What We're Reading in Aug 2016

What have you read this month!

I'm listening to Earth Moved -a book on the remarkable achievements of earthworms. I have always known that rescuing them from puddles and driveways was the right thing to do.

Betty –The Story of Betty MacDonald, Author of The Egg and I by Anne Wellman
4/5 stars

This is a biography of Betty MacDonald, author of The Egg and I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. Wellman follows the life of Betty from the very beginning, including what family history could be found. If you are fan, you will appreciate this biography. I gave this a higher rating because she covered a lot of information that I had never read about her. I loved the fact that she has a big fan base in England and Czechoslovakia.

The Truth About Trump -- objective, but not very flattering, portrait of the guy from his grandparents' backgrounds up to his current presidential run. Money quote, as they say, from Leona Helmsley (of all people!) ... "I wouldn't trust anything he says, even if he has his tongue notarized!"

I'm still reading David Kynaston's Modernity Britain - it's a two-in-one that's over 700 pages long, but it is a fascinating socio-economic study of post-war Britain.

I finished reading Kepler and the Universe this week wherein I could not stop thinking about all the lovely upper mathematical and quantum concepts Mr Love was disclosing throughout the biography! It was such a special treat for someone who has had an infinite love of Science but who never had the proper chance to educate herself on the history of how we moved from theory to rock solid fact about the order of the universe. I only had one disagreement with the latter chapters involving the multiverse - however, I think this depends on how you entreat into the discussion and thus, I left the door open to individual interpretations.

I'm new to LT and am joining groups to share my bookish wanderings as much as to get to know other readers who share the same bookish interests as me. I wasn't sure if we could link to our reviews if we post them on our blogs - or just by mentioning we had reviewed a book was sufficient. I'd welcome visitors to leave me comments as this was one of the non-fiction reviews I truly enjoyed writing.

Mr Love layered the biography through an emotional connection to Kepler and truly brought forward in time the actual thoughts on behalf of his subject to such an extent I felt like Kepler was whispering my ear! Loved the inclusions of his personal correspondences, too!

Just about finished with Following Fish, essays from India, centering on the theme of ... well ... fish! Largely, but not entirely by any means, a foodie book. Definitely recommended!

Now I'm into Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. I'm surprised the initial dealings with the Indians were so cooperative. Too bad it went all to hell.

>8 Bookmarque: Indeed.

I'm currently working on David McCullough's John Adams.

I' m still reading The Dating Game Killer: The True Story of a TV Dating Show, a Violent Sociopath, and a Series of Brutal Murders by Stella Sands. Good but scary and sad.

>9 AnnaClaire: I loved that book by McCullough. I cried at the end and though it was a long read I really enjoyed it.

Just finished reading "Tolstoy" by Rosamund Bartlett. Great book - the author is immersed in her topic and the writing is vivid, and very readable. Bartlett includes some interesting accounts of Tolstoy's life (including his gambling habit and predilection for fermented mare's milk) and his family.

Am now reading Chris Wickham's "The Inheritance of Rome" who says historians of the early medieval period have go it all wrong with their grand narratives of nationalism and modernity.

>10 JulieLill: Is that the man who gave the woman who chose him such a bad feeling that she refused to go out with him? even though, as I remember it, someone from Dating Game staff always accompanied the couples?

Reading A Brief History of the Smile; non-academic & discursive to the extent that it sometimes seems the author forgets his main topic. (He's wonderful when discussing various artworks though, as he should be given that he's a gallery curator.) Much the same sort of subject as that of the previous book I'd read, The Kiss in History, a book with more meat on its bones.

>13 bluepiano: She did get a bad feeling from him and did not go out with him. The other men on the panel were also creeped out by him. Here is something from CNN on this topic-http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/08/dating.game.killer/

The Dating Game Killer: The True Story of a TV Dating Show, a Violent Sociopath, and a Series of Brutal Murders
by Stella Sands
4/5 stars

Stella Sands weaves a horrifying tale of the true story of photographer Rodney Alcala, sociopath and sadistic murderer of girls and women across the country and still sits in prison today. Terrifying and sad but hard to put down.

Reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Fascinating!

I finished The Silk Roads which was a very enlightening history of the world from the perspective of central Asia rather than Europe and as such had many interesting points. My problem with the book was that as the story got to about 1900 on, it lost some of its broad sweeping observations and got progressively more detailed and narrow. It was a fault somewhat alleviated with the concluding chapter.

Finished Mayflower and, wow, it was terrific. Review is posted. The other day started The Black Count by Tom Reiss which is a biography of Gen. Alex Dumas, Alexandre Dumas's father. Fascinating so far.

I'm reading The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Stop Talking by Susan Cain
5/5 stars

Fabulous book about living as an introvert in a society that does not recognize the benefits of being one. Highly recommend this to everyone whether you are an extrovert or an introvert or somewhere in between. Should be required reading in high school.

>21 JulieLill: I agree with you. It was a book with a lot of AH-HA moments. I've recommended it to multiple people.

Reading "Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattle again. More I repeat its reading more motivated I become.

Finished Lingo yesterday - great overview of languages in Europe: large, small, dead and dying. Audio might be a better way to go as the narrator is quite enthusiastic and puts in a lot of effort with getting pronunciation right.

>24 Seajack: Good news, I have that one on the TBR!