Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439717 times)

Frybabe · « **Reply #2400 on:** January 10, 2013, 12:26:33 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 was browsing around, looking for interesting books and came up with this one, in last September: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo I am putting in on my wish list.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Count-Revolution-Betrayal-Cristo/dp/030738246X/ref=sr_1_101?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357838294&sr=1-101&keywords=in+man+and+beast

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2401 on:** January 16, 2013, 07:08:32 PM »

The History Channel's programming for the evening is Ultimate Guide to the Presidents from 7-11. It looks like they are going to be good shows.

Jean

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2402 on:** January 17, 2013, 09:50:49 PM »

I'm now reading Quiet by Susan Cain, the other book on "introversion". It's much better then Introvert Power. She writes about a lot of studies, but it's very interestingly written. There is something more endearing about it then Introvert Power. It's more personal even though she is talking about a lot of new studies and info.

Every parent, teacher, family member, co-worker - IOW, everybody - should read this. We'd understand each other much more precisely and stop thinking others aredoing "something TO me" instead of understanding that they are working w/ in their comfort zone.

Jean

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2403 on:** January 21, 2013, 11:17:42 AM »

I am just about to wrap up "A Train in Winter" by Caroline Moorehead. As the cover states:
An Extraordinary story of women, friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France. As one might expect, not a book with much happiness, but a power to move the reader. For some of us, a deep look into this subject and in areas we had not been privy to, especially as concerns the French Resistance.

It is a heavy subject indeed. Written exceeding well.

marjifay · « **Reply #2404 on:** January 22, 2013, 11:44:56 AM »

A Train in Winter sounds interesting, Tomreader. I've added it to my TBR list. Thanks,

Marj

salan · « **Reply #2405 on:** February 01, 2013, 12:35:44 PM »

I am usually not a fan of non-fiction, but I now find myself reading 2 nf books for my book clubs. So far, I am finding both very interesting. They are: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", and The Hare With the Golden Eyes. I will let you know when I finish. I watched The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents. It was very good & informative. I also dvr'd The Men Who Formed America. I've watched all but one episode and it has been excellent. I wish the History Channel would do more shows of this quality. Unfortunately, (imo) a lot of what they show is boring and unrelatable to me.
Sally

maryz · « **Reply #2406 on:** February 01, 2013, 12:51:20 PM »

Sally, glad you're enjoying "Henrietta Lacks". If you go to booktv.org, you might be able to still find one of the interviews they did with the author of the book. The story of how she came to write the book, and what happened while she was researching and writing is interesting, too.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2407 on:** February 03, 2013, 02:22:44 PM »

Kim Komando often has interesting sites to pass along in her newsletters. This is the latest:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ If you are interested in early Christian religion/history.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2408 on:** February 03, 2013, 02:29:45 PM »

Do not know who is Kim Komando but this is a great site - thanks for passing it on to us Frybabe.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2409 on:** February 03, 2013, 03:01:22 PM »

Kim Komando has a weekly radio program and website for "all things digital". She offers all kinds of info and advice, and checks out every website and application she recommends. http://www.komando.com/

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2410 on:** February 03, 2013, 03:47:05 PM »

Where is she located - or rather where does the show originate - do you listen to her - need to look at the link but I had not heard of her and the show sounds interesting.

JoanK · « **Reply #2411 on:** February 03, 2013, 05:49:04 PM »

FRY: thanks, I got a number of good tips from that article. For example, I didn't know Ctrl-Z was undo for everything, not just my solitaire game.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2412 on:** February 03, 2013, 06:56:57 PM »

Barb, at the bottom of her home page there is a link to her bio - click on About Kim. The WestStar Radio Network was founded by her and talk-radio host Barry Young, and it is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ. Her radio show is three hours long and, here, it is run on Sunday evenings.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2413 on:** February 03, 2013, 07:41:40 PM »

aha great thanks - her site is quite interesting - for some of the tips my computer is too old - I have a much newer lap top but for some reason I hardly use it.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2414 on:** February 04, 2013, 11:14:16 AM »

I've been getting Komomdo's newsletters for a couple years, very informative. I just can't remember all of the info, but she has a good search engine on her site to answer almost any question, even those we don'r knw we want an answer for.

Jean

bellemere · « **Reply #2415 on:** February 06, 2013, 08:46:59 AM »

finally finished Catherine the Great, on my Nook with enlarged type, thank goodness.
robert Massie is a great historian, taking the reader through some of the most complex times in European history. He finds a lt to admire in Catherine, but whe was essentially an autocrat, devoted to the idea of absolute monarchy. And her succession of "favorites" is almost ludicrous.
Massie makes use of a lot ofprimary sources, he must have spent years and ears on this book.
I didn't like it as much as "nicholas and
alexandra" but am glad I had the chance to read it.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2416 on:** February 14, 2013, 12:12:16 AM »

Babi · « **Reply #2417 on:** February 14, 2013, 09:06:01 AM »

What lovely roses, BARB. Thanks for sending us all this valentine.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2418 on:** February 14, 2013, 07:51:19 PM »

One way of me getting roses without having a Allergy attach.

I can't be around most flowers of any kind. (have to be silk).

I broke off with a male friend I had had for a long time. He had a arraignment with a florist that a doz. roses delivered to my house every Friday night for a whole year after that. (spitefull). Never let him know that Another friend had his mother in a Nursing home and so she received them and enjoyed.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2419 on:** February 17, 2013, 09:23:55 AM »

Well, my next reading choice (one of them) is made. I grabbed a book quick to have something to read while waiting for George at the diner yesterday. It is Two Under the Indian Sun by Jon and Rumer Godden, and is a memoir of their childhood in India.

I am still reading, slowly, through Prudhomme's The Ripple Effect. I am to Part III and not even half way through. Surprising how slowly I am reading it since the subject matter interests me and he is not a hard author to follow.

Babi · « **Reply #2420 on:** February 17, 2013, 09:53:29 AM »

I, too, am surprised at how slowly I'm reading Follett's "Pillars of the World". Partly, I think because it's
not a book from the library that I must return. Partly it's the necessity to keep up with the discussion on
the other book I'm reading. But also, I think, simply because I enjoy going back to that time and am not
in a hurry to finish the book. Savoring slowly can be very nice.

JeanneP · « **Reply #2421 on:** February 17, 2013, 01:57:52 PM »

I decided Follett's "Pillars of the world" to long a book and so picked up the DVD set at the library. Even those will take hours.

JoanK · « **Reply #2422 on:** February 17, 2013, 02:53:33 PM »

I'm reading a book about the race to be the first to cross the Atlantic non-stop by plane("Atlantic Fever"). it's very interesting - the characters and incidents carry me along. But it is 400 pages of small print: not sure I'll finish it.

Babi · « **Reply #2423 on:** February 18, 2013, 08:45:15 AM »

Since I now find it best to read even regular print with my glasses, I don't even consider trying the small
print. I wonder why the small print is even used. To give the book fewer pages? To make a book you can
stick in your pocket? Well, I guess I can see the usefulness of that last.

maryz · « **Reply #2424 on:** February 18, 2013, 10:50:40 AM »

My inability to hold a large book was the reason I got my first e-reader. Being able to change the size of the print and the page/print contrast were just bonuses. I really prefer the e-reader to a traditional book now.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2425 on:** February 18, 2013, 03:15:28 PM »

I absolutely hate using the Kindle - I get a cramp in my hand - all this tapping drives me nuts - I can not see the thickness of the book or edges of the page so I have no idea where I am in the book - trying to retrieve the cover or publishers page is almost impossible -

The only reason I use it is there are so many books I can download free or for 2.99 or less and even buying a used book for a penny when adding the shipping since used books are not included in Prime the total is $4. Some books are fun or with household tips or gift making information that spending even $4 seems like too much - so those are the books on my kindle plus the one I can borrow and even that usually does not include some of the Prime books I would like to read - for some reason not all Prime books are available to borrow - and so I am not a fan of this hand held device -

I still prefer a hardback and will get a used copy over a new paperback in a New York minute. I like to sit in the corner of my sofa and make a lap that the books sits in with my feet together up on the cushion I place on the mega size coffee table. I have a good lamp the end table has a drawer with pencils and paper place marks even cream for my hands and on top is a large ashtray that I use as a coffee tray - all set for hours with a pile of books next to me on the sofa including a rather large dictionary.

JoanK · « **Reply #2426 on:** February 18, 2013, 04:34:30 PM »

It's nice that we're all so different. I love my kindle. Just passed 400 books in archives after a little over two years. But I feel guilty: I'm contributing to the monopoly of bookselling and close of bookstores.

I hope they don't close the B&N near me. it's always crowded, but that doesn't seem to matter.

salan · « **Reply #2427 on:** February 21, 2013, 06:58:35 AM »

I just finished The Amazing Life of Henrietta Lacks and will go to my ftf book club today to discuss it. I thought it was interesting and informative; but it went on tooooo long imo. I got tired of reading it and just skimmed the last 100 pages. The book could have used a lot of editing.
Sally

maryz · « **Reply #2428 on:** February 21, 2013, 08:23:50 AM »

As much as I liked that book, Sally, I would agree that it needed more editing.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2429 on:** February 23, 2013, 07:30:29 AM »

A book I plan on reading. During my high school years I read quite a few books about WWII including a favorite, Is Paris Burning. A Train in Winter is about 230 women resistance members sent to Auschwitz. Thanks to Marilyn over on Seniors and Friends for mentioning it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8734878/A-Train-in-Winter-A-Story-of-Resistance-Friendship-and-Survival-by-Caroline-Moorehead-review.html

ginny · « **Reply #2430 on:** February 23, 2013, 10:52:52 AM »

There's a quite moving plaque in the Gard du Nord station in Paris alongside the train tracks to those who were shipped from there to the concentration camps.

It really does stop you cold, I thought it was so sad.

I'm reading Rome by Robert Hughes. I like it, it's different, sort of a paean to Rome but filled with anecdotes of history and art. Doesn't sound good but it is, and I don't usually like this kind of book.

He's Australian, he died this past August, and is the author of The Fatal Shore, about the beginning of Australia, about which I know nothing. When The Fatal Shore came out there were rave reviews. For some reason I have never read it. Has anybody read any of his books?

Right now I'm in his "Foundation" chapter in Rome where he gives some early Roman history as background, sort of a Rick Steves capsule. He was apparently the foremost art critic of our day, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the Baroque and Renaissance. Rome is such a treasure box, and even in these early chapters, he's captured that.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2431 on:** February 23, 2013, 12:37:08 PM »

Oh Darn, Ginny! I almost ordered A Fatal Shore this morning when I ordered The Silent Cry, The Road to Delphi: Scenes from the History of Oracles (Michael Wood), and the third from Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series. My Library has A Fatal Shore, so it is on my wish list for the future. My next nonfiction read will be A Train in Winter which I just ordered from the Library.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2432 on:** February 24, 2013, 12:22:32 PM »

MaryPage, I found this article about Elizabeth of Bohemia I expect will interest you. I know I found it interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21532311

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2433 on:** February 24, 2013, 12:48:08 PM »

Wonderful article Frybabe. I'd love to see a "most powerful women" list of American women. Maybe we can ecourage CSPAN or the HISTORY Channel to do that for next year's Women's History Month. ( i think her head must have hurt on her wedding day, that crown and allthose strings of jewels among her braids. )

I had not heard of her before.

Would you repost in "Women's Issues?" i think they would all enjoy reading about her.

Jean

marjifay · « **Reply #2434 on:** February 24, 2013, 12:52:59 PM »

I read Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore several years ago. Very interesting book about the founding of Australia.

Thanks, Ginny, for recommendig his book on Rome. I'll look for it.

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #2435 on:** February 24, 2013, 02:57:14 PM »

I've heard of Elizabeth of Bhoemia, but usually in a genealogy sense or on the periphery somewhere.

JoanK · « **Reply #2436 on:** February 24, 2013, 03:37:29 PM »

An amazing woman!

Babi · « **Reply #2437 on:** February 25, 2013, 08:56:33 AM »

A colorful story, FRYBABE. I am puzzled, though, as to why this Elizabeth was
called 'powerful'. Very wealthy, plainly. But she and her husband ruled for only
six months and, so far as I could tell from the article, had no other positions of
power.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2438 on:** February 25, 2013, 01:30:05 PM »

Babi, I think it is because she spent years and years pulling strings behind the scenes for Protestant causes and in support of Protestant exiles and refugees. She was apparently influential in Protestant and political circles, contrary to previous biographies which painted her as rather passive.

After being exiled and losing her husband, she also spent many years in trying, ultimately successfully, to get her son, Charles Louis, reinstated as Elector Palatine. Conflicting information says that either her son refused to allow her to come back to the Palatine to be with him, or she voluntarily stayed in exile.

Elizabeth's daughter married the future Elector of Hanover. Their son became George I of England the first of the Hanoverian line to the throne of England.

Her correspondence of over 2,000 letters was recently published in three Volumes and was edited by Nadine Akkerman, who received a PhD, cum laud for her dissertation work.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2439 on:** February 25, 2013, 09:06:28 PM »

First Ladies series starting now on CSPAN2. On Monday nights for several months!! Great series!

News:

Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439717 times)