that work?

>21 banjo123: Hmm, not sure. It's more a memoir and comments about race relations in general, than it is about the politics of race, if you see what I mean. But if you're thinking of reading it anyway, why not go ahead and report back when you've done so and tell us what you're own take is on it? I don't want to be overly draconian about it. If he were a political figure himself, I'd say sure. I'm tempted to say yes, because race is a political issue -- but the way Coates explores it isn't necessarily in a political way. But go ahead and see what you think? Is that OK?

I have The Fire This Time on hold at the library. If I get it in time, I'll be reading that for this month's challenge.

>11 Chatterbox: Suz, no apologies needed. It's wonderful that you have hosted this thread all year and I'm enjoying it as a nice change of pace from my usual fare. Even though I've participated only minimally, it's been one of my favorite threads to visit.

AND you have plenty of real life things going on! I send hearty healthy wishes to your mom (and I'm so glad it was "only" a TIA) and, of course, tons of healing vibes toward your dear friend. His situation is a reminder that we are all just an unknown moment away from really tough stuff. The challenge of keeping up with our reading isn't even in the same universe. Please take good care of you, too, while you support him through this. xo

>11 Chatterbox: I hope everything turns out well with your RL challenges. Events can overtake our lives at times but the main thing is to take care of yourself while helping others.

I had a look on my shelves for something that would meet this month's challenge and came up with Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation. That takes in both the US and Canada and involved political wrangling. It also highlights how close both nations are and how events in one effect the people of the other. Something Canadians are keenly aware of as we watch events unfold south of our border in the build up to the election.

I looked through part of my shelves and my goodness but I lots of books on the "Culture Wars" and very little on Economics. I did find a P. J. O'Rourke book On the Wealth of Nations that I had forgotten about. I am not a big fan of his but it might be a good time to read that book and see what the opinion is from that side of things. Strangely I did not find my Thomas Friedman books. But I know I have at least two of them.

I also found Niall Ferguson's book Ascent of Money but it is more of a history than a commentary and right now I am in the mood for commentary.

>25 Familyhistorian: and >26 benitastrnad: -- both of those sound great. Will do the little images later.

Thanks for the support.

At some point, we should all put our thinking caps on and discuss how we might want to structure/restructure this non-fiction challenge for next year. Do we bring it back? Are there ways to make it more accessible? Are these the right themes? Is picking themes the right approach? Etcetera.

The other political book I am reading is Master of the Senate. I love Caro, but the chances of finishing in October are low.

>27 Chatterbox: And I would totally vote for another year. I think the same categories would be just dandy, they are pretty flexible.

I'm with Rhonda. I love this challenge and I would likely make it my primary challenge next year (I'm planning to back off on the various fiction challenges with which I have barely kept up this year). I agree that the themes are good. I'm certainly more interested in some than in others but if this is my primary monthly challenge, it would enable me to expand my horizons. So, in the interest of laissez-faire fiction reading but at least one nonfiction read per month, I would vote yes.

I vote to continue this challenge as well. I tried the AAC, BAC and CAC for the first time this year and found that they basically filled up most of my reading time. I want to back off on those challenges next year and continue with the more themed read challenges, like this non-fiction read based on particular topics.

I would also like to see the non-fiction challenge continue. The themes have been flexible enough to allow for a range of books so finding a satisfactory title has not been difficult. I like the way you've set up the thread: books being read, or considered, pictured at top offer suggestions and the inclusion of the coming month's challenges make a quick check for planning purposes easy.
Thanks for creating and sponsoring the NF challenge!

I've really enjoyed finding out about so many books that are new to me. Hope we can continue.

I wondered what people thought about one shared read of a new non-fiction book? I have really appreciated when other people have read the book I'm reading.

>32 charl08: I like that idea, Charlotte -- even if it's not a shared read, as such, we could have a "featured book" or something like that -- a new book, or a book that's particularly relevant to the theme, that a lot of people will be reading. I'd like to walk cautiously here, and avoid giving people a sense that they should be reading a particular book (or even a book linked in theme or ideas to that book) in order to join the discussion. But you're right that it might spark a bit more debate on the monthly page, which was very active in the beginning, but has faltered a bit as the year has gone on.

As we get closer to the end of the year, I'll ask folks to chip in with ideas for themes that they'd like to see included, too. Obviously, there were some ones that were very popular that it makes sense to bring back, notably biography/memoir and history. I've realized that a few categories overlapped too much this year, and we may have neglected some areas as well. I really want to have a good mix, so that no one feels their interests have been shunned, even if it means the rest of us have to stretch (or skip a month.) With all the books in the world, that could lead to exciting new discoveries -- or just give us time to read other cool stuff. So, put your thinking caps on, and we can debate this a bit next month, and I'll start putting it all together in December.

I'd like to continue with this challenge into next year, too.

I would enjoy having a wiki page in addition to the thread. I don't know how to set one up, but it's wonderful on the TIOLI challenges and the category challenges so have a quick reference as to what is being read.

I also vote for doing this or a similar challenge next year! It was a great way to keep me honest about my intention to read more nonfiction.

I'd like to continue this challenge next year, even though I didn't participate every month.

It's helped me read more non-fiction.

I have lots of unread books that fit this month's theme, but I am going to start with Plutocrats which I've been meaning to read ever since it got an enthusiastic thumbs up from Suz when it first came out. And I think the timing is perfect.

I've loved this challenge and would definitely participate another year--I've not been particularly chatty and am often lagging by a month, but I think I've managed to read at least two books for every category--and there seem to be plenty more where those came from.

Although I haven't participated as much as I had intended to I think this is a great idea, and I would love to see it reincarnated in 2017.

I might be reading Unleashing demons: the inside story of Brexit - the author was on breakfast tv this morning and promises an account from a number 10 insider of how it all went so wrong...

>34 streamsong: I like the idea of a wiki page, too. Let me look into that.

>37 AnneDC: I really enjoyed Plutocrats. And of course, now the author is a member of Justin Trudeau's cabinet! An additional reason to read it...

>39 charl08: I'll be watching to see what you think of it...

I may have more time to devote to this challenge as the Guardian's woes in the US mean that I have just lost my job with them. All contractors have been laid off -- not at the end of their contracts, but with 30 days' notice. I haven't been told formally yet, but my editor told me informally today. He will lose a full-time reporter, too. This is 60% of my income (at least, some months it's 100%) gone up in smoke. Oh well. Cherry on the icing on the cake, right?

>40 Chatterbox: so sorry to hear about your job. May you find a better one, soon.

Just echoing the post above. So sorry to read this news.

Thanks, folks. Am trying to be philosophical, and focus on the more important point that I can't find my new moccasins that my mother brought me from Toronto!

>43 Chatterbox: Priorities, priorities :)

>44 brenpike: Moccasins located. Missing books located. Temporarily AWOL laptop located. Lost hour spent hunting for all of these, gone for good. Oh well.

Still trying to finish my September book.

>45 Chatterbox: I'd say it was a pretty productive hour if you located your moccasins, your missing books, and AWOL laptop! Way to go :)

>46 brenpike: agreed!

I've been reading Basic Economics, and so I will continue with it for this month. Who knows, I might get pretty far if I focus. *grin*

I've been wanting to read The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life by Ryszard Kapuściński for a while and just received my own second hand copy recently. I'd like to fit that into this month if at all possible, what with all the other planned reads I have. I'd imagine just about anything by Kapuściński would fit into the political theme? I intend to eventually read everything he's ever published.

>49 Smiler69: Honestly, politics/economics isn't the first phrase that springs to mind when I think of this book by Kapuscinski. It's a wonderful book, but it's like Naipaul's Among the Believers -- primarily a book about his own encounters and experiences and observations, which do include politics, but also culture, and travel, but above all people. It's like the fruits of a reporter's notebook. It would make a great book for the December challenge; that's the kind of book I had in mind for that month, the one that doesn't fit in easily to the regular categories.

For this challenge, just to clarify, I was really hoping that people could find a book whose theme or subject revolved around a political figure or some aspect of the political process, or some theme that is of particular political importance. (Substitute "economic" or "business" in there, as appropriate.) I'd rather not drift off into reading books where politics are discussed in passing as part of a much bigger work.

By all means, read the book -- RK was a wonderful observer, prose stylist (even in translation) and brilliant thinker -- but I just don't think it works for this, if you're looking to check off a box. But then, there's no need to be a completist, either! :-)

>50 Chatterbox: Thanks for taking the time to clarify, Suz. Lucky for me, I'm not a completist, so I have no issue with my books not fitting the challenge. The reason I thought this one might fit in is I can't think of any book on politics, economy or business that's tempting to me right now. These are not topics I ever read on in book form, as I seem to only be able to take these in small doses. Of course, it also happens to be your area of expertise, so I was hoping in some way to join in this month more in sympathy than anything else. As I type this, I'm wondering if I should post this silly message, because I'm not sure it's making sense even to me, so please, reader, be advised I'm so felled by migraine right now it's a wonder I should be sitting upright at all.

eta: I'll be happy to plan for at least a couple of Kapuscinski's books in December.

Clap your Hands! I finally finished Ira Flatow's book Present at the Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations on Science and Nature. This was for one of the monthly challenges a few months back. This is a book of popular science style essays that was written back in 2007 and it wasn't a bad book or boring. I was just slow to pick it up and finish it. All the essays come from guests on the author's radio talk show, NPR's Science Friday. It was amazing how prescient a ten year-old book could be. When it was written some of the essays bordered on prophecy and now some of those things are real. These are light and easy-to-read essays meant for a general audience or an introduction to a topic. They are not in-depth and make no attempt to be. They are enjoyable reading that give the reader a good background and will allow the reader to explore more on their own if they wish to do so.

At the same time I was reading the space portion of this book, I was reading a work of science fiction and space elevators played a big role in that book, as did nanotechnology. It was fun to read the actual and factual and the Sci/Fi applications of those ideas side-by-side.

I looked long and hard at the P. J. O'Rourke book but finally pulled Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture by Brink Lindsey off the shelf. This is not going to be a book I finish in one month, but I am looking forward to reading it. I hope it gives me some insights that I would not have found on my own.

>52 benitastrnad: Clapping away!! I still haven't started my October read... I have a number of book group books to finish, plus Amazon Vine books to read and review, plus work, so.

>53 benitastrnad: That looks fascinating!

I may try to add Four Futures to my list. It's one of the aforementioned Amazon books to be reviewed -- about four possible post-capitalist scenarios. It's tilted in favor of certain specified outcomes (a book with a clear bias) but I don't mind a bias as long as the author is clear about having one. It's when they don't, and/or pretend that the bias is the clear and only truth that I become annoyed! Few things fall into that category, and which variant of a post-capitalist society might emerge isn't going to be one that I am going to find is something I'm going to fall on my sword over.

I've read a biography, that by William Hague of William Pitt the younger. I don't really get politics, I know it matters, but I struggle to get enthused about it. This was more engaging than that. It was interesting to read it as written by a later holder of the same political position (while Pitt's title wasn't Prime Minister, it was the foundation of that post being what it now is). But I'm still not that fussed about politics.

>55 Helenliz: I've had that book sitting around for ages so am glad to hear that it's good! I think what intrigued me about it was that Hague was a young leader, and so was Pitt -- and that parallel was kind of interesting to me. Also, Pitt himself is an interesting figure. Brilliant, and probably helped save England from Napoleon, but also very reactionary in some ways -- and died very young if I recall correctly. Thanks for reminding me of it!!

O.K. I think that my last book read would qualify for the economic and business part- The Edge of the World How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are by Michael Pye. This history outlines how the people who lived in towns centred around the North Sea were responsible for practices that have influenced civilization today. Pye believes that there were a number of accomplishments developed during the so-called Dark Ages that are an essential part of modern society. The author looks at the role of women, the Hansa traders, the development of a stable currency and the development of trade and investment markets.

Well, I'm glad you found your moccasins!!! :-)

>58 EBT1002: I am too, it's definitely moccasin weather now!

I think I'm up to date in posting book images, if not in my reading...

I'm trying to decide whether Sally Krawcheck's book about women in business qualifies for this challenge. Probably not... Oh well, I still have the others to read, if I ever get any free time!

How are people faring with their own reads??

>60 Chatterbox: How are people faring with their own reads??

Ouch! Thanks for asking. I'm still reading The Metaphysical Club for September. When I'm done, I have The Dragons of Eden to go back to an complete for August. Probably 'til then, it'll be November. I'm doing enough catch-up on the insensible number of challenges I tackled this year, so I'm giving myself a pass on politics. Maybe I'll come across a book of essays for November. But maybe not.

Better luck to me next year. I do, by the way, like this format for non-fiction, and I think the categories are fine. Maybe shuffle them?

I am nearly finished with the audio of Freakonomics. It's a book I've been meaning to read for ages.

I like the variety of topics in the challenge. If you're thinking about tweaking it for next year, I'd suggest adding education, books about books, and maybe sports and recreation.

I finished $2.00 a Day which was, of course, infuriating. I posted some comments on my thread (http://www.librarything.com/topic/233990#5757712).

Well, I am reading Master of the Senate, but as I seem to need a break to think every couple pages, it could stretch into 2017; especially since I keep picking up easier books on the side. And now I have Hero of the Empire by Millard at the library, so I may switch to that.

I like the categories, and they don't need to change, but if I were tweaking I would add another science related month. On the other hand, Sports sounds like a fun category as well.

>62 cbl_tn: Books about books is a great idea to add as a category in its own right -- ditto sports.

The former, of course, could easily fit into December's "quirky" challenge, which I devised as one for books that didn't readily fit into a single category. At the time I had been reading that book about all the rubber duckies swept overboard in a storm. It's about global trade, about oceans and oceanography, and about people.

We could also think about different ways to approach these themes. For instance -- rather than a subject oriented theme one month, we could approach it from a quirky angle and have a month devoted to a topic like heroes and villains. You could read about a sports team, or a mountaineer, or a superhero, or an environmentalist, or a war criminal, etc. You could interpret it any way you wanted. Another theme might be favorite places -- you could read about gardens, laboratories, libraries, museums, being at sporting events or in a concert hall.

I'm just playing around with ways to mix this up a bit.

My first reaction was Yuk Sports! But then I remembered that I have The Boys on the Boat to read on my kindle. So I just need to get a grip really.

Shuffling the categories a bit sounds good, if only to give people a chance to read a topic they might miss in a busy time of year. I like heroes and villains too.

I have Age of Abundance on my beside table, but am trying to finish up the Laurie Lee book I am reading for the September BAC. Then it will be on to the Age of Abundance. At least the Laurie Lee book is his non-fiction travel book "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning."

I like the idea of different angles, like "Heroes and Villains" and "Favorite Places." Maybe one for "Hobbies or Pastimes" that could be sports, or books about books, or cooking, or what have you. We could possibly do 6 "traditional" categories like this year and 6 "new" ones. Or have 12 of each and pair them, so if the "traditional" category didn't appeal, there was an alternative (and vice versa).... Whatever the final format, I am definitely participating again next year!

>65 Chatterbox: I like that creative approach. It gives a lot of latitude for folks to participate from whatever nonfiction space they are occupying.

And I don't think I'm going to get The Fire This Time before the end of the month so I'm thinking I'll just go buy it!

I bought Onward at a Starbucks some time ago so pulled it off the shelf for this month. I am enjoying it: Schultz is very honest about the mistakes he made and unapologetic about his passion for Starbucks.

>70 EBT1002: I'm saving The Fire This Time for next month's anthology theme. We may have a shared read if you haven't already finished it by the end of October : )

I finished the audio of Freakonomics last night. The book has been slightly adapted for the audio version. For instance, some data presented visually in the book is described for the listener. The questions are interesting and thought-provoking. I noticed that the Audible channels free to Amazon Prime members include a weekly Freakonomics Radio podcast. Maybe I'll add this to my weekly routine.

Looking forward to next month, I plan on pulling The Labyrinth of Solitude out of TBR limbo. I'll be spending Christmas in Mexico again this year, and November is shaping up with pre-trip reading. November's BAC authors are Rebecca West and Len Deighton, and I'll be reading Survivors in Mexico by West and Mexico Set by Deighton.

>72 brenpike: I'm in, Brenda! I did buy the book and I've read the introduction but would love to do a shared read of the essays themselves. I expect (and hope) that the reading will be thought-provoking and moving.

>75 EBT1002: Good deal! I have the same expectations :)

I just read The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump's America by Alexander Zaitchik for this challenge. It's in the spirit of Studs Terkel, and a very timely book -- the author allows the Trump voters who are the focus of the book to speak freely in their own words, without challenging them or pointing out the contradictions in what they say. It makes for an occasionally frustrating read, but also an informative one, since while I disagree profoundly with while their experiences and analysis have taken them, I can also empathize with their frustration and become extremely angry about the experiences they describe/have encountered. And with those protestors who jeer at them. Much as I despise Trump and think he is dangerous, I'm not sure that the tactics of many protestors have been any more helpful than those of his more volatile allies. So, I'd recommend this to anyone from the center to the left, regardless of what happens in 2 1/2 weeks in the US. Because no matter who wins, it's important to realize that many of those who support Trump are more nuanced in their reasons for voting than one might assume. And politics make for strange bedfellows: supporters include environmental activists and people who object more to the ineffectiveness US Border Patrol than to some of the hapless illegal immigrants that use their property to get into the US. Thought provoking material hear. 4 stars.

I read Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard, about Winston Churchill and his experiences in the Boer war. In a way, more about war than about politics. The interesting thing, is that Churchill very deliberately sought out dangerous military situations, hoping that good press for his heroics would lead to success in his political career. It worked for him! Churchill comes off as sort of an arrogant jerk in this book, but he was young (24, I think). I imagine that a later Churchill would be more complex and interesting.

I liked this book, but thought that it was not nearly as good as Millard's other work. It was a bit thin. I did learn a lot about the Boer war, which was interesting as it was so important to the history of South Africa.

A bit late in the day, but Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, is on sale for US Kindle owners for $4.99. I read this earlier this month/fall, and while not a straightforward political book, it's a great memoir about growing up in an Appalachian family, and the fallout of the economic woes in these red states. One of my best books of the year, even if it's not perfect.

>77 Chatterbox: nice even review. There are "bad apples" on both sides of the political process.

I have Listen, Liberal sitting next to my bed, along with The Art of the Comeback. I believe in hearing both sides, not shutting down speech due to disagreement.

>80 fuzzi: Thanks. Sorry for the manifold typos. Chalk it up to acute fatigue and too much recycled hospital air!

I'll be creating the next (for November) thread tomorrow. Does anyone want to do a little more updating of posts about what they've been reading for October in case we can get to 150 posts and make the transition seamless and hopefully not require people to find and re-star the November thread?

Merci beaucoup!

In the spirit of my request, I'm now reading The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, but have been getting bogged down in the early parts, which are all about how we process beliefs and convictions. That's fine, but it's not quite what I was looking for, and it's starting to feel a bit repetitious It's excellent, but not as focused as I had hoped. Still, early stages.

I got sidetracked from my reading of Age of Abundance by the book Martha, Inc. I'll get back to the theme in a day or two.

I am still reading Master of the Senate, which has just gotten really interesting with discussion of the measures used to prevent African-Americans from voting in the South. (the book is leading up to the Voters Rights Act). It's amazing how hard some people worked and how many risks they took in order to vote. Truly heroic.

>78 banjo123: I had exactly the same reaction to Hero of the Empire. Her previous two, River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic are favorites so I had high expectations.

The Firebrand and the First Lady from the National Book Award long list caught my attention and I'll start it tomorrow.

No politics this month, but looking forward to the essays next month. Only problem is deciding what to read. Maybe When I was a Child I read Books.

So I apparently missed this entire thread. I read The Unwinding by George Packer for the challenge.

I'm happy to add a post to try to boost us up to 150, although sadly it is only to report that I did not read a book in this category this month.

Oh, I should have added that I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge all year long. I'm open to some tinkering with the categories if other people feel strongly about some missed opportunities, but I also really liked the ones Suzanne chose and feel like I still have a lot of books I want to read in each of them so I'd be happy to repeat them all or in part next year.

The Unwinding by George Packer

This is a close look at recent American history told through the eyes of a few famous people and several ordinary people. The focus of the book is on the decline in American manufacturing and the housing bubble and how they are linked with the destruction to the lives of many Americans. The narrative takes some getting used to as it jumps from person to person as the book progresses forward in time. Some famous people, like Colin Powell and Oprah Winfrey have a single chapter while others are traced throughout the book. Packer uses the celebrities to illustrate larger themes in the book. So, by the time we get to Sam Walton, Packer has shown how the rise of Wal-Mart has hollowed out towns and cost American manufacturing jobs. The book doesn't paint Walton as evil but rather points out the unintended consequences of the relentless focus on cheaper priced merchandise.

The Unwinding does not paint a very pretty picture of the America. It shows how wealth and power have captured our political system and the harm that this has wrought on ordinary people. In many ways this book is the most eloquent expression of the disillusionment expressed by so many Trump supporters. The Unwinding does not attempt to propose solutions or serve as a rallying cry. Nevertheless, I finished the book concluding that America needs a new Teddy Roosevelt figure to lead a new populist revolution and break the power of America's renewed oligarchy.

>91 rosalita: I have also really enjoyed this challenge as it matches the bulk of my reading pretty well. I would be open to a bit of tinkering with the categories.

>93 Oberon: Any suggestions for such tinkering? I'm in the process of rethinking this now...

One suggestion I might make is that if we have both Natural History/Environment/Health and Science & Technology next year (and I think there's a strong case for having both) that they be separated a bit more in the yearly calendar.

And on a completely different note: Would anyone find it useful for the Nonfiction Challenge to have its own wiki pages? I was thinking that it would be nice to have a sort of tidy compilation of all the books that people read for each category, especially as we move forward and keep some or all of the same topics. I would be willing to take on the setting up task, but I'm not keen to do it if I'm the only one who would use it.

>94 Chatterbox: Just based on my own library and reading I felt like some categories just lend themselves to having more options. For example, I am really not sure what I will read for next month's Essays category whereas the history category had 50+ options on the shelves.

Other thoughts: I think education (personal or society wide) could be a stand alone. I think that history could be subdivided - maybe a "near" history that could be could be defined as locally close and/or relatively recent and a "far" history that could be ancient or geographically distant?

Similarly with travel and adventure I think they are such large categories that you could try a near and far concept too.

Just some ideas.

Doing

my

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:-)

>96 rosalita: Yes, the wiki idea is something that has come up before, and I think that's a great idea. That said -- is there anyone that would care to volunteer to maintain it or set it up??? *grin*

Also, yes, I'm thinking of how better to spread out the categories, and looking at how they are juxtaposed thematically and also trying to avoid leading off with two or three very well-read categories, only to see reading then fall off as interest appears to fall off in a few others.

>97 Oberon: That's an issue of format, rather than subject. Some people, for instance, might have a lot of essays about history -- or other topics. They might have one of the new anthologies published by Houghton Mifflin at this time of year, "Best American Travel Writing", etc.

>97 Oberon: Re categorization, yes, there are different ways of coming at this. If anything, I'd like to keep categories more open, so that rather than narrowing history down or breaking into half, I'd rather keep one category for history, and then have other more quirky categories (like the aforementioned "heroes and villains") where a history book might fit. Ideally, I'd like to have a year-long challenge where the same book could be read in as many as three or four different months, for very different reasons. I'd emphasize the format/structure of a book, the same kind of dewey decimal categories we used this time, the themes of a book and maybe even something very different, like the particular relationship of the reader to the book. So, some structure, so that not any book can be read, and creative enough that it will spark people to go off and find something to go and look for something new and different, but not so rigid that folks will feel discouraged.

Something I'm pondering next year, too, is to have a kind of list of highlighted reads, perhaps of three books. Each month I'd recommend one book to read, tap a different person who has participated in the challenge and who has expressed an interest to recommend a book for people to read, and then have the group as a whole recommend a book -- i.e. a "shared read", recommended simply by the number of people who plan to read it. No obligation on the part of anyone to read any of these, but it might be another way to whip up a bit of discussion?

Any thoughts?

>103 Chatterbox: I'll see if I can get something together wiki-wise. I've never created a page, but it can't be that hard.

I like to do discussion but find that many readers don't. Or at least don't want to write their opinion in a discussion. This is also a problem in my real life discussion group. I had 50 people on the e-mail list but only 4 who come regularly to the discussion. One person told me that she wanted to join because she wanted the reading list.

Even here on LT it is hard to generate discussion about books so I would bet that even if we had a common title from time-to-time there wouldn't be that much more discussion generated.

As for the categories - I thought they were creative and thoughtful. They were generally wide open for interpretation so I wouldn't change them. I think it is a good way to get people to think about how a book might fit into a category and what a reader can learn from reading the book.

#95
I agree that the Natural History and the Science were close together. It might have been more interesting to me as a reader to have them farther apart.

>108 benitastrnad: good point. I'll be more mindful of that and others. If anyone else has any juxtapositions that were unworkable, now would be the time to point them out. In some cases (such as biography and history), I had hoped that it would make it easier for readers to carry on with a book they had started in one month during the next month, if they weren't finished, or pick a new one, but in other cases, clearly, there's too much of a thematic overlap if it's a more narrow category where people already feel they may have fewer options. I'll try to bear that in mind.

Meanwhile, so we don't lose folks like Oberon, l "challenge" you all to get this to 150 posts!

Any more interesting books to report on??

I probably won't finish the Jonathan Haidt book this month, though I WILL complete it. It's interesting, but too much heavy lifting for me right now.

I have been trying to finish up some books that are almost done, but not ... quite... I have started Age of Abundance but not made much progress on it. I hope to read more on it this weekend.

I have been meaning to read Evicted all year but that, too, will have to remain on the TBR Tower of shame. Too much has interrupted my reading schedule (yet again.) But now I will trot off and finish some novels, at least.

Evicted is one of the three books on the shortlist for the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The shortlist was just announced a couple of days ago. I think I saw that our library's copy has arrived.

My

turn

to

push

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tally

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:)

okay, me too!

I found Evicted to be an amazing book!

>113 cbl_tn: Just looked at the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence short listed for the past number of years. Thanks for the tip!

I've got or want to read several of the books on that longlist! Excellent resource...

Maybe one of next year's categories could be prizewinners and nominees -- any and all prizes, longlists and shortlists. So this, the Samuel Johnson prize, the Wellcome prize (if my memory isn't failing me) about medicine, etc. And we could decide whether the inclusion in the list of nominees was warranted...

So much fun to be creative with categories -- and cross-disciplinary categories.

Only 22 more posts required. You'll all be relieved to hear that I shall refrain from including a category dedicated to cats... :-)

>127 Chatterbox: I like the idea of an awards/nominees category. I don't really follow any of the various prizes so this would be a great way to get acquainted.

>128 Chatterbox: And I know you were kidding about this one, but there could be a Pets (or probably more broadly the Animal Kingdom) category. Either of which could fall under Natural History, I reckon, so perhaps if the goal is to broaden rather than narrow that probably isn't a good plan.

>128 Chatterbox: I wouldn't mind an animals category, though. There are a few dog books I'd like to read.

>128 Chatterbox:, >130 rosalita:, >131 cbl_tn: I was going to chime in and say Animals might be a good category! There are a lot of types of books I can think of that would fall into that one.

We're inching closer to the magic 150 posts!

>129 rosalita: I like the idea of the prize month - maybe a good January category, as quite a few of us will have read some of them and be able to enthuse about them?

I'd like a feminism month (broadly defined) - to include everything from radical arguments to biographies of 'firsts'... There's so much being written in this area and it would be good to highlight it.

That's a bit closer...

>135 charl08: Another good idea!

I also like the idea of a prize month. Lots of good NF prizes to select from.

A prize month is good- a pet category- meh? I like my pets in person rather than in a book.

I'll try to think of another category. We could divide biography so that memoirs are a separate category

All of these ideas will go into the hopper... I'm trying to think as broadly as possible.

Okay, I'm doing my bit to get to 150.
I love the idea of a prize month.
How about including this one......
http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/winners.htm
There is a non fiction category.

Dayton literary peace prize past winners in non fiction.

2016 non fiction winner Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard
2016 non fiction runner up Find Me Unafraid by Kennedy Odede

2015 non fiction winner Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (which is sitting in my pile beside me!)
2015 runner up non fiction The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs

2014 non fiction winner Your Fatwa does not Apply Here by Karima Bennoune
2014 runner up non fiction Contested Land, Contested Memory by Jo Roberts

2013 non fiction winner Far from the Tree by Virginia DeBerry
2013 runner up non fiction Devil in the Grove by Thurgood Marshall

oops called for lunch.
It goes back until 2006 with fiction winners too.
http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/winners.htm

Wolfson history prize - winners 2016

Robin Lane Fox Augustine: Conversions and Confessions
Professor Nikolaus Wachsmann -. KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps

http://www.wolfson.org.uk/history-prize/latest-prize-winners/

http://rsliterature.org/award/rsl-jerwood-awards-for-non-fiction/

Thomas Morris – £10,000
The Matter of the Heart, (Bodley Head, May 2017). A history of the heart in twelve operations – it is a compendium of the 20th Century’s greatest technological inventions and medical miracles.

Catherine Nixey – £5,000
The Darkening Age, (Macmillan, early 2017). An account of early Christians, from the Roman viewpoint.

Duncan White – £5,000
Cold Warriors: Waging Literary War Across the Iron Curtain, (Little,Brown, September 2018). A focus on writers on both sides of the Cold War which aims to give a complete view of the relationship between writing and politics during the era.

ETA: We might struggle to get the last one!

I didn't get to Debunking Utopia: Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism but it looked like a fairly timely read.

James Tait bio prize

James Shapiro - 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear (Faber and Faber) - 2015
Richard Benson - The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Family (Bloomsbury) - 2014
Hermione Lee - Penelope Fitzgerald: A life (Chatto & Windus) - 2013
Tanya Harrod - The Last Sane Man: Michael Cardew, Modern Pots, Colonialism and the Counterculture (Yale University Press) - 2012
Fiona MacCarthy - The Last Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination (Faber & Faber) - 2011
Hilary Spurling - Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China (Profile Books Ltd)

(I have had the Lee on my radar and the Spurling is on my Kindle and I should really get on with it.)

Australia's The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award shortlist includes two political books:

Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus and Nauru by Madeline Gleeson - covers the first three years of offshore processing – why this system was established, what life is like for asylum seekers and refugees on Manus and Nauru, what asylum seekers, refugees and staff say about what goes on there, and why the truth has been so hard to find

Talking to My Country by Stan Grant - An extraordinarily powerful and personal meditation on race, culture and national identity

I'm not really an outdoor person, but I think there are some interesting books in the National Outdoor Book Awards. http://www.noba-web.org

And I think this brings us to 150 posts!

Whoop!!!

OK, setting November up now!!

I finally got around to finishing The Prince. It's generally regarded as a guide on the ruthless acquisition of power, but it's really more of an examination of different ways power has been achieved and either lost or maintained. Yes, Machiavelli's practicality can be disconcerting at times, but he doesn't deserve his evil reputation. As a counter to the well-known "it's better to be feared than loved" line (which doesn't mean quite what people think it does) I offer one my favorite lines: "Not to be hated by his subjects is the best fortress a prince can have" (Ch. 20).

With the short chapters and Machiavelli's straight-forward style, The Prince is probably the easiest political philosophy I have ever read and a book I would recommend.

I finished Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative for October, and posted some thoughts on my thread.

I am still reading Plutocrats but am also simultaneously reading Capital by Thomas Piketty. Turns out I like my economic tomes liberally sprinkled with references to Jane Austen!

I think I over-challenged myself and am lagging behind but I finally finished my October book. I went back in time for this one but Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation is definitely up there in the political wrangling. Not only were the North and South of the United States involved but also Britain and the colonies of British North America. There was a lot of politicking going on during the Civil War and after.

This was the age of Manifest Destiny and the powers that be in the US thought that they would be able to annex Canada. They had this aim before the Civil War, turned a blind eye to the Fenian raids on Canada after the war and when the US administration sought reparation from Britain for their support of the Confederates, the US said they would be satisfied if Britain just handed over Canada. It took all of Macdonald's political skill to save the nation which had come together in 1867. (Typically Canadian, they formed a country because they were trying to avoid something.)

>156 Familyhistorian: Excellent recommendation!! Am adding that to my wish list... I had read the Canadian version of that (and had Canadian relatives who fought off the Fenian raids, being good Protestant Irish immigrants....) I even have a picture of my great-great grandfather in his militia colonel's costume somewhere, from the mid-1880s, when these fears were still a "thing".

>155 AnneDC: -- LOL!

>154 laytonwoman3rd: Confess that I held my breath before reading your review, having oodles of preconceived opinions re Goldwater (clean nuclear weapons??? WTF??? -- not to mention the anti-civil rights positions.) And then I came to your comments about his resisting the religious right, his support of LGBT rights, etc., and I stopped dead in my tracks. Talk about a contradiction in terms -- or did his views evolve? You hit the nail on the head that only a really thoughtful historian and skilled writer could do justice to that kind of mix. Clearly, he's no icon of the looniest parts of the right, as I might have assumed, and yet he may have helped to clear the path for them. It's a provocative mix of positions, and who WAS the man who could combine all this?

>153 amanda4242: YES to The Prince. We THINK we know what it's about, because it's cited so often, with people nodding their heads wisely, but most of them haven't read it either! Or at best have only read a snippet in college. It's really about political pragmatism, I thought (read it after reading one of those snippets and being intrigued, waaaay back in 1980, so clearly am overdue for a re-read, since it was too, too long ago.

>157 Chatterbox: What great history to know about your family and a photo in uniform as well! Too cool. It was a really good read.

>157 Chatterbox: To complicate the picture even further, based on some stuff my husband has been reading about the early days of Las Vegas, Barry Goldwater and his brother were heavy players; they had a branch of their department store in the Desert Inn, and kept a permanent suite at the Flamingo, so they hobnobbed with the mob. I think Goldwater always stood pretty strongly for personal liberties, and the separation of church and state, but his views on LGBT issues may have been shaped by having an openly gay grandson, Ty Ross, who says his grandparents knew he was gay from the time he was a teenager, and were always OK with it.