I see that our library has The Swerve. I'll pick it up next time. I finished Setting a Course: American Women in the 1920s. It was very good. It is part of a series published, i think, in the 1980s and 90s, each book covering a decade of the 20th century. I mentioned it before, but having finished it, i was very impressed. It was academic in research and detail, but very readable. The chapters are on specific issues: the "new woman", work, education, religion - a very interesting chapter to me, because it gave me a lot of new info, culture - a large section on women in literature, etc. I will look for the other books in the series.
I am almost finished w/ Wild, a memoir of a young woman, Cheryl Strayed, who made some really bad decisions in her young life, was devastated by the death of her mother and then impulsively decided to hike the Pacific Coast Trail alone. It has been on the NYT best-seller list for months. She is the epitome of the feelings most of us have of the dichotomy of courage/self-confidence vs doubting who she is and what she is capable of. it is compelling reading, but sometimes i just want to smack her (symbolically) and say "Think!" For instance, she made almost no preparation for this tremedous hike, no physical training, no studying about what previous hikers suggested, etc. I reccommend it anyway.
I see she has a novel coming out this month.
