Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439766 times)

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1760 on:** June 22, 2011, 12:14:01 PM »

TO NONFICTION BOOK TALK

What are you reading? Autobiographies, biographies, history, politics?

Tell us about the book; the good and the bad of it.

Let's talk books!

Discussion Leader: HaroldArnold

I'm afraid I dragged him in re that Prestonpans tapestry

Happy to drag him out again.....

Rosemary

JoanK · « **Reply #1761 on:** June 22, 2011, 08:11:30 PM »

GUM: I think I'll give that one a miss. I read Scott as a romantic teenager, and thought he was WONDERFUL! I wonder what I'd think now.

Babi · « **Reply #1762 on:** June 23, 2011, 08:15:37 AM »

Quote

I think it's in ten volumes....

Uh, no, I think I'll pass on that one, GUM.

Jonathan · « **Reply #1763 on:** June 23, 2011, 02:17:37 PM »

Ten volumes is probably more than anyone wants to know, or has time for. Endless letters and memos, laundry lists and social teas and notebook entries. Why not try the one volume edition, based on Lockhart's own 'shorter history.' My 1915 reprint of the original EVERYMAN'S edition has this by the editor: 'Scott's biographer was a remarkable compressor of the overmuch into the enough.'

Scott never seems to have suffered from writer's block. Opening the book at random, this caught my eye:

Unlike, I believe, most men, whenever Scott neared the end of one composition, his spirit seems to have caught a new spring of buoyancy, and before the last sheet was sent from his desk he had crowded his brain with the imagination of another fiction.

Did Scott do any one volume thing that summed it all up? The fiction.

serenesheila · « **Reply #1764 on:** June 28, 2011, 12:25:49 AM »

I am presently reading "In The Garden Of Beasts", by Erik Larson. It is described as a narrative non fiction. It concerns a family moving to Berlin in 1933, when the man is appointed Ambassador by FDR. It is an easy read, and very informative. That time period intrigues me. What would it have been like for an American family to move to Berlin, at that time?

I am not sure when the book ends. The review I read says: "The result is a dazzling, addictive readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler, until Berlin and Europe, were awash in blood and terror".

Sheila

Frybabe · « **Reply #1765 on:** June 28, 2011, 08:14:43 AM »

I am still reading Lucretia Borgia by Ferdinand Gregorovius (1904). The first third of the book concentrates more on the cultural and political atmosphere and events surrounding Lucretia than on her. Only now that she is about to embark on her third marriage does the author begin to show his vague support for her. I am to the point where rumors are circulating about an incestuous affair with her brother Don Giovanni. There is nothing officially to support or deny the rumors. The author, so far, is presenting Lucretia more as a pawn (occasionally willingly) to her Father's and her brother Caesar's wishes. In fact, Caesar is being cast as a really nasty guy. His good ol' Pope Dad is supporting him even though he disregards his Dad's commands on occasion.

What a dangerous game these people play. The politics and vacillating allegiances of the city-states is mind boggling and difficult to keep up with.

pedln · « **Reply #1766 on:** July 01, 2011, 12:30:17 PM »

An interesting discussion here, including all the fiction. I'd forgotten that we read Ivanhoe im -- 9th grade? Silas Marner in 10?. Would Scott be a worthwhile read again?

JOanK and Sheila, you both are reading books that I think I'd like to read -- The Covert Affair and In the Garden of the Beasts. One of my friends in my f2f group reads all the Erik Larsons, but after each one she says, "It was okay, but not as good as Devil in White City. How do you think it compares, Sheila. And JoanK, should I read Covert Affair before My Life in France?

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1767 on:** July 01, 2011, 10:23:08 PM »

I got the first season of "The Tudors" at the library last night. The first disk was frustrating because it kept stopping, but i finally got thru it. It had the first three episodes. Henry is still with Kathryn, but Ann Boleyn has entered the picture. The costumes and scenery are wonderful. I checked, they won an Emmy in 2008 and awards from Irish Films. Wikipedia lists some liberties they took w/ history, but it's entertaining, none the less.

Jean

roshanarose · « **Reply #1768 on:** July 02, 2011, 12:58:43 AM »

Jean - I am watching "The Tudors" on TV. It was on last night. Henry continues to have problems - or you could say Bad Karma. So far, apart from Henry himself (well at least the actor is Welsh) my favourite character has been Anne Boleyn. She acts the part very well, very convincingly. If anyone wants me to go out Friday nights - they have no chance

It is a sumptuous feast, indeed.

Babi · « **Reply #1769 on:** July 02, 2011, 09:29:54 AM »

Ah, yes, JEAN. The entertainment industry is not about to let a few facts
get in the way of entrancing the viewer.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1770 on:** July 02, 2011, 01:44:16 PM »

The whole story of Henry's sister Margaret marrying and then killing the OLD king of Portugal and marrying Henry's friend was a total fiction. Based on the other events' timeline, she would have already been married to James of Scotland. That's more than taking liberties to enhance a story line in my opinion. ......... There are more nude females in this series than in anything else i've ever seen....... Come on you fifteen-year-old boy directors, it gets boring after a while to the adults you want as viewers.

Jean

CallieOK · « **Reply #1771 on:** July 02, 2011, 03:06:10 PM »

Jean, that's exactly how I felt about all the sex scenes!

I had watched all but the last program in the series. That night, I went to a granddaughter's recital - and forgot to record it. From the previews, I think the series must have ended with Anne B.'s beheading. Am I correct?
Are we to expect another season for Lady Jane?

Just answered my own question

I found the Showtime Channel information on the series and learned that I had seen Season One and all but the final episode of Season Two. If Season Three followed - I didn't know about it.
No seasons are being currently shown on Showtime.

serenesheila · « **Reply #1772 on:** July 02, 2011, 08:35:55 PM »

I am recording the Tudors on Showtime. I hadn't read it, when it was first shown. So far, it is offering shows #1-9. My daughter raved about how wonderful the series was. I have no idea if there will be more seasons to come.

As for "Garden of the Beasts", I haven't finished it, yet. Nor have I read any of the author's other books.

Sheila

CallieOK · « **Reply #1773 on:** July 02, 2011, 09:38:08 PM »

I'm slightly more than half way through "Garden of the Beasts". It isn't as intense as I expected it to be but I can't exactly say I'm "enjoying" it. It is a glimpse of an era about which I know very little.
I suspect I will know as much as I care to by the time I finish the book.

JoanK · « **Reply #1774 on:** July 05, 2011, 07:57:29 PM »

PEDLIN: " should I read Covert Affair before My Life in France?"

Not necessarily. I assume "My Life in France" is by Julia Child? She is a character in "Covert", and it occurs before she goes to France, but she is not the main focus --it's not really her biography. It might be "neater" to read them in order, but I don't think it would make much difference if you didn't.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1775 on:** July 09, 2011, 06:07:32 PM »

I just got a wonderful book through Amazon for just $8.00. "Herstory:a Timeline of the Women Who Changed America". It briefly mentions over 900 women and is chuck full of wonderful pictures of either the women or the artifacts related to them. Unfortunately it was written in 2007, so it doesn't include Sarah or Hillary.

There is a very nice foreward by Madeleine Albright. If you have grandchildren - girls or boys - it would be a wonderful gift. I'm going to order at least one more for our library, it's a wonderful jumping off point for men, women, girls and boys to explore and then delve into women's contributions in our history.

The authors, Charlotte Waisman and Jill Tietjen, have very thoughtfully provided an alphabetical, by name, index and a professions index. They are both involved in leadership and mentoring programs for girls. Tietjen began compiling a list after being in a group of well-educated women, none of whom knew who Margaret Sanger was. She went looking for a comprehensive women's history to use with her young women who were interested in technical and science fields, and didn't find what she was looking for, so she began her own project.

It is a beautiful book, one i will want to pick up and pick thru often even though i have a good background in women's history. ........

Jean

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1776 on:** July 10, 2011, 03:02:57 AM »

Jean - I just checked Amazon and it seems there is a new edition due out next year, so maybe that will include Palin. Clinton, etc?

Rosemary

Babi · « **Reply #1777 on:** July 10, 2011, 08:58:51 AM »

JEAN, I can only hope that Sarah Palin is just a blip, and will leave no
lasting mark. Sorry, but I find nothing admirable about the woman. Hillary,
of course, is living a major chapter.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1778 on:** July 10, 2011, 02:48:13 PM »

I'm not a fan of Sarah either, but she is the personification, and most famous person, of the right wing of the Republican party and was the second woman to run for vice-president.

One of the interesting aspects of this book is it includes sev'l Confederate woman. We know about Clara Barton and other nurses of Union soldiers, and women who spied for the Union or raised money for the Union, but we don't have many of those stories about Confederate women - after all, they were "the enemy", so they were not heroes in U.S. history. "The winners write the history..........." What i'm saying is that the book is very inclusive in all kinds of ways, including the non-politically correct women.

Jean

marjifay · « **Reply #1779 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:00:42 PM »

Babi said, " I can only hope that Sarah Palin is just a blip, and will leave no
lasting mark. Sorry, but I find nothing admirable about the woman. Hillary,
of course, is living a major chapter."

I agree in spades, Babi. I enjoyed Hillary's autobiography, Living History.

Marj

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1780 on:** July 10, 2011, 04:13:55 PM »

Unfortunately Margaret Thatcher was not a blip

Rosemary

Babi · « **Reply #1781 on:** July 11, 2011, 08:43:46 AM »

Granted, JEAN, but there is a thin line between 'famous' and 'notorious'.

I hadn't realized all those well-known ladies from the civil war era were on
the Northern side, but of course you are right who is writing the history. How about you, JEAN. I'll bet you could write a book about some of those neglected ladies.

Well, ROSEMARY, any woman with her power and her influence on the course of the nation could hardly be dismissed. It's kind of like seeing a 7-ft, 300-pound nude man in middle of the road and trying to ignore him. $:-\$

marjifay · « **Reply #1782 on:** July 11, 2011, 02:58:09 PM »

"It's kind of like seeing a 7-ft, 300-pound nude man in middle of the road and trying to ignore him."

Funny, Babi!. I don't remember reading that much about Thatcher except she and Reagan seemed to be good friends, and since I didn't like Reagan at the time, the feeling rubbed off onto her. I really should read about her--I know she's written several books about those times.

I watched Adam Hochschild on BookTV yesterday talk about his book TO END ALL WARS, and I want to read it. He talked about some of the very interesting people who were so much against the "Great War" who were put into prison for speaking out their views. One woman who traveled back and forth without proper papers between France and Germany talking to influencial people trying desperately to get them to agree to stop the war. It's available on BookTV.com to watch and it's worth it just to hear the song he plays at the end by some Scottish writer, who sings at the grave of a 19-year-old who died in the war..."Did they beat the drums, slowly, lad,... start the words... So sad you can't help the tears that come. Beautiful song.

Marge

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1783 on:** July 11, 2011, 04:38:17 PM »

Marjifay - Thatcher was a terrible woman who did everything she could to disempower the trade unions, brought the mining industry to an end, and went to war over a few small islands in the middle of nowhere. People thought that because she was female she would advance the cause of women in general - in fact she did the opposite of that, she was one of those women who essentially behave like a man, and who have no time for helping anyone else - her attitude was "I've made it so why can't they?" I lived in London at the time that she was finally unseated - I remember being on a bus in Brixton, and as the rumour spread around the bus that she had gone, the feeling of shared elation was really quite amazing.

Rosemary

roshanarose · « **Reply #1784 on:** July 11, 2011, 10:50:57 PM »

Sarah Palin is our answer to Pauline Hanson. If you haven't heard of Hanson, be very happy. But for the record, just a taste of her maiden speech to Parliament. Hanson began the great divide in the Australian population, John Howard finished it. Although professing to despise Hanson, John Howard actually paraphrased parts of this speech to demonise refugees.

Immigration and multiculturalism are issues that this government is trying to address, but for far too long ordinary Australians have been kept out of any debate by the major parties. I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished. I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. Between 1984 and 1995, 40 per cent of all migrants coming into this country were of Asian origin. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate. Of course, I will be called racist but, if I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country. A truly multicultural country can never be strong or united. The world is full of failed and tragic examples, ranging from Ireland to Bosnia to Africa and, closer to home, Papua New Guinea. America and Great Britain are currently paying the price. Arthur Calwell was a great Australian and Labor leader, and it is a pity that there are not men of his stature sitting on the opposition benches today. Arthur Calwell said: Japan, India, Burma, Ceylon and every new African nation are fiercely anti-white and anti one another. Do we want or need any of these people here? I am one red-blooded Australian who says no and who speaks for 90% of Australians. I have no hesitation in echoing the words of Arthur Calwell.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1785 on:** July 12, 2011, 02:12:55 AM »

Whew. Sounds like the great lady Thatcher could have written that too. Would be interesting to trace this lot's own ancestry.

Rosemary

Gumtree · « **Reply #1786 on:** July 12, 2011, 04:31:58 AM »

Rosemary:

Quote

Unfortunately Margaret Thatcher was not a blip

Nor is our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard who admires Thatcher enormously to the point of trying to model herself on her.

Roshanarose - good analogy between Palin and Hanson...
Howard sure spat the dummy on that occasion. To my mind the mistake they make is to promote multiculturalism rather than cosmopolitanism. One is divisive the other unifying.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #1787 on:** July 12, 2011, 07:09:45 AM »

Talking about woman who affected their world have any of you read The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story - I didn't realize it is a true story and it has been showing up on the charts for months now.

Babi · « **Reply #1788 on:** July 12, 2011, 10:04:59 AM »

Oops. Actually, MARJ, I didn't mean that as a description of Margaret Thatcher herself.
It was just a simile of how powerful and influential she was in her role. I really should be more careful. She can easily be disliked; she just can't be ignored.

I knew nothing about Pauline Hanson and John Howard, but I recognize the type. There always
seem to be some around and they're not bashful about putting forth their 'us against them'
viewpoints. And the 'us' always seems to be exceedingly narrow.

marjifay · « **Reply #1789 on:** July 12, 2011, 04:57:16 PM »

Yes, Barb, I read The Zookeeper's Wife sometime ago. A great true story. I was surprised that so many of the Polish people risked their lives to save the Jews in Warsaw. I don't know why, but I'd heard they were quite anti-semetic, but either that was wrong or else there were a good many who looked to the Jews there as friends and good members of their community.

And, I knew you were not describing Thatcher, Babi. But a great analogy of something/someone you can't ignore! LOL

Marge

JoanK · « **Reply #1790 on:** July 12, 2011, 05:03:55 PM »

Not all influential women wee/are good. A book about men who changed history would have to include hitler after all.

" we don't have many of those stories about Confederate women - after all, they were "the enemy", so they were not heroes in U.S. history. "The winners write the history."

I was interested, when I read "Reveille in Washingtom" by Margeret Leech, the story of washington DC during the Civil war, to read some fascinating stories of women who spied for the Confederacy, women I had never heard of.

Babi · « **Reply #1791 on:** July 13, 2011, 09:02:05 AM »

Quote

Not all influential women wee/are good. A book about men who changed history would have to include hitler after all.

Good point, JOANK. I trust, though, that nothing Palin does is going to
change history. She will, tho', be a least a footnote. She is the first woman
nominated to be a VP, isn't she?

maryz · « **Reply #1792 on:** July 13, 2011, 02:04:20 PM »

No, Babi - remember Geraldine Ferraro - VP candidate with Walter Mondale.

Emily · « **Reply #1793 on:** July 13, 2011, 02:50:56 PM »

Quote

" we don't have many of those stories about Confederate women - after all, they were "the enemy", so they were not heroes in U.S. history. "The winners write the history."

This is the Civil War Sesquicentennial so there are many articles appearing in the local papers and magazines. Many southerners kept journals and diaries. Many have been printed and are mostly in family and historical archives.

I just read the account from the diaries of a private in the Army of Tennessee. A former classmate and friend had it printed and sent me a copy. There are copies in the State archives, local library, and the National battlefield memorial park at Stones River. The private was her great-great grandfather, and at Stones River where her great-great Uncle died during that battle.

Even though I am reading the New York Times book excerpts they have put together and are publishing in the paper this year, I have decided not to read any published books on the war by people who were not there. I will only read published diaries this year and there are many, but one has to search them out.

I found one in our Electric Membership Corporation magazine this month. It is the diary of Margaret Lee Henegar. An excerpt...

Quote

Union Gen. William Sherman stood on the porch of Margaret Lee Henegar's home in Charleston, Tenn. Yet to embark on his devastating "March to the Sea" to sever Confederate supply lines and scorch the countryside from Atlanta to Savannah, Ga., the general was using the Henegar House as a headquarters. He urged Mrs. Henegar to move her family, but she refused, saying she would not abandon her family homestead. (there is a photo of the house which still stands)

"When I am through with the South not even a bird will fly here", Sherman said to Henegar, whose story lives today through a journal she kept.

Tennessee was second to Virginia in the number of battles that occured on its land, so there are many markers and 'The Tennessee Civil War Trails' has marked the major battles and also many sites of conflict or interest.

We have formed the Tennessee Trails discussion group, and so far have read three journals and diaries and visited some of the sites of the events. Much more interesting than the NYT site, we know the outcome and history, but not the human side of what happened here.

Emily

Emily · « **Reply #1794 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:42:58 PM »

Anyone who watched Ken Burns documentary surely has heard of Mary Boykin Chesnut who was quoted throughout the film. She kept a diary during the war, and here is an excerpt from her biography. She was a southern woman from South Carolina.

Quote

Chesnut's diary
In February 1861 Mary began a diary that recorded the explosive happenings around her during the years of the Civil War. Following her husband on his duties in the South, she provides a firsthand view of the political world of the Confederacy (the name for the Southern states that had seceded and fought as a group). After the war's first battles, she soon began to write of the horrors of the war as well. She recorded the stories she heard about various battles as well as her personal experiences, including tending sick and wounded soldiers and mourning the loss of friends and acquaintances. She strongly criticized the decisions of Southern leaders, and she complained about her lack of power as a woman in the South.

As the war worsened for the South, defeat seemed impossible to avoid by the beginning of 1865. To avoid danger, Mary moved to North Carolina, where, with growing hopelessness, she recorded the news of the Confederate army's collapse. In April of 1865, Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) surrendered in Appomattox, Virginia, ending the Civil War.

Publication of diary
After the war the Chesnuts returned to Camden. In 1873 Mary began to evaluate the extensive diaries that she had compiled during the war, and eventually she decided to publish them. While working to prepare and polish the material over the next few years, she published one story from her diary in the Charleston Weekly News and Courier. This was the only item that Mary published during her life.

In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Mary's work was interrupted by a series of illnesses affecting her lungs and heart. Both her husband and mother had died in January 1885, and she was left depressed and with a reduced income. She died of a heart attack in Camden on November 22, 1886.

After Mary's death, printed versions of her work appeared in the early 1900s. Although editors removed some material, even these incomplete versions became extremely popular for their wealth of information about the difficulties of Southern life during the Civil War. The diary also revealed her strong support for greater rights for Southern women, whom Mary felt were also enduring a kind of slavery in the traditional male-dominated society of the South. In 1981 a publication entitled Mary Chesnut's Civil War provided for the first time the complete version of her diary, revealing the full depths of Mary Chesnut's valuable personal history of the Civil War.

I had not read Mary Chesnut's diary, but the Ken Burns documentary on PBS introduced her to the entire country.

Emily

maryz · « **Reply #1795 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:46:52 PM »

Emily, obviously you're from Tennessee, too. I'm in Chattanooga. Which part of the state? (if you don't mind saying)

Emily · « **Reply #1796 on:** July 13, 2011, 05:00:35 PM »

Mary, I'm in Middle Tennessee. We are called the Highland Rim, but it is so hot today, it feels more like a swamp. I am nearer Nashville than Chattanooga.

Emily

maryz · « **Reply #1797 on:** July 13, 2011, 05:45:36 PM »

Emily, we lived in Hendersonville for 24 years, have been here for 25 years. One daughter still lives in Nashville, one in Hillsboro (near Manchester).

mabel1015j · « **Reply #1798 on:** July 13, 2011, 07:37:29 PM »

Yes! Mary Chestnut gave us a wonderful picture of a woman in the Confederacy and is quoted now in almost any narrative of the Civil War.

The Herstory Timeline includes Belle Boyd who lived in what is now W. Va. who raised money for the Conf'y, charmed info out of Union officers, acted as a courier because of her riding skills and knowlegde of the Shenandoah Valley, smuggled supplies and quinine to Conf trps. She was discovered as a spy, captured "on sev'l ocassions and punished".

I'm going to have to find out more about her.

This was in my email today from a history site "wonders and marvels", a new book about Harriet Beecher Stowe's influence on history.

http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2011/07/mightier-than-the-sword.html

Those Beechers were something else.

Jean

Octavia · « **Reply #1799 on:** July 13, 2011, 10:05:39 PM »

I remember reading a lot about your 'Iron Lady'. Rosemary.Very formidable.
What stuck in my mind about the Falklands War was seeing the queen as just a mother whose son(Prince Andrew) was in combat. She must have thought of all the mothers and widows she'd talked to through the years.
Roshanarose, I spend a lot of time going into bat for refugees, a lot of people insist on calling them 'illegals' and 'boat people' and vilify them. I always try to put myself in their place, and ask myself 'what if it was my child', wouldn't I try anything to give them a better life?
Howard made a public show of rejecting the people on the Tampa, but later quietly processed them into Australia. People only remembered the "we will decide who comes to Australia, and the manner in which they come' speech.
I think of the people in wretched poverty, who invited my sons into their homes and shared the little they had with the visitor.

News:

Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439766 times)