Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439669 times)

marjifay · « **Reply #2880 on:** June 16, 2016, 03:16:18 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

In my last message, I meant to say I wondered how Henrik Ibsen could have written such a play (not such a film).

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #2881 on:** June 17, 2016, 12:49:58 AM »

Understood. I'll bet there's lots written about the feminist movement in England. But I'll bet it's harder to find info on other countries.

I had always given Ibsen props for "The Doll House," and never knew about his mother-in-law (or even that there was a feminist movement in Norway. Interesting. How do the times match similar movements in US and England?

kidsal · « **Reply #2882 on:** August 03, 2016, 08:47:38 PM »

Recommend The Silk Roads by Frankopan. The history we were never taught in school of how the world was influenced by the East as well as the West.

evergreen · « **Reply #2883 on:** August 04, 2016, 02:18:24 PM »

kidsal - thank you for recommending Peter Frankopan's new book. I looked it up on Amazon, and it has received excellent reviews from some serious critics. I love history, but it seems there haven't been too many serious histories published recently (or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places). Thanks for recommending it.

bellamarie · « **Reply #2884 on:** August 13, 2016, 03:00:25 PM »

I just bought a wonderful book at Barnes and Noble yesterday called National Geographic Revised Edition CONCISE HISTORY of the WORLD (An illustrated Time Line) by Neil Kagan. It begins Prehistory-3000 B.E.C. And goes up to 2011. I have never been a History reader, but this book had me so excited I spent two hours in their Cafe reading it. I lost track of time.

I recently finished The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, about the two Grimke sisters who were among the first women abolitionists. A very good book.

Marj. A Doll's House sounds like a movie I would like. Thanks for mentioning it.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2885 on:** August 14, 2016, 07:01:35 AM »

This may be an interesting book for those of you, like me, like Science: The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel (Viking, Dec.) A women's history, Publisher's Weekly says "...little-known true story of the unexpected and remarkable contributions to astronomy made by a group of women working in the Harvard College Observatory from the late 19th century through the mid-20th..." It will be out in December.

Another science oriented books coming out in October. Time Travel: A History by James Gleick (Pantheon, Oct.). It covers time travel in literature, philosophy and science.

Both of these book look like they are worthy of recommending to my library. We've been culling many of our books in preparation for our move downstairs in the township building. There, we will have direct outside access and will be open on Saturdays. We still haven't got a date yet, but it will be soon.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2886 on:** August 15, 2016, 06:44:41 AM »

This book will be released at the beginning of September. I look forward to reading it or watching the movie to be released in January 2017.

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race – September 6, 2016
by Margot Lee Shetterly (Author) http://margotleeshetterly.com/hidden-figures-nasas-african-american-computers/

IMDB info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2887 on:** August 16, 2016, 02:59:32 PM »

Those recommendations all sound good.

Frybabe, you may like Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America's Environment by Robert Musil. I used it as a resource this past spring in a women's history presentation at our library.

See "The Library" section on this site for some other women's history books that I'm using in six fall presentations at the library. So much good scholarship on women's history available now.

Jean

Frybabe · « **Reply #2888 on:** August 16, 2016, 05:02:35 PM »

I read two of Carson's books, Silent Spring and one about the Jersey(?) Shore. I don't remember much about that last one except she did talk some about the shore birds. Didn't know or forget she had sisters. Will look into the book.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2889 on:** August 17, 2016, 12:50:39 AM »

The "sisters" are metaphoric. It's about other women scientists who studied and wrote and were activists about environmental problems. Rachel was an only child.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #2890 on:** August 22, 2016, 05:20:37 PM »

I didn't know Carson wrote a book on the jersey Shore. I spent many happy vacations there as a child, and started my love of birds there. HaVE TO GET IT.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2891 on:** August 23, 2016, 06:40:13 AM »

Okay, I had to look it up. Should have done that in the first place, but was being lazy. The book is The Edge of the Sea, which is about the Atlantic coastline. Why I thought it was mostly about the Jersey Shore, I don't know. I don't remember it covering the coastline of the southern states, but it must have; there is a chapter about the coral ecosystem. Mostly, I remember the sandy shoreline, the sea birds, the mollusks, and the easy style of writing.

I just checked Wikipedia. It says that the book is the last of a trilogy. It also says that a documentary based on the book won the Oscar for best documentary in 1953. Carson was unhappy with the documentary, consequently, she never again sold film rights to her books.

I read Silent Spring, but do not remember any particulars about it except her crusade against DDT.

JoanK · « **Reply #2892 on:** August 23, 2016, 06:37:07 PM »

Got a book from the library "The Geography of Bliss." What do places where people are unusually happy have in common? If you hear that I've moved, you'll know why.

PatH · « **Reply #2893 on:** August 23, 2016, 09:03:44 PM »

Leave a forwarding address.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2894 on:** August 31, 2016, 07:04:16 AM »

What an interesting find. Project Gutenberg has an English translation of the first four books of chronicles written by Enguerrand de Monstrelet about the 100 Years Wars between the French and English. Monstrelet was not present at Joan do Arc's capture but was present for her interrogation. His chronicles pick up after Jean Froissart died in 1400. Froissart was chronicler for the earlier part of the conflict. Both chronicles are considered the most important chronicles of that feudal period. Unfortunately, Froissart's work is not translated into English.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2895 on:** August 31, 2016, 08:19:01 AM »

Fascinating Frybabe - along with learning - forgot now what I was looking up but in the process learned that 'the' book in English literature, I cannot remember hearing about is, The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade which is the story of the parents of Erasmus and even more I learned that Erasmus pretty much set the curriculum for education that most of us experienced if we attended a school that included Latin in our studies and received what now is called a classical education that pretty much ended after many collage students in the late 60s rebelled wanting a different learning experience.

It was heavy in literature and learning how to think and build a thesis using not only Latin but Geometry as the pattern for building an argument in the sense of explaining a thought process to a conclusion. This was all because of what Erasmus established in the late fifteenth century about 50 years after the end of the 100 years war.

Have not ordered yet The Cloister and the Hearth but it would have take place less than 15 years after the 100 years war. Putting this stuff together is still amazing to me - watched the PBS special about the love story between Henry VIII and Ann and learned that when Ann, as a young woman spent 9 years in the French Court, the French King had Leonardo De Vinci installed in a house nearby as De Vinci created artworks for this grand palace far more grand than anything in England at the time.

And now here you are bringing attention to a set of tapes about the 100 years war which ended exactly 100 year earlier than the death of Ann. Henry and Ann get together only 80 years after the 100 years war so that these two nations were still entwined - What a time in history with all this influencing our lives today about 500 years later...amazing...just amazing.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2896 on:** August 31, 2016, 12:01:06 PM »

Sounds great Barb. I didn't get Latin in school. They only gave that to college prep students; I was a business student. I've heard of Erasmus but no next to nothing about him.

I noted, when reading the info about the chroniclers, that the much maligned Richard III was still just a baby (born in 1452) when the 100 Years War ended. Research on Richard III was the focus of characters in the novel I just finished.

PatH · « **Reply #2897 on:** August 31, 2016, 01:25:57 PM »

I read The Cloister and the Hearth when I was too young to understand any of the historical issues, and didn't get the point of the revelation that the son of the main characters turned out to be Erasmus. Maybe I should look at it again.

Frybabe, now that you've finished it, what do you think of The Daughter of Time?

Frybabe · « **Reply #2898 on:** August 31, 2016, 01:58:46 PM »

I enjoyed it very much, PatH. I wonder if her other books are in a similar vein. I did not check up on the sources that the characters used in their investigation. I can barely keep all those in-laws, outlaws, brothers, sisters, cousins and what not as it is. There are entirely too many with the same names, too much marrying of relatives. I tend to confuse who belongs where, even with the charts.

http://www.richardiii.net/ for the latest Richard III Society doings and research. They just had their annual pilgrimage to Bosworth and memorial service for Richard on the 21st. A report will be forthcoming.

CallieOK · « **Reply #2899 on:** August 31, 2016, 02:32:30 PM »

"The Cloister and the Hearth" is available on e-book from my library and I have put it on my Wish List (books I'll read when I get around to them).

The sample I read had a lot of pronouns instead of character names. Hope I can keep them all straight.

Thanks for the suggestion. I love "ancient" British history.

PatH · « **Reply #2900 on:** August 31, 2016, 03:02:11 PM »

Tey wrote a handful of more conventional detective stories featuring Inspector Grant. They don't always hang together as detective stories; she had trouble with plots and was more interested in character, but they're pleasant enough reading. My favorite of her books is Brat Farrar, an impersonation/mystery/suspense story with a rich background of horse breeding, training and riding; worth reading for that alone, but the mystery is good too.

The Cloister and the Hearth isn't British history, it's continental Europe.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2901 on:** August 31, 2016, 06:06:49 PM »

Yes, Erasmus was born and lived in Rotterdam - He was the one who established the curriculum for the Universities in Britain, oldest Oxford and then Cambridge as well as, he established the curriculum for the University of Paris, The Sorbonne and in addition some of the universities in Italy and I think the one is Spain, however his association with England and Paris kept his name associated with Britain.

His parents had one of these medieval typical tragic love stories of young lovers not able to marry because her father was against the union. Why the English put such store in the book I have not yet learned but I'm sure I'll read more about that association -

Thanks for the tip Callie - sure enough it is available free on kindle - tra la...

ANNIE · « **Reply #2902 on:** September 02, 2016, 07:49:09 PM »

I got a free download of Cloister and Hearth with pictures from Guttenberg.org and have it on my iPhone. You can put it in iBooks folder and read it anytime. I was also able to enlarge ithe font so it's about 2700 pages long. My interest is involved with way Erasmus set up our way of teaching and that way didn't change until the 1960's. Would like to find just that part that Erasmus accomplished. Amazing story!

Frybabe · « **Reply #2903 on:** September 02, 2016, 08:24:31 PM »

Oh, Annie. I didn't even think to looks for it in Gutenberg. Silly me. I check the site every day.
I'm going to go get it.

PatH · « **Reply #2904 on:** September 02, 2016, 09:38:47 PM »

Annie, my memory from my youth is that you won't find out anything much about Erasmus in this book. It's all about his parents.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2905 on:** September 03, 2016, 05:57:19 AM »

I noticed that, PatH. In spite of the reviewers comments about the book being overly long with detailed descriptions and the constant "they just can't get a break" scenes, the book gets high marks from readers.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2906 on:** September 03, 2016, 09:05:42 AM »

Seems to be a constant theme for lovers during the middle ages and on into medieval - in France there was Héloïse and Abelard and of course Romeo and Juliet was separated by death, Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, Tristram and Iseult, Floris and Blancheflur - probably others but those are the ones that come to mind.

ANNIE · « **Reply #2907 on:** September 03, 2016, 10:34:46 AM »

Well, nutz!!! Guess I will just have to search further for something more about Erasmus. Barb, where did you find all that info? Can you leave me a link here? 'Twould be most appreciated!💕😋

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #2908 on:** September 03, 2016, 11:25:19 AM »

Oh shoot Annie some of it was stuff I remember from High School and then when the big change in education was happening my sisters, both professors and Deans of their respective departments was talking about it - my younger sister was all for the changes while the sister just younger than I am was aghast - of course at the time she was still a nun in a teaching order and so it was easy to chalk up her outrage to loyalty - I did read some of it in an outline of a book on Erasmus but there are so many - oh Annie I wish I could be more help - reading his life story takes awhile but there are several of his bio's available free on Kindle and probably on Gutenberg although I seldom turn to Gutenberg any longer - in fact if I remember Amazon has everything he ever write as a kindle link for I think a dollar 99 -

Wait a minute now that I think of it - I read about the curriculum he established when I was reading about the typical education that Shakespeare would have experienced - now what book would that have been in - hmm - yes they were going on and on about the curriculum as established by Erasmus that started with the teacher asking students to translate from Latin to English as if Latin was the language of the land - and then they learned gammer using Latin as the basic modal and then they read I forgot but 3 ancient writers the only one I do remember was Ovid - they read these writers in Latin and had to translate into English and then they learned Rhetoric and I forgot the details and then logic which was combined with math as a way to present an idea and an argument.

But wait it was not that book that went into how Erasmus established this curriculum as the basis of learning in the major universities - Oh Annie again I cannot remember where I read what specifically - as I say my experience with sisters and reading Shakespeare's experience and being shocked learning about the story of his parents and how the book was still considered a beloved and important story - vaguely I remember where ever I read that it was third on the list of books that the English considered the most important - one thing leads to another so that I was busy putting information into a time frame - Annie I am sorry that is the best I can do - the Shakespeare book I was reading early this summer was something about Shakespeare's use of the arts of language - not exact but close - I've loaned it to my daughter who took it home for Cade (grandson) to read - they live in NC -

ANNIE · « **Reply #2909 on:** September 04, 2016, 07:14:01 AM »

Barb, your memory is better than mine. Thanks for all the info!😋

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2910 on:** September 16, 2016, 02:27:31 PM »

I've just finished Traveling With Pomegrantes by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd, a mother/dgt duo. A sort of memoir of about two years of their lives when both decided they were real writers. Sue went on from her agony over turning 50 and having menopause to writing The Secret Life of Beesand Ann came out of a depression after having been rejected from her first choice for grad school.

I read it as part of a mother/dgt book group, which made the discussion quite interesting.

Being 75 made me shake my head at some of Sue's navel gazing about menopause. She literally says her creative days are over because her womb is dead! Lordy, lordy, lordy. (Spoiler alert) Ann discovers that she didn't really want to end up teaching Greek history and two yrs after her rejection from a grad program to do that she decided that she really did want to enter the "family business" of writing instead.

It did pose some interesting questions in my head and made me think about my life. It was like reading an anthropological case study for me. I decided that I had little understanding of their behaviors because I would never say, do , or make the decisions that they made - kind of like when I sometimes stop in my travel up the cable channels to look for a bit at The Kardashians!

Not that either the Kidds or I are wrong at how we handle life, it's just different. Their thinking and behaviors allow them to write stories. I can't do that. I do other things with my behaviors.

If you have traveled to Greece or France, are familiar with Greek myths - Sue writes a lot about Demeter and Persephone, mother and dgt - or are strongly spiritual, or "see" visions of what you should do in nature around you, or from your dreams, you may enjoy this book. ....... Sue determined to write The Secret Life of Bees when a bee landed on her shoulder.

It WAS a very interesting duscussion with 4 40-something young women and 4 70-somthing older women. How none of us older women "feel" what we have perceived 70 to be. How one young woman was very upset that at 40 she may not have more children, she has a set of 4 yr old twins. I encouraged her by telling her my mother was 42 when I was born.

Have any of you read it?

Jean

Frybabe · « **Reply #2911 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:09:40 AM »

I saw a couple of good recommendations over on SeniorsandFriends I thought worth mentioning over here in honor of Black History Month.

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson. It is about the black migrations from South to the North between 1915 and 1970. Marilyne says it was made into a PBS documentary but I don't remember it.

MaryC mentioned Chasing the North Star by Robert Morgan. This one is a novel about a runaway slave and his journey from South Carolina to upstate New York. It got some high praises for historical accuracy.

FlaJean · « **Reply #2912 on:** February 23, 2017, 12:08:25 PM »

Hidden Figures has gotten good reviews as well as the recent movie based on the book. It's about the black women mathematicians in the space program. I'm waiting for the book but looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out for rental. This is part of the space program that I had never heard.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2913 on:** February 23, 2017, 01:59:59 PM »

Oh yes, I forgot about Hidden Figures. That is something I want to read owing to my interest in the space program and such. My sister saw the movie. She liked it.

PatH · « **Reply #2914 on:** February 23, 2017, 04:51:01 PM »

Quote from: FlaJean on February 23, 2017, 12:08:25 PM

This is part of the space program that I had never heard.

Nobody had heard of those women. That's one of the ironies of the book.

ANNIE · « **Reply #2915 on:** February 24, 2017, 12:08:13 PM »

My sister, Mary just saw the movie and hopes we all see it. Very good! Says Mary!

JoanK · « **Reply #2916 on:** February 24, 2017, 07:37:10 PM »

I really want to see "Hidden Figures." I was also a woman computer programmer in the 60s, so I can really relate. Although of course I didn't have to go through what these Black programmers did: long treks to find a bathroom they were allowed to use, for example.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2917 on:** February 26, 2017, 10:59:23 AM »

My daughter also saw Hidden Figures recently and said it was excellent. I had no idea about these women before this.

Rosemary

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2918 on:** February 27, 2017, 01:37:12 PM »

I saw the author of "Hidden Figures" on booktv, she was very interesting. Her female editor knew a female Hollywood producer and sent the book to her. That's how it got to be a movie so quickly- the ole girl network at work!! Everyone I know who has seen it says it is good, including my 14 yr old grandson.
I've just started Big Girls Don't Cry, about Hillary, mostly around the 2008 election. It's fascinating to me how all of the people who have worked with her, or are friends with her, have glowing comments about her. The people who say they don't like her seem to be in the political opposition, or have gendered comments to make about her like "she's aggressive", "she's too ambitious", etc.
Nobody ever ran for president if they weren't ambitious, but I think those are "she's not behaving like a lady" comments.
In my preperations for my "Women Artists" presentation at a the library, I'm recommending Clara and Mr Tiffany, a novel by Susan Vreeland. She writes excellent historical fiction, well researched. Clara Driscoll was "rediscovered" in the '90s after having been the designers of many of the most popular Tiffany lamps and windows at the beginning of the 20th century and was the head of the "Tiffant Studios Women's Glass Dept"
It's verygood.

Jean

CallieOK · « **Reply #2919 on:** March 01, 2017, 10:56:10 AM »

Jean, I second your recommendation of "Clara and Mr. Tiffany". Well researched Historical Fiction is my favorite genre and I really enjoy learning about "undiscovered" figures associated with more well-known ones.

Just recently, a friend recommended "The Hamilton Affair" - about Alexander Hamilton. After I read it, I re-watched the PBS program about the musical "Hamilton" and found that the characters made much more sense to me.

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Author Topic: Non-Fiction (Read 439669 times)