The 2017 Nonfiction Challenge Part VIII: "I've Always Been Curious About..." in August

It's August, it's hot (well, sometimes, some places...) and let's face it, we're all tired of the discipline of challenges. So you're off the hook. Let your mind roam free. As long as the title or subject of your non-fiction read can complete the sentence, "I've always been curious about.... " in a coherent, interesting or creative (or wonky) way, it fits! Just tell us how it fits -- i.e. give us the completed sentence, for our edification or amusement.

And as usual, please do try to report back on how the book worked out for you. You may score a book bullet and give a fellow LTer one of their best reads of the year! (Not to mention helping us get closer to the magic 150 posts per thread...) And if you've got any questions, and I don't reply promptly enough on this thread, shoot me a PM.

What we're reading this month:









Those of you planning ahead may want to look at the schedule:

September: Gods, Demons and Spirits
Religion, spirituality of al kinds; read about the Salem witch trials or animism in West Africa if you want.

October: The World We Live In: Current Affairs
It will be a year after Brexit; a year after Trump's election. What does the world look like? What forces are driving us? Find a book about some of the themes and issues that are at the top of the news by then.

November: Science and Technology
Probably self-explanatory, another holdover.

December: Out of Your Comfort Zone
A nonfiction book that isn't something that you would normally gravitate to, about a subject you'd never normally read about, or that is a "book bullet" you'd never previously heard about from another LT reader.

My books:

I've always been curious about family history: It's All Relative by A.J. Jacobs.

I've always been curious about some of the personalities in the American Revolution: Revolution Song by Russell Shorto and 46 Pages by Scott Liell

I've always been curious about people who go against the cultural trend to acquire and to protect their own self interests first and foremost: Strangers Drowning by Larissa MacFarquhar and City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence

I've always been curious about Patty Hearst, since I grew up listening to her story in real time on the radio/TV: American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin

I've always been curious about Europe's relationships with its immigrants, many from former colonial countries: The French Intifada by Andrew Hussey.

I've always been curious about feminism/women's issues and the whole debate surrounding this: The H Spot by Jill Filipovic and You Play the Girl by Carina Chocano

I've always been curious about politics and corruption: Thieves of State by Sarah Chayes and Dark Money by Jane Mayer

Erm, I'm clearly very curious. And overly ambitious when it comes to my reading ambitions...

I've always been curious about Katharina von Bora, the German nun who married Protestant reformer Martin Luther. I'll be reading Katie Luther, First Lady of the Reformation by Ruth Tucker.

I've always been curious about philosophies that help you deal with apparently impossible realities, so I'll be reading about existentialism and stoicism: At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell and How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci.

I've always been curious about Ernest Hemingway, so I've pulled Lesley M. M. Blume's Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway's Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises off the shelf.

I've always been curious about the origins of genius, so I'll be counting The Geography of Genius in August, since I won't be finished with it in July!

And I'm also interested in the development of communications systems and their impact on the world, so I also plan to read Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, which also deals with other fascinating things including murder, criminals, and life in early 20th century England and America.

>7 katiekrug: - I love almost everything by Larson that I have read, including that one. In the same vein, have you ever read The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage? I read that one a few years ago and really enjoyed it. He is a delightful and playful writer and it was an entertaining as well as a fascinating look at long distance communication in its infancy.

>6 katiekrug: - Funny you should mention genius. I have just learned how to listen to podcasts (yes, I know, don't say it. I am a dinosaur...) Anyhow, I have been binge-listening to Malcolm Gladwell's podcasts, called Revisionist History. In season one (he is in the middle of season 2 right now), I listened to the episode today called Hallelujah, all about the origins of genius (in music and art, specifically). Sooo good

>8 jessibud2: - I haven't heard of that one, but I will look it up! Thanks!

For August - On a friend's recommendation for our toxic election year: How to Heal Toxic Thoughts by Sandra Ingerman,

then How TO NOT Give a F--- in 10 EASY STEPS by Swami Pranayomama,

and concluding with Distant Healing by Jack Angelo.

Curious about getting closer to Peace...

First order of business for me will be completing Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer by Arthur Lebow, which I started reading for the July challenge. Got derailed—sidetracked is more like it—by a slide of books that piqued my interest, like, immediately. (Things like buying A Wrinkle in Time and Charlotte's Web for a granddaughter and taking the opportunity to read both before wrapping them for her birthday.)

What I'm planning to read for August is Raven Rock by Garrett M. Graff. The subtitle is: The Story of the U. S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of Us Die. My younger son's family sent it to me. Another of the books I gotta read right NOW.

I also started a Stephen Ambrose tome, The Wild Blue, about the young guys who flew B-24 bombers during World War Two.

>11 weird_O: so do all these fit the criteria of things you've always been curious about?? *grin*

It turns out I've been curious about most of the topics mentioned already, so I can see this being a month heavy with book bullets.

However, in the spirit of reading my own shelves, I could say that I have always been curious about the original bluestockings and scientific adventurers, and so try and get to my own copy of Lunar Men (I'm not sure how much women feature, but there's definitely one on the cover).

I also have an interest in the Jazz age, so picked up a second hand copy of Bessie, a biography of Bessie Smith.

I have reserved a copy of the dutch translation of The Hidden Life of Trees at the library. I hope it arrives in time for this challenge.

And I was at the Russian Revolution exhibit in the British Library over the weekend, and they had a whole display about Russian history - including a new penguin edition of Svetlana Alexievich's book about women fighters, The Unwomanly Face of War, which manages to link three things I'm interested in - oral histories, Russian history and the history of women doing things that they supposedly didn't ever do...

>16 FAMeulstee: How brilliant this has been translated Anita. I still have yet to get to this one, but want to.

I've always been curious about The Gene, so that's the one I've started.

>11 weird_O: >12 Chatterbox: I have been curious about the topics/subjects of all the books cited. Until now, I just never read the l'Engle or Charlotte's Web and didn't know the stories and, yes, I have been curious about them. Diane Arbus is a photographer whose work I have admired, and yes, I've been curious about her. BUT that book is a read for July that didn't get completely absorbed—and won't get completely absorbed—in the remaining hours of July. Haha.

Raven Rock is a timely gift. It is about all the bunkers built by the U. S. government so its elected and/or appointed "leaders" can hide from nuclear war or just airliners being deliberately flown into tall buildings. I've driven past Maryland's Catoctin Mountains, knowing there are bunkers inside, and wondering what they are like, how they got built yet remain largely secret.

The Wild Blue I hope will satisfy my curiosity about the B-24. In my first job after college and army, I worked with a guy who had piloted a B-24, not that he talked about it. Just something people knew. Just recently, I learned that B-24s were not very good airplanes. I hope this book will sate my curiosity on that.

#17
If you are curious about women in the military and the history of the Soviet Union you must read Night Witches by Bruce Myles. It is an old book (the hardcopy came out in 1981), but it is still one of the few works on the subject that is available in the West. It is am amazing story! Most people don't know that there were women flying aces, and those women were Russian women from WWII. It wasn't until just recently that the U.S. acknowledged that women were indeed flying in combat roles, but the Russians and the Israeli Army had women in combat roles of all kinds in the 1940's. (There was a company of women snipers in the Russian army.)

This is a great thing to be curious about. I will be waiting to hear what you say about the book.

I did not finish reading 52 Loaves so will be reading that this month, because I have always been curious about how to bake bread better. I also like reading books about chefs and am curious about why some people get obsessed with food and how it tastes. I love to bake and am always trying to do it better.

If I finish that one I will tackle Ross King's book Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling because I have always been curious about Michaelangelo. I also figure that if I don't finish that one this month that it will work for next month about religion.

I've got an ARC of the Svetlana Alexeivetch book as well, lurking around here. If I get bored (lol) with my overly numerous choices, I may dig that one out and do a "shared read" about women in war! Learning that didn't surprise me as much given that women in early Soviet Russia did all kinds of "unconventional" things, eg heavy labor. They were just other kinds of "units of production" for the state. It was the opposite extreme to the feminizing trap of the US, where women were (mostly) kept in little boxes and forbidden from doing certain things. Almost a legacy of the days a half-century earlier when doctors said, seriously, that using one's brain too much might hurt one's reproductive organs...

>14 charl08:
You might enjoy The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter by Benjamin Wooley

(Not a non-fiction read, but there is a novel coming out soon about Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Byron in question, by Jennifer Chiaverini. I'm in quest of an ARC...)

I've always been curious about the Johnstown Flood, so I am reading The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough. And I was also curious to see if I could dig through a four and half foot stack of books squished into a corner next to two other similar stacks (and fronted by two two and a half foot stacks) in order to unearth said book without knocking anything over. Success!

#26
I have had that book on my TBR list for years and years. I loved McCullough's book about the Panama Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge, but I haven't liked his biographies as much. I know, that is the opposite of what happens to most people. They love his biographies. I haven't read a single one of those and am not planning on doing so.

>27 benitastrnad: I read his 1776 last year and did not love it. It's sitting in the Kingdom of Meh - books that are in danger of getting evicted from my library. So far TJF is pretty good. Early days, though.

I'm about half way through listening to Neil Gaiman read his Norse Mythology. I hadn't thought about it fitting here, but since it has a 293.1 Dewey Decimal number, I think it does. I'm not familiar with the Celtic gods at all, so it's new for me. And listening to Neil Gaiman read Neil Gaiman is always a treat.

I've always been curious about Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation, especially today on the first day of my retirement!
And if time permits(!) - Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life by Helen Czerski

>30 GerrysBookshelf: Love the way the title flows so neatly into the challenge -- well done!!! if there were prizes, you'd get one for that! (And congratulations on day one of the retirement, and on having lots of time to read. May time not fly TOO swiftly...)

>28 Fourpawz2: Also love the "kingdom of meh". That would make a fabulous tag.

(Also noting that NetGalley just approved me for the novel about Ada Lovelace, Byron's daughter: doing a happy dance...)

>31 Chatterbox: - I have it as a collection, but I think you are right. Something to do this weekend....

>29 streamsong: Uhm, Celtic gods are an entirely different pantheon from the Norse.

I had planned to read about Hemingway this month, but Ursula K. Le Guin's Cheek by Jowl came in via ILL so obviously I had to read it right away. It would have been an excellent fit for last month's theme as it's a collection of essays about the importance of fantasy literature, but I'm totally going to count it for this month as I'm always curious about books and storytelling. My favorite essay was "The Critics, the Monsters, and the Fantasists", in which she takes critics to task for dismissing fantasy literature without knowing anything about it, and for being so poorly read in the genre that they didn't know the idea of a school for wizards was not invented by J.K. Rowling.

I didn't finish Begat: the King James Bible & the English Language last month, so I'll use it here. I love words, and word origins, and am really enjoying this book. I'd recommend it to anyone who feels the same way about words.

Note: don't be put off by the title, this is not a religious book, but a study of the origins of popular idomatic expressions like "the writing on the wall" (from the KJB) and "in the twinkling of an eye" (which predated the KJB).

I have always been curious about history and archeology and, more recently, about the king in the car park. The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues it Holds is in my collection and now added to my reading plans for this month.

I am having trouble deciding what to read for this challenge. I think I am being too literal. Whenever I think of a book to fit, I think "Well, if I was really all that interested I would have read it already.

I may re read Walden for this challenge, I have always been interested in solitude and nature. ) I won the new edition as an ERC, so if I get it in time, that will be my pick. Otherwise, I will scrounge through my shelves again.

>36 Familyhistorian:
I've always appreciated the irony that Richard III's "final" resting place was beneath all that potential horsepower.

I'm consistently curious about things cosmological. So, after lusting after it for a year, I pounced, when the price was right, on The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself by Sean Carroll. Mostly, I read straight modern physics but I thought I'd try a book a bit more philosophical. My hope is, Carroll doesn't go all dotty at the end like Paul Davies did when he waxed philosophical in The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World.

I had three ER books that would qualify, and after a week of dithering have finally chosen Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong--and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini. Haven't read much in this area since The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris came out in 1992, and that was a narrower focus.

>37 banjo123: You definitely are being too literal!! Think of a general subject in which you've always been interested, and then find a book that is a specific example of that -- eg always interested in US history, and here's a specific book about US history.

>38 Limelite: Omigod, I had never even thought about that irony -- my kingdom for a Lexus! I'll now never be able to purge it from my mind...

>40 Chatterbox:

Ear worms are us!

Finished The Johnstown Flood the other day. What a horrific experience for those poor people. Much worse than I expected. And - as is so often the case - something that should not have happened. As for McCullough, I am afraid that his first couple of chapters - especially the one where he is writing about the origin of the dam that caused all of the trouble - dragged a bit. However, once the flood began it kind of snatched matters out of his hands and the whole book took off. Over all it was a good read. I can see why it is still one of the most notorious of floods in history. Sure do hope that I never get caught in a flood in the mountains.

I've always been curious about life in Iran. I'm reading Honeymoon in Tehran.

The first of my 3-4 chosen curious books, How to Heal Toxic Thoughts was disappointing,
despite a few astute observations.

From the first practice, where the author tells readers to "Feel your troubles and thoughts being
transformed into pure light," I knew the book would be problematic because she gives no direction
or guidance or anything about how exactly one is supposed to accomplish this major spiritual transformation.

Complete review is on my site.

Meetings with remarkable manuscripts at 500 pages is going to be a struggle to complete by next week when it needs to go back to the library. It's beautifully illustrated with photos and very detailed descriptions of ancient texts. Possibly too detailed for me! I'm hopping about, currently reading about Chaucer's scribe.

>45 charl08: hmm, I do have that Charlotte, and read the first few. It's one of those books for slow grazing. But it is beautifully illustrated.

>44 m.belljackson: so what were the few astute bits?

>46 Caroline_McElwee:

I haven't been able to find it (to return to my daughter) since writing the review - will respond
when it turns up again - not quite one to fling to the wall, but close.

>44 m.belljackson: I am picturing laser beams zapping all the negative thoughts...
I really struggle with that sort of vague visualization stuff. I do believe in the power of positive thinking and that people have the ability to transform their lives, but imagining troubles and thoughts being transformed into pure light, I really don't know. Something has to happen to it. Is it a chemical process? How much energy does it take, and where does it go? Is it positive or negative energy? Yeah, nah. I'm not a good candidate for that stuff.

>33 amanda4242: See, you just proved my point about knowing nothing about them!

>59 nittnut: Time travel to the past?? That's all I can come up with. If you figure out how to do it, PLEASE let me know.

>59 nittnut: sleep less?

Also finished Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell. If you've read other books by Sarah Vowell, you'll know what to expect -- a bit of snark, a first person commentary combined with a decent amount of history, an attempt to make that history relevant to today. In this case, it more or less succeeds -- France as an ally of the US that helped us out (which we conveniently forget about often) and the ways in which Congress was utterly dysfunctional as far back as the 1770s, nearly dooming Washington's military campaigns. That said, this didn't move the ball forward enough for me, although the commentary was witty. It would be a great read for someone who really wasn't familiar with Lafayette, although it stops dead at Yorktown, and really shouldn't... 4 stars.

>38 Limelite: >40 Chatterbox: Ha, I never made that connection. It is really ironic that he was buried under all that horsepower but, when you think about it, still not quite in the right spot for Richard III to make use of.

>57 charl08: Ooh, that looks interesting, Roni, and my library has it. It is going through the multiple hold process now. Note to self to put Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong on hold when fall travel is over - 'cause you just know when it will show up if I put it on hold now.

I've finished Honeymoon in Tehran. Azadeh Moaveni is an Iranian-American who has lived and worked in the Middle East as a journalist for years. This is a memoir about the couple of years she lived in Iran, married, and had a child. She discusses the tendency of those who grew up in the West to romanticize life in Iran, the realities of living in a country where everything is controlled by a totalitarian government, and how it affected her personally. I think this book must have been sort of cathartic for Moaveni, as she worked through her decision to move to Iran, then leave. For the most part, it was an interesting read. I don't think the reader will get a really clear picture of any other part of Iranian society, other than the privileged one Moaveni inhabited. To be fair, moving around and talking to people outside one's acquaintance would be difficult, and I don't think she was claiming to have produced a comprehensive study of life in Iran.

>65 m.belljackson: Do you know whether this book comes before or after Lipstick Jihad? I think it must be her adult experiences versus her coming of age book... In terms of getting a glimpse of different social groups, I found Shirin Ebadi's memoir, Until We Are Free, very interesting. Her lifestyle was certainly westernized and privileged, but the people she was fighting for included ordinary Iranians trying to obtain their rights -- women, veterans, etc. who didn't know how to access the system and who were affected by corruption or simply denied equal access because of who they were. It's very much a personal memoir, so you only get glimpses through the "I did this, then I did that" stuff, but it was something. There's also Reading Lolita in Tehran of course, and somewhere I have a copy of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, which is supposed to be quite good, and written by the grandson of a mullah. (The sequel is entitled The Ministry of Guidance Invites You Not to Stay.)

>66 Chatterbox: I feel like I could spend a month (or even a year) just reading memoir. This one looks fascinating. I've only really read Persepolis I think.

I returned Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts early after oohing at the beautiful images. The author does go into remarkable levels of detail -500+ pages- about how the books are held and archived. I was expecting more of a coffee table anecdotal approach, although I feel I've learned a lot about one of the oldest copies of Chaucer's Tales, rodent nibbled and all.

I'm tempted to add it to the Amazon watch list. The images are stunning.

I have mixed feelings about memoirs. Some I find fascinating; others, such as celeb memoirs or "I survived this horrible thing" memoirs, often leave me completely cold. I'm interested in nuanced stories, where the author is as much a witness of what is happening around them, and when his/her story fits into that bigger picture. For instance, I have little to no interest in "I was held captive in a cellar" memoirs. I might read the memoir about a young woman who escaped from ISIS, but that's in part because I'm curious about the story of ISIS from inside versus from outside. Not really sure what I will read next. Have dipped into Strangers Drowning and At the Existentialist Cafe but both are a bit intense for my mood right now. Maybe the Patty Hearst bio?

>66 Chatterbox: It's after Lipstick Jihad, although the themes are kind of similar. I definitely preferred Reading Lolita in Tehran, but that may just be my love of literature speaking. I know I didn't like Things I've Been Silent About quite as much either. The Ayatollah Begs to Differ is on my list as well. I will get to it one of these days.

I have always been fascinated by Iran, but I didn't realize until I really got to know someone from Iran how little we really know about it. We had friends in Denver who were from Iran, and when we first met, I remember her very specifically telling me "we are not Arabs, we are Persian." It was something I only vaguely understood. That was one thing I did like about Honeymoon in Tehran, Moaveni did spend some time talking about the unique Iranian perspective and the destruction of Persian culture that occurred during and after the revolution. It's a shame that in the West we have tended to focus on the post-revolution culture and history.

I also have mixed feelings about memoirs. I really don't enjoy ones that I perceive as self-indulgent. Most celebrity memoirs and "I survived" ones fall in that category for me. At the same time, I think it might be difficult to write a memoir that is never self-indulgent.

>69 cbl_tn:

Together Tea is a lightweight novel with many Persian and Iranian cultural and food references.

I finished You Play the Girl, which is a series of ruminations on women and popular culture, ranging from the marriage plot in fiction to the Real Housewives of (insert city of choice here) and "Sex and the City." The emphasis is on TV and film, since the author has been a movie and TV critic for various publications, and she reaches back into time to deconstruct films that she loved as a young teen, like Flashdance, and those she hated, like Pretty Woman, and compare them to those that really send empowering messages to women, such as Desperately Seeking Susan. The Stepford wives keep making guest appearances in her commentary, and she devotes time to the problem of Disney princesses and what messages her young daughter will receive from the world, and from popular culture, about how to be a girl and later, a woman, as she reaches an age when she begins to absorb messages about how she "should" behave. There are few points here that are new; what is different is the individual perspective brought to bear on the issues that (sadly) remain all too present a part of life for most women: how do we define ourselves and see ourselves vis-a-vis the messages we get from mass media? What happens when our own ideas of what we can do and want to do run full tilt into society's expectations, as reflected in media? How do we cope? That said, I found some of these pieces -- I hesitate to call them essays, as they clearly were crafted for this book and aren't stand-alone articles -- to be a bit rambling and circuitous. I found myself yearning for writing that was more crisp and direct in style, and that didn't try to throw so many elements under a single umbrella in each chapter. It's definitely worth reading, if you're interested in the subject, but take it in small chunks. Parts of it are very worthwhile, too, especially for the devastating critiques of Flashdance, Pretty Woman, the Bachelor, etc., etc. Not to mention Trainwreck and others, which were more told in a voice of heartbreak and anger than sardonic wit. 4 stars.

So far, have read three books for this challenge; The Book of Separation by Tova Mirvis (due out next month) was head and shoulders the best.

I've dipped into American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin, but that just sent me off to watch "Amistad" on Amazon's Video channels (because one of Patty Hearst's kidnappers named himself after the head of the Amistad abductees from Ivory Coast, circa 1839 -- Cinque). Am reading bits and pieces of At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell and will finish it this month, but it's dense and requires a lot of thought, so it's slow going, and I can only read a bit at a time. May go back to Strangers Drowning by Laraissa MacFarquhar, of which I've read about 25 pages, or The Geography of Genius, of which I've read part of the first chapter before stalling.

My other non-fiction book may or may not belong here. While I've always been fascinated by true tales of espionage, I didn't log this at the beginning of the month because I wasn't aware it existed. I got Operation Whisper, the true tale of two Americans who spied for the Soviet Union, like the Rosenbergs (and possibly more effectively...) but who escaped capture and ended up going on to spy in the UK as well. I'd heard of them in the UK, posing as book dealers -- Peter and Helen Kroger -- and had always been curious about that case. What I hadn't realized was that they had had dual careers, as the Cohens in the US. The story finally got into gear about 1/3 of the way through, although the audiobook narrator is rather poor -- just flat and rattles on, no pause between different segments, no attempt to accentuate different events, etc. Blech. Plus, he is mispronouncing Igor Gouzenko's surname right now, which annoys me.

I've kind of stalled on The Geography of Genius myself (and it's actually my July read for the challenge!). It's not bad, I just don't find it all that terribly insightful. It's fine when I pick it up to read a chapter, but once I put it down, I never feel compelled to pick it up again. I've been forcing myself to read a chapter in between other books. I may just stop forcing myself and let it go...

Since we are nearing the last weeks of August & so need more posts,
here's the first of a two part review of How to Not Give a F---
by Swami Pranayomama:

Yes, there is the confrontational title which quickly repeats as an ongoing mantra, and
yes, a reader may disagree with how The Swami (who isn't one) expresses his feelings,
as with the goofy "Sid," yet there is so much Truth in this roiling read,
with the author clearly enjoying himself while offering up wise words.

Many of his exercises, unlike those in my first book, are fun, funny, and enlightening;
others, like the Octopus, less so.

>74 Caroline_McElwee:

(continued)

The Swami proceeds from Letting Go of patterns which GAF about EVERYTHING
in your life to opening up to Caring and Acceptance of yourself, others, Life and the world.
Judgements, forgiveness, positive action, and new ways to control your own negative
energy are carefully examined and challenged.

He believes strongly in the compassionate and positive healing powers
of Chi Gong, meditation, Concentration, Breathing, Yoga, and more.

(See my complete Review for the things I would change about the book, from organization to Buddhism.)

What, he's NOT A SWAMI?? LOL...

I finished my book for this topic but forgot to post about it here. I read Katie Luther, First Lady of the Reformation about Katharina von Bora, the nun who married Martin Luther. There was more about the author in the book than there was about Katharina von Bora. It seems there are only 8 letters that have survived in her own voice. Everything else that scholars/church historians know about her has been gleaned from Luther's letters and from what his contemporaries said about her. There doesn't seem to be enough primary source material to fill even a short book, which I suppose is why the author included so much about herself.

>77 nittnut: I was surprised by the title -- did she go by the name of Katie, or was that the author, too, trying to make the book sound more appealing to modern-day readers?

>78 Chatterbox: I think Luther referred to her as Katie in some of his letters, but I'm not sure anyone else would have called her that.

I had planned to read Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway's Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises, but I keep staring at it and thinking that I don't really need to be reminded that Hemingway was a jerk.

>80 katiekrug: LOL, I got a copy of that ARC, intending to give it to my then-BF, whose fave book is the Sun Also Rises. So, then he cheats on me. Indeed, everyone does also behave badly. And I have the ARC still in my possession.

>81 fuzzi: If ever a guy deserved a book! Give it to him not because "Sun" is his fave novel. Give it to him because the title of the gift book fits him, and the reminder will always color his regard for the novel.

You're in a position to serve up a really cold dish of literary revenge without being nasty or cruel. And it gives you a story to dine out with the girls on.

I just realised, I can join in on this one!!! And I have, I have always been curious about .........Russia. Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets is going to kick start a Russian book-reading frenzy for me, I think.



I am mere pages away from completing this 400+ page oral history. Little Lenny (aged 6) asked me this morning (with a distinctly incredulous tone) "have you read all those words?" He was very impressed when I said yes. He followed that up with - "wow, that must have taken hours to do" (by which he meant write). !!! Yes. Hours indeed!
I am struck of course by the violence and depravity, which, although must be told as is intertwined with so many aspects of recent history of this place, is just so....visceral (is that the right word? I'm not sure). The violence is back to back with hardship and struggle. It's hard to read. But what I am getting from this book is a real sense of how a nation of people have had the whole basis of their identities changed- when socialism was ousted, and capitalism arrived.
The propaganda of Soviet times can come across as cheesy from the outside (how could they all fall for that? etc.) but when you read the heartfelt accounts of people who believed in their leaders, believed in the power of the people etc, you really see how much it meant on a personal level to have that collective identity.

I haven't properly formulated my thoughts on it yet, but there is also a lot in there about happiness: how it can be achieved. The fundamental ingredients for it seem to be human connections and a plan (or maybe, a common goal or purpose). And some accounts in this book about Soviet times certainly show that this is at a loss under capitalism.

There is so much in this book to think on!! I can thoroughly recommend it.

I have two of her other books on my shelf Megan, so can't add a third until they are read. You've hit me with a book bullet though.

I am on vacation and, while I have done lots of reading it is mostly in the fiction category. I am still working, off and on - but mostly off, on 52 Loaves and it is interesting. I started Mr. Jefferson's University by Garry Wills and for some reason that book is holding my interest right now. I think I will probably finish it by the end of the month. It is part of the Nationial Geographpic Society Directions series and since Charlottesville has been in the news this last week it is also turning out to be timely read that has forced me to think about my position regarding "historical" statues and other historical monuments. But what I have been mostly thinking about is the naming of institutions in the modern era. For instance "Jefferson Davis High School." This school was built in the 1960's - so why was it named that? Especially since it is in Montgomery, Alabama.

>81 fuzzi: Ouch! Keeping the book and ditching the bf definitely sounds like the right way to go.

Does "I have always been curious about John Quincy Adams" fit here, or is it just too solidly biographical? Lol

>87 Chatterbox: It fits if it is an accurate statement of fact!! :-) Go for it!

John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger was an excellent read. John Quincy began his diplomatic service very early. He was educated in Europe and at Harvard. He was an accomplished diplomat and ambassador, moving comfortably among royalty at court in Prussia, Russia, France, Holland, and England. He was highly intelligent, idealistic, and patriotic, and refused to campaign for public office. He believed that representatives, particularly the President, should be chosen on merit and not because of their popularity alone. He was elected president in a contentious election during which he was the only candidate who did not campaign. His opponent was Andrew Jackson, who won the popular vote, but John Quincy Adams got the electoral votes. His presidency was a disaster. He was blocked in every direction by Jackson supporters in Congress. He also struggled to relate to the average American and his speeches were too intellectual.

The next part of his story was my absolute favorite. John Quincy Adams was asked by the people of Massachusetts to return to public service as a member of the House of Representatives. He served there from 1831 to 1848. He was a vocal opponent to slavery. In fact, the "Gag Rule" originated when he began reading petitions from abolitionists and slaves on the floor of the House and his irritated Southern colleagues were desperate to shut him up. This time of his life is very illustrative of his courage and personal integrity. He was very unpopular in Washington, but because of his tireless efforts to force discussion of the abolition of slavery in the House, he became more popular with the public than he ever was as President. A few other highlights of his time in the House: he argued successfully before the Supreme Court for the freedom of the African slaves who revolted and seized the Amistad, he was the force behind the eventual creation of the Smithsonian Institute, and he crossed party lines on a regular basis, sticking tightly to his understanding of the Constitution and what it did and did not allow. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on the floor of the House and died a few days later.

The discussion of this Missouri question has betrayed the secret of their souls. In the abstract they admit that slavery is an evil, they disclaim it, and cast it all upon the shoulder of…Great Britain. But when probed to the quick upon it, they show at the bottom of their souls pride and vainglory in their condition of masterdom. They look down upon the simplicity of a Yankee's manners, because he has no habits of overbearing like theirs and cannot treat Negroes like dogs. It is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?

>89 Chatterbox: - That sounds really interesting, Jenn. I confess to knowing very little about JQA, other than who his father was... Bad Katie.

>89 Chatterbox: >90 nittnut: I've not yet read it, but have watched the series based upon The Adams Chronicles, which was really good. I still recall some of John Quincy Adams' life from that television show.

I got my copy of the Dutch translation of The hidden life of trees from the library today, so I got it in time to read this month :-)

I just re-watched "Amistad", and enjoyed it -- even though it's very "great white savior" kind of storytelling, and has a sad coda. I also really liked Mrs Adams in Winter, which is about Louis Adams, JQA's wife, and a journey she made with (I believe) their son during the early months if 1815, just as Napoleon was escaping from Elba. Both she and Napoleon were heading for Paris... Louisa, in the belief that she would be attending a peace conference, and Napoleon, in a bid to overturn the new status quo and reclaim his empire. It was an excellent bit of historical/biographical writing, and made me curious about JQA.

I'm close to concluding my "curiosity" reading. I finished The Wild Blue early in the month. I consider Diane Arbus, finished a few nights ago, to have been for the July challenge (Creators and Creativity). I note its cover is in the montage in post one, and I can say I've been curious about Ms. Arbus for years.

Raven Rock is close to a wrap.

I am probably not going to finish 52 Loaves (not that it is a boring book - rather the contrary - but I just keep getting distracted by other titles) this month, but I am well into Mr. Jefferson's University by Garry Wills. This is one of the National Geographic Society's Directions series. I am working on reading all 15 titles in the series. This one is about the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. I started reading about it before Charlottsville was in the news, but now I am curious about the place and think that a trip to Monticello and UVA are somewhere on my horizon.

For my third curious book, I'm switching Distant Healing for
HOW TO BE SICK by Toni Bernhard.

Distant Healing is outstanding,
but needs more slow time to get into Angelo's well-constructed Practices.

My daughter asked me to read HOW TO BE SICK - to more fully
understand what she (RA) and other family and friends are going through
and to help deal with my relatively minor health flare-ups.

>95 nittnut: Well, if you don't get that one finished until October, the Charlottesville link means it would be a link -- even if a distant one -- to the current affairs category for that month...

#97
I will probably finish that book this week. The titles in that series are all about 200 pages. I think this one is just over - like 206 pages. It is really about the design of the Jeffersonian campus and why he designed it that way. Lots of insight about the snuggle to get the University established and started. William and Mary alums wanted to make that campus THE Virginia school, but Jefferson felt it was hindered and inhibited by religious entanglements, from various denominations. Mostly, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. Clergymen from these two groups opposed and undermined most of what Jefferson tried to get done to establish a school built on meritocracy rather than priviledge. I wonder what he would think of the school today?

>98 katiekrug: Oh, I think Jefferson would have a few choice words for people who don't act like gentlemen and who abuse their rights and privileges, don't you? I have a few choice words for Trump's false equivalencies re statues: d'uh -- Washington and Jefferson are honored for building a country and IN SPITE of their ownership of slaves; Lee and Stonewall Jackson should have their statues removed because they sought to pull out of that country in support of the disengenously-phrased "state's right", aka, the right to own slaves. In other words, one bunch built, they others destroyed solely to protect chattel slavery. And he's comparing the two on a one-to-one basis? The mind, it boggles.

>93 benitastrnad: If I remember correctly, from that part of the book, JQA was back in Paris. He had left Louisa and their son in Russia while he was negotiating the peace with England, and they were traveling to Paris to join him because he had been made ambassador to England. Their trip unluckily coincided with Napoleon's return. They were escorted by some French soldiers who appeared to struggle between wanting to kill them and liking them because they were American. Louisa had to act cheerful and excited and call out Vive Napoleon! periodically. It must have been terrifying.

>99 FAMeulstee: I think when people are wound up about things and in sort of protest mode, they aren't really making the distinction of "in spite of" vs. "in support of", and part of the issue is a lack of understanding of history and the wholesale application of our current understanding and belief system to a different time, which is awkward. I believe it is important to retain some of these statues, or representations on some level, in museums or other similar spaces. We need to remember how far we've come, we need to be able to see the victories won and be reminded of what we are fighting still, and we can't do that by erasing the bad parts. However, decisions about what is to be changed or removed need to be made through a civil process and not mob action, and that is what disturbs me most about the current mood in places very close to home. I wonder how a nation truly goes about healing something like this. There is never going to be enough sorry to make up for slavery and Jim Crow and all of it. I guess we have to start in our own corners and do our best, but it might not always be good enough.

On the subject of General Lee, I am going to have to read some books. I don't know much about him outside of he chose the wrong side. The more I learn, the more I don't know. :)

>100 nittnut: I think it's the failure of anyone to act via a civil process in anything resembling a reasonable time frame that has brought it to a point where mob action is the result. And removing them via mob action and having them end up in museums isn't mutually incompatible, in fact. Many of the Soviet-era statues in places like Lithuania, Hungary, etc. were removed, ahem, forcibly from their pedestals after 1989, and now reside in special parks dedicated to commemorating that era. There's even one in Moscow, a friend of one recently reminded me. I visited the one in Lithuania, and it's not perfect -- a lot of goofing off and posing while saluting the statues -- but it's also a learning experience, and the park itself is set up as a replica Gulag, which is thought provoking.

Thanks for reminding me of the details of Louisa's journey! I had forgotten all of those, and just had recalled in connection with this, "very, very good book!" as it really captured a sense of suspense and tension about her cross-European journey of two centuries ago. (Would make a great novel...)

I found most of the scenes from Charlottesville that involved the statue to be amusing. The reason - the statue was not of Robert E. Lee, as was stated in almost every news article I saw on TV. It was of Jefferson Davis.

That said, that makes me agree with the statement that most Americans are confused by their lack of knowledge of their own history. Most don't know that the "States Rights" argument was formulated to support slavery and for that reason only. They don't understand that by agreeing to join the United States they were turning their back on the idea of a confederacy of states, which is what the colonies did before they ratified the current U. S. Constitution.

#101
If people think that the power of art to intimidate isn't powerful then they didn't watch the news when the Soviet Union broke up, or when Baghdad fell. And they haven't read Ozymandias.

Art has frequently fallen victim to political manipulation and in my mind most of the statues in the South fall into the category of political manipulation. My sister and I have long made fun of the ubiquitous statue of a confederate soldier in the town square standing there facing south. I don't think I am being disrespectful either when I say that. I do think that the question of slavery was destined to be decided on a battlefield, but that is a long rant not suitable for LT.

Another amusing thought regarding this issue - most of these so-called works of art are very recent in origin. The bronze plaque that black students walk past when they enter the front door of the Gorgas Library on the University of Alabama campus was put there in the 1950's and other statuary on this campus was placed there only in the 1920's. These are not hundred year old monuments. They are Jim Crow Art and should be called that. Perhaps, that is reason enough to put them in museums, but I wonder about that. I might agree to put these statues in the deep dark recesses of a basement somewhere and take them out two hundred years from now, but I personally am more in favor of melting them down and using them in copper wiring.

>102 jessibud2: - Nope, it's definitely Lee, at least according to "the failing" New York Times!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/charlottesville-rally-protest-statue.html

>103 Oberon: I don't know if it's possible, but the fact that so much of it exists, and we seem to be unaware of some of it, is why I think a frank and open, and ongoing discussion of these matters would be so instructive. Discuss the history of the item in question, pros and cons, whether it would be useful to keep or not. I realize some of it might be subjective, but a lot of it is really not. I personally can't think of a good reason for there to be a bust anywhere of a Supreme Court justice who was a member of the KKK. Argh.

For many Americans,
statues commemorating confederate heroes are as welcome as
statues of Hitler, Goebbels, and Goring would be to most people in Germany.

#104
That is not the picture or the statue that was shown on the TV stations in Nebraska or the one I saw on the one time I passed through CNN on my way to the music stations up in the hundreds on my mothers cable. The NY Times is correct with that picture as it is Bobby Lee, but that looks more like the statue in Richmond. Does Charlottesville have a clone? Or is the Richmond statue a clone?

The pictures I saw in Nebraska were of a man standing. He was not on a horse.

I'm not up on all the Confederate statues in Virginia, I just knew the statue in question in Charlottesville was of Lee.

  The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, in Dutch translation

You probably never thought of trees as social beings... yet some kinds of trees form a community, they help eachother if needed. Scientific research has found more remarkable things about trees: they are aware of their surroundings and can feel, hear and smell. The line between animals and plants may be less distinct than we ever thought.
Peter Wohlleben, a German forrester, combines recent scientific findings with his own experiences in a lovely book about trees. In recent years we are slowly changing our attitude towards animals and the writer wants us to do the same towards the plants and trees: seeing them as complex entities with their own life.

>109 nittnut: That looks like a very interesting book Anita!

Pacific by Simon Winchester

I am counting this as my August Non-Fiction Challenge Book. I was curious to see how someone could construct a book about an ocean and make it coherent and/or worthwhile. To my pleasant surprise, Winchester accomplishes just that.

Winchester takes ten specific events, all within the last 70 years, and uses the events to tell the broader story of the Pacific ocean. I had serious doubts about the section on surfing and was intrigued about the discussion of the dispute between China and the United States about naval supremacy but the book was excellent throughout.

In addition to the aforementioned topics, the book covered: the testing of hydrogen bombs, the creation of Sony, the Korean conflict including the present concerns about nuclear escalation, Australia's political development, under sea volcanic activity, the Great Barrier Reef and its decline, the construction of the Sydney opera house, and the voyage of a Polynesian craft from the Hawaiian islands. All seem wildly disconnected and yet Winchester weaves them together to tell an engaging tale of the Pacific ocean.

I am inclined to try Winchester's book on the Atlantic in the hopes that it is equally entertaining.

>111 Limelite: - Just fyi, Winchester narrates his own books in the audiobook format and I listened to him read me this one some months ago. Loved it, and he is a delightful reader. Not all authors are

>112 charl08: Totally agree! I listed to this one as an audiobook and I loved his reading.

#109
I heard this author being interviewed on an NPR program Tuesday afternoon (August 22) and the book sounded fascinating. I thought the title was familiar so as soon as I got to a place where I could check LT is was delighted to discover that I have this book in my possession. I haven't dug it out of the box yet, but will do so this weekend, as that interview caused me to move it way up on my reading list.

The way he talked about trees I thought that the Ents couldn't be far away! Maybe Tolkein had talked to a German forester before he wrote The Fellowship of the Ring?

>111 Limelite: Excellent to learn -- I did this the other way around, read his book about the Atlantic. I have the Pacific book but haven't started it. Have met Winchester at a writer's conference and he's an interesting bloke. I'd also recommend his book about Krakatoa.

>115 benitastrnad: - Also, his books about the OED are terrific

I've taken BB's for Pacific and Atlantic: the Biography of an Ocean and when adding them to the TBR, I discovered that I've put most of Winchester's works in the pile. I guess it's time to start reading them.

>117 Chatterbox: That would seem to me to be a clue, yes... *she said, solemnly*

^LOL

>110 FAMeulstee: Yes it is, Jenn! I knew a little about earlier experiments with plants, but got a lot of information that was new to me.

>114 Chatterbox: Oh, yes, Benita, I was thinking of the Ents too, while reading the book!
I think some peole intuively or empathicly know that trees are more alive that most of us think/believe.

>120 Chatterbox: I've noticed that. The hickory and oak trees deliberately wait until I'm beneath them before dropping their nuts and acorns on my head.

>121 katiekrug: Yikes.

Flaneuse has turned up after a tidy up, so I've started reading and (wishful)thinking about living in Paris.

>109 nittnut:

The Metropolitan Museum in NYC offers "My Modern Met" - free & online -

the current feature is Trees with Crown Shyness Avoid Touching Each Other.

Very intriguing.

I just got an ARC of a book that I'm going to add to this, because, I've always been interested in learning more about coping with migraines. (d'uh.)

The book is: Backbone: Living with Chronic Pain without Turning Into One by Karen Duffy. It will be out later this year.

I finished "reading" a work of non-fiction last night. I have been listening to books because of my road travel the last two weeks. This one was Mr. Jefferson's University by Garry Wills. The title is part of the National Geograhic Society's Direction series.

Like the other titles in this series this is not a long book. (162 pages and then appendixes full of architectural drawings.). The title is about Jefferson and the building of the University of Virginia. Wills was asked to write about an area of which he was fond and had experience. He choose UVA because that is where he went to school and because he was one of the priviledged who lived in the Jeffersonian buildings he wrote about that place and institution.

It was a fine little book that concentrated on architecture and did not dwell on biography or politics. It included details like the debate about where to put the privies and pigsties. With detail like that it was a fascinating look at late 18th century life as well as the development of American Academe.

I knew that Jefferson had designed and built Monticello as well as UVA. While it is clear that he capitalized on his status, even while he was alive, and that he had significant input from other architects (like Latroub), I didn't know how accomplished of an architect and designer he was.

>121 katiekrug: LOL, I thnk some humans didn't treat them nice.

>123 fuzzi: Thanks, I looked for it. The phenomena itself & the photos are amazing!

Related to the trees -- there is a new book all about the ancient oaks of England -- trees that can be centuries old, that could have witnessed the wars of the Roses, perhaps, or Henry VIII going deer hunting.

Finished reading Backbone: Living with Chronic Pain without Turning into One by Karen Duffy, which will be out in November, and I confess I was disappointed. I hoped it would be a practical, thoughtful book, and instead it was a chatty, lightweight, sometimes goofy, self-helpy, positive thinking manual. Bits and pieces were interesting, and had she decided to be serious about it instead of including things like drawings of an "emotional baggage tag" or a "helper monkey finger puppet" (don't ask), there could have been a lot that was worthwhile to explore. For instance, she touches on Stoic philosophy, and on dealing with platitudes, and on how to form a good relationship with a physician -- all things that are crucial to people with chronic illnesses. But for someone with a particularly cruel and painful disease, Duffy has adopted a flippant and humorous public persona, which is fine -- I just don't know that it has resulted in a book that will be helpful to everyone else out there, unless they share her particular worldview. I confess I didn't get much from it. It might be most valuable to someone just diagnosed with a chronic illness, who is having to face up to the reality that their world is going to be radically transformed, perhaps? Sad, as I had been hoping for something that I could enthusiastically recommend to friends with lupus and fibromyalgia.

Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation by Alan Burdick
From philosophy to scientific experiments, Burdick takes you on quite an interesting journey about what time means and how it is measured. Topics include: clocks, from sundials to atomic clocks; time zones; circadian rhythms and internal clocks of people, animals and plants; true time vs. time perception (Does time really appear to speed up as we age?); philosophy (What is now? Is time a property of the mind?) and so much more.
Among all the scientific data, the author explores his personal experiences and humorously gives you a new sense of "time management" as his twin sons are born and grow up.
Fascinating and fun!

>129 Chatterbox: Oh, I like the idea of true time vs time perception. I've been wondering about that a lot, and my theory is that it has to do with how an increment of time (eg a month) relates to the total elapsed time in our lives. When we are teenagers, a month represents a much larger fraction of our lived experience to date, so it feels like a significant expanse of time. At the age of 20, a year is 5% of our lives to date; at the age of 50, it's only 1%. Even so, the mathematics doesn't seem to capture the way the velocity feels. So it's not perfect!!

So I'm still working on my July book and got no where near my pick for August... *sigh* I may try to double up in September to get back on track because God forbid I don't complete the year-long challenge!

>131 katiekrug: You're such a completist, Katie! The non-fiction gods are not going to punish you if you don't check off all the boxes, for heaven's sake...

To reiterate: while this is labeled a challenge, PLEASE don't look at it as something that you have to do, and pass a final exam. If it's not fun, or encourage you to pick up something off your TBR that you WANT to read, please don't do it!! Just follow along and watch the rest of us.

>132 Chatterbox: I don't finish my choice more often than I do, but it's still something I attempt every month!

>132 Chatterbox: - Oh, I know! But my NF reading is usually some of my best reading, so I want to make the effort. I'm planning an audio for September's theme, and will tackle Thunderstruck in print. I should finish The Geography of Genius on my flight home Thursday.

I agree that some of my best reading this year have been my non-fiction tomes. Not sure whether it's because I pick them more carefully or just that there is a lot of non-fiction that is just "meh" or "me-too". Regardless, I've had some excellent non-fiction picks this year, as well as more mediocre ones like the most recent one.

I agree >134 charl08: and >135 charl08:. Some of my best reading the last two years has been a result of this challenge. I definitely see a higher balance of NF in my reading totals. Good stuff.

>132 Chatterbox:

Geez- you mean we don't get a prize?!?

I did finally complete the book I started for July, and supplemented it with a monograph of photos. (Recall that July's category was Creators and Creativity.) The foundation book was a recent biography of photographer Diane Arbus, who sandwiched her complete career between the years 1955 and 1970. She committed suicide in 1971.

Here's a telling anecdote: In 1969 the Metropolitan Museum of Art bought two Arbus photos for $75 each. In 2007 one of Arbus's iconic photos, "Child with a toy hand grenade” sold for $229,000. Last year, a signed print of the same image brought $785,000. She spent her entire career working hand to mouth, and she died in penury.

The biography is through, empathetic, etc. etc. BUT. It has no reproductions of her photographs. The ToC is followed by a list of "photographs discussed in the text" that runs to five pages; the Notes at the end of the book explain that the author, Arthur Lubow, had excess to her letters and diaries, and other material from the Estate of Diane Arbus, but wasn't permitted to reproduce any of her photos. There are several books of her photos. I sprung for her Aperture Monograph, with 80 of her photos. Google Images turned up many more.

 

Here's a link to a Stanley Kubrick homage to Arbus. Yeah, it's my thread. https://www.librarything.com/topic/266447#6160409

>137 Caroline_McElwee: Good grief, now you've put me on the spot. I shall have to devise some quirky prizes for the end of the year. Nothing as straightforward or as demanding as tied to the number of books read, however. That would be too plain vanilla, and send entirely the wrong message -- I don't want this to become competitive reading. So I'll see whether I can come up with some ridiculously kooky ideas -- and devise some equally kooky, book-themed little prizes to match.

>138 charl08: Astonishing that a major bio wouldn't have photos of her images. I know that one of the biggest collectors of her photos (and others by major photographers) is a hedge fund manager in NYC/Connecticut. Hmmm... Still, enough works are held in museums -- that's startling and disappointing. At least he explained the reason in the book. Perhaps museums, etc. still hope to make so much money from their own collections they don't want to allow reproductions? Or wanted to charge a fortune? Still -- wow.

Time to start wrapping up your August reads and think about what you'll read for September's challenge: "Gods, Demons and Spirits." Absolutely anything related to the world that we can't see is fair game, from anything dealing with one of the world's major religions, to questions about faith in general, to questions of heresy! How does religion intersect with society and politics? What is life like in a theocracy? Do you have biographies about religious or spiritual figures, from people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Martin Luther King, to Buddha? I think VS Naipual wrote something about African religions, although I don't think I was all that impressed.

And so on. I've got too books on my watchlist for this, the new tome by Frances Fitzgerald on Evangelicals in America, and a much older one by A.N. Wilson, God's Funeral, about the gradual loss of religious faith in Victorian England, how that radiated outward (and its origins in Enlightenment thought, and Wilson's arguments about the legacy of that.

I'm thinking of listening to Zealot by Reza Aslan for September.

>141 Chatterbox: Good choice! Aslan has a new book coming soon, about nothing less ambitious than God himself/herself. I remember that Zealot aroused a bit of controversy/division of opinion among LT readers when it first appeared, so I'd be interested in your thoughts. I liked having a different perspective, frankly.

I've about 150 pages to go with The Richard Burton Diaries. Will probably finish it at the weekend, as have needed to cart smaller volumes around.

I wasn't sure I'd carry on at 100 pages (of 650) but it got better. It's intriguing, repetitive, fascinating, maddening, heartbreaking, warm, passionate and probably very much the man he was. I'd have liked him I'm sure.

In summary, he was a contradiction, loved life, yet suffered depression, enjoyed fame but needed solitude. Greatly generous of his time and with money. LOVED the written word and read voraciously from detective novels to serious history, literature of all shades. He worked hard, but had little respect for his profession (compared to work others did). In his dreams he would have been an academic and writer. He was a self-taught linguist, fluent in Welsh, English, French, Spanish, Italian, had a little German and was dabbling in Serbo-Croat whilst working on a film, and tried to learn to read Russian. He was a self-confessed drunk, who knew how boring and verbally aggressive he became under the influence, but he couldn't stay dry for long. And he loved deeply. He was obsessed with Elizabeth Taylor. Barely spent a week apart at any one time. They were a volatile match, but a match all the same.

>143 Familyhistorian: Sounds fascinating Caroline. He's such a charismatic figure on screen, and that voice!

I'm still reading Flaneur, trying to rein in my reaction to her stories of walking Paris (tempted to just go jump on the Eurostar). London I've done enough to find her Bloomsbury accounts less tempting: I've read a little about Woolf but the accounts of her riding on the bus to Hampstead are charming. I've got Tokyo and New York to go I think.

I'm not sure I agree with her history of women walking, but that's part of the fun of reading and engaging with such a well written book. This is a safe bet for anyone who likes a bit of armchair travel I think.

And I don't know what to read for the next challenge - I've been saying I'd read And the spirit catches you and you fall down for ages, but would rather be reading something on my to be read shelf.

I've got a few things on Islam, history of. Would that count Suzanne?

>145 m.belljackson: I have that in the pile Charlotte.

>144 Familyhistorian: love the voice. I can hear him speaking the diaries, but it has also made me hit YouTube a bit to listen to him reading poetry.

>147 banjo123: Oh, I love it when that happens. Alan Bennett reads his diaries to me, even when I'm reading the book!

>139 m.belljackson:

What FUN!

If you opened this up to the group, maybe some tech savvy folks could design Odd Award Bookmarks to download or ... ???

>149 This comment has reminded me of my library's 50 books challenge which, it turns out, has No Prizes. The kids (eta on the other hand) get toys, and a certificate. Harumph.

(Have we reached the minimum for the challenge...?)

Oddly enough, we have now reached the minimum post count for the for the next challenge to be posted seamlessly....

I was curious about the latest well publicized archaeological find. The initial tag line of The King in the Car Park had first piqued my interest. One of the writers of The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds is Phillipa Langley, one of the motivating forces behind the dig.

The book itself goes into the dig and how it came about. It also gives the history of Richard III, his reign and the subsequent villianizing of Richard by the Tudor propaganda machine. It was an interesting description of the history and the modern day events.

"Gods, Demons and Spirits" next? I must have something on the shelves for that.

Would Ghosts from our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal fit for the Gods, Demons and Spirits theme?

As a final companion to the Curious and Curiouser journey,
I completed HOW TO BE SICK by Toni Bernhard.

Written for people with chronic illnesses from which, at this time, there are no cures,
the author shares many of her own experiences after learning that getting better and
being her old self was no longer possible.

She does not spare the darkest, saddest hours, months, and years as she offers
hope for acceptance and dealing in a more actively positive way with inspirations from Buddhist precepts.

For readers not familiar with Buddhist terms, it helps to make a bookmark with brief definitions.

Many of her ideas will be valuable for both sick people and their caretakers,
yet, like the Dalai Lama and Swami Pranayomama, she does not embrace
basic Buddhist compassion for animals and so references animal experimentation results.

>154 Does it raise questions of faith in gods or powers greater than us (and not just spooks?) If so, yes...

I finished my book for this challenge, Terry Tempest Williams' The Hour of the Land. It's lovely, and thought provoking. She really gets at the fact that the division between nature and human is a false division. Here is a favorite quote:

“Desert strategies are useful: In times of drought, pull your resources inward; when water is scarce, find moisture in seeds; to stay strong and supple, send a taproot down deep; run when required, hide when necessary; when hot go underground; do not fear darkness, it's where one comes alive.”

I finished reading 52 Loaves by William Alexander. Notice the date on this post. I didn't finish reading it until October 1, but I finished it and it was a wonderful romp through the taken-for-granted task of bread baking. Glad I finished this one.