****What We Are Reading - Nonfiction, Part 2

Since the first nonfiction thread is approaching 300 posts, I thought it was time to start another one.

Good idea!

I've just started A Wall in Palestine by Rene Backmann, published in French in 2006 and translated into English this year. I'm only a chapter in but so far it's very interesting.

#2: I will be interested in seeing what you think of that one, Cushla.

I love new threads. I usually manage to fall hopelessly behind on the old ones, so it's always nice to start fresh.

I'm currently reading Predictably Irrational, which I would definitely recommend. I feel like this is the book Freakonomics wanted to be.

I am starting The Bloomsbury Group by John Keith Johnstone.

>2 cushlareads:, I'm interested to see what you think of A Wall in Palestine, too, Cushla. I have it out from the library but haven't started it yet.

I'm still working through Race and Reunion. I finished The Partly Cloudy Patriot a few days ago and am starting The Poisoner's Handbook.

I'm reading The Boy Who Harnassed the Wind. I'm halfway through it and have learned much about life, farming, growing up in Malawi. Interesting background which I'm sure will make this young man's accomplishment that much more remarkable.

I loved The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind!

Just starting an advance copy of Ian Johnson's A Mosque in Munich. So far it's absolutely fascinating and well-written, a bonus...

I've started The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State by Shane Harris. So far, it's still back in the early 80s after the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and the beginnings of the kind of surveillance we have now under none other than John Pointdexter.

I just started Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton

The title pretty much says what it is.

I finished Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappe and think I'm the only person on LT who didn't care much for that book. It was too dry, too drawn out, and did not have much new or interesting information for me.

I just started Eaarth by Bill McKibben tonight and can already tell I'm going to like this book just by the author's writing style even though this book is also about global warming.

#279 - I am curious what you think of Unveiled, I read it about five years ago. Nuns have always intrigued me. I had about 3 weeks where I wanted to be one - probably after watching Hayley Mills in "The Trouble With Angels" one too many times!

I just finished the audio version of The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. It was terrific. Can I say again that I love Richard Dawkins? :-)

I am currently reading Calvin Trillin's tribute to his late wife, About Alice.

I am currently reading Who Cooked the last Supper? by Rosalind Miles.

I've just bought and started The Last Resort: a Zimbabwe memoir by Douglas Rogers.

#6 Allthesedarnbooks, I finished A Wall in Palestine and enjoyed it.

I never posted but last night I finished reading Sara Wheeler's The Magnetic North - travel writing and history about the various different parts of the Arctic. Very readable - I was impressed that on different trips she took a baby and a 10 year old son (not the same sons). Not sure I'd fancy nursing my baby in Arctic weather conditions, though she was rather ungrateful for a tip on how to keep warm while doing so which involved tinfoil.

Aw shucks, I had a baby in the subarctic. Nothin' to it!

I am still reading No Logo by Naomi Klein - still enjoying it but not racing through it.

Starting On Hallowed Ground by Robert M. Poole.

Above the fall line: the trail from White Pine Cabin will probably be my most memorable read this month.

I'm currently making my way through my first Xinran - The Good Women of China. I went to hear her speak last month and was impressed with her quiet determination to bring the unheard stories of China's women to light.

#21: I have had that one in the BlackHole for a while now, Kerry. I am anxious to see what you think of it.

#21 - Good women of China is going on my ever lengthening list!

I'm reading about the Halifax explosion of 1917. The book is called The Curse of the Narrows and the author is Laura M. Mac Donald.

Very interesting. A few years ago, a novel I was reading had a discussion of this which made me interested.

I've started reading Nicola Beauman, A Very Great Profession about novels about middle class women's lives between 1914-1939. Some of the books mentioned have been reprinted by Virago and Persephone books - Beauman founded Persephone.

I am (finally!) starting Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History by Robert Sherwood.

After two books about a recent serious judicial error in my country (by authors Lucia de Berk and Metta de Noo, if you are interested see my reviews) I made a start with De tweeling van de Sinai, a (travel) story about two 19th century Scottish sisters who in the library of the Catharina convent in the Sinai desert discovered an important Bible manuscript. For Dan Brown fans: this is the real stuff!

#27: Yes, but is it translated? Sounds fascinating!

ETA: I see it has been translated as The Sisters of Sinai. The reviews look good too. I will have to look for that one.

I read Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness by Jim Frederick.

I'm reading Clover The Tragic Love Story of Clover and Henry Adams. The author, Otto Friedrich, is from Boston and received a history degree from Harvard, so he knows the territory.

Currently reading Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James Tabor.

I really liked K2 by Viesturs and Krakauer's Into Thin Air, so I thought I'd give this book about going the other way a chance.

I have three going right now - The lost history of christianity by Philip Jenkins, House of stone by Christina Lamb, and The Challenge: how a maverick Navy. . . by Jonathan Mahler.

#27 - Sisters of Sinai is going on my list.

Just starting The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Faidman. I've heard great things about this one. So far, so good!

I am reading Four British Fantasists by Charles Butler, looking at the influences on Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper and Diana Wynne Jones. It's fascinating so far - I'm really enjoying it :-)

Now I'm reading Death on the Barrens and I'm loving it. It's a very honest account of an expedition down a river in the far north of Canada in the 1950s. With the youth that were involved it's surprising that the whole lot of them didn't die. (Interesting insight into the lives of exceedingly rich youth)

I'm reading the chilling Murder City about Juarez, after hearing the author interviewed on the radio.

#34 - that sounds fascinating, souloftherose. I'll have to keep my eyes open for it.

I just finished Hunting Eichmann and I was very affected.
Now starting Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm, Inc., America's Premier Racing Dynasty.

I've started to read So Much to Tell by Valerie Grove. It's a biography of Kaye Webb, who worked in publishing and took over running Puffin Books in 1961. Puffin is the children's imprint of Penguin books, and I was one of many bookworm children who grew up reading their titles and enjoying the Puffin Post magazine from the Puffin Club. This is a new biography and I'll be reviewing it for The Bookbag.

Found this thread and I'm enjoying reading all the posts about such incredible books.

I am currently reading Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton, the third book of her journal series.

Am in the middle of The Big Short by Michael Lewis (yet another book about the financial crisis) and Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski, about the republics of the Soviet Union.

I am reading Family Portrait by Catherine Drinker Bowen, a book Becky recommended to me.

http://heritage.web.lehigh.edu/index.php/Drinker,_Henry

Aha, Stasia, thanks for telling me that this authors father was a Past president of Lehigh University.

>39 elkiedee:. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the Kaye Webb biography!

Stasia, I hope you like CDB's book!

I'm reading Adventurous Alliance, the story of the Agassiz family of Boston. I was led to this one after reading the Henry Adams Education of Henry Adams and also the biog of his wife Clover Hooper Adams. After this one I may read a book about the Lowells, James Russell, Amy, and Robert.

Has anyone ever read a biography about Amy Lowell? She is hilarious! The one I have is an old one, but it's excellent, by S. Foster Damon, published in 1935.

Edited for fat-fingered typing.

#5: Is this the book you are referring to about Lowell?: Amy Lowell; a chronicle with extracts from her correspondence. My local college library has a copy if it is and I will pick it up.

Adventurous Alliance looks good too. I will wait and see what you think of it though.

I now realize that I will NEVER EVER, EVER read all the books on my to be read pile. So, I'll abandon all hope and simply add more and more and more.

>46 alcottacre:. Yes, that's the one. It's a large biog, but I found it to be very readable. Damon likes his subject, but he doesn't insist that we see her as a saint and he's not above poking a little well-deserved fun. One of Amy Lowell's most endearing qualities is her own willingness to laugh at herself.

If I were to deliver a paper on her at a conference somewhere, which I would dearly love to do but it won't happen, not in this lifetime, I would title it "Shut Up, Amy Lowell!" You'll see why.

>47 Whisper1:. A very sane point of view. I mean really, imagine coming to the end our your "to be read" pile. Pretty much nothing could be worse. I love your Snoopy.

#47, For me, books and Snoopy are the two greatest things ever. So seeing a graphic with Snoopy holding a book is tremendous.

I don't suppose there's one with Snoopy reading a baseball book, is there?

My problem is that, not only do I own more books than I could ever read, I'm replicating the "problem" with my Kindle, too.

50- I'm still in the denial phase with my Kindle - all my Kindle books "don't count" because they take up little actual space...

I am currently reading The Book Nobody Read.

I am currently reading This Book is Overdue.

I'm reading Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides. I'm only about 50 pages in, but so far it's very interesting.

#54: I will be interested in seeing what you think of that one, Mike!

#47 & #50> Snoopy and books are my two all-time favs, too! Thanks for that, Linda!
--BJ

I am starting our own Suzanne's (Chatterbox's) Chasing Goldman Sachs. How cool is that?

Oooh ooh you got it already? Cool!!! (Going downstairs to check the mail now - but might take a bit longer to get to Switzerland).

#58: I got it Tuesday, Cushla. I am betting it will take a little longer to get from NY to Switzerland than it did to get from NY to Texas :) Hang in there! I am sure you will get it soon.

Currently reading Waiter Rant... so far it's fantastic, "must-read" fare for anyone who has either been in food service in the past, or who eats out regularly!

I'm reading The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill.

I am starting Civilization Before Greece and Rome by H.W.F. Saggs, who was Jenny's (lunacat's) grandfather.

I just started Terrorism and the Economy: How the War on Terror is Bankrupting the World. We'll see how it goes.

I'm reading a delightful book, filled with lovely prints.

I'm tremendously enjoying Sister Wendy's American Collection

I've read quite a few books about the U.S. Naval Academy and about West Point but I've rarely read anything about the U.S. Air Force Academy. That situation is now remedied.

I'm now reading a new book about the Air Force Academy, called Skies to Conquer: A Year Inside the Air Force Academy by Diana Jean Schemo. Excellent book!!

Linda
You read such interesting stuff! Baseball - Airforce!

#66 thanks, Linda. This Air Force Academy book is my fifth straight nonfiction book, all terrific books, but I'm starting to get the urge to read something light and fluffy next.

Linda
If you want something light and delightfully fluffy, I highly recommend a wonderful book Richard told me about. A Guide to the Birds of East Africa is marvelous!

I finished The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. I thought it was very interesting and well written, too. My full review available on the book's main page.

I just started The suicide of reason by Lee Harris. It's about the cultural clash between Islam and the West. Quote from page 5: 'In short, Muslim fanatism should not be seen as a relic of the past ... but as a potent weapon in the struggle for cultural survival and supremacy ... In the modern West, we have come to judge the success of a culture by purely utilitarian and materialistic standards.'
I will need some time to read the whole book.

I'm reading the fascinating and entertaining Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, the true story that was somewhat dramatically changed in the movie "The Man Who Never Was". I have Chris/cabegley to thank for introducing me to the author, Macintyre, for his wonderful Agent Zigzag, and Suzanne/chatterbox to thank for letting me know about this most recent work.

I started reading Love is a Mix Tape which I first heard of before joining LT, from a newspaper article, but was then reminded about here.

Currently reading (almost finished) WAR by Sebastian Junger. This is quite possibly one of the best books I've ever read by an embedded journalist on the physical and psychological aspects of serving as an infantry soldier in combat conditions. Having never read Junger's previous book, The Perfect Storm, I can't make comparisons - some people have professed disappointment - but on its own merits this gets my highest recommendation.

Peter
That is high praise from you! Thus must be a great book!

#74 Linda - This book is gathering quite a waiting list at libraries, so get your name down now!

My next book - The Gift of Valor: A War Story by Michael M. Phillips. In WAR, Sebastian Junger ruminates at length on the concept of bravery, and perhaps the ultimate act of that virtue in battle: throwing yourself, without regard for your own life, on a hand grenade to save the lives of your fellow bothers-in-arms. Philosophical discussions such as this are what marks Junger's book as particularly special, and it was such an act that posthumously earned 22-year old Corporal Jason Dunham, the subject of The Gift of Valor, America's highest award for military valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. By all reports this is a powerful book, and I think an appropriate follow-up to WAR.

I am just starting The Tale of Terror by Edith Birkhead, about "the growth of supernatural fiction in English literature." The book specifically deals with Gothic fiction.

I just finished and reviewed the fun and fascinating Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre, the detailed story of what was intentionally somewhat misleadingly told in the book and movie The Man Who Never Was.

Edited to fix typo.

I am starting New York Burning by Jill Lepore.

That is an interesting book, Stasia, about an interesting and little known period in NY history.

#79: Glad to know it is worth the read!

Reading The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance by David Herlihy... AND... in a related sense, Asia On a Bicycle : The Journey of Two American Students From Constantinople to Peking by Thomas Allen and William Sachtleben (1884).

I'm reading two non-fiction books:

Sue Townsend, The Public Confessions of a A Middle-Aged Woman, aged 55 3/4 is apparently a compilation of columns originally published in Sainsburys Magazine, a magazine sold by one of our biggest supermarket chains. They're sort of autobiographical but I thought it was a more conventional autobiography.

I'm also reading Jane Emery's biography of Rose Macaulay, simply called Rose Macaulay. I read Sarah LeFanu's slightly more recent one a few months ago, and it was interesting enough but actually this one seems like a better read and is only a little bit older (published in 1990). I'm also reading one of Rose Macaulay's novels, Told by An Idiot and although some of that is fiction, it's about a family of 6 children from 1879 to 1920 (the book was first published in 1923) and it's interesting to read about the author's own family at the same time.

Starting: Churchill by Paul Johnson

Books predominately about Churchill already read (2009-2010)...
- David and Winston: How a Friendship Changed History by Robert Lloyd George
- Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham
- Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets by David Stafford
- Churchill and Secret Service by David Stafford
- Churchill and America by Martin Gilbert
- Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945 by Carlo D'este
- Five Days in London: May 1940 by John Lukacs
- Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Dire Warning: Churchill's First Speech as Prime Minister by John Lukacs

I just started True Notebooks by Mark Salzman, a book Caroline recently recommended.

I am halfway through Endgame, 1945; The Missing Final Chapter of World War II by David Stafford. I had intended to alternate this book with a fiction book, but I can't put it down.

#85: I have been wanting to read that one since it came out, but my local library does not have it yet. I may have to break down and buy it.

I’m excited about a book I picked up recently – Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe. This is the story of four Mexican-American girls in the first decade of the twenty-first century as they graduate from high school in Denver, Colorado and move into adulthood. The girls are from working class families; two of the young women are here legally & two are not. All have the grades and the ambition to attend college, but none of them have the money, and the two who are here illegally cannot apply for financial aid because of their immigration status.

The author is a reporter and is married to the mayor of Denver. During the time covered by the book, a local police officer is killed by an illegal immigrant, adding to local tensions about the best way to handle immigration across the border between the US and Mexico.

Thorpe’s book explores not only the issues these women face, but the complexity of the immigration discussion the US is embroiled in. The The book so far is quite readable.

I'm also starting Gary Paul Nabhan's Why some like it hot, an exploration of the idea that human genetics have been influenced by the food people it, and vice versa.

After watching the excellent PBS dvd regarding Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery, I went to my local library and obtained a beautiful coffee table like book written by Stephen Ambrose and produced by the National Geograhic Society. Thus far Lewis & Clark Voyage of Discovery by is stunningly beautiful and very well written.

Linda, I wonder if some of the text from the book you bought is taken from Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, which I found absolutely fascinating and written with the excitement and characterization of a novel. If you haven't read that, take a look at it.

#88/89: I second Rebecca's recommendation of Undaunted Courage. It really is terrific.

I am currently reading The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman.

I'm a big Barbara Tuchman fan but I haven't read that one, Stasia. I'll have to look for it.

#92: I am a big Tuchman fan as well. Thus far, it is pretty good. I suggest that you get one of the 'new' editions if for no other reason than the preface detailing new developments since the time of the original edition.

I am currently reading To Tell the Truth Freely by Mia Bay.

#87: Just Like Us sounds really interesting, though I don't suppose I'll get hold of it here. I was rummaging through my non-fiction shelves and I've got lots of books of that sort, some of which I brought back from my last couple of childfree visits to the US. (We last went to the US in 2007 with Danny aged 4-5 months, and I was much more restrained about book buying than on any other visit).

I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and am going to review it for The Bookbag.

#95: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a good book, Luci! I hope you like it.

Edited for clarification

Just Like Us sounds interesting.

I've just started Robin Lane Fox's The Classical World. If I'm very quiet for a while, it'll be because it's 600 pages long and looks good but dense.

Isn't it Henrietta not Rebecca?

Yes, it is. I will fix it. It was early AM, what can I say. Thanks for pointing it out, whatever your name is :)

It was my mix up not Stasia's - putting author's first name in the title! - thanks for pointing it out.

#95 Does that mean the Henrietta Lacks book is being released in the UK? Hooray! And, jealous of your review copy!

#99/100 I knew what you meant.

My latest nonfiction read is Bruce Feiler's The Council of Dads. This is an ER book for me so I need to get going on it.

I am currently reading Life Work by Donald Hall, which Becky (labwriter) recommended.

Yes, Macmillan published it this month. It's a hardback but it's one I imagine libraries will get in quite easily (apparently it's £11.99 on Amazon).

souloftherose and anyone else in the UK (for various practical reasons), see here if you're interested in reviewing for The Bookbag.

I am starting Provenance by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, which Suzanne (Chatterbox) recently recommended.

#97 Just Like Us was definitely an interesting read. It leans left of center, like me, but offers no easy answers. Finished it last night, and found particularly interesting a discussion of three views of government discussed towards the end - but I can't summarize this morning, my brain is too foggy.

Well written too, which makes reading much easier. I hate books that have content I want to absorb that are boring or pedantic.

CMT, I'm curious about what other titles you have in your collection, if it's easy to access and list them.

I am starting The Inextinguishable Symphony by Martin Goldsmith.

I just started She Looks Just Like You: A Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood. So far it's quite good.

Currently: The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army by Greg Jaffe and David Cloud
- What makes an effective wartime general? ... In "The Fourth Star," David Cloud, a former Pentagon correspondent for the New York Times, and Greg Jaffe, who covers the Pentagon for The Washington Post, explore this question through the eyes and careers of four distinguished officers who joined the Army as second lieutenants after Vietnam and rose to the highest rank -- four-star general -- during the Iraq insurgency. This insider's view of officership and the operation of the Army is based primarily upon interviews with the four generals -- John Abizaid, George Casey Jr., Peter Chiarelli and David Petraeus -- and their families, subordinates and others. - Washington Post

Read the full Washington Post review: Book review: 'The Fourth Star' by David Cloud and Greg Jaffe
Read an excerpt: Chapter One: Age of Anarchy

I am reading My Life in France by Julia Child, which is one of the books that has been in the BlackHole forever.

I love animals stories so was very pleased to win An Eagle Named Freedom by Jeff Guidry as my Early Reviewer selection. I'm breezin' through this book very quickly even as we speak

I'm reading Chatterbox's new book, Chasing Goldman Sachs.

I almost never read business/finance-type books but I'm finding this one very informative.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

Read it! Seriously, this should be a compulsory read for anyone who reads newspapers or watches tv. ;)

I am currently reading The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum, which Marcia recommended.

I recently finished two nonfictions The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and A Bright Red Scream. Both gave me nightmares, unusual for me.

I'm on the Chasing Goldman Sachs bandwagon. I'm learning a lot and enjoying it. Particularly recommended for neophytes like me who may feel intimidated by their ignorance of how the markets work.

Finished: The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army by Greg Jaffe and David Cloud
- What a great book! Fascinating background and examination of John Abizaid (retired Commander of the United States Central Command), George Casey Jr. (current Chief of Staff of the Army), Peter Chiarelli (current Vice Chief of Staff of the Army) and David Petraeus (who, in the last 24 hours, replaced General McChrystal as U.S. commander in Afghanistan, after the recent controversy over the Rolling Stone article: The Runaway General - worth reading!)

Also recently finished: Churchill by Paul Johnson

Now, I'm enjoying:
- From Baghdad with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava by Jay Kopelman and Melinda Roth
- Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq by Dahr Jamail

I have the book From Baghdad with Love, so I look forward to seeing what you think of it.
--BJ

I'm reading I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby. Interesting content, if a little amateurishly written.

I'm currently reading The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell. It makes Iraq sound something like Vietnam.

#120 I read The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell earlier this month. It's a book that has received much (albeit understandable) criticism, but sometimes the truth hurts. I thought it was a top read. I'll be interested in reading your POV.

Completed: From Baghdad with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava by Jay Kopelman and Melinda Roth
- I thought this was going to be a bit soppy, but it was anything but. Instead it was gritty and honest, touching on some important moral issues. Kopelman writes with tension, and with a streak of black humour that bites. Emotional types might want to have a tissue handy for the last tear-jerking paragraphs. Highly recommended.

Still reading: Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq by Dahr Jamail

Recently started: No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah by Bing West

Quickie: War is a Racket (1935) by Major General Smedley Butler

Started Columbine. I must be the last person on LT to read this, but I am totally hooked on it.

A Lady's Life on a Farm in Manitoba (circa 1880) via my kindle.

Oh... also Letters of a Woman Homesteader (circa 1900ish).

I finished The suicide of reason : radical Islam's threat to the enlightenment, a disturbing book. Lee Harris shows how the West is reasoning away the threat from Isalmic terrorism.

I also read/looked Aufbruch in die Gegenwart : die Schweiz in Fotografien 1840-1960, edited by Peter Herzog. A collection of 106 fotografs from the collection Herzog in the Swiss Historical Museum (Schweizerisches Landesmuseum). Very interesting pix from the Alps, farmers, railway construction, hay harvest, accidents, war, old airplanes etc. The book contains also some notes about the history of fotografy in Switzerland.

I am currently reading New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton.

I have not kept up with this thread to my loss. Such interesting stuff you all are reading. Currently, I am picking away at In the Company of Crows and Ravens, The Discovery of France, (historical geography) and The Imperial Cruise which is about a delegation Teddy Roosevelt sent to the "far east" at the dawn of the twentieth century. Oh, what a pack of racists they all were! "White Man's Burden" by Kipling was subtitled: The United States and the Philippine Islands." As I have not finished the book I will not do more than speculate that it will shine some harsh light on the notion that US of A foreign policy is all too often based on a subtle "let us help you" which is rooted in this earlier era of pomposity and misplaced superiority complexes. I shall be interested to finish it.

I am currently reading Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I finished Food of a Younger Land and have moved on to Sophie's World.

Completed: No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah by Bing West
- A must for lovers of frontline battlefield accounts. From the Whitehouse to soldiers fighting house to house, this is a solid account of the First and Second Battles for Fallujah from the American POV. See also We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah by Patrick K. O'Donnell. Recommended.

Started: The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley

New Scientist is full of interesting book reviews today. Here's a review of two books on the search for longevity: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/07/a-backstage-pass-to-the-cir...
and one on the history of the periodic table: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/07/the-madness-and-love-that-b...

Just started WAR by Sebastian Junger after a good review by PeterMc.

It will be interesting to see what you think. The star ratings are certainly positive.

-Women's Life in Colonial Days
-For Luncheon and Supper Guests (circa 1922)
-Home vegetable gardening (circa 1911)
-Many ways for cooking eggs (circa 1911)

-Some notes on the first recorded visit of white men to the site of the present city of Richmond, Virginia. Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24, 1607 (circa 1880)

-Along The New Line To The Pacific Coast. Opportunities On The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (circa 1911)

On a read jag... obviously.
(all book read for free)

I'm currently reading Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India by William Dalrymple, which is very interesting.

>>134 allthesedarnbooks:. I heard a piece on NPR about Nine Lives. It sounded very interesting. I'll look forward to hearing your opinion when you finish.

>>131 sgtbigg:. I keep toying with getting WAR since Peter's review. So far, I haven't done it yet.

I'm reading The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin. It is lovely thus far, but hits so so close to home that I can only read it in small doses to try to absorb it.

The evidence of things not seen by James Baldwin. I think I'm going to have to read it twice to absorb it.

#134, #135 I had that book in my hand at the bookshop last week but put it back (exercising restraint!). A good review might tip me over the edge.

I'm just starting Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.

I'm reading Scent of the Missing about a woman & her search and rescue dog. Very interesting so far.

#135 - I keep toying with getting WAR since Peter's review. So far, I haven't done it yet.

Go on, you know you want to ;)

Inevitably, not everyone loved it!*

* link posted previously on other threads / discussions

----------------------

Currently: Page 280 of The Wilderness Warrior.

I need to pick out some more non-fiction reads, but thought this would be of interest, also cross posted on Interesting Articles

Several of us read The Bookseller of Kabul recently - a member of the family she wrote about has sued and won damages:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/27/bookseller-kabul-author-lawsuit

A quote from a comment piece:

"The problem with her book, and maybe mine as well, is that they fall into a particular genre where people living in rich, safe countries get a vicarious kick out of reading about the lives of people in poor, dangerous ones."

And the rest of the comment piece:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/30/norway-afghanistan

I seem to have read less non-fiction recently but have forgotten to mention a couple of recent books I read. Gary Younge's third book was for review at the Bookbag, but I have to remember the title.

Kate Clanchy, Antigona and Me was also published in hardback as What is She Doing Here? It is about the author's friendship with a refugee from Kosova and her family. It's a fascinating look at cultural differences and contradictions. Thankfully Clanchy writes from her own narrative point of view not from anyone else's - I didn't feel comfortable with Seierstadt pretending to write from other people's viewpoint (albeit in the third person) in The Bookseller of Kabul.

I am starting Operation Mincemeat today.

#142 - Ah! From the author of Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal.... I'll be interested to see what you think.

---------------------------------

Update on my own reading - It's been mainly The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas G. Brinkley, and here is what I posted on my own thread this morning (slightly modified)...

Now at 460 pages into the book (over half way!)... One Amazon reviewer writes that the book "is among the worst-written histories I have ever read," and as much as it pains me to say this, I tend to agree. One sometimes gets the impression that the author was so overwhelmed with information that he had trouble effectively structuring and editing his text. That is not to say however, that the book is not worth reading - it is! While the writing might fall short in many areas (e.g. often repetitive, copious use of non sequiturs, numerous factual errors), this is a great introduction to the ideologies and personalities of the naturalist / conservation movement in turn-of-the-century America, and a truly fantastic survey of related period literature. It's such a shame about it's short-comings, as there is a great book in there just demanding to be let out!

I definitely enjoyed Operation Mincemeat, especially to learn how the reality differed from the film version of The Man Who Never Was.

Msg 143 - you might also enjoy The Big Burn which is also about Teddy Roosevelt's efforts at conservation in the context of a huge forest fire in Idaho.

This isn't about Teddy Roosevelt, but a wonderful book about a forest fire is Young Men and Fire by Norman MacLean -- I bought and read it after visiting the area in Montana where the fire occurred.

rebeccanyc - is it the same fire that I am reading about in The Big Burn. It sounds as if it was truly epic in its size! All before the Forest Service knew anything about fighting forest fires, or preventing them. Fascinating the stuff in history that we did not learn about in school.

Maggie, no, this was the Mann Gulch fire which took place in 1949. To quote the blurb on the back of my copy, "On August 5, 1949, a crew of the United States Forest Service's elite airborne firefighters, the Smokejumpers, stepped into the sky above a remote forest fire in the Montana wilderness. Less than an hour after their jump, all but three of these men were dead or mortally burned. Haunted by their deaths for forty years, Norman Maclean puts back together the scattered pieces of the Mann Gulch tragedy." I read this in 1998, so I don't remember the details, but it is beautifully and hauntingly written.

I will have to look for The Big Burn.

I finished Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, which was excellent (review here), and then I read Getting Stoned with Savages by J. Maarten Troost (review here), which was okay, but not as good as his first book. I am now reading America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins, which is awesome.

#145 - While I already had its card marked, I thank you for the recommendation on The Big Burn. This is one of almost a dozen books (and a television documentary) The Wilderness Warrior has encouraged and inspired me to explore - many of those being, of course, Theodore Roosevelt's own books!

Although I have made mention of the following book my own thread, I'll give it a plug here as well, since it directly relates to TR. Independent Maine publisher Down East Books, recently won a Silver Award in the "Best Regional Non-Fiction" category of the 2010 Independent Publisher Regional Book Awards, for a book about legendary Maine Guide William Wingate (Bill) Sewall - a life-long friend of Roosevelt's - called Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine Guide Inspired America's 26th President by Andrew Vietze (link to Amazon).

On top of that, the third and final volume of Edmund Morris' biography of Theodore Roosevelt, will be hitting the bookshops on November 23, 2010! Entitled Colonel Roosevelt (link to Amazon), it will cover TR's life after politics. The other volumes are of course: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex.

I am currently reading Operation Mincemeat, The Defence of the Realm, and The Children's Blizzard. It is a guarantee that I will finish the first and third before I finish the second!

I'm reading Reading Lolita in Tehran, a book I've been meaning to get to for years.

I am currently reading The Miss Dennis School of Writing, The Anatomy of Melancholy, and An Army at Dawn.

I lost this thread, but now it's found :) I'm 200 pages into Tony Judt's Postwar, and it is superb. But dense. I'll be back in another month or so...

I'm reading The disappearing spoon by Sam Kean - on chemistry, physics, (mad) scientists, all connected to the periodic table.

Plugging away at the massive Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives by Alan Bullock. Since I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich earlier this summer, I am finding the Stalin sections more interesting.

#156: I own the Bullock book too, Rebecca, so I am looking forward to seeing what you think of it when you are done.

I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

My nonfiction right now is The Matter Myth and Life Is So Good.

And, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks sounds very interesting BookAngel_a!

160- It's good so far, but sad of course, due to the subject matter. I'm learning a lot though!

Last night I finished In the Place of Justice by Wilbert Rideau. Rideau was sentenced to death in 1962, when he was 19, a sentence that was converted to life when the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. While in Angola prison in Louisiana, he started and ran a prison news magazine that won national awards. He also produced programs and documentaries for NPR and PBS. His nearly 45-year long battle to obtain his release, either through parole, commutation due to rehabilitiation, or due to the unfair trial(s) he received is also an engrossing part of this book.

#158 Oooh, oh - me too!

163- Wow, what a coincidence! I'm not flying through it but working through it slowly.

I just started 102 Minutes: the untold story of the fight to survive inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer, in observance of the anniversary of 9/11.

I am reading The Forever War (inspired, of course, by petermc's thread) to "honor" the 9/11 anniversary.

It is wonderfully written with the kind of attention to detail that makes it and the people within it feel so real. This also makes it hard to read, but I figure if these people can live through it (or die in it), I can try to bear a small bit of witness.

I also have Sebastian Junger's WAR home from the library, but I suspect it will go back unread because it is on the popular book's "no renewal" cycle for now.

I've started Pleasers by Kevin Leman... it's good, but I don't think it pertains to me as much as I'd expected. I'll keep reading though, Leman always has something good to offer in his books.

#168 Nancy - I am reading The Forever War (inspired, of course, by petermc's thread) to "honor" the 9/11 anniversary.

Good for you! I'm just sorry to hear that you won't manage WAR before it's due back.

Personally, I'm working my war through my Bart D. Ehrman collection. Have recently finished Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, and am now halfway through the sequel, Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them). I have God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer lined up next, in which Ehrman discusses his 'conversion' to agnosticism.

#170 - Peter, I have Ehrman on by tbr pile, way down on the pile. I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts on them, maybe they'll get moved up closer to the top.

#171 Mike - Re: Misquoting Jesus. This is the first book on the subject of New Testament textual criticism written for the layman, and it's fascinating stuff. If there is any negative (and I am not the only person to note this), it is that Ehrman has a tendency to belabor a point; yet I can understand why.

Consider what Ehrman writes on page 216, "...meaning is not inherent and texts do not speak for themselves. If texts could speak for themselves, then everyone honestly and openly reading a text would agree on what the text says. But interpretations of texts abound, and people in fact do not agree on what the texts mean."

In light of this, Ehrman's habit of reiterating his ideas from a variety of standpoints is perhaps an attempt to ensure that they are not interpreted in any way other than what he intends; a natural result of his work in a field where 'meaning' is everything.

The sequel, Jesus, Interrupted, is also written for the layman, but perhaps someone with a much deeper interest in the discrepancies that exist between the various texts that make up the New Testament. As Ehrman notes, the "views I set out in this book are standard fare among scholars. I don't know a single Bible scholar who will learn a single thing from this book," but for the rest of us there are important conceptual, as well as enlightening, lessons to be learnt; as Ehrman also notes...

"Whether you are a believer - fundamentalist, evangelical, moderate, liberal - or a nonbeliever, the Bible is the most significant book in the history of our civilization. Coming to understand what it actually is, and is not, is one of the most important intellectual endeavors that anyone in our society can embark upon."

Both recommended.

I liked the two Ehrman books you mention, Peter. I'm very interested in God's Problem especially after I was intimately involved in the death of a child from cancer treatment last year and have suffered harm in anything related to personal faith.

As I often seem to do, I'll let you lead the way and then follow your lead on that one.

#173 Nancy - I'm sorry to hear of your experience. God's Problem is next on the reading list, and I'll be sure to report back. I have about 10 of Ehrman's 20+ books, including The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed, and the more academic Studies in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. More info on these books are to be found at Ehrman's website.

I am currently reading An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson.

I just started Timothy Egan's The Big Burn and if it is half as good as The Worst Hard Time, I will be a happy camper.

ETA: In conjunction with the Egan book, I am also reading John Burroughs' Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt, which Peter recommended earlier this year.

I am currently reading The Sociopath Next Door and Packing for Mars as well as continuing An Army at Dawn.

I just started The Devil in the White City, one that's on the Halloween reading list. I'm also doing an Early Reviewer book, The Little League that Could, about the American Football League, and a theology book, The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World, by Douglas John Hall

My big reading project is From Fort Sumter to Perryville, the first volume of the Shelby Foote Civil War trilogy.

#178: The Foote trilogy is terrific, Terri. I hope you enjoy it!

I am currently reading (for one of the TIOLI challenges) Deadliest Sea by Kalee Thompson.

I'm reading Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat by Temra Costa which is an ER book I just received. I'm glad to report that I'm favorably impressed by this book.

What I thought was going to turn out to be just a foodie book about women has turned out, in fact, to be quite a resource for me in getting ideas and collecting resources for a CSA Newsletter that I edit. This book will end up as part of my permanent collection - something which doesn't happen all that often.

#180 I really liked Deadliest Sea, Stasia. I hope you enjoy it, too!

I am reading Richard Feynman's Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman which I find very amusing. I am also plugging away on a biography of Cecil B. deMille and an autobiography of Agatha Christie. I am a chronic reading of multiple books! It is so tempting to start just one more....

Just finished How bad are bananas? by Mike Berners-Lee. An interesting book about our carbon footprint of different things, like bananas, a pint of beer, eggs, a carcrash, deforestation etc. In these terms plastic bags are better than paper bags because plastic doesn't rot and so there is no methane (and other stuff) going up. It gives also some practical examples of how to get a lower carbon footprint. Climate change is happening but what to do about it, is still a big question (and needs some social and economic (re)thinking). Worthwhile reading, well, too many figures there to get going smoothly, it's more like a reference book