Favorite Non-Fiction?

[Bunty]

For those who enjoyed Into Thin Air, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is another good one. It's about Christopher McCandless, who travels the country (America) and ends up in Alaska living in a bus, living off the land. Or trying to anyway. 

To bookend this suggestion, the sister of Chris McCandless has written a book expanding the story told in Into the Wild.

 

The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless

[Eegah]

After loving Brian Jay Jones' biography of Jim Henson so much, one of my Christmas list items was his first biography, of Washington Irving. This was mostly just for the writer, as I'd never had much interest in Irving and had no knowledge of his work beyond the typical Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow. And boy, has that changed. The man lived a fascinating life that I've been gobbling down like potato chips, and Jones is just as engaging as before. And this time, he proves particularly deft at knowing just how much historical context to give us so we'll understand what's going on, without ever devolving into a dry history lecture.

 

Also, after reading this stuff, Irving has completely supplanted Mark Twain as my choice for the funniest writer of the 19th century. I've laughed out loud several times during the book's excerpts from his work, a lot of which translates remarkably well to the present day. A particular favorite: in those days before photography, passports worked by customs agents writing their own descriptions of the bearer each time it was used, and in his letters home during trips to Europe Irving continually complained that he hated the latest one of these, just like someone today not liking their passport or driver's license photo. I'm holding off on getting any of his work until I finish the biography, but I'm greatly looking forward to it.

[Jac]

Eric Hobsbawm's brilliant trilogy on the long 19th century, The Age of Revolution: Europe, 1789-1848, The Age of Capital: 1848-1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875-1914 and its sequel The Ages Of Extremes: The Short 20th Century, 1914-1991 are some of my favourite works of non-fiction. His writing is vibrant, engaging and incisive.

 

Tony Judt's Post War is a favourite as well.

[bmasters9]

A real favorite of mine that will endure is All The President's Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward; this is the 1974 classic about how those two Washington Post reporters dug deep to bring about the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. The 1976 Warner Bros. film is great too, albeit it doesn't exactly follow the book. 

[Haleth]

Seems one Tennessee mom thinks Henrietta Lacks is pornography and should be banned:

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-is-henrietta-lacks-book-pornographic-20150908-story.html

[Danny Franks]

Seems one Tennessee mom thinks Henrietta Lacks is pornography and should be banned:

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-is-henrietta-lacks-book-pornographic-20150908-story.html

 

Well sure, all that talk about vaginas and fertilisation and stuff? Filth! 

 

Sometimes I think these stories must be fake, to further the hilarious yet scary myth of ignoramuses trying to force their ill-conceived views on others. Sadly, I know they're not. But parents know how to raise their kids better than the government, right? 

[jenh526]

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Never watched the tv show that was based on it, but this was an incredibly gripping, well-written book. The image of a young black girl in her red raincoat lying murdered in the street is permanently etched in my memory, even though I read this book some 25 years ago. I think he was the first to open my eyes to the difference in media attention that minority crime victims receive vs. white victims. 

[dcalley]

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Never watched the tv show that was based on it, but this was an incredibly gripping, well-written book. The image of a young black girl in her red raincoat lying murdered in the street is permanently etched in my memory, even though I read this book some 25 years ago. I think he was the first to open my eyes to the difference in media attention that minority crime victims receive vs. white victims. 

Have you read Ghettoside? There are a lot of names to keep track of and it could have been trimmed a bit, but it's been compared with Homicide (which I should read).

[jenh526]

Have you read Ghettoside? There are a lot of names to keep track of and it could have been trimmed a bit, but it's been compared with Homicide (which I should read).

 

Thanks for the recommendation - haven't read that one. I'm not sure how relevant Homicide is anymore. Back in the late 80's it seemed that Baltimore was a very violent place but now I'm not sure. I grew up in a tiny town in the southwest US, but made several trips to Maryland to interview at that time. I remember being astounded watching the news in a hotel room there - it was all murder reports. It was very surreal to a 22 year old kid who grew up in a town where no one locked their doors at night.

[dcalley]

I'm not sure how relevant Homicide is anymore. Back in the late 80's it seemed that Baltimore was a very violent place but now I'm not sure. ... I remember being astounded watching the news in a hotel room there - it was all murder reports.

One of the reasons I said I should read it is that I live there now. I'm afraid it's probably still timely.

[Etta Place]

I just read (listened to) In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides, which is about the polar exploration voyage of the USS Jeannette. It was a well-told story of the American attempt to reach the North Pole, which started out in 1879. Although I was familiar with the bare outlines of the story from having it summarized in other polar exploration books I've read, the long version was gripping and had a lot of interesting details (one of which was that the publisher who funded the expedition was the same one who sent Stanley off to look for Dr. Livingstone in Africa). If you're interested in these sorts of stories, this is a good one to read.

[Bastet]

Hampton Sides is a good author; I enjoyed his Hellhound on His Trail (The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Man Hunt for His Assassin).  I’ll have to check that one out, too, as he does non-fiction adventure well.

[SmithW6079]

Almost anything "history," no matter the period, although I am partial to the Renaissance and medieval times, with emphasis on the Tudors. Favorite authors are Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser.

And I'm excited to see Alison Weir has a new Tudor book out (2016 in the US).

Edited October 28, 2015 by SmithW6079

[MeloraH]

I love Fraser and Weir too. I especially love Fraser's Warrior Queens. Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the War of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood was really fascinating. I'd love if Drunk History did a UK episode and someone tearily talked about Margaret Beaufort or Marguerite of Anjou.

 

Some of my other favorites are Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Dispatches, H is for Hawk, The Drunken Botanist, and Bad Feminist..

[Danny Franks]

I've found Alison Weir's 'non-fiction' work to be some of the most biased, ill-researched stuff I've ever read. Of course, the only stuff of hers I have read was the book about Richard III, where she seems to believe she knew the evil and scheming thoughts of a man 500 years dead. An impressive feat, to be sure. All her theories are apparently fact, and any contradicting theories are wild speculation. If only history could be as black and white as she believes it.

 

After that, I decided to get my history from sources I felt were more credible.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Danny Franks

[savannah1985]

I like personal travel narratives and my favorite is Paul Theroux's "Riding the Iron Rooster". Train travel in China.

[Crim]

Really enjoying Drugged: The Science and Culture Behind Psychotropic Drugs by Richard J. Miller right now. Despite what the title might suggest, it covers a variety of substances.

[Pepper Mostly]

Just finished "Redefining Realness" by Janet Mock. Janet is trans and her story is fascinating, un-putdownable. I had seen her as a talking head on Melissa Harris-Perry's show and always been impressed with her.

[jenh526]

I like personal travel narratives and my favorite is Paul Theroux's "Riding the Iron Rooster". Train travel in China.

 

I liked that one too - read it a long time ago. I think of his description of his airplane flight in China whenever I have to fly. He has a new one out called "Deep South" that I'd like to read. Have you read that one?

[NutMeg]

These past few says, the name Marie Kondo kept popping up in my internet searches, so I got curious and read a few reviews, starting with NYT. Have any of you heard from her/read of of her books and if so has it indeed *changed your life* - haha. I'm thinking this a sick joke my browser is playing on me, or maybe that someone who knows me well hacked into google and changed the parameters, so that I might start thinking about stopping the relentless progression of books in my apartment... [You, genius friend of mine, we need to talk...]

[Athena]

These past few says, the name Marie Kondo kept popping up in my internet searches, so I got curious and read a few reviews, starting with NYT. Have any of you heard from her/read of of her books and if so has it indeed *changed your life* - haha. I'm thinking this a sick joke my browser is playing on me, or maybe that someone who knows me well hacked into google and changed the parameters, so that I might start thinking about stopping the relentless progression of books in my apartment... [You, genius friend of mine, we need to talk...]

 

Her second book on organising was translated into English. While I don't think she's changed my life, I really like her organizing style. The media is always hyperbolic about when certain genre books are bestsellers. Kondo was a bestseller in Japan and other countries before reaching the USA. I did read the GR reviews and there are a lot of scathing ones as well. I think it's the type of book that either works for your organizing or it doesn't. Her views about stuff are more holistic and Eastern philosophic than a lot of people are use to. Critics hate how she "talks" to her stuff, but I think she really emphasizes how one should really value and treat well the things you do own. In more practical matters, friends and I do agree when you sort things through in one big pile, it really does show you everything in a clearer light.

[paramitch]

Great topic -- I tend to alternate fiction (or fiction series) with nonfiction. It's a kind of palate cleanser, in a way.

On 8/4/2014 at 11:21 AM, roamyn said:

I've really been into non-fiction for that last few years.

Does anyone else read it?

Who's your favorite author?

What's your favorite genre?

Do you have a favorite non-fiction book?

My favorite nonfiction works  ever are:

Falling Through Space, Ellen Gilchrist (one of the most beautiful autobiographies I've ever read, joyful and vibrant)

The Dragons of Eden, by Carl Sagan (but I love everything by him, most especially Cosmos, Billions and Billions, Pale Blue Dot, and his books with wife Ann Druyan -- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and Comet.

An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks (but I also loved The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, Island of the Colorblind, and Seeing Voices)

Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand (also liked but didn't quite love Unbroken). The sheer sense of joy and movement in this book was amazing.

Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. A lovely account of Lincoln's administration. Made me deeply sad for what politics has become now. The idea of hiring people with opposing viewpoints to enrich your administration? Sigh. Wouldn't happen now

Halfway to Hollywood, Michael Palin (And ALL of Michael Palin's diaries, which are rich, complex, beautifully written and surprisingly moving -- and a kind, fascinating view on the UK TV and movie business. I also adore his travelogue diaries as well.)

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott (more than a book of writing advice -- a lovely autobiography)

James Herriot's "All Creatures" books (aka Alf Wight). I laughed, cried, reread every few years

On Writing, by Stephen King (a great, funny, dark, and moving autobiography -- I also loved his Danse Macabre exploration of the horror genre)

Stories I Only Tell my Friends, Rob Lowe -- a beautifully written autobiography in which he describes witnessing some pretty key moments from the past 20-30 years

The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger -- a complex and superbly written examination of seas, storms, sailors, fishermen (and their families). His description of the experience of drowning has haunted me ever since I read it back in 1998 or so.

 

On 9/14/2014 at 6:30 AM, Haleth said:

Two more that I recommend:  Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about a disasterous climb of Mt Everest some years ago.  It's a remarkable account of the fight for survival in about the harshest environment imaginable.  It's a thrilling and heart wrenching adventure, and before all goes to hell, a very interesting narrative of how much work it takes to prepare for a climb.  Unforgettable.

Also, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (who also wrote Seabiscuit, another good one), about the incredible story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who survived not only 30+ days on a raft in the Pacific, but also several years in Japanese POW camps.  The brutality is hard to process but Louie's indominable spirit makes it worthy read.  The story has been made into a movie that is coming out later this year.  I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it because of all the horrible things that happen, but I'm glad to have read the book.  It's one you can't put down.

I thought Into Thin Air was really well-written and fascinating, but it was such a terrible story, and (worse) a total chronicle of ineptitude (in which Krakauer himself was ultimately one of the main culprits). I was so frustrated by the utter callousness he and so many in his party demonstrated toward the other climbers and their situations during and after their ill-fated experiences.

I liked Unbroken, and it was an amazing story, but I felt like it resolved abruptly and with what felt like a dedication by Hillenbrand to paint Zamperini in a too-rosy and insistently saintly light.

On 11/25/2014 at 2:06 PM, Helena Dax said:

Cosmos, by Carl Sagan. I read it when I was a teenager and I found it fascinating. I've been in awe of the wonders of the universe since then.

Sagan really awakened a love of astronomy in me as a kid watching "Cosmos," but his books were wonders and even better -- like the best and most fascinating conversations imaginable about our amazing universe.

On 12/29/2014 at 6:26 AM, Eegah said:

After loving Brian Jay Jones' biography of Jim Henson so much, one of my Christmas list items was his first biography, of Washington Irving. This was mostly just for the writer, as I'd never had much interest in Irving and had no knowledge of his work beyond the typical Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow. And boy, has that changed. The man lived a fascinating life that I've been gobbling down like potato chips, and Jones is just as engaging as before. And this time, he proves particularly deft at knowing just how much historical context to give us so we'll understand what's going on, without ever devolving into a dry history lecture.

Thank you for this recommendation -- I've added his Henson biography to my list!

On 10/12/2015 at 9:11 PM, jenh526 said:

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Never watched the tv show that was based on it, but this was an incredibly gripping, well-written book. The image of a young black girl in her red raincoat lying murdered in the street is permanently etched in my memory, even though I read this book some 25 years ago. I think he was the first to open my eyes to the difference in media attention that minority crime victims receive vs. white victims. 

It's a great book, and I absolutely have to recommend the TV show "Homicide: Life on the Street," which was directly based on this. It was very faithful to the spirit of the book, using a beautifully realized (if fictionalized) cast of characters. 

[stillshimpy]

Of course, the only stuff of hers I have read was the book about Richard III, where she seems to believe she knew the evil and scheming thoughts of a man 500 years dead. An impressive feat, to be sure. All her theories are apparently fact, and any contradicting theories are wild speculation. If only history could be as black and white as she believes it.

In fairness, that is Weir at her absolute worst.  I'd read three other books by her and was shocked by how off-the-deep-end she went on that subject.  Admittedly, if there is a subject from the Wars of the Roses that is likely to elicit that kind of whacked out response, it's usually surrounding anything having to do with Richard III.  

Fields wrote the much better book, but Weir isn't entirely without value and she usually isn't anywhere near that bad.  The only other time I caught her engaging in "I say this is so, so it is so!!!!" bullshit (because Princes in the Tower had a lot of bullshit in it) , was on the subject of Elizabeth I's alleged virginity.  Like many a historian Weir takes a freaking creepy interest in the woman's sexual activities and concludes, despite a pretty clear reference in correspondence to the contrary , that Elizabeth was a virgin.  It's really pretty grotesque the lengths Weir goes to back it up.  Explaining away the clear reference in a way that ended up making me feel mortified for Weir.  Anyone that fixated on anyone's hymen (even their own, for goodness sake) is taking things to an unnecessary extreme. 

I'm genuinely not defending her as a historian, as she is biased to the extent that she ceases to be a historian and instead becomes an agent of propaganda in at least three instances I can name (Richard III, the aforementioned "Elizabeth was a virgin!" stuff and then she's not exactly objective about Anne Boleyn either).  

Just saying, Weir as a person's sole source of information about a period or event is a bad idea.  She can actually be fun in combination with other works though, because bizarrely, her over-the-top determination to "prove" that which is not provable is often exactly what can help a reader come away with their own decided view.  Often not in agreement with Weir's, by the way.  She gets a rise, would be my point and considering that so many people think history is less than gripping, there's value in a historian who can you pick your own side.  Reading Weir is not a passive experience and there's value in that.  

[Babalu]

@paramitch - thank you so much for your recommendation of Falling Through Space. I have read a lot of fiction by Ellen Gilchrist and adore her writing but hadn't heard of this and have just ordered it via Amazon. (I also much preferred Seabiscuit to Unbroken.)

[NewDigs]

^^^ ditto

Thanks, paramitch.

I have not read Gilchrist in years and appreciate the reminder and recommendation.

I don't consider myself a religious person but am drawn to personal accounts and experiences of faith so also appreciate the Anne Lamott mention. I found Traveling Mercies quite affecting.

And, in that same vein, I have enjoyed and, hopefully, learned from Kathleen Norris. Esp. Cloister Walk and Amazing Grace.

And Essays of E B White will always hold a special place.

[Epeolatrix]

I have learned from my futile efforts to engage people over on the "What Are You Reading?" topic, so I'm just going to post here from now on. I LOVE non-fiction! I hope other people also start posting, because I don't want to camp here like a blogger, but mostly because I want leads on cool new books.

Today's book is one I received for Christmas called "The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London" by Christopher Skaife. I've been following him on Twitter, so I was happy to see that he has a book. For those who don't know him or his job, Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife is in charge of the safety and well-being of the ravens that 'protect' the Tower of London. Legend has it that if the ravens were to leave the Tower, "the Crown will fall and Britain with it". While it's not my dream job (which would be 'petting baby animals'), it's still very cool and I like the informative yet still fun style of his writing.

[Mindthinkr]

Here’s one I enjoyed. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. The story is told from the point of view of the Ambassador’s daughter Martha Dodd during the beginning of Hitlers reign. She dates some dangerous men (including one meeting with Hitler himself) and we get a glimpse of what the start of World War 2 looked like. 

[Constant Viewer]

19 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

Here’s one I enjoyed. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. The story is told from the point of view of the Ambassador’s daughter Martha Dodd during the beginning of Hitlers reign. She dates some dangerous men (including one meeting with Hitler himself) and we get a glimpse of what the start of World War 2 looked like. 

Glad to hear this. I am rereading Devil in the White City and now want to read some other things he has written. I already have Isaac's Storm

[Mindthinkr]

3 hours ago, Constant Viewer said:

Glad to hear this. I am rereading Devil in the White City and now want to read some other things he has written. I already have Isaac's Storm

I haven’t read anything else of his so I’ll check out those two you just mentioned. Care to give me a clue as to what they are about. I enjoyed the one I mentioned, set in Berlin. Thanks. 

[Constant Viewer]

Just now, Mindthinkr said:

I haven’t read anything else of his so I’ll check out those two you just mentioned. Care to give me a clue as to what they are about. I enjoyed the one I mentioned, set in Berlin. Thanks. 

Isaac's Storm is about the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 that nearly wiped out the city and led to them building the seawall.

Devil in the White City is about two men, one is an architect involved with building the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, and the other is a man who was a serial killer in Chicago at the same time. It highlights the Gilded Age era, a time when on the surface things were glittery and luxurious, but there were horrible things going on beneath the surface.

[Mindthinkr]

Great. Thank you @Constant Viewer. I think I’ll definitely add them to my list. The second one sounds intriguing.  

[Black Knight]

Dave Cullen’s Columbine is fascinating, and more relevant than ever. I see he’s written a follow-up, about Parkland, and I’ll need to check that out.

[nodorothyparker]

Not a new book, but I'm deep into King Leopold's Ghost about European imperialism in Africa and the absolute shitshow of genocide and atrocities Belgian King Leopold II turned the Congo into under the guise of benevolently trying to end the Arab slave trade while stripping much of central Africa of its ivory and rubber.  Most estimates put the native population's death toll somewhere north of 10 million before it was over.

I realized after a particular chapter of Trevor Noah's terrific memoir Born a Crime about a kid named Hitler and a discussion there about how differently Westerners and Africans see great historical crimes like the Holocaust (both because they've had so many in comparison and because of the poor educations they've received as one of the lingering effects of imperialism) how sketchy my own knowledge of African history really is.  When you start asking around for books to rectify that, Adam Hochschild's book gets recommended a lot.

[Annber03]

2 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Dave Cullen’s Columbine is fascinating, and more relevant than ever. I see he’s written a follow-up, about Parkland, and I’ll need to check that out.

Ooh, really? I'll keep an eye out for that one, too, then. I need to finish reading Columbine-I started reading it on my breaks when I was working at our local bookstore, but never got a chance to finish it.

(I can't believe next year will mark twenty years already since Columbine happened. Damn.)

As for other non-fiction stuff, I'm almost finished reading a book called Storm Kings, by Lee Sandlin. It's about the history of storm chasing in this country, and highlights some of the notable people of the 1800s and early 1900s who helped shape the study of meteorology and the development of things like the National Weather Service and use of radar for following storms and stuff like that. I'm a total weather nerd, and I've grown up in Tornado Alley and have always been especially interested in stuff about severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, so this book has been a particularly fascinating read for me :D. 

[Bunty]

What with the recent eruption of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa), I thought this might be a good time to recommend a book about the original disaster-- Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester.  Simon Winchester is a former geologist.

Quote

The 1883 volcanic eruption on the island of Krakatoa, near Java, was the most devastating disaster of its kind in history. It killed almost forty thousand people and made one of the loudest sounds ever heard (it was heard more than three thousand miles away—like an explosion in San Francisco being heard in Philadelphia. Airborne ash caused worldwide temperatures to plummet and produced brilliant pink sunsets for months

https://www.newsweek.com/volcanoes-child-krakatoa-indonesia-tsunami-krakatau-java-sumatra-volcanology-1277215

[thomasdown92]

Many Lives Many Masters by Brian Weiss

The Secret by Rhonda Bryne

Psychology in Your Life 

Into The Wild 

[Epeolatrix]

Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange by Adam Scovell, and A Green and Pagan Land: Myth, Magic and Landscape in British Film and Television by David Huckvale. I have film event coming up for which I need to do a lot of reading.

[bmasters9]

Total Cat Mojo by Jackson Galaxy, host of My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet; he's written several books that I've seen in the Barnes and Noble in Greenville, and this last time I went (yesterday), it was down to Cat Daddy and this one, and I chose this one because here, he actually teaches you plenty about how to deal with cats, whereas in Cat Daddy, according to several reviews I've read, it was more about him and less about dealing with cats

[DearEvette]

I don't read a ton of non-fiction but one of my favorites is The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History by Robin Givhan.  Is a recounting of the historic night of fashion in 1973  known as 'The Battle of Versailles' which was a fashion show where five titans of French haute couture  (Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior) faced off against five (then) lesser known American scrappers of ready to wear fashion (Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows).

It took place in the palace at Versailles and was meant to be a fundraiser to restore it and to show the upstart Americans how real fashion was done.  The French had a huge budget, a dramatic grasp of theatre and home court advatange.  Also they were haute couture legends.  And the audience was filled with European royalty and big names in entertainment.  The Americans had a dollar and dream (i exaggerate but that is the hook and narrative of the story).  Also the Americans brought 30 models, 11 of whom were African American (unprecedented at the time).  And these models actually proved to be the Americans' secret weapon (unbeknownst to anyone at the time).

Being a follower of fashion I had heard a lot about that iconic night over the years, which sadly does not have a lot pictures or film to refer to because of a lot of backstage reasons.  But the book is an informative, entertaining gossipy recount of the events (plus a lot of fashion history)  with a lot of first hand accounts of the night from members of the design teams and the models themselves.

There are a couple of documentaries about the night, but one of my favorite first person reminisces is from iconic photographer Bill Cunningham.  It is worth a listen to get the scope of how important this event was in fashion history.  I love how he says "the crown heads of Europe had just seen a revolution."

[DrSparkles]

I read Educated yesterday, 7a to 1p, cover to cover. UNBELIEVABLE 

[Audpaud]

Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss

[nodorothyparker]

Just finished Gilbert King's 2013 Pulitzer Prize winner Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America.  It has maybe the best opening chapter of any nonfiction book I can remember for some time in illustrating what a towering hero figure the young civil rights crusader Thurgood Marshall was in the decades before he became a Supreme Court justice.  It does bog down in a bit in the middle with all the politicking and red baiting that was going on between civil rights organizations in the early '50s, but it's still a hell of a book with a capital rape case complete with a cast of characters straight out of To Kill a Mockingbird.

[bmasters9]

Psychologist John Gray's famous 1992 relationship book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (got it from the Goodwill in Simpsonville a time back for a pittance; cover is what led me to deem it interesting and want to get it; each part of the title is represented in different fonts on front and back covers [front has the Men part of the title in one font, and the Women part in another, and the back reverses those fonts]).

 

[bmasters9]

Bumping this up-- this is two posts in a row, but I wanted to say that, albeit I'm only 18 pages in here, this memoir by former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter and CBS News Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer seems to be something that will really hold my interest...

Edited April 9, 2020 by bmasters9

[Epeolatrix]

These are some of the books in my queue. I just started "The Third Reich in 100 Objects: A Material History of Nazi Germany" by Roger Moorhouse, about the way Nazi ideology was part of so many minor elements of German life during WW II. If this is a time & place you're interested in, you will probably like this book.

Next up:

"The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife" by Peter Gatien because everything I know about him and that club scene is filtered through the lens of Michael Alig and 'Party Monster'.

“The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables” by David Bellos in preparation for reading the whole novel in English for the first time. Before now, I'd only read a few chapters for a French class a bazillion years ago and I've forgotten everything. However, a friend wanted this for Christmas and it looked interesting enough to get my own copy.

 

[Black Knight]

I was going through my book collection pulling books for my nieces when I found my copy of Emmy E. Werner's A Conspiracy of Decency: The Rescue of the Danish Jews During World War II.

It's a remarkable story and it's amazing to me how few people know of it. An entire country, tipped off by a sympathetic German official that all the Danish Jews were about to be arrested and sent to death camps, came together and saved almost all of them, hiding them, smuggling them over to Sweden, sending care packages to keep the few who were arrested alive.

[Annber03]

Ooooh. That does sound fascinating. I'll have to look for that one. 

[Constant Viewer]

12 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I was going through my book collection pulling books for my nieces when I found my copy of Emmy E. Werner's A Conspiracy of Decency: The Rescue of the Danish Jews During World War II.

It's a remarkable story and it's amazing to me how few people know of it. An entire country, tipped off by a sympathetic German official that all the Danish Jews were about to be arrested and sent to death camps, came together and saved almost all of them, hiding them, smuggling them over to Sweden, sending care packages to keep the few who were arrested alive.

Thank you for sharing this! I knew a little thanks to Number the Stars, but would love to  know more about this.

[paramitch]

On 6/5/2016 at 3:33 PM, Babalu said:

@paramitch - thank you so much for your recommendation of Falling Through Space. I have read a lot of fiction by Ellen Gilchrist and adore her writing but hadn't heard of this and have just ordered it via Amazon. (I also much preferred Seabiscuit to Unbroken.)

I hope you enjoyed it! I loved it so, so much. And I agree on Unbroken (especially hearing whispers during and after that his personality never changed -- the rogue before imprisonment used all his tricks to survive --and I don't blame him, except that he allowed them to aggrandize himself). 

On 1/21/2019 at 11:53 AM, bmasters9 said:

Total Cat Mojo by Jackson Galaxy, host of My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet; he's written several books that I've seen in the Barnes and Noble in Greenville, and this last time I went (yesterday), it was down to Cat Daddy and this one, and I chose this one because here, he actually teaches you plenty about how to deal with cats, whereas in Cat Daddy, according to several reviews I've read, it was more about him and less about dealing with cats

Not to be  downer, but my opinion of Jackson plummeted when he admitted on Colbert that (1) he doesn't actually like cats, (2) he doesn't personally own cats and (3) he finds them tedious to manage.

I mean, come on. Way to tank a career, there, Jackson. I fucking hate him now. It's just such a huge lie. He's the "cat guy" and owns ZERO CATS.

 

[bmasters9]

On 4/13/2020 at 8:43 PM, paramitch said:

Not to be  downer, but my opinion of Jackson plummeted when he admitted on Colbert that (1) he doesn't actually like cats, (2) he doesn't personally own cats and (3) he finds them tedious to manage.

I mean, come on. Way to tank a career, there, Jackson. I fucking hate him now. It's just such a huge lie. He's the "cat guy" and owns ZERO CATS.

 

Did not realize until you said that that he didn't actually have any cats; nonetheless, it might surprise you, but this is actually not a dealbreaker for me (I have three myself, all 2-year-olds, and they get along very well).