ExWhoDoesntCare
ExWhoDoesntCare's JournalNon-Fiction of the Week 14 January 2024
My nonfiction read this week will be an Obama 2019 read, How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. It takes social media obsession to task, and encourages readers to reconnect with 'real-life' interests like art, birdwatching, or, you know, interacting with :::gasp!::: real people, face-to-face.
So what non-fiction is everyone else reading this week?
Micro Sherlock Holmes
Another thread was bashing Queen Camilla of England, and I went looking for a video of her discussing books, to show that she is, after all, a human being and not the monster so many want to paint her as.
I didn't find what I'd looked for, but I did find this adorable video about a micro-sized Sherlock Holmes short story. I'll let the video fill in the details, but I thought I'd share it here, since we seem to have so many mystery fans:
I've seen some tiny books in my day, but that one takes the cake.
NonFiction of the week 7 January 2024
Another light non-fiction week for me.
Just wrapped up Poverty, America by Matthew Desmond. A very good and compassionate analysis of the causes of poverty, and realistic solutions to resolving many issues regarding how to deal with it. V. recommended.
Later this week, I'll get to James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time. Baldwin uses the epistolary form to address, first, his early years in Harlem, and then a second 'letter' as a searing attack on America's racial injustices, historically and through to the (then) Civil Rights movement of his day. Should be a good one.
So what non-fiction is everyone else reading this week?
NonFiction of the week 31 December 2023/1 January 2024
I have only one NF book on tap for this week, Twilight of Democracy by Pulitzer Prize winner, Anne Applebaum. ToD is about the threats to democracy from the recent rise of nationalism and authoritarianism in the West. Ms Applebaum knows a bit about the subject, given that she's a fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, where she specializes in the history of Soviet Russia's atrocities.
I'm reading it to see what she believes the prescriptions are to avert disaster.
So what Non-Fiction will everyone else be reading this week?
Anyone else doing a book challenge this year?
Since I read fast, I'm doing a few of them. I like how the challenges encourage me to read books that are outside my comfort zone, or that I might not consider reading otherwise.
Some of the best ones out there for adventurous readers are 52 Books in 52 weeks, Booklist Queen, Book Riot's Read Harder, and, surprisingly, Pop Sugar. Of course, if you're more interested in reading a bigger variety of books only within a particular genre, challenges for those exist as well.
Whichever kind of reader you are, this site provides a handy list of just about every reading challenge out there:
https://candidcover.net/2024-reading-challenges-list/
NonFiction of the week 24 December
Light week for my non-fic reading. My last book of the year will be Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan, a biography of Edward Curtis. Curtis spent three decades photographing and recording Native Americans and their culture. Much of what he logged would become the best, and sometimes only, records we have of tribal languages and rituals.
So what non-fiction is everyone else reading?
Favorite Book Titles
I was straightening out some book shelves yesterday, and ran across some older books I had with titles that either impressed me with how beautiful they were, or made me LOL. Here are just a few that stood out:
The Sound of Waves and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Mishima Yukio.
All the Lovers in the Night – Kawakami Mieko
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami Haruki.
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight – Onda Riku
The End of the Moment We Had – Okada Toshiki
The Japanese have a knack for intriguing or poetic book titles.
I Still Miss My Man, But My Aim Is Getting Better - Sarah Shankman, and its cousin, If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him - Sharyn McCrumb. Ms McCrumb was also the author of Bimboes of the Death Sun.
Somebody Owes Me Money - Donald Westlake. I don't know why this title cracks me up, but it does. Maybe because you just know from the title alone that the book won't end well for 'somebody.'
My Year of Rest and Relaxation – Ottessa Mosfegh.
Murder Can Upset Your Mother – Selma Eichler
Razorblade Tears – SA Cosby
If I think of more I'll post them.
So what titles have grabbed your attention?
NonFiction of the week 17 December
Fairly busy non-fic week here. I'm wrapping up Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan, and will get to two more works this week, both on the short side:
Nitobee Inazo – Bushido
Bushido = The Way of the Samurai, but this book also delves into how the samurai were a reflection of the greater Japanese culture. Teddy Roosevelt and JFK were both admirers of this work. Fun fact: Nitobe wrote the book in English, and later translated it into Japanese for that market.
Ida Wells-Barnett – Southern Horrors & The Red Record
Wells-Barnett was a fearless reporter, among the first to address the horrors of Jim Crow in the south from the black perspective. These works focused primarily on lynching, and how whites lied that it was about punishment for crimes, when it was actually a tool to terrorize black people.
So what non-fiction is everyone else reading this week?
Non-Fiction of the Week 10 December2023
My non-fiction reads this week will be:
Memorial Drive. Natasha Tretheway's memoir about growing up biracial, and coping with the murder of her black mother when she was 19. One of Obama's picks for best book of 2020.
Jack Weatherford – Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
What non-fic is everyone else reading?
NonFic of the week 4 December 2023
Light NF week for me: Tiny Moons by Nina Mingya-Powles. It's sort of a cross between a travel journal and a food memoir about a year of eating in Shanghai.
So what non-fiction is everyone else reading this week?
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