Nonfiction Challenge - Part 2

I am pleased to announce that since The Nonfiction Challenge group has now reached, and surpassed, 250 posts, so I am starting a second thread. I will be posting the topper threads first and then then we will follow with our usual postings of comments and notifications.

What follows are the instructions for how we are going to use this thread. The thread is open to anybody who wants to join.

Since we reached 250 posts this is the new thread. When we reach the next 250 posts I will create another thread. This will enable us to have better linkage between threads. Last year (2024) we had three threads. Since it is September, I suspect that we will not have to start another one in 2025.

This group was established to encourage reading and discussion of works of nonfiction using a guided topics format. That means that you get to read what you want, but the moderator sets the parameters for the topics. At the end of the year, the group decides what topics they will pursue for the coming year. The moderator then assigns months in which these topics will be read and discussed. The list for 2025 will be in the next post on this thread.

The 2024 group decided on the monthly topics and that list is posted below along with the explanations of what the boundaries are for the topic. Each person generally will post the title and other information about the book they have chosen for the month at the beginning (or whenever they make the decision about what to read) and when they have finished the book write about their opinions, recommendations, and other comments about the book. Thoughts of this nature generally elicit comments so sometimes there will be discussion about the book. In fact, that is what this thread is, a forum for discussing nonfiction titles. You can attack the title you have chosen to read for whatever reason you as a reader have, but do not attack the people in this discussion group. We want to be critical readers, not critical people.

There is no publication limit for the books chosen by readers. If you want to read a classic published in 1820, go ahead.

If you don't finish a book in the month that topic was to be read, don't feel bad, just let us know when you have finished the book, and your thoughts about it, then move on to the next topic. It won't matter if it is in the middle of the next topic or not.

I will try to make a reminder announcement about the next topic on the last day of the month for the next month. Please don't jump the gun and announce what you are going to be reading for the month until the first day of the month. It will get confusing if you post your selection before the moderator has made the beginning post for the month.

Along with the posting of the topic for the month I will sketch out the parameters for that topic. If there are questions about those parameters bring them forward in the discussion posts so that I can clarify the parameters for you. If you can make a good case for choosing that title, even if it may not appear there is a connection between the book and the topic, bring your good reasons to the discussion screen and make your argument. We are a wide open group so generally this type of title is acceptable. Just remember, this is a Nonfiction group, so keep the works read to nonfiction.

Here is the list of topics for 2025.

January - Prize Winners - This is a traditional topic for January and would like readers to concentrate on the lesser known prizes that are awarded. I will post a list of prizes that will help you to get started. You can check the next couple of posts on this thread for a list of some of those prizes to see what might interest you.

February - Where Are We? Cartography - books about maps and mapping. Think the voyages of Captain Cook. And to pump it up a notch or two, what about mapping the universe. The development of technological mapping - think GPS, or Landsat. What about mapping ocean currents or weather on Mars?

March - Espionage and Counterespionage - This is a topic that the group did in 2022 and it was very popular. We'll do it again as there is a myriad of books on this subject.

April - Revolutions - here is one definition of revolution. A revolution is a fundamental change in a political or socioeconomic system, often involving the overthrow of a government or ruler. Wikipedia definition is more exact. A revolution a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements at their core: (a) efforts to change the political regime that draw on a competing vision (or visions) of a just order, (b) a notable degree of informal or formal mass mobilization, and (c) efforts to force change through noninstitutionalized actions such as mass demonstrations, protests, strikes, or violence." Some examples of revolutions include: American Revolution, Haitian Revolution, Industrial Revolution, October Revolution, French Revolution

May - Modern China, the country - this can be historical or contemporary, but it needs to be something about the sociology, history, politics, arts, business of modern China. This is the period from 1911 to the present. The book can be a biography of a person, a history of a movement, a book about modern travel in China, or about some recent Chinese business scandal, or the struggles with Hong Kong.

June - Natural Disasters - Disasters is a big topic and so we are going to limit this one to natural disasters such as tsunami's, earthquakes, snow storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, fires. This is not about climate change so be careful about what book you choose. For example, the Camp Fire in California was a man-made disaster, (PG&E caused that one with the bad maintenance of power lines) but the Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin in 1871 would be OK, as would the Maine fires in 1947.

July - Fish & Fishing - books about fish, the fishing industry, and the fishing experience. A book about sturgeon, cod, etc., would work. The fishing industry as it is currently or historically. A book about fish farming in the Scandinavian countries, or the collapse of the fishing industry in New England is this part of the topic. Then there is the fishing experience with a myriad of books about the zen of fishing including fly fishing. There is also the scourge of invasive species such as the Lionfish to read about.

August - Movies, Movies, Movies - books about the making of movies, the movies themselves, women in the movies, and even biographies of movie stars, so yes, Mommie Dearest would work here as would Barbara Streisand's tome.

September - Transportation - how we get ourselves and our goods about. Books about roads, bridges, trains, planes, automobiles, ships, canals, or even walking. Rebecca Solnit's book on walking would work here, even though that one seems to be a contemplation on walking, but still our own two feet get us from here to somewhere else.

October - Bibliophilia - This word means the love of books. This has been a topic before for this group and it has proved to be very popular, but this time we are going to limit it to those who love to read or collect books. Don't confuse Bibliophilia with Bibliomania. Bibliomania is a compulsion to own books that interferes with a person's ability to interact with others and is a whole different topic.

November - Holidays and Cultural Events - Dig out those books about the history of Christmas, or Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations. For this one books about the history of the Star Spangled Banner or Silent Night are acceptable. As would be books about this history of Christmas Markets, or the creation of Veteran's Day. Even the recent addition of Juneteenth as a holiday. A book of Saint's Days in the Christian religion or important celebrations in other parts of the world. Chinese New Year would be a good one.

December - As You Like It - whatever catches your fancy at this time of year.

Our topic for the month of September is Transportation.

Transportation is going to be defined as how we get ourselves and our goods about. Books about roads, bridges, trains, planes, automobiles, ships, canals, or even walking. Rebecca Solnit's book on walking would work here, even though that one seems to be a contemplation on walking, but still our own two feet get us from here to somewhere else.

The word Transportation has as its root word Transport. Transporation is defined as is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipelines, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Transport enables human trade, which is essential for the development of civilizations.

While walking is a form of transportation this is not a topic about hiking. This is about transportation. A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. It is primarily for recreation. We are looking at transportation that is intentional not recreational. Books about exploring trails for leisure are not the same as exploring a trail for purposes of learning how humans, animals, and goods move from one location to another. Reading about a caravan moving salt from the interior of Africa across the Sarah to the Mediterranean coast is acceptable for this topic, while Cheryl Strayed's book about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail would not be part of this topic. Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan is another example of a book that would fit this topic since it is about the history, and the goods, that traveled back and forth on the various branches of the Silk Road.

There are many books about transportation available to readers that range from carrying tea across the old tea traills of China to transporting goods to the Space Station that obits the Earth. There are books about airports, air mail, and air battles. Yes, books about bombing battles in WWII count, because it is the transportation of an explosive device from one place to another. Books about the building of the Panama Canal would also work, because it enabled the faster transport of goods from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic and vice versa.

Take a look at your TBR lists and see what you come up with for reading this month.

I will be reading Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee. This book is about the people who spend their professional lives moving goods from one point to another. He rides from Atlanta to Tacoma alongside Don Ainsworth, owner and operator of a sixty-five-foot, eighteen-wheel chemical tanker carrying hazmats. He attends ship-handling school on a pond in the foothills of the French Alps, where, for a tuition of $15,000 a week, skippers of the largest ocean ships refine their capabilities in twenty-foot scale models. He goes up the Illinois River on a "towboat" pushing a triple string of barges, the overall vessel being "a good deal longer than the Titanic." And he travels by canoe up the canal-and-lock commercial waterways traveled by Henry David Thoreau and his brother, John, in a homemade skiff in 1839. This is a book based on a series of articles McPhee wrote for the New Yorker.

I am also going to read A Week At the Airport by Alain de Botton. This one is about a week in the life of an airport. The description of the book says that in the summer of 2009, Alain de Botton was given unprecedented, unrestricted access to wander around Heathrow, one of the world's biggest airports, having been appointed its Writer-in-Residence. He spoke with everyone from airline staff and senior executives to travellers passing through, and based on these conversations he produced this extraordinary account of life at an airport and what it says about modern existence.

I plan on reading Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy. This is both a biography of Robert Louis Stevenson's trip from New York City to Monterrey, California, as well as a history of the Transcontinental Railroad. I've read two by this author previously and really liked them. (The Children's Blizzard and The Great Fire)

Well I think I will include Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane in this non fiction category challenge for September as I just finished it. Rivers are transport. I know this as I came down the Stikine River B.C. to Alaska in our home made large freighter canoe. It was quite the wild ride and buggy as I recall!

>5 Tess_W:
I like Jim Murphy's work. It is very interesting for children and YA readers. And I always found that I learned something from them as well.

>6 mdoris:
That sounds like a real adventure. I have never been on a canoe in a river. Only on small lakes in the mountains in Colorado. A river would make it much more exciting.

>7 benitastrnad: Did not look close enough! Just saw that it was notes from Robert Louis Stevenson and stopped there. Was unaware it was juvenile biography! I still have ordered it so will read it. I have been scanning their virtual shelves and I came up with a couple I would also be interested in and ordered them as well:
Along the Trail with Lewis and Clark (Third Edition): A Guide to the Trail Today by Barbara Fifer
Nothing Like it in the World by Stephen Ambrose
Shipwreck How a Captain, Company, and Culture Sank the SS El Faro by Maeve McGoran
A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey 1957 - The Space Race Begins by Michael D. Antonio.

After looking over them more closely, I will make an additional selection.

>9 Tess_W:
There is nothing wrong with reading Children's or YA literature. I mentioned that I had read them because I was a school librarian for years and so I read lots of them as well. Statistically, about 35% of the readers of YA literature are adults. Oftentimes, they are the only genre of literature that has books on many subjects. Yesterday, I was looking through Booklist at the YA and Children's book reviews and noticed that there was a new starred review of a book on propaganda. I think the title of it was Can Posters Kill?: Antisemitic Propaganda and World War II by Jerry Faivish. I thought it looked interesting and was one I would like to read. YA authors like Russell Freedman, Steve Sheinkin, and Tonya Bolden do a great job often on obscure subjects that then become mainstream. I read Tonya Bolden's book about the way Native American's were exploited during the Oklahoma Oil boom long before Killers of the Flower Moon became popular. YA literature can often be on the cutting edge of nonfiction. My real life book discussion group often reads YA literature. That might because of the titles available but I like to think that it is because it is also well written and on subjects where there often is a dearth of other material.

>10 benitastrnad: Oh no, I like YA/Juvenile books and often look for them for specific topics. However, when searching for most reads, I like adult. Just went too fast and thought when I saw notes of Robert Louis Stevenson I was getting a more substantial read. I'm going to read the YA book, but will probably be left wanting something else to make it more complete! Again.....since school is in session, that depends upon the time factor.

I finished Across America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy. While it's marketed as a juvenile or young adult book, I’m not convinced that readers in that age group would fully grasp the depth of the subject matter without some prior knowledge of American history. The book weaves together Robert Louis Stevenson’s journey across the United States with the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and the U.S. government’s handling of the so-called “Indian problem.” While much of the content felt fairly general, the inclusion of primary sources—particularly quotes from General William T. Sherman—stood out. I was genuinely shocked by Sherman’s language and his apparent support for the extermination of Native Americans. I guess I shouldn't be shocked, it was just jolting! 168 pages 3 stars

I finished The Book of Old Ships by Henry Culver. My thoughts on the book: This is an older book, originally published in 1924 (although the edition that I own was published in 1935) and it has not really aged well. I gave this book to my father because, even though we never got on together, we both shared a love of the old ships. When he passed away a couple of years ago, the book reverted to me. This book gives a history of the ships dating back to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt all the way up to the clipper ship of 1850 and the "modern super ship" (c. 1920). The main problem with the book is that the descriptions of the ships are cursory and there is not enough detail given for them. Culver did include a small section on the etymology of some of the ship's names and I liked this section most about the book. Gordon Grant's illustrations are very good and well-suited to the subject matter. It is a shame that only 5 of them are in color - the are 70 others included as well; Guardedly Recommended (3.5 stars)

I finished the short essay book A Week At the Airport by Alain de Botton. The author is a well known essayist, mostly for his travel books. He was invited by the CEO of the company that built and manages Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport outside of London, UK. He spent one week staying at the attached Sofitel and had a desk inside the passenger part of the terminal. It was at the desk that he wrote the essays found in this book.

The contents are short essays written after interviews with everyone from the CEO who hired him, to room service waiters at the Sofitel, housekeepers at the airport, pilots, hostesses at the British Airways exclusive lounge for business traveler. He interviewed the people who put together the meals served on the airplanes, and those who clean the planes between those speedy turnarounds.

I found the book very interesting, but really wanted more depth. However, it was a perfect book to read over a very busy weekend.

>14 benitastrnad: it was a perfect book to read over a very busy weekend. I like books of essays (and short stories) for just this reason. I am dodging this particular BB as I have already read it.

>14 benitastrnad: I've got this on my shelf and am moving it up on the "list."

I am about half done with Uncommon Carriers. I thought this was a book about long-haul truckers but it turns out that it is about several different types of good transports. There are 7 different essays in this book. Each dealing with a different kind of goods transport. I have read the first three and am now on the fourth. I am finding this one to be a perfect kind of essay for me. The author starts out recreating Henry Thoreau's vacation trip up the Merrimack River, but the essay is really about the canal system for transporting all kinds of commercial goods around New England in the 1830's and 1840's. This book is making me think that I should pick up a book about the Erie Canal because I now begin to see how come it was so important in US history.

I finished Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee last night and, like all of his books, I really liked it. Once again the chapters of the book were all published essays in The New Yorker and this time one was published in the Atlantic Monthly. McPhee covers most of the ways good are transported commercially around the US. There is a chapter on cross country hazardous materials trucking, ocean shipping, river boat towing, package delivery by UPS, and railroad transportation of coal. There is even a chapter where McPhee takes a canoe trip based on Henry Thoreau's trip up the Merrimac River in the 1850's. McPhee says that such a trip is much harder now than it was then, because the river was extensively used for transportation and had a lock and dam system that turned it into a commercial canal. This chapter made me appreciate the Erie Canal much more than I did in the past and put the book Wedding of the Waters back on my radar.

McPhee's ability to describe the scene inside the UPS gigantic sorting facility in Louisville (and the fact that UPS is the world's 11 largest airline) was amazing. He dissected the place and allowed the reader a thorough look at how it all works. Then he did the same thing when describing how coal trains 7,000 feet long are loaded and unloaded. This was truely an outstanding overview of the basic modes of moving commercial goods from one place to the other in the US.

It is the last day of the month and time to change our topic. However, if you are still reading a previous months entry, don't let the turning of the calendar detor you from finishing your current book. When you get done with it post your assessment/review of it. We aren't going to be picky about what time you enter your title. We are just readers and will wonder what you thought of it. Time is not the important factor.

As the weather begins to change here in the Northern Hemisphere and the nights become longer, there is more time for introspection, thought, and of course, reading in a warm spot. Our topic for the month is Bibliophilia. Bibliophilia is defined as the love of books. Don't confuse it with Bibliomania - the excessive hoarding or collecting of books. We are going to be reading about the love of reading or the love of books. Books about theft of books, or book collecting are not the topic for this month. Neither are books about publishing houses, or the history of publishing. Books about reading, book clubs, or teaching books, are all acceptable for this months reading. Books about how and why people read, or what reading does for people, how reading works, would also be part of the love of reading or books. A classic in the area of the love of reading,, and how reading works is Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf, written back in 2008.

Here are some examples of books that would work for this months topic.

End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives by Lucy Mangan
Books for Living by Will Schwalbe
I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel
Bound to Please by Michael Dirda
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Why We Read by Shannon Reed
Howard's End Is On the Landing by Susan Hill
Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend by Rebecca Romney
Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books by Cathy Rentzenbrink
Jacob's Room Is Full of Books by Susan Hill
Soldiers Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet
Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult by Bruce Handy
Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami by David Karashima
What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading by Leah Price
Unpunished Vice: A Life of Reading by Edmund White
Reading Women: How the Great Books of Feminism Changed My Life by Stephanie Staal
Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf
Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction by Meghan Cox Gurdon

This list should give you a good place to start. It might also help to look these titles up in LT and then look at the descriptions heading on the left hand side of the page. These descriptions can tell you more about what the book is about and help you make the decision about what book you might choose to read for this topic.

Happy reading about the love of books and reading!

I'm looking forward to getting to Jane Austen's Bookshelf for this challenge. I've been a fan of Rebecca Romney for a while, and the reports on this book are very good.

I will be reading Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year Reading by Nina Sankovitch. I have had a copy of this book for a long long time and it is now calling to me, so this is the month to read it.

For those of you who might be trying to find a title for this topic I am going to make a hearty recommendation for Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet. I read this one some years back and I still think about it. I got it through Inter-Library Loan but I just looked at Alibris and there are plenty of used copies of it for sale starting at $1.30. If nothing else is calling to you this month, give this title a try.

I'm going to read The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller for this month's challenge.

To begin, I will read Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman it has been tagged as both bibliophilia and bibliomania (although in smaller font). Also tagged as books about reading and books about books. If I start and realize it's not going in the right direction, I'll make a different choice.

>23 Tess_W: That's a lovely read. My copy is a treasure, as it is signed by a fair number of LT'ers who I met way back in 2007! Not all of them are still here participating, but those who are have become best friends in real life.

>24 laytonwoman3rd: Glad to get your recommendation!

>23 Tess_W:
I also have read this book and liked it. I like most of what I have read by Anne Fadiman. She does quite a bit of writing about books and reading, but also about other things, so I am sure you will enjoy reading this book.

I finished Station to Station by James Attlee last night. After writing three books as he commuted to work on the Great Western Line, the author suggested that he should be named "Writer on the Train," and the railway took up his suggestion. It's part literary travel, part regional history of the southwest of England, and part biography of legendary industrial age engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. There are too few photographs and no maps, so it helps if you're at least somewhat familiar with this line.

Bibliophilia is something that I think we all "suffer" from so I do understand why this one is so popular, Benita.

I have a few options this month but The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller is calling to me from the shelves.

I am going to try and get a couple of books in for this month's challenge: Bookman’s Pleasure: A Recreation for Booklovers by Holbrook Jackson and Bookworm by Lucy Mangan.

I am seconding the recommendations of Ex Libris. I love that particular book and have given several copies away.

>20 laytonwoman3rd: I very much enjoyed that one when I read it, Linda.

I have now read the first two chapters (they are short) and am hooked on Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. At the end of the book is the list of the books the author read in one year. She read one book a day. Where do these people get the time to read a book-a-day? I have other activities I like to do besides read and then there is my parttime job, and other chasing around to get done - groceries, etc. etc. My retirement goals were to sit around and read books and drink coffee while reading. I have not managed to get much of that done in the, almost, three years I have been retired. I have been trying to read 75 books a year in order to justify my membership in this group, but this year I think I am going to be short of that goal. The one year that I read the most was 2020 and I managed to read 123 books. This is no surprise to most of us because that was a memorable reading year in general. The author of this book managed to read a 400 page book in one day! (The book was Dracula). Amazing.

The booklist at the end of the book was amazing as well. Lots of different kinds of books. Classics included.

>28 PaulCranswick:
Looks like there are two of you reading Year of Reading Dangerously. It is a title I don't have in my vast TBR list, so I had to look it up and, of course, add it to the ever-lengthening TBR list.

>31 benitastrnad: I added it also!

I want to sneak in with my comments about Walking to Samarkand, which I read with great pleasure in September. This is the second of an initial trilogy that Bernard Ollivier wrote after he walked a Silk Road route during the summers of 1999-2001. (I guess. This segment was done in 2000.) I have a new and growing fascination with Central Asia, especially the ruins and the deserts.
BO began this trek where he had stopped the year before just short of the Turky-Iran border and ended in Samarkand. He was determined to walk every single step, a thing he had trouble explaining to kind people who insisted on giving him a ride. If he accepted a ride, he first got the assurance that he'd be returned to the place he had stopped walking. This was true except for the stretch across the Dasht-e Kavir where he is forced to ride because it's too hot and dry. In August he does skirt the Karakum where temps reach 122°, but by the time he gets there temperatures are falling, and the approach of 85° nights leave him as chilly as they do the natives. (He has a 2 wheeled cart that he pulls, and notes that his feet and the bicycle wheels sink into the tar of the road as he walks. He also drinks water non-stop and doesn't urinate for a full day of walking.)
He has the marks of all distance walkers who can talk at great length about the effects of walking alone for long distances on their core minds and spirits. He also notes how walking takes over so that he is often foolishly driven to keep walking after he's reached his goal for the day if something more appealing is just a few more miles (10 or 12) ahead.
I loved his ability to describe the land as he found it. I loved equally his interactions with the people he met, who were mostly Muslims. Hospitality is their duty and their joy, and he could never have gotten through without their help. The exceptions were the police and other officials, whom he learned to avoid or oppose. That was compelling reading too.
(I get carried away. Sorry.)

Now. Books for October! YAY!!! I think I might try Howard's End is on the Landing since I have an unread copy.

>33 LizzieD:
That series of books by Bernard Olivier is one that I own the first two but don't have the third one. I should get to reading them as I love that kind of travelogue experience. I am so glad that you wrote that great review. Thanks for sharing.

I finished my book for this month. It was an easy reader so it didn't take me long. Of course, it was interesting so that helped in the amount of time I spent reading it.

My first selection for this month was Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch. I selected this book because I have had it checked out from the university libraries for over 4 years. It is time to get it read and taken back to the library. Since I am making a trip there at the end of this week, it is a good time to have read it and then return it. It is time for somebody else to have a turn at reading it.

The author's beloved sister died and left her bereft. To assuage her grief, she spent a year reading a book a day and then posting a review of each book on her book blog. She recorded her thoughts about each book in this blog and how it related to her life and that of her family. It was also a sort of literary critic of the books she read. She read all sorts of books but most of it was fiction. The book was engaging and thought provoking, especially in the early chapters. At the end there was a complete bibliography of the books she read as well as the other books that she quoted from. I thought the bibliography was very interesting as it was a mixture of, mostly, popular literature, but also had classics mixed in. The authors method for choosing what books to read was very familiar to me. She did it by size of the spine and number of pages. A one-inch spine was about 300 pages, and she was sure she could read a 300-page book every day. This enabled her to set a goal that was attainable. This was nice easy reading about the love of books and I enjoyed it. I didn't get it read in one day, but the book would have fit the author's criteria for selecting for her project.

I cast about for another book to read on this subject and on my shelves I found Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes. This one is a big book. It is over 500 pages so I am not likely to finish it this month. However, I will start it and likely finish it before the end of the year and it has been a book that has been a long time on my shelves. Time to get it off.

>35 benitastrnad: I love A Gentle Madness, Benita! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I do.

Difficult to know where to begin with a book review of Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. This book is a collection of essays, all dealing with printed matter. Fadiman’s love for books certainly shines through each essay. Among my favorites were “Marrying Libraries” which I found hilarious, her confession of being a proud sesquipedalian, and her time working in a bookstore. (which spawned another read for me) Her essays aren’t about books, but about what books mean to those who own them. I felt the only downside to the book was the long lists of books in several of her essays. 162 pages 4 stars

P.S. This book spawned a read, Bookshop Memories, an essay by George Orwell.

Bookman's Pleasure by Holbrook Jackson - In this book, Jackson sets out to "show what writers of books think of their predecessors, their contemporaries, and themselves." Essentially what the book contains is quotations from noted authors (and their contemporaries) about a wide variety of topics including such things are discussions of their travels, how they view themselves, how they view others, and my personal favorite, "bookmanship." As with any such collection, I enjoyed some of the chapters more than others and the same with the quotes; Guardedly Recommended (3.5 stars) Mine

Regarding The Beggar's Opera, Thomas Carlyle is quoted as saying, "A mere outpouring of bilge-water and oil of Vitriol on the deepest wounds of humanity."

Safe to say that he did not care for it overmuch?

>38 alcottacre:
That quote DID make me laugh. I think your assessment of his assessment is correct.

>39 benitastrnad: I thought the quote was priceless myself :) Glad you enjoyed it too!

Benita, Stasia, and Tess, I've enjoyed your every word here!!!

Thank you for pointing me to *Tolstoy/Chair*, Benita. I had looked at it before, but I think you've sold me on it. Like Stasia, I LOVED *Gentle Madness*. Unfortunately, my other two unread Basbanes are on the top shelf, reached only by ladder - and I'm not allowed on ladder. One of these days though!
(And thank you for liking my review. Ollivier deserves many good ones.) Stasia, I do love books of quotes, so I'll be taking a look at *B's Pleasure*. (T. Carlyle's maintaining a stiff upper lip!!! Heeheehee!)

Tess, I'm also a fan of Fadiman, and have both her books about books in my nightstand for ready dipping into.

As it turns out, I had read *H'sE is on the Landing*. I didn't remember a thing, but I'm rereading it and still enjoying it with the same caveats as before except that I've now read more of what she talks about, and that makes it a new experience.

I finished my second book of the month for this challenge. My thoughts:

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan - Nonfiction; I read Mangan's Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives earlier this year on the recommendation of Caroline (Caroline_McElwee) and when I bought that book, I bought this one as well. I am very glad that I did because so much of it resonates to me what I was like as a child. In this book, Mangan not only relates the books she read as a child and why she loved them, but also addresses how they have aged - or not - and how she feels about them these days. She also mentions her son, Alexander, quite a few times and how she hopes he feels about the books when he reads them. She includes a list, Lucy's Bookshelf, about the books she mentions here as well as others that she did not; Recommended (4.25 stars) Mine

I've read this now and again as my bedtime book and finished it just lately. Here's what I think on the second time through.

HOWARD'S END IS ON THE LANDING by Susan Hill

I didn't remember reading this 12 or so years ago until I saw references to books that I bought because of her praise, some of which I've read and some, not. I think I enjoyed it more this time because I have read more of the authors, if not the same books, that she discusses. Hill has led a privileged life and has made the most of it, I think. I'd love to talk to her and set her straight on a few things where we disagree, but I couldn't hold my own in conversation for even 30 seconds. She is tremendously well-read, and this book is a personal reflection on her year of (re)reading only the books in her own library.
Other reviewers have objected to her name-dropping of literary figures she has met. I don't mind that. I'm charmed that E.M. Forster once dropped a heavy book on her foot in the Elizabethan Poetry section of the London Library. I'm impressed that she lived for a time a "pebble's throw" from the Sitwell house.
I don't ever love lists (except of books, so I'd enjoy her listing of the 1,000 publications of the Everyman's Press). For that reason this memory of talking with Sacheverell Sitwell leaves me cold --- "...the wind roaring round the chimney pots, having croup and bronchitis, smelling camphorated oil, walking along the beach with eyes down in case there was a golden coin among the pebbles." Or speaking of activities in children's books in which the characters have, "...nicer houses, more fun parents, greater freedom to gallop about the countryside on horses, take out boats and bikes, and go hiking and mountain climbing." (This particular set of listings goes on for a half page.) I kind of find it lazy writing.
That's a quibble though. I suspect that I will come back to this book in another ten years if I'm given them with mind and eyes intact. Meanwhile, I've added The Way We Live Now and Journal of Sir Walter Scott to my library with thanks to Ms. Hill.

It is getting to be time to think about next year (2026). Do we want to continue with the nonfiction monthly prompts? If so, what suggestions do you have for prompts? Let me know.

So far I have the following. Traditionally we have done award winning nonfiction, selecting titles from the lesser known awards and we have one month for biographies and memoirs.

January - Award winners
February - All that Jazz - Stasia and I talked about reading some books about jazz while we were in Joplin for the meetup there.
March - Epistolary Biographies & Diaries
April - Internal Matters - the human body
May - Been there. Bought the t-shirt - travel, tourists, and tourism - the impact on the planet, economies, etc.
June - Who Built That? - buildings, architects, design, historical value, etc.
July - US revolution years from 1760 to 1788 - US revolution
August - Tweet, Tweet - books about birds
September - Talk, Talk - Linguistics - the scientific study of language. study of the syntax, semantics, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and pragmatics of human language
October - Diaspora - A diaspora is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently reside elsewhere.
November -
December -

Our Bibliophelia category this month seemed to be quite popular. Would we want to include this category again next year? Other suggestions would be welcome.

>44 benitastrnad: I am definitely interested in doing Bibliophilia again, Benita. I own a lot of books about books.

What about Linguistics as a category next year? How about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Or are those categories either too broad or too narrow?

How about an occupations category? It could be narrowed to unusual occupations. For instance, I recently came across a book about Hollywood stuntwomen that sounds intriguing.

Since next year is the 250th anniversary celebration of the US, we could have a month devoted to the American Revolution. If that wouldn't be overkill. I'm thinking not just books about the war or the Declaration of Independence, but about any of the people involved.

>47 atozgrl:
good idea. Just added it to the list.

Another thought: a category about birds. I have several books about birds, bird intelligence, etc. that I haven't gotten to yet.

>49 atozgrl: I'd love that! Lots of bird-related books here too.

>50 Jackie_K:
Added that.

Regarding the Bibliophile category. What if we narrowed the topic to Bibliography? That word can mean - Bibliography, as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology. That could include libraries as well the history of books.

I also wanted to include a month about Television.
The Small Screen - the history of television, television programs, the cultural impact of television programs. The science of TV. etc. What do you think about that?

>53 benitastrnad: That sounds good to me.

>46 cbl_tn: That one does sound intriguing. I wonder if we could do unusual occupations for the time period as well? You know, a woman doctor in the late 1800s or something along those lines.

>47 atozgrl: That sounds good to me. I love history of all kinds!

>49 atozgrl: Another good one, Irene!

>52 benitastrnad: I had never thought of exploring Bibliography as a separate subject. It might be interesting to see what I can find.

>53 benitastrnad: The history of TV I would read about. TV these days, I would not touch, lol. I never watch TV!

They all sound wonderful! Suggestions (save for another year, but I won't remember for next year): famous/high profile crimes or criminals, Queens, off the beaten path religious sects (Quakers, Shakers, moonies, etc.), High Seas, Natural Disasters or Man Made Disasters

>56 Tess_W:
We did Natural Disasters earlier this year. We also did espionage as a division of crime earlier. Queens would be a good topic as would religious sects. Thanks for the suggestions.

I went back and looked at our list for this year and we did Revolutions back in February. We could narrow that topic to US Revolutions. Would that suit everyone.

Ah well. I'm always hopeful of seeing a category for letters and diaries. You all read many more books than I do a year, but I still love these and will read them anyway. I'd love to see what other people have though.

>58 benitastrnad: I was thinking specifically of the American Revolution for the coming year, because of the celebration of the 250th, and not revolutions in general. That would be anything related to it, including the war, biographies of people involved, something specifically written on the Declaration of Independence (or the Articles of Confederation or Constitution for that matter)--anything that relates to the founding of the US. Maybe we don't have to call it revolutions this time, just "the US becomes a nation" or something like that.

>60 atozgrl: I like that idea!

>56 Tess_W: Some great suggestions, Tess!

>59 LizzieD: I love the idea of letters and diaries, Peggy!

We are getting a lot of wonderful suggestions for next year's nonfiction reading. No matter what is decided upon, I am very much looking forward to 2026 in the Nonfiction challenge!

>59 LizzieD: I like that idea too!

I read Andy Miller's The Year of Reading Dangerously for October's Bibliophilia challenge - a book about discovering and loving books, by one of the hosts of the Backlisted podcast, one of my favourite book podcasts. It didn't matter that most of the books here weren't really my cup of tea (there are a lot of 'classics', for a start) - I'm unfamiliar with most of the books discussed on Backlisted too. Add in an element of memoir, and I'm the ideal audience for this book.

I struggled though to connect with much of this - the author is very knowledgeable and affable, and in the podcast format that works so well and is thoroughly enjoyable. On the page though, following his various trains of thought was not so easy, and there were a few times where I found myself thinking 'just get on with it!' One chapter takes the form of a (very long, unsent) letter to the author Michel Houllebecq after reading one of his books, and that was just very tedious. There were other chapters which I did enjoy, and once I reminded myself to imagine myself listening to a Backlisted episode it was easier to follow, but overall it just felt like it was trying a little bit too hard.

>63 Jackie_K:
This group did epistolary works a few years ago and I really enjoyed the book I read for that. (it was the edited letters of Eudora Welty to her editor James Maxwell and it was wonderful). However, at the time there wasn't much enthusiasm for the category. That doesn't mean that it wouldn't work now. Groups are dynamic and change as do desires.

For the biographies and memoirs I was thinking of just doing memoirs this year. I even thought about narrowing it down to women's memoirs, but wasn't sure if people would be interested in that. If we are interested in reading epistolary biographies or diary memoirs, I think it could be a good category based on my reading experience from the past. I will insert it into the schedule.

I'm definitely up for another go at the challenge again next year, Benita. Some of the categories are a little out of my comfort zone but I see that as a good thing.

Possible suggestions :

Incarceration - Books about being in prison, being a hostage, being kidnapped or about prisons and punishment generally.

Books about sports - the history of a sport, a sports biography etc.

Books about Asia or the Subcontinent

Books about Authors - a biography or critical analysis of their work.

Hear is the list so far. Please take a look at it and see what you think needs to be changed. There are four of these that are leftovers from last years suggestion list and the rest are new.

January - Award winners
February - All that Jazz - Stasia and I talked about reading some books about jazz while we were in Joplin for the meetup there.
March - Off the Beaten Path Religious Sects -
April - Internal Matters - the human body
May - Been there. Bought the t-shirt - travel, tourists, and tourism - the impact on the planet, economies, etc.
June - Who Built That? - buildings, architects, design, historical value, etc.
July - US revolution years from 1760 to 1788 - US revolution
August - Tweet, Tweet - books about birds
September - Talk, Talk - Linguistics - the scientific study of language. study of the syntax, semantics, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and pragmatics of human language
October - Diaspora - A diaspora is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently reside elsewhere.
November - Epistolary Biographies & Diaries
December - Bibliography - books as physical and cultural objects and the systematic description of them. (such as libraries, archives, etc.)

Since it is your challenge, Benita, I will happily follow whatever you come up with.

>67 benitastrnad: Sounds wonderful!

We all had fun in October with our bibliophilia category, but it the first of the month time for us to move on to a different category.

In November of 2025 we are going to read books about Holidays and Cultural Events. Dig out those books about the history of Christmas, or Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations. For this one books about the history of the Star Spangled Banner or Silent Night are acceptable. As would be books about this history of Christmas Markets, or the creation of Veteran's Day. Even the recent addition of Juneteenth as a holiday. A book of Saint's Days in the Christian religion or important celebrations in other parts of the world. Chinese New Year would be a good one. The books can be biographies of specific people (like Frances Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner), biographies of specific holidays such as Christmas, or cultural events, such as Woodstock, or the Summer of Love. The catch here is that it has to be confined to a specific time period of less than one year. (so pandemics like the Black Death or Covid, won't work.)

Here is a sampling of titles to give you the idea of what to look for.

Messiah: The Composition and Afterlife of Handel's Masterpiece by Jonathan Keates
We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace by Denise Kiernan
Our Flag Was Still There: The Star Spangled Banner that Survived the British and 200 Years by Tom McMillan
This Is Christmas Song by Song by Annie Zaleski
A Kosher Christmas: 'Tis the Season to be Jewish by Joshua Eli Plaut
Inventing the Christmas Tree by Bernd Brunner
Christmas: A Biography by Judith Flanders
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Battle for America's Soul by A. J. Baime
Mexico's Day of the Dead: A Celebration of Life Through Stories and Pictures by Louisa Navarro
Death Makes a Holiday by David J. Skal
You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!: Life Lessons From the Movie A Christmas Story by Quentin Schultze
Heart of It's a Wonderful Life: How the Most Inspirational Movie of All Time Still Inspires the Spirit by Jimmy Hawkins

I am sure there are other books out there. Books on Chinese New Year, Ramadan, etc. I am sure that there are books about holidays that are not common here in the U.S., so if you have those, drag them out and this is the month to read them.

I plan on reading Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford and Star Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America's National Anthem by Marc Ferris or O Say Can You Hear? by Mark Clague. It will depend on which of these I can get from Inter-Library Loan.

I'm going to read The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered, and Why They Still Fascinate by Eric Vanden Eykel This has been on my shelf for sometime. I pulled it out this past summer and it's been on my "short-list" TBR since then.

>70 benitastrnad: I am going to go somewhere I haven't been on LT before and have picked up a picture book on Harvest Festival which I will be reading.

I will be reading Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration by Edward T. Cotham. Since Juneteenth is a relatively new holiday, I would like to learn more about it and how it came about.

I finished Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration by Edward T. Cotham, Jr. this morning. My thoughts on it:

I read this one for this month's nonfiction challenge because I know little of the history of the holiday even though it started in Texas. Juneteenth was "the most logical date to define the end of slavery in Texas" and Cotham's book goes back to the start of the Civil War to show how it got to this point. I found this to be an interesting read, not in depth by any means (it would be a ridiculously long book if it were), but in outlining the basics of the Civil War and the beginning of Juneteenth, I think it did a good job. One of the things that I most appreciated about the book is that the majority of the photographs are available to view through online sites such as the Library of Congress so if the reader wants a closer look, they can do it - the photo IDs are listed so you just need to plug it into whatever institution's catalog that you are utilizing; Recommended (4 stars) Library Book

"With the arrival of (U.S.) General Granger's force and the issuance of the Juneteenth Order, Texas slaveholders faced a long-dreaded duty. It was time for slaves to receive notice of their actual and immediate liberation. Juneteenth celebrates the moment when enslaved people first received official notice of their actual freedom."

I read The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered, and Why They Still Fascinate by Eric Vanden Eykel. This book looks at the account of the Magi in the book of Matthew and then demonstrates how that story has been used and modified over the centuries. The author does an excellent job of explaining the Magi in first century context as well as explaining why their story continues to be an integral part of the Christmas story. If you are looking for the definitive answer as to who they were, this book raises more questions than provides answers. Eykel treats the Magi as literary characters more than historical personas. Very readable and interesting while still academic in nature.

>75 Tess_W: That one sounds really good, Tess. Thank you for the recommendation. I will have to see if I can track down a copy!

I have found our topic for this month to be very interesting. When looking through my gargantuan TBR list I found few books about most holidays. However, I had about 5 books that pertained to July 4th (Independence Day in the US) and had 2 books on Christmas. I found nothing in my list (now at about 16,000 titles) that had to do with Halloween, Mother's Day, Easter, and only 1 lonely title on Thanksgiving Day. When I stretched my search to what I thought were periphery topics I pulled in a few more titles. For instance, I decided that I could count Drew Gilpin Faust's book on the American Civil War This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War because the numbers of dead from that conflict resulted in the creation of "Decoration Day." The last Tuesday in April when women in the American South would go to cemeteries and clean and decorate the graves of the soldiers lost in the war. The custom spread and gradually we have the creation of Memorial Day, in the US in 1967.

As a former Children's and Young Adult Librarian I was surprised by my finding of few, and then only periphery, works on Memorial Day, or other holidays, because there are so many works on this holiday and many others, specifically written for children. Books such as Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, The Wall, The Poppy Lady, America's White Table, A Day For Rememberin' etc., etc., Why are there none, or few, on Memorial Day for adults? Likewise for Juneteenth. There is Opal Lee and What It Means to be Free, Juneteenth for Mazie, and other holidays. For Thanksgiving there are the children's books How Many Days to America, Martin Luther King Day there is Cart That Carried Martin, etc. etc. Where are these books for adults?

There is even a great book for children's about 9/11 Seven and a Half Tons of Steel. And there is even books for commemorating the Oklahoma City bombing - All of a Sudden and Forever and Survivor Tree.

It seems to me that we are doing a better job of educating our children than we are of educating ourselves.

>77 benitastrnad: creation of "Decoration Day." The last Tuesday in April when women in the American South would go to cemeteries and clean and decorate the graves of the soldiers lost in the war. The custom spread and gradually we have the creation of Memorial Day, in the US in 1967.

Wow! I had no idea Memorial Day was this recent! I remember picking flowers from our yard as a child (lilacs & snowballs) and riding with my mom to take them to the cemetery for my dad's side of the family. Her family was 1.5 hours drive away, but her parents lived across the road from one cemetery and I imagine they put flowers there. Now I live 1000 miles away from any graves I'd like to put flowers on.

I guess it's being an official federal holiday that was created in my lifetime. I always thought of it as starting after the civil war, and I think that's where it originally came from, but was made "official" later.

>78 markon:
yes. That is true. When I was growing up we called it Decoration Day. It was May 25th and we went to the cemetery on the Sunday prior to that. To add to the theme of Decoration Day, my family had a long history of office holders for the local cemetery. We have had Sexton's, members of the cemetery board, and officers of the board. Currently, one of my cousins is the Sexton and has been for almost 50 years. One is the secretary/treasurer of the board and has been for 35 years. The bottom line is that we spent a great deal of time working in or on cemetery things for my entire life, so our family was not in favor of changing the date for Memorial Day back in 1968. It was in 1968 when Congress made the date official as the last Monday in May.

The holiday was declared by President Johnson in 1967 and Congress made it official in 1968. However, they gave the states time to adjust their calendars and from 1968 to 1971 was the grace period. The first year that it was a federal holiday, on the last Monday of May, was in 1971.

There is a sub group of the 75'ers that are doing their own Christmas Book Swap again this year. The limit is $25.00 for spending on your swapee. If you are interested in joining the group, mozy on over to the following thread.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/375139

I read The man who invented Christmas : how Charles Dickens's A Christmas carol rescued his career and revived our holiday spirits by Les Standiford for this month's topic. Standiford gives us a short biography of Charles Dickens in this book. He also provides a brief history of Christmas celebrations throughout the years. It was interesting to note how Christmas celebrations fell into disfavor after the Puritans gained power in England, and how A Christmas Carol helped to bring the celebration back. Standiford tells us what went into Dickens' writing of A Christmas Carol and how it helped to raise his own fortunes at a time when his career was not going so well. Then we see how A Christmas Carol has gone on over the years to be adapted and readapted in many forms, becoming a part of Christmas tradition. I thought the book was quite interesting, and I enjoyed it very much.

>81 atozgrl: If I did not already have that one in the BlackHole, I would add it again. Thanks for your comments on it, Irene.

I finished reading the same book that Irene read: Man Who Invented Christmas - How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford. I enjoyed it and agree with the review. The only thing I would add is that I now need to read a more in-depth biography of Dickens than what this book provides. I am not a big fan of his work, but there is no denying that he was an innovative author in his day. This book has a short biography of Dickens and then concentrates more on Dicken's social and political philosophy and how that influenced his writing. It is not a long book (250 pages) and for those wanting to know more about the times in which Dicken's lived and is subsequent influence on Victorian England, this is a perfect short take.

December, TBD, As you like it? Then anything non-fiction?

>84 Tess_W: I just took a look at post >67 benitastrnad: and it appears December is Bibliography.

>85 Jackie_K: I think that's for 2026!

>74 alcottacre: Thank you! This read reinforced how vital clear historical narratives are—especially ones that cite verifiable sources (shout-out to those Library of Congress links). As someone who works in communication/systems/digital equity, I kept thinking about how delayed information = delayed justice. Juneteenth isn’t just celebration; it’s a case study in the power of timely truth.

>86 Tess_W: Oh whoops, you're right! For this year I think it's an 'as you like it' in December - so whatever nonfic takes your fancy!

I am now back from my visit to my sister and so will get things started for December 2025. I did not take my computer with me. I am getting old enough that I don't relish the idea of schlepping it across the Denver airport. It seems that whenever I have to travel through Denver it is inevitable that I will have to walk from one end of the concourse to the other and travel to multiple terminals, so I decided to lighten the load. The computer stayed home.

December 2025 is upon us. Our category for this month is "As You Like It." That means you get to read whatever nonfiction book to which you take a fancy. Biology, chemistry, political biography, there are all sorts of nonfiction books out there to read. I advise some kind of light reading, or perhaps something thoughtful but not anger provoking. (Perhaps Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan? Otherwise known as Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham, or some lighter reading fare along that order. Maybe even a cookbook? Other than those suggestions, this month is for YOU to pick what you want to read.

I find myself drawn to essays at this time of year. I have started reading Katharine Graham's Washington. This is a big book of essays that clocks in at 832 pages. I know I won't finish it this month, but I am going to start it. I will also select a more reasonably readable book that I think I will be able to finish this month as well. I will not be doing any traveling during December because the Post Office doesn't like people to take off during the heavy delivery season around the December holidays, so I will be at home. It has been very cold here (yesterday and this morning when I went to work it was 0 degrees F) so baking, knitting, and reading will be the order of the day. Happy December reading.

Since someone put up a TIOLI Challenge to read books with "bone" or "bones" in the title, I am dipping into my store of books on forensic anthropology :)

I'm afraid that I have dipped in and out of this challenge but always read what is going on in this thread, everyone's wonderful selections. For December I am reading James Rebanks new book The Place of Tides and throughly enjoying it! So "As You Like It"! Yes I do and I have read his other books and they are very good too!

>67 benitastrnad: Wow! I haven't been here in a long time. I really like that list, Benita, and I thank you!

What I'm reading whether I like it or not is Elizabeth Longford's Wellington: Years of the Sword. In fact, I like a lot of it, but I do tend to get cross-eyed with deployment of troops for a battle. What a man though!

I have already started The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester. My "As You Like It" choice is to read that book now, since I did not have time to fit it in in February when the topic was maps and mapping. At that time I was reading long books (finishing The Count of Monte Cristo and then reading The Woman in White) along with books for my book clubs, and as February was a short month, I just couldn't shoehorn another read in. So I decided to make up for that this month. So far I am enjoying Winchester's book.

>92 mdoris: Glad to hear that you enjoyed The Place of Tides, Mary! I am slated to read that one in January.

I think I'm going to go the Biblical/ancient history route and read Elijah and Elisha by Titus Chu.

I love seeing the variety of books that we are all reading for this month's challenge!

>92 mdoris: I read Rebanks' The Shepherd's Life and quite enjoyed it.

I completed The Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides This was a book I had to read, but did not want to read! It is required reading for the college Western Civ I course. I read it about 30 years ago. I usually don't teach Western Civ I, I usually teach Western Civ II, so time to review! It's taken me a month to read...the love just wasn't there! Thucydides is known for his rigorous methodology and the collection of eye witness accounts. This is probably "THE" account of the 10 years war between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides bypasses the myths and the morals and goes straight to cause and effect and human motivation. While there are chronicles of a multitude of battles, he often considers the way societies respond under pressure. To me, the highlight was Pericles' Funeral Speech.

With this, I also read How the Fall of Constantinople Reshaped the Renaissance by Nathan Kay. (no touchstones) This was either Kay's thesis or dissertation. I had to read it in the library as it had not been digitized. 60 pages Research indicates that engineers, mathematicians, and scholars fled Constantinople at its fall in 1453 and headed towards Athens or Rome. They often carried their research and libraries with them. For quite sometime Rome had really been in the Dark Ages since the Barbarians had destroyed many libraries and repositories. Hence, receiving access to these materials is what sparked the Renaissance. Kay tried to prove his thesis by citing certain works that were in Byzantium and later surfaced in Rome. I would guess that this was a thesis and not a dissertation. It covered the knowledge that I needed to know, but I felt it wasn't in scholarly depth and the sources were sparse; however, some good reading!

>99 Tess_W:
I think there is some scholarly work being done in that area now because I have been seeing citations about the movement of libraries from Constantinople to the West in several different places. One of those was in the book I just read about Jacob Fugger. It was also written about in length in a book I read earlier this year about the first maps of the New World discoveries. Fourth Part of the World was the book.

>100 benitastrnad: Going to secure the Fourth Part of the World.
ETA: So the Audiobook was on sale for $3.00! Both ebook and paperback were 4 times as much!

I finished my first nonfiction 'bones' book for the month: Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind by Sue Black and thought it was excellent. I can highly recommend this one for those who have an interest in forensic anthropology.

I've finished The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester and I really liked it. It's a biography of William Smith, who created the first true geological map, and can lay claim to being one of the main founders of the science of geology. He was quite the character, growing up with an innate fascination with rocks and fossils, which led him into a career as a surveyor, working in mines and on canals. Because of what he saw in his work, he realized that rocks had been laid down as sediment in a particular time and place, with the same fossils in the specific layer, and that they always appear in the same order no matter where in the country (or world) they are found. His major life's work was creating an accurate geological map of England and Wales, which would prove to be invaluable for future science and industry. Unfortunately, he encountered many troubles along the way, including people plagiarizing his work, and he wound up in debtor's prison for a short time. In all, it is quite the story, and tells us a lot about the founding of geology as a science.

I've now started When It All Burns by Jordan Thomas about wildfires. This may be the last nonfiction book I can get in before the end of the year.

>103 atozgrl: I have enjoyed all of the Winchester books I have read, Irene, and that one was no exception. I am glad that you really liked it!

>104 alcottacre: I've read two Winchester books this year, and there are more now that I hope to get to one of these days. He definitely makes his subjects interesting!

>105 atozgrl: Yeah, I hope to get to more of his one of these days too. . .

I have finished my second nonfiction book this month. It's When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas. The author is an anthropologist who "was skeptical of the idea that humans are inherently destructive to our environments," so he had gotten involved in research of indigenous peoples and their use of fire. He also gained personal experience of wildfire by serving on a beginner firefighting crew and then spent a summer with a hotshot crew. The book interweaves Thomas' experiences on the hotshot crew with a history of fire in the environment, the long history of indigenous people's use of fire to manage and improve the land they lived in, and the current problems that climate change is causing for how fires behave, as well as the ways the fossil fuel industry deliberately set out to spread misinformation about climate change even though their own scientists were telling them about the consequences as far back as 1958.

I learned a lot here, including the fact that California was a rich country when colonists arrived, largely because of how the native peoples used fire to manage the environment. Spaniards did a lot of damage when they came in, but Americans were responsible for enslaving and actual genocide of the native peoples when they took over. They also passed laws to prevent people from burning in the environment, starting the process that has led to the dangerous environmental conditions and megafires that we have today.

The native peoples knew when and how to burn and did it regularly, which improved the environment for both plants and animals. Initially, I was furious at how European colonists treated the native peoples and stopped them from burning, which was necessary for their survival. I hate the arrogance of European colonists, who assumed they knew better and dismissed the knowledge of the natives. But then Thomas pointed out that the upper classes were doing the same thing in Europe. Apparently rural people there also used fire to improve their lot. But then laws were passed to prevent their burning, and also to stop hunting on public lands, destroying the ability of the lower classes to make a living off the land and forcing them to move to cities to work in the newly forming industries, and become dependent on wage labor. So it's as much a class war as an attack on indigenous peoples.

Thomas also shows how terribly underpaid and under-supported the firefighters are, especially the skilled hotshots who are expected to attack the worst fires. Firefighters are classed as "forestry technicians" and not as firefighters in the US Forest Service. This allows them to be hired as seasonal workers, with a low salary and no benefits. However, at the time the classification was created, fire suppression was a small part of that job. The situation has greatly changed since then, but the classification has not kept up. Thomas shows us how difficult the life of a hotshot is, and how they suffer from many of the same issues that military veterans experience. But the hotshots have even less support. This book was published this year, late enough that Thomas was able to briefly mention the terrible January California fires in his afterword. But this was before the Trump administration's slash and burn of government agencies, so I fear the situation of the Forest Service and their firefighters is even worse now.

There is some hope, in that in some places, including California, they are starting to acknowledge the native peoples, and include them in planning for controlled burns and managing the environment. But there are environmentalists who are utterly opposed to preventive burns, largely due to mistrust and experience of the past when the Forest Service allowed harmful logging as part of that process. So many hurdles remain to be overcome.

When It All Burns covers the wide range of issues that impact the current state of wildfires and management of the land. There are lots of notes showing the sources of the information Thomas presents. My only complaint with the book is that I wish it had an index. I highly recommend When It All Burns if you want to know more about the current state of wildfires and the history leading up to this point. It is eye-opening.

>107 atozgrl: Hmmm, may have to get that book just to see where he got his information that Americans were responsible for the enslaving and genocide of the indigenous peoples. No doubt they played a part, but they were certainly not the first. The first "wave" of enslavement were the Spanish citizens and priests. The college textbooks call it defacto slavery where there was a high rate of abuse and resultant deaths. The second "wave" was following Mexico's independence, where wealthy rancheros put Californians (not just indigenous peoples) into debt slavery, such as indentured servanthood; from which they never escaped. THEN came the Americans! The gold rush and all....California entered the union as a "free" state, but it wasn't a "free" state, as The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians allowed for involuntary servitude. This allowed white settlers to take custody of Native American children and force them into long-term indentured servitude, which encouraged widespread kidnapping and trafficking.

Going off to find this book.....not because I'm interested in the fires per se.......

Great review!

>107 atozgrl:
Very interesting. Your review, particularly the part about the Forest Service and its underfunding is backed up by Timothy Egan's The Big Burn. The Forest Service has been underfunded from its beginning, even when the American people consistently vote for spending more money on it. This includes management as well as the National Park System.

The problems in the Forest Service are the same problems that are endemic in the FAA, USPS, and the IRS. No money for upgrades because the American people have been fed enough lies about fraud, inefficiency, and abuse that they believe it. This implanted distrust of Federal Bureaucracy is destroying the US.

By-the-way, another source that backs up your book and the review is Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issue from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes. She is a well-known Science historian from UC San Diego and now Harvard. You can find most of her speeches on the subject of science denial on YouTube. Her books are very academic with copious endnotes and indexes. They are not easy reading, but once read, they have a great impact. What surprised me is that many of the so-called scientists who opposed the ban on cigarettes also opposed the formation of the EPA and then at least one of them became a famous global warming denier. Literally, scientists who were guns for hire.

>107 atozgrl:
The problem with the Land Enclosure Acts in Europe was also a topic that was explored in a novel I just read. Long Summer Day is the first volume in the A Horseman Riding By series by R. F. Delderfield. It effects were still being felt in the glorious summer of the Edwardian period in Great Britian.

>108 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess. Thomas does mention that the Spanish who came to California first did enslave the indigenous people. As long as my review was, I didn't get into that. Too much else to say. But don't blame Thomas for my omission. He has more about what the Spanish did, including attacking native practices regarding fire and other things. However, Americans apparently put it into the law when they arrived.

>109 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I agree with your comments on lies about the federal bureaucracy and the resultant distrust destroying the country. Thomas mentioned that the same people who were involved with protecting Big Tobacco were also involved with the lies about climate change. He reported how there was bipartisan support in the early 90's for doing something about climate change, but the fossil fuel industry set out to undermine all of that and spread misinformation to create doubt. The Koch brothers come in for a lot of blame. I'll have to check out Naomi Oreskes. The science denial is also destroying the country.

>110 benitastrnad: Interesting that the Land Enclosure Acts came up in something you just read. It's something that I was not really aware of before. It came up for a mention in The Map That Changed the World too, from a different perspective.

>111 atozgrl: Oh, not attacking Thomas.....but just always wanting to "learn" when I hear something "new"! Thanks for the info!

I finished up The Bone Woman by Clea Koff today. My thoughts on the book:

The Bone Woman by Clea Koff - Nonfiction, Audiobook; This is the second audiobook that I have listened to this month in which the author did the narrration (the other being Sue Black's Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind). As I normally shy away from author-narrated books, I have been pleasantly surprised in both cases, I am happy to say. Koff, who had an unusual upbringing - parents who were passionate about human rights and made documentaries. As a result, she always was interested in human rights issues and after reading one of Clyde Snow's books, determined that she was going to become a forensic anthropologist. This book is not so much about forensic anthropology itself, but Koff's experiences as a forensic anthropologist as she is investigating mass grave sites as a result of genocide and mass murder in Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. Taken as such, I found the book a compelling read as to what it is like to be involved in such massive undertakings. I very much appreciated the Tribunal Appendix included in both the hard copy and the audiobook which details what happened to the criminals involved; Recommended (4 stars) Mine

My 'as you like it' selection is a hefty old book which I found in Barter Books (the UK's largest 2nd hand bookshop) a year or so ago, A Writer's Britain: Landscape in Literature by Margaret Drabble (with photography by Jorge Lewinski). My edition was printed in 1987 in the GDR, although the book was first published in 1979.

The book provides an overview of how authors over the years have responded to and written about the British (mostly English, although Wales and Scotland are also represented) landscape. Sacred, ornamental, urban/industrial, etc, landscapes are all included.

It was interesting, although I would have loved more examples of female authors (Austen, Eliot and the Brontes all appeared, of course, along with a handful of others), but I guess the relative lack is very representative of publishing up until very recently.

I finished my book for December. It was Richest Man Who Ever Lived: The Life and Times of Jacob Fugger by Greg Steinmetz. I have visited the city of Augsburg, Germany twice and toured the Fuggerei twice. Both times I was fascinated and found myself asking how somebody in the late 1400's came up with the idea of low income housing? And why do it in the first place? This is a housing development for low-income workers that was built in the 1400's. It is the world's first housing development built specifically as a place for low-income people to live, and it is still in use today. I wondered about the man who built it. This is a short biography of that man - Jacob Fugger. The book is a short biography because there is a lack of original papers of the Fugger financial empire, but it is known that Fugger was one of the first to use double entry accounting and keep a wide network of lobbyists and informants so that he knew the state of affairs of kings and popes at all times. The scope of the biography is widened to include other people living at the same time and the politics that surrounding them which enabled Fugger to build his financial empire. At the end of the book the author goes into great detail about how it was determined that Jacob Fugger was the richest man who ever lived. This small detail compared Fugger to other rich men such as Carnegie and the Rothschilds. I found this last chapter to be very interesting and convincing. This is a book well worth reading.

In two days we will be starting our new year of nonfiction reading. I will post the new thread on January 1st and will post the new link here. The topic for January will be award winners. This will be books from any year that have won awards. I have mine picked out and have read 25 pages in it so far.

I'll be looking for your post on 2026 categories. My reading in 2025 was a fire in an empty dumpster. Pft! Get that bin outa here, dammit! I should have an easy time of settling on an award-winning non-fiction book. (Famous last words...)

>117 benitastrnad: I have mine picked out as well! Here's to 2026!!

>119 alcottacre: Picked out & reading!

>121 alcottacre: Good on you, Tess!

The 2026 Nonfiction thread is now open! Migrate on over.
Here is the link.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/377227

In a few days I will declare this thread dead. Go ahead and go to the new thread to keep up with what we are reading.