What We Are Reading - Nonfiction

If it's nonfiction, here is the place to let us know about it! Biography, history, science, literature . . . it does not matter. Feel free to join in here 2009.

Also an invitation to any of you who have presidential (US) biographies in your list, you may want to join us over at the newly formed Presidential challenge. Here's the link:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/uspresidentschalleng#forums

No reason one book can't fit into more than one challenge.

Are you including the wives of the presidents as well? I have a biography of Helen Taft I've been putting off reading (the softcover edition weighs a bloody ton!), but as William Howard is a distant relative, I'd really like to finish it. I just need an incentive!

Actually we thought we'd have a separate thread to track ancillary bio's --either spouses, or others that played a significant role. We think those will develop as we get going. Being the literate bunch that we are here on LT, I can't see anyway we're going to stick just to Presidential bios, but those will be the main house and we can add on attics, gazebos, side wings, whatever 'floats your boat' as we get going.

Most of my reading for this challenge is going to be nonfiction so get used to seeing me here!

Read: More Information Than You Require - this is an edge case, it's a fake, humorous almanac type of book, but it's not entirely fictitious.

Now Reading: The Pluto Files - my ER book about how Pluto got demoted and the uproar that ensued.

Why We Eat What We Eat - food anthropology!

flee - did they talk about the New Horizons mission in The Pluto Files?

Yep! Lots of talk about it actually.

>5 DaynaRT: food anthropology ... sounds intriguing!

Just put The Pluto Files on reserve at the library. It'll be interesting to compare the Pluto controversy from the author's POV with my experiences working on the mission going to see what it looks like. Our principal investigator had lots to say about Pluto's status as a planet!

I really need to read more non-fiction this year. I'm sure I'll find some great suggestions here.

drneutron - Anytime you need me to fly a mission just let me know! I can take the time off. (I know, I know, you don't do missions like that. Just let me dream. :) )

I have two autobiographies already as they were Christmas gifts so that's a good jumping off point in the non-fiction stakes for me, I just need to find a few more.

The ones I have are Dear Fatty by Dawn French, comedienne and it takes the form of letters written to her family and friends the other is That's Another Story by Julie Walters one of my favourite British comedienne/actors, probably of all time.

Started on A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World. It's my listen-while-I-do-housework audiobook.

My current non-fiction read is Throw Out Fifty Things which is making me laugh while I procrastinate cleaning the clutter out of my life.

Going to try to fill out some of my UN Member Nation spreadsheet with nonfiction reads - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pE6X_5Co2JXqhuPp6806kIg

maggie1944, love the sound of Throw Out Fifty Things. My problem is somehow I never find the time to read that sort of book :)

ET remove some stuff that really belongs on the 2008 group... oops!

I just finished Ricky Gervais Presents The World of Karl Pilkington... now *that* was hilarious. An excellent way to relax and wind down after a crazy and hectic Christmas. :)

>11 JacInABook: Impy, I saw Julie in Mama Mia on Sunday. While she is a great actress, she can't sing for toffee! Very enjoyable film.

- TT

~17 - Hey TT I have yet to see Mama Mia but from the bits that float about on You Tube and other places I definitely agree. I've always liked her from as far back as when she was paired with Victoria Wood (another biography I would like to find) and the fact that she was born in the same town as me has absolutely nothing to do with it. :)

FlossieT, I have similar problem finding time to read everything I want to read but since this is an ER book I am committed to finishing it and writing the review.

Hi, everyone! I'm Catey and I'm going to be reading some non-fiction this coming year... So I thought I'd post what I'm going to read.

The Wolves at the door by Judith L. Pearson

Spymistress by William Stevenson

Our Mother's War by Emily Yellin

American Women in a World War by Judy Litoff

World War II Letters by Bill Adler

flee: I can tell that you're gonna wreak havoc on my TBR pile - The Pluto Files and A History of Britain sounds great. Sigh.

drneutron: Your job sounds so fascinating, at least to this humble humanities prof. :)

>21 scaifea:
I'm also reading Why We Eat What We Eat, but it's on hiatus so I can review the Pluto book.

I plan on reading:

Paula by Isabel Allende

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England

A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel

Elie Wiesel's Memoirs (touchstone not working)

Carl Sagen's Cosmos (touchstone again not working)

oh - I should disclose what I am planning to read..... hummmm, that seems difficult. I might have to sort through all the books sitting around in tidy stacks. I might have to dust by book shelves and look for the unread babies who are languishing while I flirt with books mentioned by people on LT. Sigh, I guess I have some splunking to do.

I guess I'm the old curmudgeon: I would rather be reading than spending time reading about what other people are reading, or posting about what I AM reading, so I can then turn around and write a review about what I already read. Jeepers-how many tenses of the verb 'to read' was that?

So I'll see you all on the completed threads. Enjoy your year and Happy reading to all of us.

I started Arsenals of Folly yesterday based on recommendations by several of the folks on the 2008 challenge thread. It's a very good history of the nuclear arms race from the end of WWII to the fall of the Soviet Union. Rhodes' analysis is pretty insightful - his discussions of threat inflation on our side are spot on, and include some names in the current administration involved in the same sort of thing in Iraq. My major issue with the book so far is that he gives little credit to the notion of risk management. If the consequences of an event are high, and the consequences here are very high, prudence demands that a risk be mitigated. Rhodes imputes motives such as the desire for more political power to those making decisions without recognizing that in some cases decisions were made because we just simply didn't have enough information and the consequences of allowing the risky event to occur without some mitigation were just too high. Despite this weakness, I'm really enjoying the book and recommend it highly!

On my list are Outliers and Eat Pray Love. Thanks, loriephillips, I'm going to reserve Paula immediately. I've read most of Isabel Allende's books and enjoyed her non-fiction about Chile, what was it called? My something Country?

#27: It was called My Invented Country and came out several years ago. She has a new memoir that was published in 2008 called The Sum of Our Days that you might want to look for as well.

I started several non-fictions in 2008 that will carry over into 2009. I'm currently reading,We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, The Shia Revival, and 50 Battles That Changed the World. I have a couple others that I started and put down for some reason or another, I'll be picking them back up in '09: Pearl Harbor Ghosts and Lies My Teacher Told Me.

I'm carrying some half-read books over from 2008 too.

Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum - Richard Fortey (absolutely loving this book; currently at p.204/318)
The Sermons of John Donne - selected and introduced by Theodore Gill (good but not exactly light reading - requires a hefty piece of free time to read one of the sermons in its entirety; p.68/283)
A Radical Encounter with God - Greg Haslam (the lack of referencing and the superabundance of unsupported assertions is driving me mad - even though I agree with him a lot of the time; p.45/158)

I managed to buy a couple more books before all the stores closed on New Years Eve, so here's a couple more non-fiction for the ever growing TBR pile!

The Magician's Book (touchstone brings up the wrong title, I hate it when it that happens) A biography of C.S. Lewis

Mockingbird (bad touchstones) a biography of the author Harper Lee.

#31 lorrie

I bought Mockingbird when I was in Chicago in November and plan to read it in my 999 biography category this year.
(If the wrong touchstone comes up, you can click "(others)" to find the correct one--at least usually you can find it!)

Last night at midnight I started Soldier's Heart by Elizabeth Samet--a Book about Books for 999 and an October ER book.

After a year featuring a paucity of non-fiction, I've started 2009 off with two: Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer, which I am enjoying but had to put down when I discovered that it included "exercises" (and I wasn't reading in an atmosphere conducive to their performance). So I switched it out temporarily for the next book in my line-up - The Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb, spotted on akeela's 2008 list (thanks for both the recommendation and supplementary comments!) and then acquired from Bookmooch as it fits in with one of my 2009 reading ideas (Afghanistan). Good so far, but I'm only about 20 pages in - we had New Year at my mum's with a lot of family so I haven't had much time for reading.

Flossie - I'm interested to hear what you think of The Sewing Circles of Herat. I thought it sounded great when I read about it on akeela's list in 2008, so I got it for my parents' for Christmas. I can count on them to loan it back to me soon!

But of course!

Currently finishing up Bound for the Promised Land, an excellent biography of Harriet Tubman, and then I will be moving on to Crazy Horse, A Hero of Our Own and Adrift. Good nonfiction start to the year after knocking out a couple of fiction books.

Trying to finish Benjamin Franklin I've been at it a while, hoping today is the day.

I've just bought Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin about the political genius of Abraham Lincoln and Justinian's Flea by William Rosen which is about the first black plague and how it dessimated the Roman Empire. They're both weighty books and I've got a long trip planned ahead so these should stand me in good stead for the 17 hour flights. And since I'm going to be away for 3 weeks, I won't have to carry as many books with me as these are likely to take me quite a number of days to complete.

Team of Rivals is a great book! I read it a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I will look for your input on it.

I have seen mixed reviews of Justinian's Flea so I have not attempted it yet. I can't wait to see what you think of it.

I've finished The Pluto Files. I'll have a review up after everyone goes back to school/work.

Now it's back to Why We Eat What We Eat, which I should finish up later today.

I am still reading Crazy Horse - which is truly excellent, but I have also started on Vietnam: A History and The Forger's Spell.

Just finished up The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Easy read and very interesting. I expect to hear alot of press about this one.

Half way thru two books: Now the Drum of War about Walt Whitman's family in the time before, during, and I assume slightly after the Civil War. Brilliant writing, imo. I've learned a great deal about the CW and it's influences on Walt. I really like that the rest of his family is included.

Finally, Joker One about marines in Iraq. Learning alot here as well.

Funny, but I don't usually read any recent history.

Left from last year's TBR list: The Dark Side:The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer. I'm sorta glad I didn't get to it 'til now. Since this group in DC is on the way out, I may not end up as scared as I am now in the middle of this book.

Also I just finished as much as I can of Bestseller!--touchstone doesn't work. Very negative review here.

I'm reading Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston for my bookclub. It's making me cranky - I am pretty bored with self-help and inspirational books. I'll probably finish it because it is short and have fun savaging it at bookclub next Sunday.

#44, tututhefirst, The Dark Side was one of my favorite books of last year, but utterly and completely chilling, as well as horrifying.

I'm reading My Tank Is Fight!, which is a look at crazy military inventions from WWII.

I started The World Is What it Is, the authorized biography of the Nobel Prize winning author V.S. Naipaul, last night. Mr Naipaul is one of my favorite authors, but he is also a very arrogant, condescending and insensitive person, and I hope that Mr French's biography will give me a better understanding of the man, and how his life experiences influenced his writings.

I finally picked up Medical London: City of Diseases, City of Cures by Richard Barnett, a historian for the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL (University College London), which I had ordered from the London Review Bookshop before Christmas. It consists of a book of essays (Sick City: Two thousand years of life and death in London), a gazeteer of places of medical interest in the city, and six maps in pamphlet format for six different walking tours based on separate medical themes (the medieval Thames, a journey through the 'Plague Year', a day in the life of an 18th century medical student, tall ships and tropical diseases, Soho by night, and Bohemian medicine in Chelsea), all in a beautifully packaged box. I think I'll put aside all of my planned reading and dive right into this!

I read Stiff :The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach today. It's an amazing read so far. The initial chapters go into alot of detail when describing the complete decomposition stages of the human body ... definitely not a book for the squeamish.
Once the whole decomposition process and the various fluids, gasses and creatures have been dealt with, the writer does, I think, a wonderful job tracing the use of cadavers through history to present day. I never knew there were so many uses for a cadaver. There's a bit of humor in this book too, especially a story where the authoress, in trying to track down an almost victim of an attack by body snatchers, calls the wrong person and causes hysteria in that person's wife.

This book certainly opened my eyes to how even today, with all our modern technology, human cadavers still have their uses, and that leaving one's body to science should be at least a consideration by us as our last (and for some people, their only) bit of community service.

I started John Adams - serving quadrupal(sp?) duty -- 75 challenge, 100 challenge, 999 challenge, and the Presidents

Recently completed...
Dining with Terrorists: Meetings with the World's Most Wanted Militants by Phil Rees
(Review posted)

Currently reading...
The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze
Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe by Mark Mazower

#49 kidzdoc: I will be interested in seeing how you like that book. Sounds very interesting!

I am just starting Zarafa by Michael Allin. I need something a little light after 2 straight plague books in a row.

>49 kidzdoc:: kidzdoc, I so nearly bought my husband Medical London (odd there's no touchstone!) for Christmas and am sorry now that I didn't - sounds right up his street. Hope you enjoy it!

>33 FlossieT:: The Sewing Circles of Herat was really good. I think it was the first Afghanistan book I read. I definitely want to read more on the subject this year, as well. I'd love to recommend The Bookseller of Kabul and Kabul in Winter.

>50 cameling:: I read Stiff several years ago and loved it! Mary Roach has quickly become my favorite science writer. I read Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex last year. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife is interesting, too.

I really want to read more nonfiction this year. I'm currently reading How To Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative and Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique. I also have God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America and Savage Grace on deck, both of which I started last year and have yet to finish.

On my TBR pile:
Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future
My Guantanamo Diary
Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy

#55 FlossieT, how about giving it to him for his B-day, or next Christmas?

I'll probably go back to London, either this spring or in the late summer or early fall, as I did in '07. I have almost two weeks off in mid-March, but my best friend's wife (who taught physics at UCL) says that the weather is not so great that early in the year. And, I did like going to several of the BBC Proms performances when I went there in Aug/Sep. How is the weather there in March?

I'm still slogging through the book in message #45, but I've started Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah and really enjoying it so far.

>56 allthesedarnbooks:: finished Sewing Circles today and completely agree - it was a great book. Also that's the second recommendation I've seen today for Kabul in Winter so I've just requested it from the library. Reminds me also that I posted something on a thread last year about controversy surrounding The Bookseller of Kabul - something about the bookseller in question being very angry about the book. I found this article on the Guardian's website, but I'm sure I've seen something more recently too.

>58 kidzdoc:: next Christmas it will have to be - his birthday is Christmas Eve!! Weather in March is highly variable - last year it was cold and quite blustery, but in mid-March you can get some beautiful days IF you're lucky...

I've got The Goddess and the Bull, Libraries of the Ancient World and History of the Persian Empire lined up to go... however, fiction keeps calling me back and I never seem to get enough non-fiction read when I want to...!

>60 FlossieT:, Wow, Flossie, thanks for posting that controversy about The Bookseller of Kabul. I'll have to do some further reading, it's sounds very interesting and brings up issues of journalistic integrity and cultural understanding. IMO, Kabul in Winter is a better book on the writing alone.

I have ordered The Bookseller of Kabul and Kabul in Winter as well as The Sewing Circles of Herat. It should be an interesting juxtaposition of books.

I've just started reading Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. So far its interesting and Bryson has a witty style that makes it very readable, but I'm concerned that it might not be sustainable across a whole book.

#64 sanddancer - I loved Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson! I hope you continue to like it.

I finished Falling Leaves and loved it. It inspired me to read another book about China on my 999 challenge - China Road by Rob Gifford.

#65 karenmarie: I read China Road last year and really liked it. I hope you do too.

I friend lent (effectively gave) me China Road and it was on my TBR list for 2008. It has since migrated to the 2009 list, and I'm crossing my fingers it just doesn't eventually end up on the 2020 list ;)

Karenmarie - I've just finished reading Shakespeare: The World as Stage and loved it. I especially enjoyed the final section on theories about who else might have written the plays.

I'm about 1/2 way thru Shakespeare:The World as Stage listening on audio...I can't wait to go to the Y every day just to hear what's next. I really enjoy Bill Bryson reading his own stuff...just enough humor blended with good solid research and a wonderfully dry wit.

I'm about a quarter of the way into Hot, Flat and Crowded. It's really good so far.

DrNeutron - I have Hot, Flat and Crowded on my bedside table. I'll have to move it up toward the top of the stack!

I'm reading Nixonland right now, and I'm finally nearing the end. It is a very interesting, but very detailed look at what happened in American politics between Johnson's landslide win in 1964 and Nixon's landslide win in 1972.

#69 - Tututhefirst - I just love Bill Bryson, especially on audio! A Short History of Nearly Everything and A Walk in the Woods are both excellent.

I"m reading John Kenneth Galbraith's classic The Great Crash of 1929. It is not only historically interesting but also scarily comparable to our current financial situation, and Galbraith has a wonderful writing style and scathing wit.

>71 porch_reader:- porch_reader- I've had Nixonland on my TBR pile for a while, but every time I go to read it I am daunted by the length and inevitably pick up something else.

I finished How to Rig an Election. It was an interesting and quick read. A lot of insider Washington gossip and details of how the author rose in politics and eventually committed his phone-jamming crimes. Not a lot of moral depth. I don't know what I was expecting, but some more introspection would have been nice.

Still slowly reading Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique. It's very dense science for me and it's been a while since I took a biology class, so I have to keep rereading sections before I understand. Very interesting, though.

I am currently reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, Why They Kill by Richard Rhodes, and continuing with Roosevelt and Churchill by David Stafford as well as Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.

I have two books waiting for me to get to. I usually read the non-fiction books a chapter at a time before bedtime in between fiction books. Anyone want to give me a nudge?

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf

The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman

Oooh! Ronincats, I have The Closing of the Western Mind and keep trying to read it but get sidetracked. I think it's going to be good, but it's dense. I am keen to read it in the next few months though.

Someone on here has just finished Proust and the Squid - maybe bonniebooks in her 999 challenge.

I think it was MusicMom (Carolyn) who read it. We picked it up about the same time, but I didn't get to it. She liked it. But I also got The Closing based on recommendations from here on LT too. So I'm on the fence.

I read Closing of the Western Mind last year and enjoyed it, but it is dense. Sorry, I do not know anything about the other book.

#76 ronincats

I read Proust and the Squid in December and I found it fascinating! I was especially interested to discover that I am a squid. I have always joked that "my brain is wired differently." I've now found out that it is no joke--my brain is wired entirely differently! (You will find out why in the last section of the book.)

I think every one should read this book, but especially readers and parents of children whom you want to become readers--teachers, too. We are really learning about how the brain "learns" to read and this knowledge may revolutionize how reading is taught. Great book!

>80 MusicMom41:: have cracked and ordered Proust and the Squid from the library... it's not looking good for eroding the TBR piles this year!!

Carolyn, I'm a school psychologist, and so Proust and the Squid is actually professional reading for me. I'm interested to compare Wolf's book to that of Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia: a new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level, based on 20 years of research at her Yale lab. Very readable and loads of information. Wolf is also renowned for her research and I'm looking forward to reading her. I guess that makes my decision for me, huh? Proust and the Squid it is!

I don't generally plan my reading very much. But I do have some non-fiction books on my TBR radar that I think I may get to this year. (Don't try to hold me to anything!) They are The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin; A Needle in the Right Hand of God; The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough; and The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I am currently reading The American Journey of Barack Obama, (by the editors of LIFE magazine, contrary to what the touchstone claims).

#82 ronincats

I'm putting Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia on my "to get" list. Thanks for the information. This is an issue that needs to be more widely known and worked on.

I'm reading The Origin of Species, which is honestly not nearly as dry as I thought it would be (so far, at least).

#85 I'm interested to hear that - I've always felt a bit guilty that I've never read it (career related), and I've owned it for years - I've been trying to decide if I should add it to my non-fiction list for the year. I'll admit, the main reason I've been put off is that other people have told me that it's a bit of a slog and I thought it would be dry. I'll be fascinated to see what you think of it when you get to the end...

Well, my Early Reviewers book just arrived, and so my next nonfiction will be neither of the books above but Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys. I requested it not because I am raising any boys myself, but because I work extensively with boys in elementary school and try to keep up in the areas of development and psychology. We shall see how it goes.

#86 flissp: Don't hold your breath - it's gonna take me awhile to get through it, I think!

>86 flissp:: flissp, I was just reading today that Penguin are releasing a new "anniversary edition" next month too - and a whole host of Darwin books are coming out as well. What fun.

#85 & 86

I'm anxious to know, too, scaifea. I own a copy and could put it in my Classics category for 999. It's one I've always felt I ought to read but could never force myself to actually sit down and do it. I hope you love it! Take your time, though--I have plenty to read before I pick up Origin of the Species! :-)

I've just finished Don't Panic, Neil Gaiman's sort-of biography of Douglas Adams that mainly focuses on the various incarnations of the "increasingly inaccurately named" Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy five-book trilogy.

Have decided that I'm also going to try to read a chapter a night of The Rest is Noise - Alex Ross, which won the Guardian First Book Award, and which my brother bought me for my birthday; the size has been deterring me from picking it up, but as I'm about to embark on War and Peace in the group read I figure the in-pieces approach could work here too.

I'm about to start two non-fiction books, both of which I think will need to be interspersed with reading other things.

First up is 1968: The Year that Rocked the World by Mark Kurlanksy which is an overview of the politics and culture of that year and the impact it had on society.

The other book I've had on my shelves for ages Seeing is Believing: how Hollywood taught us to stop worrying and love the fifties by Peter Biskind which looks at 1950s films in relation to society of the time. The reason I've put off reading it for so long is that I've hardly seen any of the films mentioned in the book, so I'm going to try to combine reading the book with watching some of the films. Its a rather ambitious plan and I'm not sure when I'm going to find the time or some of the films. It may take me the rest of the year to complete this!

I'm currently reading Songbook by Nick Hornby, which I'm very much enjoying (being a bit of a music freak)...

Just finished Japanese Lessons : a year in a Japanese school through the eyes of an American anthropologist and her children by Gail Benjamin, for a Japan-theme read on Reading Globally. This was an excellent, thought-provoking book - full comments to follow on my thread.

I have just started The Whisperers:Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes. I like his writing style and the subject matter is fascinating.

I finished up Why They Kill by Richard Rhodes (the same man who wrote Arsenals of Folly) last night, which was very interesting, and am starting A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz some time today.

Well, there's another for the TBR pile...The Rhodes book looks very interesting!

I'm about 17 pages into From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible and already I want to high five the author for kicking the pseudoscientists to the curb.

I am currently rotating between Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow, A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz and House of Stone by Christina Lamb.

Oops! Forgot to mention I am also reading Pearl Harbor Ghosts by Thurston Clarke.

Finished From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible, starting on Terry Jones' Barbarians. History written by a Monty Python alum, what could be better?

I am reading His Excellency George Washington for the Presidential Biography challenge. The Revolutionary War has just gotten into full swing and the book is quite interesting.
--BJ

I couldn't decide on one for the Presidents Challenge so I actually have two going about Thomas Jefferson.... I picked these two:
American Sphinx:The Character of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson:Genius of Liberty
I also finished The Magnificent Catastrophe about the election between Jefferson and Adams. I think after these 3, I should be able to decide what I think of Jefferson.

I'm also reading about Thomas Jefferson, The Hemingses of Monticello. I'm about 200 pages into it (almost 700 total pages) and it's very interesting so far.

#99- alcottacre--- A Voyage Long and Strange is really good. It's my least favorite Tony Horwitz book though. It's not as humorous as the others. My favorite Tony Horwitz book is Baghdad Without a Map. I read it right after Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks (his wife). It was interesting to compare their experiences --how much more of the region he was allowed to see and experience because of his gender, than she was, despite the fact that she had some clearance as a working journalist.

I'm currently reading Chasing Kangaroos. A Continent, a Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature by Tim Flannery. I had no idea there are (were) so many different species of kangaroo.

#104 VioletBramble: I agree about A Voyage Long and Strange. I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I enjoyed his other books - I thought it could have been cut by at least 50 pages. I have read all of his other books with the exception of his first one. I will remain forever indebted to him though, because through him, I started reading his wife's work, although the first one I read by her was not fiction - it was Foreign Correspondence. I have since read several of her fiction works, which I have thoroughly enjoyed - People of the Book made my list of memorable reads for last year.

I posted a comment on the SF/F thread about my newest read, but I think anyone interested in space or physics will enjoy it as well. The comment on my thread is here.

I'm finally finished with Nixonland - good, but long. Now I'm on to Another Country, a book about the challenges of aging. So far, it's an interesting read. Pipher is especially good at explaining how the experiences of people in my grandparents' age group cause them to react to and interpret things differently that my parents or I do.

#66 alcottacre and #67 petermc - I loved China Road. A very good intro to China today, in my opinion.

I just started reading The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr - my December ER book. I've just cracked it, but I love his writing style so far.

I have a question. Should ALL non fiction go here? I'm currently reading would could be deemed a "how to" book so does that go here? and this is going to be a massive jumble of biographies, autobiographies, histories, etc?

This should get interesting. ^_^

Also, I just joined the presidential challenge. Something that is quite possible to accomplish in the next 3 years.

#109: If is nonfiction and you want to post it, post it. We are not here to argue about what qualifies as nonfiction and what doesn't. Like I said in post #1, it does not matter. If you are reading nonfiction and do not feel like posting it here, then don't. We are not the book police.

After having said all that, I am currently reading Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages by Mark Abley, a book recommended last year by Tad.

I'm likely to read a non- than a fiction, so I imagine I'll show up quite a bit. Here's the 2009 nons I've tackled to date.

A Few Seconds of Panic

Alan's War The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope

Burma Chronicles

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?: 23 Questions from Great Philosophers

The Beautiful Struggle

The Spiritual Tourist

Understanding comics

The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East
Understanding Comics

Cults In Our Midst

Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (33 1/3)

I'm currently giving the so far lackluster The Borscht Belt a shot. I guess I shouldn't expect too much from a book by Joey Adams.

@107: I'm considering taking on Nixonland as my first doorstop of the year.

>111 gregtmills:, What did you think of Cults in Our Midst?

>112 allthesedarnbooks: Seemed dated and sort of self-helpy. I think was expecting something a little more meatier. the writing drove me up the wall at times, the content moved me.

This book was more about victims of cults. And while I completely empathizes with the suffering that those people have gone through, my interest lies more in the psychology of the cult leaders.

Why? Because... I'm a weirdo.

Yeah, I thought it looked a little too preachy (and perhaps dated) for my tastes. It's hard to find good cult books! I'm interested in the psychology of the cult leaders, too, (you're not the only weirdo!) but even more in the psychology of the followers, the beginnings of new vs. established religions, and the anthropology of the groups.

>114 allthesedarnbooks:: I just ordered a book, Feet of Clay, that is a psychological study of charismatic religious leaders. I'll let you know how it goes. It might be more suitable for weirdos.

#115: Count me in among the weirdos (that is, if you didn't already). I would be interested in your take on Feet of Clay.

Add to the better-than-I-expected-file: The Borscht Belt, a breezy history of the Catskills Jewish resorts of the early to mid twentieth century.

Funny, with one liners that weave between the inspired and the shamelessly corny.

Moving on to, what? I think either Science, Politics and Gnosticism or Myth and Reality. Need some roughage.

Don't have lots of non-fiction on the list this year - we'll see what slips in!

So far I've read Book Lust (like I need more recommendationss since joining LT - admittedly bought before I joined....) and I'm currently reading Obama: From Promise to Power, a biography by David Mendell.

>115 gregtmills:, I'll def be interested to hear what you think of Feet of Clay. Right now I'm saving my money (or hoping either one of the local libraries or my university library will get a copy) for Prophet's Daughter by Erin Prophet, which looks especially interesting because it's written by the daughter of a female prophet, while most of the cult leaders tend to be male. I'm taking an anthropology course this semester and I think I'm probably going to do a research paper on Cults & New Religions.

Three more non-fics to throw on to my hindmost:

Science, Politics, and Gnosticism
Myth and Reality
Every force evolves a form

I just started Feet of Clay. So far, so good.

>119 allthesedarnbooks:: Claire Prophet is, uh, an interesting person. I'm intrigued by Prophet's Daughter. If you manage to get your hands on it, tell us how it goes.

I'm going through a cult phase myself. I am devouring cult books. Got any hot tips for relatively non-exploitive cult books?

For Black History Month, I'm planning to read Baldwin: Collected Essays, the Library of America edition of the non-fiction writings of James Baldwin, which consists of the following (in addition to >30 Eat_Read_Knit: shorter essays):

Notes of a Native Son
Nobody Knows My Name
The Fire Next Time
No Name in the Street
The Devil Finds Work

I've read some of these essays before, I think, but many years ago. I'll start with Notes of a Native Son.

kidzdoc

Thanks for the reminder! I just pulled out A Black Woman's Civil War Memoirs by Susie King Taylor for my tribute.

I read quite a bit of Baldwin when I lived in Savannah but I don't think I read his essays. I'll be interested to see what you think about them.

Just picked up Vietnam Witness by Bernard Fall to read.

I have finished up Vietnam Witness and am now reading Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman.

I've recently started a few nonfictions:
St. Augustine's Confessions
His Excellency: George Washington
The History of Mankind

ETA: Stasia: I've read some Feynman before and love him - I'm eager to know how you find Six Easy Pieces

I'm primarily a fiction person, but I am trying to read more nonfiction. Lots of great suggestions here!

In January I read Poor People by William Vollmann, which I highly recommend.

I'm a few chapters into The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence.

I'm almost finished Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland which is all about how irrational humans are. It is quite an eye opener!

#125: Amber, I really liked Six Easy Pieces. I especially enjoyed chapter three where he discusses how physics relates to the other sciences. For some reason, physics has always fascinated me, but I really do not have the background to understand it in depth. I thought Feynman did a great job in making the book accessible to readers such as me.

#127: deebee, that one is on my list of 'must-reads' for this year. I am anxious to see what you think of it.

#129: That's it, then, on the list it goes! I agree about Feynman making his books accessible to those of us who are science-impaired, which is really impressive for someone as super intelligent as he is (was? I think he's gone, no?)

I've been working my way through The Mother Tongue: English, and How it Got That Way by Bill Bryson for awhile now.

It's incredibly interesting, and I am really enjoying Bryson's writing style. The only reason it is taking me so long to read it is that I stop and try to pronounce the various dialects he presents - with mixed results.

Shakespeare: The World as Stage looks very interesting, but I already have a huge stack of biographies waiting for me.

Other than YA fiction that I read for my job as a high school librarian I mostly read nonfiction. My favorite subjects (at least for now) are disasters, technology, memoirs of people dealing with mental illness and other diseases, and language trivia. BTW, I have founded a group called Disaster Buffs, if anyone else has a particular interest in that subject.

I've not read as many books as I would have liked so far, but the nonfiction I have read are:

Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory by Roy Blount, Jr.
Remembrances of the Angels; 50th Anniversary Reminiscences of the Fire No One Can Forget by John Kuenster
Here Comes Everybody : The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky
Manic : A Memoir by Terri Cheney

I've just started Magnitude 8 : Earthquakes and Life Along the San Andreas Fault by Philip L. Fradkin

>118 LisaMorr:

Hi, Lisa--

What did you think of Book Lust? I bought it and didn't do much with it after its lists caused me to buy two books I didn't like.

I just finished Feet of Clay, and enjoyed it. It's a very interesting, coherent analysis of charismatic leaders.

I just started The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. I'm going in deep here, people.

Is that Kuhn's book? I remember reading it back in grad school. Paradigm shift was all the thing then, and this was one of the seminal influences.

It is indeed Kuhn.

I just started Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. I'm reading a chapter or two or night as background for reading globally in Africa this month. Unfortunately, it covers East Africa, and the two novels (so far) I am planning to read are set in West Africa, so I guess I will have to find an additional non-fiction book on the subject.

So far, Dark Star Safari is entertaining.

gregtmills-

Glad Feet of Clay was good! It's nice to have recommendations. I'm on the verge of giving in and buying Prophet's Daughter, because the more I read about Elizabeth Clare Prophet the more fascinated I am.

I haven't read that much on cults yet, unfortunately. I've really only started to read about the subject in much detail recently. Last year I read Cults and New Religions: A Brief History, which had a lot of interesting information but was written like an academic paper, not a book, and was almost so unbiased as to be totally non-judgmental. I read Mystics and Messiahs a few years ago and enjoyed it. Otherwise, my cult-related readings has been mostly fiction or memoirs of ex-cult members, polygamist cults in particular.

I just started Fire in the Lake by Frances Fitzgerald, which was recommended to me by Rebecca for my reading on Vietnam this year.

allthesedarnbooks --

I just found Mystics and Messiahs on my bookshelf at home and I don't remember buying it. My mind is failing.

It's unnerving reading all this stuff, because my wife's family actually lost someone in Jonestown.

Oh, Greg--that's awful! I'm so sorry.

Thank you furdog. I married into to it, and while it's tragic and the people touched by it obviously carry it with them, the family talks about it and they seem to have accepted the tragedy of it. The people in the family most touched by it are incredibly resilient, even heroic.

Oh my, Greg, that's so sad. My heart goes out to your wife and her family. Hopefully the more we learn about cults & new religious movements, the more we can distinguish what groups have the potential to become violent and prevent tragedies like that from happening again.

Mystics and Messiahs was good; I'd recommend it, especially if you like history, as Jenkins covers a lot of pre- and early- twentieth century religious movements in America that I had never even heard of.

Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

Read last night. A ridiculously slim book about Japanese aesthetics.

>144 allthesedarnbooks: allthesedarnbooks
I realize now I did read it. Ha! I picked it up last night and started reading it, and what do you know? It is a very interesting book for the American history aspect alone.

I recently started to reread Battle Cry of Freedom after a discussion in the Medieval History group brought it up. I'm also reading Eagle Against the Sun but took a quick break around Pearl Harbor to read Day of Infamy.

#140, I'm impressed you remembered I recommended Fire in the Lake -- I find so many interesting recommendations here on LT that I can never remember who recommended what. That said, I haven't read it since it came out in the 1970s, so I'll be interested in what you think and how it holds up as history instead of current events.

#147: Rebecca, I am not sure how the book holds up as history since my knowledge of that part of the world is pretty much nonexistent, but the book itself is dense, almost too much so. I was reading it concurrently with Karnow's Vietnam: A History until it became apparent I was never going to get Fire in the Lake done before it was due back at the library reading the two books like that (I own the Karnow book). That being said, the style of the books is very different - I find Karnow's book more readable. Fitzgerald's book is more like studying a textbook to me. I do like the different perspective though, because it has given me a different point-of-view from which to watch the development of the entire Vietnam situation.

Just started The Children by David Halberstam. It is the story of the students who started the sit-ins in Nashville in the late 1950s. I am about 50 pages in, and it is looking very good.

I am reading Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America by David M. Katzman. It's about the lives of female domestic servants in the US between the end of the American Civil War and around 1930 or so. Of course it has the serious book's usual number of charts and appendices, but so far (chapter 2) it's been pretty interesting.

Working on John Adams by David McCullough. It's a re-read for the US Presidents Challenge. I enjoyed it immensely the first time, and it's holding up the second time through!

Last night I started In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made by Norman Cantor. Did you know anthrax may have played a part in the spread of the bubonic plague?

>152 DaynaRT:, fleela, Ooh, In the Wake of the Plague sounds right up my alley! I love books about plagues, diseases, and medical history.

---

I just finished Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist by Richard Rhodes, which was very interesting, and finally finished Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique, which was a challenge for me.

#152: I am adding that one to the Continent. I am one of the people like allthesedarnbooks who loves plague books.

#153: Glad you liked Why They Kill. I thought it very interesting when I read it earlier in the year.

>152 DaynaRT:, I actually picked up Why They Kill after reading about it on your thread, Stasia. I thought it was very interesting. I haven't read very much on violence or criminology, but it definitely got me interested in the subject. I now have Violence: Six Sideways Reflections on hold from me library.

I know you're reading a lot about the Vietnam War this year. I thought the chapter on war, and the sections on the My Lai massacre in particular, were one of the most interesting parts of the book. Did you find similarities/truths with other books you've read?

#156: I actually read a book that was entirely on the My Lai massacre in December of last year, but my reading this year has not concentrated on that incident, but rather overviews of the Vietnam War as a whole. The one book I read specifically on My Lai was called Four Hours in My Lai if you are interested in reading it.

I would be interested in reading Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. Let me know how it is once you have a chance to read it, would you?

I will add Four Hours in My Lai to my list! I was never that interested in the Vietnam war, or wars in general, but as I grow up a little I find myself more interested in what causes them and how to someday prevent them. All the great recommendations on LT certainly help me in expanding my knowledge of subjects I wouldn't normally tackle.

I will def let you know about Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. I saw it on the new books display a couple weeks ago, but didn't pick it up because I was reading Why They Kill at the time and didn't think I could handle them at the same time. After finishing the Rhodes book, I immediately went and put Violence on hold.

I'm currently reading the very dense (700+!), thick, and thankfully interesting Nixonland. The author manages to stay lively despite the subject matter, so I've got that going for me.

#159: I have heard some very good things about Nixonland and will be interested in seeing your take on it.

I think today's a good day to start Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines. It's been collecting dust on my shelf long enough.

I'm currently reading White Coat: Becoming a Doctor at Harvard Medical School and Feet of Clay: Sinners, Saints, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus.

Okay, I swear this is going to be the last book I read for Thomas Jefferson and the Presidents Challenge -- Jefferson's Vendetta: The Pursuit of Aaron Burr and the Judiciary. I've read 3 books already for Jefferson but he is such a puzzle to me, I wanted another one.

Cheli, I cannot wait to hear what you think of your "last" Jefferson book!

I started The Amber Room the other day. Thus far, it has been interesting.

>162 allthesedarnbooks: Allthesedarnbooks - I'll be interested to see what you think of White Coat: Becoming a Doctor at Harvard Medical School. I generally like books about the education process. Turow's One L, about the first year of Harvard Law School, is one of my all-time favorites.

#162, 166 - ATDB, I'm looking forward to you finishing White Coat too. I loved One L too Porch Reader.

alcottacre -- I just finished Nixonland and boy, are my arms tired.

It's a great, albeit depressing, book. It really cuts through the mythology of the sixties and makes the case again and again the majority of the country was not comfortable with the changes happening, and there was a lot of violence and despicable acts in every corner of society. Also, the book made it seem like just about everybody ignored the constitution, particularly when it came to free speech and civil rights. Not an astounding observation, I know, but Perlstein does a good job of explaining that white intimidation and violence happened everywhere, not just Mississippi.

My one quibble is the author has an ever so slight joshy tone that gets kind of old spread out over 700+ pages.

joshy. Love that word.

#169: Joshy is a great word.

I just started The Truth About the Irish. So far it's been amusing and a light read. Terry Eagleton can be a). a funny writer b). a very earnest Euro-Communist (which he literally is), or c). a cranky literary theorist. For this little book he is fortunately Terry Eagleton a).

>166 porch_reader: & 167, just added One L to my pile! So far I'm enjoying White Coat very much. I'm actually taking a class this semester called Literature & Medicine, so we're reading a lot about the process of becoming a doctor, being a doctor, and then being a patient. I love it, although I'm one of the few English majors in the class; everybody else is premed!

#161 fleela: Warrior Women sounds really interesting - I think I'll add it to my wishlist.

>54 alcottacre:: I loved Zarafa; wouldn't exactly call it "light", though.

I'm reading Abacus by Jesse Dilson to try to cure my math-phobia.

Currently reading The Wolves at the Door by Judith L. Pearson, which I 'borrowed' from Catey and then never gave back, lol.

I just finished Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan. I'm still working on Battle Cry of Freedom and Eagle Against the Sun.

I finished White Coat: Becoming a Doctor at Harvard Medical School, which was okay, but not as good as I had hoped. (More thorough thoughts on my thread.) I'm still working on Feet of Clay, and I've started Confederates in the Attic and The Devil in the White City.

I just read through the entirety of this thread for the first time so my comment is a bit belated, but if anyone is still looking for cult books, I strongly recommend Raven: The untold story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his people. It's a comprehensive biography of Jim Jones, and goes heavily into his psychology and the psychology of the cult, and then follows the events and downspiraling of the whole thing that lead to the tragedy. I found it pretty disturbing, actually, but that's because it was very well written and researched, and it's the subject matter that's disturbing. It's written by two of the reporters from the only outside group that entered Jonestown. A very good book on the subject, but be forewarned.

I finished Three Cups of Tea last week and everything everyone says about it is true. Amazing book. lunacat lent it to me but it's clearly going to be one of those book I buy my own copy of.

Now halfway through Proust and the Squid, also excellent though obv. for some different reasons. I'm finding the explanations of the different stages of learning to read completely fascinating, especially as I have a nearly-3 YO who's just at the stage of beginning to reliably recognise letters of the alphabet.

I started The Summer of 1787. I thought this might be a good background book before I read my books on James Madison for the Presidents Challenge.

>178 Foxen:, Thanks for the recommendation, Foxen!

I finished Confederates in the Attic, which was quite good. Just got Prophet's Daughter in the mail today and couldn't resist starting it, even though I already had several books going. I'm on Chapter 3...

Finally finding a space in my schedule to start Three Cups of Tea. I've heard so many good things about it!

>134 debherter:
furdog, sorry for the slow reply, have some catching up to do!

I liked Book Lust and haven't had the experience you've had yet with picking some books I didn't like. There are quite a few that she has listed that I've read already and did like, so I'm hoping not to be disappointed. I'm looking forward to doing some of the 'companion reads' she suggests. And there are a lot of authors that will be new to me that I'm excited about.

Of course with LT I am not wanting for recommendations!!!

Finished Obama: From Promise to Power which was all right. Not a page turner, but good in parts, and I learned a lot.

Started How the Scots Invented the Modern World today. It's starting off slow, but hopefully will get going for me. There seems to be a lot of referenced history that I don't know much about which is making it a bit of a slog.

I started Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library last night. Some interesting stuff happens in the public library I never knew about!

I'll be interested to hear what you think of Free for All, Stasia. I saw it the last time I was at the bookstore and thought it looked really interesting.

I'm still working on Feet of Clay and Prophet's Daughter, and have started Complications: A Surgeon's Note on an Imperfect Science for class.

Just finished Proust and the Squid - absolutely incredible book on reading (history, science and experience). Loved it to bits.

186: Marcia, I thought overall it was pretty good, nothing terribly enlightening, but some interesting stories of things that go on at public libraries. One thing I truly did not like was his characterization of homeschoolers as 'cultish'. He made at least one other derogatory remark about homeschoolers that really got to me as well.

FlossieT

Glad you enjoyed Proust and the Squid--it was one of my top reads last year. I was fascinated about how humans developed written language and "invented" reading--and so many different ways of expressing language in writing! Although I was aware that were were several form of written language I never thought about why this happened!

I was also intrigued to discover that each person's brain starts from "scratch" having to develop the ability to read. And the process begins extremely early with the first reading aloud to the child in infancy. I read my son's book when we were visiting them over Thanksgiving--now I've got to get a copy of my own. I will want to read it again.

BTW I'm a "Squid" (right-brained reader) and I was really encouraged with how much they are learning about helping children with dyslexia learn to read proficiently--although we'll never be speedy! :-D

>188 alcottacre:, Thanks Stasia! Sounds like it's worth checking out from the library, but not buying. I'm sorry he made those presumptions about homeschoolers. I do remember seeing some other things things that looked like they might be judgmental or mean-spirited, which was I didn't buy it.

Currently working on a couple of nonfiction reads: Against Medical Advice and The Working Poor.

Very light reading but non-fiction nonetheless, I'm reading Hippie by Barry Miles. It is are large coffee-table book about 60s culture, but it does have quite a bit of text, mainly anecdotes about key figures in that era.

#192: Hippie looks like an interesting book. I cannot wait to see your thoughts on it.

I'm reading Darwin's Ghost, which is quite good - tons of fascinating examples.

191: I read The Working Poor by David Shipler several years ago, recall being very impressed with the combo of anecdote and theory. Another I'd recommend is A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America by the same author.

I'll be finishing Your Inner Fish today. A longer description when I'm done, but in summary this is a lovely book, presenting the essentials without clutter, and with diagrams just when you need them.

#195: qebo, I have already put A Country of Strangers on my Continent TBR, but I appreciate the mention. So far, The Working Poor has been very good.

196: Not surprising. Figured worth a mention for anyone else reading this thread also. Have you read his Arab and Jew? I have it, probably bought it around the same time I read the others, but haven't read it.

#197: The Working Poor is the only book of Shipler's I have managed to get my hands on thus far. Based on how I am liking his writing style in it, I will probably try and track down all of his other books as well.

I'm finally dipping into some of the What We Are Reading threads. It's hard to find the time to catch up on so many interesting things.

Anyway, my two cents (which appear to be in completely different coinage from others here):

I am mostly done with A True History of Chocolate by Sophie D. Coe and David Coe. I probably won't get around to finishing Chocolate in Mesoamerica edited by Cameron L. McNeil, but who knows? I have it until May. The first book is a very accessible and entertaining, but well-researched, discussion of the cacao tree, its role in indigenous cultures in Mexico and Central America, how it was transformed and adopted by Europeans (and eventually the rest of the world) during various eras, and the modern chocolate industry. The latter is a volume of scholarly research organized into four sections: 1) evolution, domestication, chemistry, and identification of cacao and its close relatives; 2) cacao in pre-Columbian cultures; 3) cacao in the colonial period; and 4) Mesoamerican cacao use in the 20th and 21st centuries.

These two books are the starting point of a little research project of mine, and I followed their bibliographies to several 16th century primary sources, which I have also borrowed. I won't be reading those in their entirety, just strategically targeting and translating the passages relevant to my little thing.

I confess that most of my nonfiction reading is trying to keep up with the Sunday newspaper and get through the accumulated magazines from various subscriptions.

But here are the various books that I have started:

Easy Arabic Script--admittedly, this involves less reading and more writing exercises. But that just makes it go quickly.

The Selected Essays of Montaigne--this is bedtime reading. They are generally interesting, but the writing style is so formal and elliptical, I sometimes have to follow several paragraphs to begin to understand what exactly he's talking about. Right now I am bogged down in "That to Philosophize Is to Learn How to Die." So I'm working my way through Proverbs instead.

Master Cheng's New Method of Taichi Ch'uan Self-Cultivation. This is another one that is light on the reading and more on the exercises. I revisit it at intervals hoping to make progress on my form, but I lack self-discipline.

Evolution and Christian Faith--I borrowed this one. The problem is that it is too interesting for bedtime reading. So I have set it aside until I have the inclination to read it elsewhere.

A History of the Spanish Language by Ralph Penny. The topic is interesting to me, but not surprisingly, the book is very dry. So I can digest only small portions at a time. It's out on loan to a friend at the moment.

Fire in America by Stephen J. Pyne. This one is very interesting and generally well-written. Once again, not suitable for bedtime and I haven't found time to devote to it. Maybe I'll take it to work to read during lunchtimes when I'm not catching up on blogs.

I acquired The Book of Five Rings last year and started dipping into it, but set it aside to pursue more immediate research needs. I would like to go back and finish it.

Others that I recently acquired and would like to read sooner rather than later: Sea of Faith and Ornament of the World.

Frankly, I spend more of my recreational reading time either in novels or pursuing personal research projects. I don't do much recreational nonfiction reading, but I'm trying to change that habit a little.

Interesting to hear about The True History of Chocolate as I have it on my bookshelves but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Fire in America sounds interesting too.

I'm reading Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang. I bought it in hardcover, which is rather unusual for me. So far, it's a very sensitive description of the lives of Chinese Factory workers. It really focuses on the lives of these women, rather than using them to make a cheap political point.

James Madison: (The American Presidents Series) for the Presidents Challenge. I've tried to find another bio but have been unsuccessful.

Fire in America is what put Stephen J. Pyne's name on the map. He practically invented a new field of environmental history and went on to write more in the same vein for just about every other region in the world. He's another one who makes the topic very accessible to a general audience but does a good job with the research as well, via the extensive chapter notes. He's also someone who has successfully kept one foot in the ivory tower and the other on the fireline for many, many years. That too is an accomplishment.

I will probably buy The True History of Chocolate if I can find a reasonably priced used book around here. I don't like the sometimes judgmental tone of the prose, such as going on about those poor, superstitious misguided idiots who believed in that obviously ridiculous humoral theory for so many centuries. But then that subjective presentation is part of what makes the book so approachable. The anecdote about the Mexican ladies constantly interrupting Mass by having their servants bring them chocolate (they were too weak to make it through service without liquid fortification) and the subsequent feud with the local bishop is priceless.

I was laid-off last Thursday, so I've been able to turn my attentions to higher pursuits than earning money. Namely reading. Finished off two great books in short order: Noodling for Flatheads and Moonshine.

Noodling For Flatheads is a quick survey of Southern folk traditions by an interpid German American journalist. Covered are the pleasures of squirrel brains, competitive marbles and noodling, the practice of catching giant rutting male catfish using only the human arm and a meathook. Really good quick read.

Moonshine is an all time classic of long form journalism. Alec Wilkinson (who also wrote a great memoir of being a small town policeman on Cape Cod -- Midnights: A Year With the Wellfleet Police) speads time shadowing a modern day revenue agent, the inimitable Garland Bunting, as he fights moonshine in the South Carolina of the mid-eighties.

I STRONGLY reco both.

>204 gregtmills:, gregtmills, Sorry you were laid off, but glad you're going to be doing lots of reading! Those both sound very interesting.

@162: allthesedarnbooks -- What'd you think of Feet of Clay?

>206 gregtmills:, I'm still working on Feet of Clay, actually... I got distracted and am reading way too many books at once. It's interesting, although I think maybe a little too cursory for my taste? And also a little random. It seems like Storr gives biographical details but lacks real psychological insights into Jim Jones' character, whereas Gurdjieff, whom I've never read about independently, gets almost the opposite effect, ie. discussion of his ideas and motivations before we get the story. I'm looking forward to the chapters on Freud and Jung, though, as well as Jesus. It'll be interesting to see if Storr can prove a coherent thesis.

>Hmmm....I wonder if people are still eating squirrel brains. If you're tempted, you might want to think twice.

>208 laytonwoman3rd: HA! They talk about the Mad Cow angle in the book.

Every time you all mention Feet of Clay, I immediately think of the Terry Pratchett book! It makes a big dislocation because the Pratchett book is humorous, one of the Watch series in Discworld, and yours is not at all.

I finished David M. Kennedy's Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. It is a magnificent, impeccably researched work of history and I can't recommend it highly enough! It combines politics, economics, military strategy, social issues, and insights into character into a highly readable, occasionally stunningly written, nearly 900 pages. I learned a tremendous amount I didn't know before from it, and found it particularly interesting to find out how some people whose names became well known got their start and what they really did, as well as to gain greater understanding of how the origins of the cold war lay in World War II. Do not be daunted by its length!

#210 ronincats, i've been thinking exactly the same thing!

>211 rebeccanyc:, Freedom from Fear doesn't sound like something I'd normally pick up, but thanks to your review I'm adding it to my TBR list!

>210 ronincats: and 211, Maybe I'll have to start referring to it by it's full, twice semi-coloned title, Feet of Clay: Sinners, Saints, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus. That's rather long to type, however, so I think I'll just make you guys deal with the Terry Pratchett confusion!

David M. Kennedy's Freedom from Fear sounds very enticing. Thank you for the review. I'll have to look into it as well.

I started The Long Shadow of Little Rock today.

Having just finished Mrs. Lincoln, I'm now moving into Honeymoon In Tehran. It seems really good so far, and likely to make me end up picking up her other book, Lipstick Jihad

I'm currently on a post-presidential election reading binge. Just finished The Breakthrough: Politics in the Age of Obama by PBS moderator and editor Gwen Ifill and now beginning "A Long Time Coming":The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama by Evan Thomas and the staff of "Newsweek"

The first excellent and the second promising.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through The Lost City of Z based on multiple recommendations in this group. And loving it!

just started The War of 1812: The forgotten Conflict

Just finished Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science and really enjoyed it.

Currently reading God Rest Ye Merry Soldiers that Peter recommended on his thread in January.

Currently reading American Lightning by Howard Blum.

Currently reading The Irregulars, another one that Peter mentioned.

I am currently reading about halfway through The Eaves of Heaven by Andrew X. Pham. The book is for my Vietnam War reading this year.

Reading A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium for both my Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress challenges.

Fleela: That book has been on my shelf for awhile now - let us know what you think when you're finished.

Just started A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East - From the Cold War to the War on Terror by Patrick Tyler

so far a very readable book written in a journalistic fashion about a very complex subject

Just finished catapult: harry and I build a siege weapon.

@ 225: Fleela, how are you enjoying History of Private Life? I read that years ago, and I remember it being pretty fascinating.

Currently reading Baghdad Burning.

I have put aside Baghdad Burning for a bit, which, although excellent is just a little too much on top of The Cellist of Sarajevo and The Eaves of Heaven this week. I have started on Sin in the Second City from my 'must read' list for this year.

>229 gregtmills:
I've had to set it aside for now. I have a back injury and at almost 700 pages it's just too hard to hold comfortably.

Currently reading No Better Place to Die by Peter Cozzens. I am also currently reading The Survivor's Club by Ben Sherwood.

I wonder what I was thinking when I decided to read these two books concurrently?

Finally finished Feet of Clay (thoughts here) and am reading Blue Latitudes and Race and Reunion, or at least I started those and will finish them sometime after I finish my anthro research paper, for which I am reading lots of books about lesbian mothers and polygamist mothers.

#234: I hope you like Blue Latitudes, Marcia. It is my favorite of Horwitz' books.

I'm reading My Own Country, a very interesting personal and medical memoir by an Indian physician specializing in infectious diseases in rural eastern Tennessee just as AIDS was starting to make itself known in that culture. Very well written, compassionate and informative.

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough. This is one of his earlier books and tells the story of Teddy Roosevelt's early life and the story of his family. McCullough is doing his usual good job.

Except for mysteries, most of what I read is nonfiction.

Right now, I am reading 2 nonfiction books:

I'm reading my Early Reviewers book, When March Went Mad, by Seth Davis. This is about the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird NCAA tourney matchup in 1979. About one-third of the way through that.

On my Kindle, I'm reading a sociological study of booksellers called Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption by Laura J. Miller. This is an academic look at bookstores. Once I got past the first chapter, I'm enjoying it.

In the past week or so, I've gone on a nonfiction book blitz (or at least finished the ones I'd been reading).

--The Tri-State Tornado: The Story of America's Greatest Tornado Disaster by Peter S. Felknor--this was an interesting look at the long-travelling tornado that hit Missouri, southern Illinois, and Indiana in 1925.

--A Passion for Books by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan (editors)--a great collection of essays on everything relating to books

--Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau--fascinating look at how the world moved to time zones and later to daylight saving time. I love a book that takes a seemingly simple topic, like this, and shows that it really isn't simple at all.

--Match Day by Brian Eule--talks about 3 soon-to-graduate from medical school women and their experiences with "match day" which is the third Thursday of March when all graduating American medical students learn where they'll going for their medical residencies.

--His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis--biography of George Washington. I especially enjoyed the roughly second half focusing on Washington's presidency.

I am reading The People's History of the Supreme Court and an audiobook Ladies of Liberty a book about the influential women of the Early USA.
So far both are very interesting.

I am currently reading This Terrible Sound by Peter Cozzens about the battle of Chickamauga during the Civil War.

I am also starting My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.

I adored My Family and Other Animals, which I read when I as probably about 12 years old. It got me started reading all of Gerald Durrell's books that were available then (mid-60s); I was fascinated by all of them. Probably worth a reread.

>238 lindapanzo:: lindapanzo, I tried to read Reluctant Capitalists last year and failed miserably - I *couldn't* get past the first chapter!! Also maybe reading it on the Kindle helps; the hb edition had impossibly tiny print. I don't have a problem focusing or reading in a literal sense, but I find it very dispiriting to feel I'm making so little progress in a book because the pages of necessity turn so much slowly.

This was a problem that afflicted a recently completed non-fiction read: What Should I Do With My Life? - Po Bronson. Thought-provoking but flawed, and again - the print was just too darn small.

Also read Tuesdays with Morrie this March, which I strongly disliked. (I didn't really expect to like it - I wouldn't have picked it up out of choice, it came from my bookswap club.)

FlossieT, that first chapter of Reluctant Capitalists was brutal. I was about ready to give up on it but subsequent chapters--dealing specifically with bookstores--are much more interesting. Even so, I find I read other things and come back and read Reluctant Capitalists a bit at a time.

In that first chapter, I felt like I was back in a college sociology class or something.

Non-Fiction - I am reading A People's history of the Supreme Court. The first section is about the framing of the constitution and the subsequent drafting and ratification of the Bill of Rights. The future sections are about the landmark cases that were settled in the Supreme Court. I am just getting into Section 2 but so far, I really am learning some interesting facts.
I like the style of writing and it is going fairly fast.

I'm currently (very slowly) reading G K Chesterton's Collection From His Non-Fictional Prose (selected by W H Auden, which is a number of essays on various authors.

I fell a little in love with G K Chesterton last year and when I started reading Dickens's Edwin Drood over Christmas, my Dad rooted this out and said I had to read it (quite a few of the essays are on Dickens). I'm enjoying it very much so far - Chesterton just writes so entertainingly and enthusiastically (I'm always swayed by enthusiasm). My one problem is that he's making me feel incredibly badly read (as it goes, I don't think I'm that bad for a scientist!) - it's absolutely fatal - I now have so many books I want to read as a result of this book and LT, that I don't think I can possibly finish them in my lifetime - or even two... ;)

I am currently reading Imagined Communities, a very engaging (and slender!) look at the rise of the nation state. Great book.

#247: I would be interested in your thoughts on that one.

#248: So far, I've enjoyed it. I think Anderson favors the esoteric over the obvious sometimes, but I was expecting that.

He does a neat job of going off on short worthwhile tangents and I've already loaded up my Amazon cart with books he's mentioned.

Have you read it?

#249: No, I haven't, but it has been on the Continent for a while. I just wondered if it was worth the read. I am not sure I need to be loading up Amazon carts, though :)

#250: Well, here are some caveats: I'm on an academic jag as of late, reading a lot of roughage. I might be experiencing a benign mid-life crisis because I'm turning forty this year and am on a self-improvement thing.

It is worth the read, but it is a mildly academic book. I've been hitting Wikipedia pretty hard throughout to get a little more context in some of the section. Not the knottiest book I've read this year, but there are some tough pages.

One thing I've gotten out of it is how realitively new the nation-state is and how transitory it may end up being.

#251: Thanks for the caveats. One of the things I am hoping to do over the course of the summer is hit the nearby college library fairly hard, so it sounds like Imagined Communities would fit in well with that goal.

I am starting There Goes My Everything by Jason Sokol for my reading on the Civil Rights era this year.

I am starting on 1968: The Year that Rocked the World for my Civil Rights/Vietnam War era reading this year.

Over coffee this morning, I started singer/songwriter Janis Ian's autobiography, Society's Child.

I recently started The Vertigo Years by Philipp Blom. It's essentially a intellectual history of Europe in the early 20th century before World War I.

I am starting The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby.

I am going to start reading In Search of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbin. I hear it is a good Introduction into Quantum physics.

I'm reading Only Yesterday, contemporary (published in 1931) history of the 20s that was cited frequently in two of my earlier reads: The Great Crash 1929 and Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. It is interesting to read about the period from someone so close to it, but I'm also impressed by the perspective Frederick Lewis Allen has on events that happened less than 10 years earlier.

#259: I read Only Yesterday last year and thought it was very good. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

>253 alcottacre: Ooh..glad you mentioned that book, Stasia. It's on my TBR pile somewhere, and I had sort of forgotten about it. Might be time to rummage around and find it.

#261: I hope you find it!

I am opening up Guns, Germs, and Steel again. I hope this time I am able to finish it.

Just starting on The Rarest of the Rare by Diane Ackerman.

I've started A Distant Mirror.

#265: Ooh, that's a good one!

#265, I love Barbara Tuchman. The Proud Tower is my favorite - have you read that one?

If you're interested in more about The Hundred Years War, you may want to check out Jonathan Sumption's three volume history (2 volumes have been published so far.

#267 A Distant Mirror is my birst Barbara Tuchman, but it won't be my last!. Thanks for the Jonathan Sumption rec. I'll have to check it out.

#267: I will look for the Sumption books as well. Thanks for the recommendation!

I am starting on The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes.

#267, I just finished The Proud Tower and loved it, but I'd have to say my favorite Tuchman is The Guns of August.

Just started Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage

Interesting fact: there is central Asian culture in which the responsibility of raising children belong to sister and brother pairings. The biological father is this case has the role of what we'd call an uncle.

I'm doing a reread (it's been several years) of Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer and am once again in awe at how readably he puts together so much historical information.

I am about two-thirds of the way through Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and Its Aftermath by John C. Esposito.

This is the story of the November 1942 fire at the Boston nightclub which killed 500+ people.

I just finished Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball. Excellent, though long, complicated and I got a bit bogged down in the middle. Nevertheless, a wonderful look at one family (a dynasty, really)'s involvement with slaves and slave trading.

Now I've just started Desert Queen :The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallach. This is fast paced and fascinating. I'm reading it for the real life book group. I hope I can convince my DD in college to read it.

Confederates in the Attic. A journalist's trek through areas of the south where a separatist attitude still prevailed in the late 20th century. This is very interesting reporting, and quite disturbing at times. Can't help wondering if he would find things better or worse if he did this again now, 15 years later, given 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 8 years of the Bush presidency, the economic crisis, and the election of an African-American democrat to the White House.

Confucius Lives Next Door by T.R. Reid. Picked it up because of the title, though I was suspicious it would be a light fluffy book with cute anecdotes about living in Japan. I was wrong! Reid has a quiet, pleasant style that moves the reader quickly, almost unexpectedly, from the amusing anecdotes to probing questions about social constructs. I am only about half finished with the book, and fascinated by Reid's succinct, yet insightful, presentation of Master Kung (Confucius), his works and legacy.

Currently reading Manila Espionage by Claire Phillips, which despite some racism toward the Japanese (it was written in 1947, shortly after WWII, and Phillips certainly had no reason to love the Japanese considering the circumstances), I am finding the book very readable and interesting.

laytonwoman3rd, Confederates in the Attic sounds really interesting. I've added it to my TBR list.

>275 streamsong: - Streamsong - I've got Desert Queen on my TBR. I read Dreamers of the Day, a Maria Doria Russell book that featured Gertrude Bell. Dreamers of the Day was OK, but mostly it made me want to learn more about the real-life people in it. Desert Queen was one of the sources that Russell cited. Given your reaction, I'm excited to read it.

I've started reading Lymphedema, though a self-help book like this hardly seems worth mentioning.

And Volume 4 of A Mediterranean Society on Daily Life just arrived on Monday. I've dropped everything else to dive into it. Fascinating read and I long to acquire the other 5 volumes, but the budget will not allow it and this is the most pertinent to my studies.

I am finishing up There Goes My Everything and starting The Great Crash, 1929.

Grim times in American History, alcottacre...

I'm finally getting into Greene's Elegant Universe. Sometimes the constant "Let's explain with a cute story..." gets me edgy; I'd like to see a bit more math.

I've been reading Kabul in Winter for just over a month now - not because it's bad, far from it: but it is so powerful, angry and information-packed that I have to breathe deeply every few pages and sometimes that means going off and reading something else. Truly, EVERYONE should read this book, particularly in light of the ominous signing-in of Sharia Family Law this month.

I just finished up The BFG by Roald Dahl, which I loved, but now on to more serious fare: When Titans Clashed by David M. Glantz and Jonathan House.

#284 Thanks FlossieT - it's gone onto the pile.

The only non-fiction I'm reading right now is a corporate finance textbook...6 weeks of lecture notes to write in a hurry!

I finished up When Titans Clashed and have started Speak, Memory, another book on my 'must-read' list for 2009.

@287: Speak, Memory is my favorite autobiography.

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes

#288: I loved it! Definitely going on my memorable reads list for this year.

#289: I will be interested in your thoughts on that one, Peter. I look forward to your review.

I can't just read a corporate finance textbook for NF... I've started Paris 1919: six months that changed the world. Like the French Revolution, it's too soon to tell... I'm still in the intro but it's a bit gushy and there are sentences. without. verbs. But the content looks great if I can get used to her style.

PeterMc, that book sounds really good, and so do some of the others you mentioned on your thread. I have the Greenspan one sitting here waiting for me to read.

cmt, I read Paris 1919 several years ago and found it very informative, and I especially enjoyed the author's insights into the characters of the varied negotiators.

I am in the middle of Quirkology by Richard Wiseman, lots of interesting info on 'Quirky' psychology experiments.

Cushla,

Looking forward to your review of Paris 1919 since I have it in the pile!

Thanks Rebecca - I read a bit more last night and it's already getting interesting (about Woodrow Wilson). I think the style thing that was annoying me was just in the intro.

Lisa I'll try to have it read some time before you run out of books!

>295 cushlareads: LOL. I am pretty sure I will run out before the books do, especially if I keep lurking on these threads.

Started Wilczek's The Lightness of Being. So far, the book is written in a kind of breezy, free-form style that I'm not really comfortable with. We'll see...

Had to edit because the touchstones aren't working.

I have picked up My Own Country by Abraham Verghese.

I finished Metropolis Found today, I thought it very good and I highly recommend it. :)

>298 alcottacre: Stasia, I think you will be absorbed by that one...I really enjoyed it.

>298 alcottacre: Stasia - I'm in the middle of My Own Country too. So far, I'm liking it. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

An excellent history of Paris from the beginning: Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne. I am only up to Louis XIII, but I keep saying to myself "so that's where that started/came from".

I am reading The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes, which is excellent so far, and very readable.

>303 arubabookwoman: That sounds really interesting. Last year I went on a stalin kick (strange, I know) and came across a great book, Everyday Stalinism. which was how every day people went about their lives. It was a very alien existence to say the least.

I am currently reading Weird and Tragic Shores by Chauncey C. Loomis to feed my fascination with all things Arctic/Antarctic.

I just started China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors.

The recent death of John Hope Franklin prompted me to look into his writing. I decided to start with his autobiography:Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin. So far, a simple and direct style of writing and informative.

I'm about half way through I think therefore who am I? by Peter Weissman. He approached me on this site and offered to send me the book, which I'm relieved to say I'm enjoying so far. It is about his personal experiences in the 1960s.

I've also just got hold of a copy of Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell which I plan to read next month, having enjoyed Down and Out in Paris and London so much a few weeks ago.

Someone just loaned me two books by Steven Pinker: The Language Instinct and The Blank Slate. I haven't decided which one to try first, probably starting early next week.

I'm reading The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine by Rudolph Chelminski and I'm learning a lot about the Michelin Guide and the world of French chefs. Very interesting.

#310 - One of my favourites! A brilliantly written book about the celebrated chef of France's La Cote D'Or hotel, Bernard Loiseau, who so tragically took his life in 2003.

I've just started Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg. Sub-titled "How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intellignce--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process".

Finishing up The Python Years, Michael Palin's diaries from 1969 to 1979. I've really enjoyed it - many, many LOL moments. It covers the the beginning of Monty Python through The Life of Brian movie. I'm looking forward to the next edition!

312: Ooh, I bought this one recently. I'll be interested in your comments. I just moved, it's in a box, but thanks to LT my boxes are quite organized (though I did not go so far as to tag every book).

#314 I'll be watching for your thoughts on Alex and Me. It looks to be a short read.

>313 LisaMorr: it made me quite cross when he forgot his wedding anniversary though ;-)

I love that so many of the places he talks about in Soho are still there (esp. that French restaurant where he seems to have a ton of lunches).

I just picked up 15 Decisive Battles of the United States, which seems to end with WWII.

Finally finished Four British Fantasists" by Charles Butler. Very dry and academic.

Have just finished a kiwidoc recommendation Lewis Carroll in Numberland and it was a very good concise read about Carroll's academic career and obsession with logic puzzles.

Just finished Down Around Midnight by Robert Sabbag, an excellent memoir about surviving an airplane crash.

#319: I want to give that one a try!

#320: I have added that one to the Continent already and am actively looking for a copy.

I just started Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. So far it's interesting.

Just finished Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany and am currently reading On Being Certain.

319,321: Me too!

Picked up Who Owns The Sun? by Berman and O'Connor. The TBR stack is getting sooooo high...

Currently reading Graven In De Nijldelta by Willem van Haarlem. Explains things about modern excavations in Egypt. Really interesting.

Columbine by Dave Cullen. Three chapters in and I'm wondering if I'd too old to call in sick. :-)

> 327 Call in sick, mjs! You'll be useless until you finish the book anyway (I was). I'll be looking forward to your opinions on Columbine.

I just started What Have You Changed Your Mind About?: Today's Leading Minds Rethink Everything, the 4th (?) edge.com book. As with the previous ones some of it's a little beyond me.

I just finished A Fine Brush on Ivory, a short and enjoyable critique on the works of Jane Austen.

I am just starting Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke.

Stasia, I'll be very interested in what you think of the Capote bio since I plan to read it sometime soon. It's certainly a very long book, so I guess you will finish it by tonight? :) I'll be watching your thread for your thoughts.

mjs1228 and profilerSR, thanks for your interest in my book Columbine. I'm eager to hear what you think.

I read Lucinda Roy's No Right To Remain Silent last month, and had a mixed reaction. (I reviewed it for the Washington Post.)

Now I'm taking a respite from nonfiction for a bit, and plunging back into Faulkner.

Just finished up with Life in a Medieval Village and really enjoyed it.

#333: I'm two-thirds of the ways through Columbine and I'm riveted. Today I actually missed my subway stop reading it. Thank you for writing a book that is both important AND enjoyable.

I finished up Capote: A Biography, which was very good, and have now moved on to Their Heads are Green and Their Hands Are Blue by Paul Bowles.

#328: profilerSR

I finished Columbine last night and I'm still blown away. First, am I a bad, bad person for enjoying a book about a terrible tragedy? Because this is easily of the best books I've read this year. It's one of the best I've read this DECADE. Part of me is amazed that I swallowed so many goofy notions about Columbine for so long. Shouldn't I have picked up a little sooner than if you're going to target the jocks at a high school you're probably not going to find them in the library?

And isn't it just a bit comforting to anyone who had any difficulties in high school (and I count myself among them) to think that some teenager would finally have enough and go Death Wish on their tormentors? Who hasn't fantasized about making the people who've hurt you pay? Is that what made it so easy to believe Klebold and Harris were bullied and simply lashed out under the unbearable torment? Even though most studies show that bullying is more likely to end in suicide than murder.

Then again, isn't any theory of "targets" in Columbine a little too comforting? It imposes a rationality on an irrational act.

Sorry if I'm not making any sense. This book has my brain racing. I can't think of a book I've enjoyed this much since Eichenwald's Conspiracy of Fools.

Any of you who are wondering whether to read this book stop wondering and get yourself a copy!

>338 mjs1228: mjs, I'm so glad you liked Columbine. After I finished it, I was ruined for a day or two, not being able to read anything else. I would pick something up, read a few pages and toss it back down again. I just couldn't be bothered to be interested in anything else. "Brain racing" is a good term for the feeling. I had to thumb through books with lots of pictures until the feeling subsided.

P. S. Your post has prompted me to look up Conspiracy of Fools and it sounds great. I've added it to the WishNotebook.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. It is hysterically funny.

I am almost finished with actress Alyssa Milano's book about her love of baseball, called Safe at Home.

She is a huge baseball fan and extremely knowledgeable.

We were chuckling over a typo I found. Towards the end, she refers to the "Word Series."

#341 -- That sounds, uh, interesting! Alyssa Milano? Really?

I'm working through three books, all very different, and all probably headache inducing:

The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World A study of the dynamics of democracy in non-western countries. Lots of interesting ideas, but there is probably an hour long window during the day that my metabolism can handle it.

The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture An academic overview of popular metaphysical and occult philosophies that existed in 20th century Russia, some of which indirectly influenced ideology and administrative policy in the Soviet Union. Not an conspiracy book, but an academic overview. Pretty interesting.

The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up Liao Yiwu is a poet, though in this book he takes the role of the Studs Terkel of China, interviewing misfits, outsiders and invisible people in China. Pretty amazing book, but since I'm not that versed in Chinese history, some of it goes over my head. The eponymous interview is very strange and eerie, and it's stayed with me since I read it. Someone needs to make a movie from it.

I can't, because I've got three damn books to read.

The Politics of the Governed and Columbine sound very interesting and both may be something to nudge my gun-nut libertarian friend into some interesting discussions since he doesn't want to talk about racism.

I am working my way through The Literature of al-Andalus. It's a well-rounded and organized compilation of scholarly articles about the literature and cultures of al-Andalus (Moorish Spain), rather than being a compendium of the literature.

>343 justchris:: That's sounds very interesting. Is it a thick book? That's a part of the world and a part of history I'd like to know more about.

I am about halfway through The Imprisoned Guest by Elisabeth Gitter.

As soon as I get a minute to myself today, I am going to start my ER book The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown.

#342: thanks for the recommendations. The Occult in Russia looks fascinating.

Just finished The Origin of Species from my banned books list. Very very long, but interesting, and clearly an important work that I'm glad I've read.

>344 gregtmills:: It's about 500 pages, so solid but not excessive. It's divided into 26 chapters, which makes it easier to read at intervals throughout the week. I guess you could say that one of my main hobby interests is al-Andalus, so I am familiar in a general way with many of the items included in this book, but this is certainly much more detailed, comprehensive, and scholarly than my usual reading materials. Also, I am a scientist by training, so I find humanities scholarship to be fascinating and different.

I'm reading a book about Badgers. Why? I'm... not entirely sure. It was there. I was in the library, tiptoeing past the shelf of nature books when I saw it, because I'd already picked out too many books and had mutually agreed with the hubby that I had quite enough reading ahead of me. He'd already headed to the circulation desk, but I snuck back into the stacks (I'm sure it would have looked very comical to anyone watching). I said "well, I don't know much about badgers, so of COURSE I need to read this!"

My husband laughed at me, then sighed and shook his head. I can't imagine why...

>350 dk_phoenix: Be careful picking up random books about subjects you don't know a lot about....it can lad to dangerous obsessions. Just look at my shelf on archeology....it's doubled up and overflowing.

Currently reading Move Your Shadow by Joseph Lelyveld, one of the books on my 'must read' list for the year.

339: That post made me very happy.

It's been a really long day, and this was a welcome site to come home to before bed.

I've just started Bright Young People by D.J. Taylor. It's more than a "gosh wasn't that a fun time" sort of book. Taylor is trying to understand who this people were, what inspired them, why they fascinated the popular imagination, etc. So far, so good.

I am currently reading Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong.

I am just starting Sparks of Genius.

Just finished Cicero's Correspondence for an article I'm working on. Hutchinson has some nice, detailed readings of select letters, and I appreciate that he stresses a literary reading for them instead of just using the letters as historical sources.

I am a couple of chapters into The Himmler Brothers, which is very interesting so far. (I'm also trying to finish up a fiction book which seems to get longer the more I read! I think it grows overnight.)

Just started a new bio of Bonnie and Clyde - Go Down Together. I'm only through the preface and first chapter, but so far it's pretty good. Depression-era gangsters, chases all over east Texas, Louisiana, etc. It turns out they were killed near where my grandparents used to live, so I've always had an interest in their story but never took the opportunity to read up on 'em.

I started and finished Sway last night which was entertaining and informative. It's a short book that uses interesting studies and anecdotes to explain why people behave irrationally. The topics range from the NBA draft to auctioning money to mental disorder diagnosis. It's similar to Freakonomics in writing style and variety of topics.

I just started John Ferling's book on the election of 1800, called Adams vs. Jefferson.

For the presidential challenge, I am reading about the presidents, in order. I've got about 6 or 7 Jefferson books planned for the next few months. (Just finished an overview of Jefferson's life, Thomas Jefferson by R.B. Bernstein.)

Do dissertations count? I received two last week from ILL, and I am working my way through them. The first is "Ceremonial and Art at the Umayyad Court" by Oleg Grabar, the other is "Female Attire of Medieval Egypt" by Yedida Kalfon Stillman. I'm in the midst of research right now, which is interesting, but not quite reading purely for pleasure.

This month I read the follwoing non fiction works:

Virtual Shadows - Your Privacy in the Information Society - Keren Lawrence Oqvist.

An interesting round up of how our privacy is being eroded and how we are being careless with our personal information and the problems this causes.

Global Warming: The Complete Briefing - Sir John Houghton.

I have heard the author speak on several occasions, but only just finished his book. It is an indepsensible round up of the sceince of global warming. It would make an excellent textbook but is also accessible. It would alos complement school geography teaching. I especially liked the more personal chapter 8 looking at the ethical issues, and the author's personal view on why we should care.

How the States got their Shapes - Mark Stein

An interesting book discussing how the borders of the states of the United States of America were decided. There are many interesting snippets of history here, although whenever I knew something of the history myself, I tended to feel that the treatment was too superficial, and often interesting stuff had been left out.

The book would have to be much bigger to accomodate all the available information of course. On the other hand, some of the "why is the straight line border on the 39th parallel" type questions got very repetitive in time.

Other non fiction books I read in previous months this year:

God's Politics - Jim Wallis

A book pointing out how politics and religion are becoming polarised in the USA, and yet right wing and left have simply forgotten or ignored the actual message of the gospel. I good book for anyone inclined to think that good Christians should be republican (or democrat)!

Dying to Win - The Strategic logic of Suicide Terrorism

I have heard Pape speak twice, and he is excellent. His talks cover the material in his book closely, but the book fleshes out the details and provides the analysis that shows us just how much people are missing the point with suicide terrorism. Through a careful analysis of the actual data, using interviews and other techniques, he is able to show us a remendy for suicide terrorism - which makes this a powerful read that no policy maker should ignore.

Hamas in Politics - Jeroen Gunning

Again the news coverage on Hamas is ridiculously superficial. More worriying is that certain key politicians parrot back that superficial coverage as though they know something on the subject.

Gunning spent years living in Gaza, conducting interviews with key Hamas leaders - something now impossible to repeat as so many have now been assasinated by Israel. What he produces is a book that will help people really understand the mind set of Hamas, and appreciate why people would vote for them, and indeed how they could be brought into a peace process.

The Histories - Tacitus - Nothing like reading the source material to see where the Roman history books get their ideas.

History of the Peloponnesian war Thucydides

Again excellent source material although you need to read this book with a map in front of you.

The Golden Bough Sir James Frazer. A seminal work in anthropology. It becomes wearing at times, as Frazer tries rather too hard to make his points - and in fact one comes away feeling that he has tried so hard that his lack of information elsewhere detracts from his thesis. But still interesting.

> 364 I enjoyed The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event. I didn't know R. Preston has another book. I'll definitely look it up. Thanks for posting about The Demon in the Freezer.

>362 justchris:: Those dissertations actually sound really, really interesting!!! Are you researching for your own thesis topic, or are you still looking to choose one?

***
Finishing up that Badgers book (lol), but started The Firstborn Advantage last night. Need a bit of a pick-me-up, I guess. Haha.

Oh, I'm not a student; this is all part of my hobby. And when I was a student, it was in the sciences, so this reading is very different from my coursework of yesteryear. At the moment I'm immersing myself in Near Eastern costume, with all of the associated Arabic (and other languages) terminology for textiles and clothing--via poetry collections, love manuals and other medieval books, modern scholarly research, paintings and objets d'art, and whatever else I can get my hands on, well not literally, I mean in books, of course.

#364: I read Preston's The Hot Zone (one of the scariest books ever!) and definitely need to look for The Demon in the Freezer. Thanks for the mention!

I just finished Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career by Lynn Kear

This is one of only two books about Kay Francis, both of which have the challenge of trying to tell the story of an actress who was known for keeping her private life VERY private. Which was a good idea on her part because Kay certainly lived the wild life. And good for her. Good too is the fact that she kept a diary - Kay isn't too easy on herself nor is she too wordy. She's also frequently hilarious.

This is a book that is clearly written by fans so the appreciation level is high while the examination level is low. All in all, a book for fans of 1930s era films and Kay Francis.

I am just starting A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews.

I'm about 1/3 through Columbine. It's very well-written and disturbing.

#370 -- Let me know what you think of that title. I liked it.

I like to have a couple of non-fiction books on the go at once; one history and one from either science, current affairs or travel. At the moment I've almost finished Bring on the Apocalypse by George Monbiot. This is a collection of his articles from the Guardian from 1996 to 2007. He covers a wide range of topics and it is quite interesting to read the articles with the benefit of hindsight. My history book is If a Pirate I Must Be, the story of Bartholomew Roberts.

#372: Will do!

#373: If A Pirate I Must Be sounds interesting. I look forward to your review of that one.

I just finished A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana Preston. Extremely interesting book about a man history has forgotten but whose ideas and books inspired Darwin, Defoe, and Swift to mention a few. I'm very happy to have read this book.

I don't often post here, since 99% of the books I read are non-fiction, but on a whim...

Today I will finish Good Girls, Good Food, Good Fun: The Story of USO Hostesses During World War II by Meghan K. Winchell. Couched in the language of academia, it reads like the doctoral dissertation it originally was. Containing a lot of valuable and interesting information on the USO and American wartime home front culture, its value is diminished in its organization and repetitiveness. Merciless editing would have produced a book half the length with no loss of relevant content. It would also have been nice if the author had tended more towards oral histories and let the voices of the hostesses and service men be heard more in the text.

I will write a more in depth review in time, but for now let me recommend this to people only with a deep seated interest in gender, culture, or racial studies. It will also appeal to people interested in all aspects of the Second World War.

I finished up A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, which was very good and highly recommended (thanks Greg!) and am now moving on to The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary Lovell.

#377: The Sisters, anything by Mary Lovell, is a great, great read. This one is smart yet dishy fun.

I'm reading Alger Hiss and the Battle for History now and enjoying it immensely. I'm fascinated by the espionage cases of the Cold War and this one in particular. Susan Jacoby is a self-described "liberal" who takes Hiss's guilt as a given so I knew this would be interesting reading. Jacoby is also a good, dare I say it?, entertaining writer, too. Anyone with an interest in the Hiss case will want to check this one out.

#378: This is the third biography by Lovell that I have read and I have enjoyed them all. I would like to track down all of the biographies she has written.

Finished Bring on the Apocalypse http://www.librarything.com/topic/62790 message 19. About to start Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel Everett

Hey, there were a couple great comments about my book Columbine here, so I thought I'd remind people that I'm doing an Author Chat starting Monday.

If you have questions, I'll be here on LT for two weeks to discuss them. See you there:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/authorchat

Dave-Thanks for the reminder. I didn't know, and I actually bought Columbine yesterday. And the biggest reason I bought it was the reviews it received on this website. I was concerned that the topic would be too difficult/sad/tragedic for me to read, but everyone has said how thought-provoking and compelling the book is that I had to read it. Thanks.

Edited to add the touchstone.

Great, Dave. Thanks for letting us know. I bought Columbine for my Kindle and so now I will get to it sooner, rather than later.

Thanks, Bridget and Linda. It will be great to see you there.

Bridget, I will be curious to hear how tough it was to get through. There are definitely some intense passages, but I think some of it will surprise you, too. But maybe not, so let me know.

This is a great chance for me to hear feedback. The best thing about the book tour was getting to meet readers who had already read the book. That's done now, and I'm hungry for more.

I finished Lovell's book The Sisters and am now on to Classics and Commercials by Edmund Wilson.

I just finished Columbine, which was excellent, and have begun The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride.

I am actually reading some non-fiction!! and loving it!! Today I will hopefully finish Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris.

I am just starting Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone.

I just finished Columbine and am very excited to have the opportunity to chat with Dave Cullen for the next couple of weeks.

I'm still processing, but the book is incredible. It's haunting and thought-provoking. It's sympathetic to everyone involved with the notable exception of the authorities who did a terrible job and to the media who perpetuated confusion and false causes.

Cullen’s account is detailed. It gives incredible context to all of the families’ stories. It’s difficult to find words for the sympathy I feel for everyone involved right now. I hope I will be better able to communicate it in the near future. I cannot recommend this book enough.

I am currently reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and about to start reading Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on The Shock Doctrine when you finish.

Just started reading The Professor and the Madman (Simon Winchester). This has been on Mt. TBR for some time now, decided to pick it up after doing some research using OED.

Added Columbine to Mt. TBR based on the above discussion.

Began Romance, Remedies and Revolution: The Journal of Dr. Elihu Ashley of Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1773-1775 tonight. Have had it for a couple of years and picked it out for no particular reason - just closed my eyes and picked it off the shelf.

I've finally finished Paris 1919: 6 months that changed the world by Margaret Macmillan - it took me a month!! I'm tempted to write the author a fan email, and recommend it highly if you have any interest in WW1, WW2, Europe, Japan, China, Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd-George, Eastern Europe, Iraq...it's a dense read but well worth the effort.

I'm halfway through The Great Unravelling by Paul Krugman, which is a collection of his newspaper columns from about 1998 - 2003, and a much easier read.

#392 MrsBond - I loved The Professor and the Madman. It is such an amazing story.

I'm reading John Adams by David McCullough. It's wonderful, but slow going.

Recently started Henry: Virtuous Prince by David Starkey. At the place where Starkey is laying the foundation, so I will know later whether I like it or not.

~ TT

I just finished reading two nonfiction pieces focusing on E. Europe. Forbidden Bread which I got through LTER, is a memoir about a woman who moves from NYC to Slovenia in 1993. My review can be found on the book's info page on LT. Also just finished Natasha's Dance which is a cultural history of Russia from the 1700s to the 1900s. A little slow going with all the names and dates, but a great background history.

I'm reading Rapt about attention levels and leading a focused life. It received really good reviews, but so far I feel like it hasn't revealed anything new. For example, the book indicates that one way to avoid marital disagreements is to think about the situation from your partner's perspective. It a separate chapter it also notes that multitasking is very inefficient. It's always good to be reminded of these things because too often, I find myself reverting to my natural instinct of judgment, etc., but I expected more new information in the book.

I'm starting Nixonland by Rick Perlstein.

I'm making my second attempt at The Wrong Man by Jeff Neff about the Sam Sheppard murder case. At first I thought it was the lack of set up before the author moves into the crime and investigation. This time around it occurs to me that it is the writing style that I'm finding very heavy going. It's like a very long, very workman-like newspaper article. Liberal use of the verbs "to be' and "to have" in all tenses.

I am just starting Love Letters from Cell 92.

I'm half way through The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann. It came highly recommended by msf59 and Mark did not steer me wrong. I generally have trouble with non-fiction but this is really some pretty fascinating stuff and I am enjoying it greatly.

Having finished the excellent Love Letters from Cell 92, I am now reading We Die Alone by David Howarth.

I've started a few new ones:

Wedlock: The True Story of the Disastrous Marriage and Remarkable Divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore - Wendy Moore

Murder of a Medici Princess - Caroline Murphy

I'm reading When I was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School by Sam Kashner which is a memoir about his time at the rather odd university set up by the Beat poets.

Currently reading Writer's Choice: A Library of Rediscoveries, a book destined to add quantities of books to the Planet.

Having finished The Lost City of Z; A Tale of Deadly Obsession of the Amazon and followed that up with a fiction, I am about 1/3 of the way through Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke. It is very difficult to believe that Clark had never written a book before. It is very good.
My "tweener" that I have going right now is an LT rec entitled Forest Cats of North America by Jerry Kobalenko. It has beautiful photographs by Kitchin and Hurst as well as excellent reading material included.

I started The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century by Steve Coll. It's excellent so far. I am able to follow it, so that's a plus (I'm not too familiar with the middle east and was concerned about all the various people covered in the book).

I've finally started Beautiful Shadow which is about the life of writer Patricia Highsmith.

I am reading a bunch of nonfiction at the moment: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, which is on my 'must-read' list for the year, We Are Not Afraid by Seth Cagin, Lighthouse by Tony Parker, The Good Doctors by John Dittmer, an ER book, We Die Alone by David Howarth, Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone, Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris and the aforementioned Writer's Choice.

I'm reading The Ascent of George Washington by John Ferling and am also slowly making my way through What Have You Changed Your Mind About edited by John Brockman.

I've started Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. It's very interesting and I'm enjoying it, but not as much as Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by the same author. It was a hoot.

Halfway through Destructive Generation Second Thoughts About the Sixties by Collier and Horowitz. Two former prominent members of the "New Left" wrote about the 1960s, its legacy and their own role in it from the vantage point of the Reagan era. Both had since changed their world views considerably so their assessments aren't exactly swathed in warm memories. The book has essentially two tones: bitchy and cranky. The bitchy parts are highly entertaining - whether one ultimately agrees with their current or former politics it's hard not to laugh out loud at phrases like "homegrown hankering for Armageddon." The early chapters (the bitchy ones) about the personal journeys of several well-known figures from the era and a few regular folks make for compelling and entertaining reading. The middle part (cranky), so far, is less so.

I'm about 110 pages into the doorstop that is A Jury of Her Peers by Elaine Showalter. This is surprisingly the first exploration of American women writers from pre-Revolutionary times through now. It is very interesting but I've only made it to Uncle Tom's Cabin so there's a long way to go!

I'm halfway through Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. Interesting reliving the 60's and 70's.

Adding to the other nonfiction I have going on right now, I am starting The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.

Currently reading The Peabody Sisters by Megan Marshall.

I finished up The Good Doctors by John Dittmer and am now starting Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Stasia
You might want to see if your local library has video's regarding Joseph Campbell. He writes with fascinating clarity regarding myths and the importance of them.

I highly recommend the interviews of him with Bill Moyers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell

Thanks for the tip, Linda! I will check.

I enjoyed The Hero with a Thousand Faces so much I sat up all night finishing it. I am now onto Necropolis, which Luxx recommended on her thread.

I seem to be on a bit of a nonfiction kick here lately. I just finished We Die Alone (thanks Tad for the recommendation of this one!) and am now on to Midnight Assassin.

I am about a third of the way through Jefferson's Great Gamble by Charles A. Cerami. It's about the Louisiana Purchase and is quite interesting.

Can anyone recommend some good books about social history? I am interested in mainly the English speaking world but okay with European references. I want to find info. on how everyday folks lived in the past from the post-Roman Empire era to the mid 20th century. Thanks!

I am reading The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition by Susan Solomon , partly for the Reading Global polar regions theme read.

#426: I'll be interested in seeing what you think of that one!

Finished If a Pirate I Must Be. I started this some time ago. It got sidelined for a while (that's what often happens when I have too many books on the go at once). It's a great read, with interesting details about life on board a pirate ship of the early 18th century and plenty of background information to put those details into context. I'm now starting Mimi and Toutou Go Forth about the battle of Lake Tanganyika during the 1st world war.

# 425. There are quite a few books about life in London at various times in history. Liza Picard has written a series of books such as Restoration London. Down and Out in Eighteenth Century London by Tim Hitchcock looks at the lives of the people that history usually overlooks. You might also find interesting 1700: Scenes from London Life by Maureen Waller. Hitchcock's and Waller's books get good reviews; reviews of Picard's books are mixed. Danny Danziger's books 1215 and The Year 1000 take a look at daily life in England.

Edited for touchstones. Started with 1 not working, I've managed somehow to now have 2 not working!

I'm poking around in The Know It All, which is amusing but a little bit strange since it's written in little blurbs like from an encyclopedia. Kind of a little bit hard to pay attention to, really.

Also, I just checked out The Global Soul by Pico Iyer, a travel narrative type thing. The first 50 pages grabbed me. It's not the normal kind of thing I read, but it's fascinating. Maybe I'll start reading more nonfiction.

I also have a bookmark in The Great Influenza, which is a seriously epic book. The science is pretty much REALLY over my head but I think I'm actually learning things from it. And the mix of biography, medical narrative, and history is incredible. Very well done, and recommended to anyone who can pay attention.

Oh, and about the books on London (post 425). I've really wanted to read Thames by Peter Ackroyd. It's a biography of the city and, by extrapolation, the country, based on the river.

Also, I read Basilica by RA Scotti, and it was amazing. It's the history of the building of St. Peter's and I didn't want that book to end! I'm thinking of rereading it, actually.

Thanks for the tips. I have Liza Picard's Victorian London and Maureen Waller's 1700 Scenes from London Life from the library and look forward to perusing them. I read the Danziger books earlier this year and enjoyed them.

>431 dihiba: dhiba, as I am currently writing a book set at the end of the Victorian are and am planning on writing other books set in that period. I have been looking for research material, so thanks for recommending Victorian London it looks like just what I am looking for.

~ TT

#432 Good luck with the book - meanderer actually recommended Victorian London.
I just finished The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher and just got Deep History and the Brain by Daniel Lloyd Smail from the library.

Just finished Then It Was Destroyed by the Volcano. This book caught my eye in the library, but didn't live up to the fun promised in the title. It turned out to be more of a plot summary of movies made about the ancient world, although there is a nice chapter on references to the ancient world in Buffy. Overall, meh.

Ah ha! I knew I must have missed this thread somewhere. I've read a couple great nonfiction books lately, and really wanted to share.



Yalom, Marilyn. A History of the Breast. 279 pages.

I first came across A History of the Breast while researching the evolution of the corset for a graduate term paper. Immediately intrigued by the straight-forward title and various brief reviews, I picked up the book with the intention of diving in at the earliest possible opportunity. Of course, that opportunity didn't seem to come until about 2.5 years later.

Marilyn Yalom's A History of the Breast is a fascinating work focusing on, obviously, the cultural evolution of the perception of the breast. Yalom's text moves chronologically and pulls from any and all material available, from statues to literature and pamphlets, to advertisements and modern social movements. While I was personally most interested in her examination of the breast as it evolved from "The Sacred Breast" of ancient civilizations to "The Domestic Breast" of the Dutch, the text attempts to cover a wide range of subjects extending into politics, psychology, and commercialism.

What I feel is an unfortunate flaw in Yalom's work is her assumptive attitude towards her reader; she assumes that her audience consists solely of other feminist scholars, and seems to be writing directly to them as opposed to a wider audience of scholars and enthusiasts. While very little of the work actually seems to rely on feminist theory and interpretation, Yalom's historical analysis at times appears to be overly-hostile to her subjects (specifically those of the Renaissance) while providing no academic basis for such hostility within this individual work. As a student and instructor of literature, I found her treatment of English literature particularly troubling; it seems to detract from the strength of the writing, as it reduces great works to rather shallow interpretations. Of course, feminist theory is an academically rich field in and of itself, and it's just as likely that my own ignorance of Yalom's field is as at fault for my discomfort as the text itself.

Overall, I was very pleased with A History of the Breast and the wealth of information and insight it provided. Yalom's style is easy to read, and logically presented in such a way as to build the reader's understanding as the book progresses. For anyone interested in gender studies, women's history, breasts and breastfeeding, the female form in art and culture, or the evolution of women's clothing I would certainly recommend this book.



Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830-1980. 250 pages.

Elaine Showlater's The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830-1980 is a brilliant discussion of the perception and treatment of mental illness, focusing on the female perspective. Showalter's research is thorough, and her presentation of information shows a care and attentiveness to her material that increases the confidence of the reader. Drawing on a cultural sangria of material, The Female Malady traces the systematic (and often blundering) treatment of mental disease, focusing on how women influenced the establishment as not only patients, but commentators in the form of employees and writers, activists and advocates.

The majority of the text focuses on the plight of the Victorian woman, and how doctors and the medical profession responded to what they perceived as the nervous energy attached to the rising discontent of women as a gendered class. However, the text does not end there, and moves on to discuss everything from evolving practices in institutions, the feminization of mental disease, the presence and treatment of male patients, psychoanalysis, and the feminist therapy movement. Showalter skillfully blends historical observation and study with careful literary analysis to give her reader and understanding of the material from several angles and increase their awareness of the historical implications of insanity not just for the evolution of women, but for the sciences and literary fields alike. At just 250 pages, The Female Malady is by no means a complete history, but proves to be a useful volume on its own, especially for those considering cultural and literary implications of insanity beyond the straight-forward studies of psychology or psychoanalytic theory.

Currently I am reading The Log From the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck. I believe it is his only work of nonfiction. It's a little challenging for me as I am not familiar with nautical nor marine life terminology. But I am enjoying it.

I just received Adam's Curse by Bryan Sykes from a fellow Book Moocher. I have read two of Sykes' books - he writes about genetics for non-science types. His Seven Daughters of Eve and Saxons, Vikings and Celts were fascinating. Adam's Curse deals with the male gene - i.e. the Y chromosome and how it may become extinct. This coicidentally ties in with the recent development of synthetic sperm - which I think is completely wrong. Has anyone read Adam's Curse?

I currently have 3 nonfiction books on deck - Mischling, Second Degree by Ilse Koehn, Columbine by Dave Cullen, and There is a River by Vincent Harding.

#437: Diana, I have not read Adam's Curse, although I did read Sykes' Seven Daughters of Eve, which I liked a lot. I will be interested in seeing your thoughts on the other book.

It does seem he will conclude that men are expendable...genetically they might be, but am not sure we should get rid of them altogether : ).

I'm not sure we should get rid of them altogether, either. Who would take out the trash for me then? lol

I have been on a nonfiction kick lately. In the works I have The Pleasure of Finding Things Out and Not of Woman Born. And I just finished this one today:


Oakley, Annie (ed). Working Sex: Sex Workers Write about a Changing Industry. 301 pages.

The body of work that comprises Annie Oakley's Working Sex is really a mixed bag - and not necessarily what the subtitle and back cover promise. Within the volume Oakley has included a wide range of literary genres that moves beyond the expected personal accounts to short stories, rants, poetry, a short play, and even an interview with a political advocate of women in the sex industry. When I purchased the volume I expected to find a collection of nonfiction work focused on different experiences and viewpoints of individuals working in the sex industry, and instead found that many of the authors included seem to be using their experience as sex professionals as an excuse to write material that would otherwise find little audience. As such, most of the material is greatly lacking in merit, and does not have the strength of reality and first-person narration to support the lack of effort. In general, most of the collection is simply bad writing: bad poetry, pointless ranting, and armature stories.

However, not all of the material is mediocre. There are several strong essays and stories included within the work, including Annie Oakley's own introduction and Siobhan Brooks' "An Interview with Gloria Lockett ", that make a reading of the volume worthwhile. As a complete collection I find Working Sex to be wanting, and a reader's enjoyment will really come down to each individual work.

I need to make a start on Defense of Madrid: an eye witness account from the Spanish Civil War by Geoffrey Cox as it's due back at the library.

Still making progress on my NF list!



Blumenfeld-Kosinksi, Renate. Not of Woman Born: Representations of Caesarean Birth in Medieval and Renaissance Culture. 153 pages.

Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinkski's Not of Woman Born is an historical examination of a subject which remains taboo at times even today: the representation of and cultural attitudes towards Cesarean-sections. The focus of the study is Medieval Europe's emerging and evolving approach to "c-sections", at a time when the procedures are first being documented in medical texts and the survival of mothers is first rumored. Indeed, a large part of the controversy surround Cesareans as the surgery developed is whether or not they could and should be preformed on living mothers, and whether or not the surgery would cause death or future sterility.

The text itself is fascinating; while the subject itself is medical by definition, Not of Woman Born is an historical and cultural study as opposed to a medical text. Blumenfeld-Kosinski traces the evolution of obstetrics, and it's amazing to see how many attitudes and ideas persist to this day. She utilizes all of the (admittedly limited) information available to her, and presents studies of not only medical texts, but illuminations, stories, and popular Medieval culture as well. While I found the text difficult to follow in a few places (largely for a lack of knowledge of Latin or French), the study is neatly organized and illustrated, and thoroughly analyzed.

#443: That one sounds interesting, Luxx, and as a woman who has had 2 c-sections, I find the subject of interest. Thanks for the review!

#444 - I think it's would be especially interesting for c-section moms. I'm facing my second in 88 days (!), and I'm glad I finally got around to reading this!

I am taking The Lost City of Z with me while I am out of town the next couple of days (I promised Richard that I would) although am not sure how much actual reading I will get done, since I do all the driving :)

@Luxx, interesting reads you have going on there. I've had The History of the Breast and The History of the Wife, both by Yalom, on my wishlist for awhile. I may have to bump those up some.

Started a new thread as this one is approaching 450 messages. Thanks!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/69000