lorax's 2017 nonfiction
ForumNon-Fiction Challenge / Journal
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an, um Nachrichten zu schreiben.
Dieses Thema ruht momentan. Die letzte Nachricht liegt mehr als 90 Tage zurück. Du kannst es wieder aufgreifen, indem du eine neue Antwort schreibst.
1lorax
I tried actually keeping track a few years ago, but it only lasted a month or two. Let's see if I can do better.
2lorax
1. Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea by Christine Garwood
2. The Secret Life of Pronouns by James Pennebaker
3. The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
4. The Apprentice by Jacques Pepin
5. The Woman who Fell from the Sky by Jennifer Steil
2. The Secret Life of Pronouns by James Pennebaker
3. The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
4. The Apprentice by Jacques Pepin
5. The Woman who Fell from the Sky by Jennifer Steil
5lorax
The Secret Life of Pronouns by James Pennebaker
Once again, see my Dewey thread.
(I promise that not every post here will just be a link over there; it just happens that the first couple books this year were both new sections for me.)
Once again, see my Dewey thread.
(I promise that not every post here will just be a link over there; it just happens that the first couple books this year were both new sections for me.)
6drneutron
>4 lorax: I read that one a few years back. I think I agree with your thoughts pretty much - many parts did descend into tedium. But I was amazed at how many claim to believe in a flat Earth today, though I wonder how many *really* believe it.
7lorax
The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
An amusing book for dipping into a bit at a time (made simple by its division into very short sections about various plants used either in the production of or the flavoring of various types of alcohol); I read it as my on-the-train commute, which worked well. I prefer beer to cocktails but still found much of interest here.
An amusing book for dipping into a bit at a time (made simple by its division into very short sections about various plants used either in the production of or the flavoring of various types of alcohol); I read it as my on-the-train commute, which worked well. I prefer beer to cocktails but still found much of interest here.
8lorax
The Apprentice: My life in the kitchen by Jacques Pepin
Late last year I read The French Chef in America, a follow-up to the delightful My Life in France by Julia Child and her grand-nephew Alex Prud'homme; written (obviously) by Prud'homme alone this tells about Julia Child's television career and later life in the US after returning from France. At one point she mentions her friend and classically trained French chef Jacques Pepin working for Howard Johnsons' to develop recipes for the chain, and I thought "wait, what?"
A bit later I was at my in-laws at Christmas and found myself short on reading material, so I grabbed a sample of this and was hooked enough that I went ahead and bought it. I found the first part, where Pepin talks about the old-school apprenticeship system he went through learning to be a chef in France, far more interesting than the meandering story of his life in America, but that part was interesting enough to me.
Late last year I read The French Chef in America, a follow-up to the delightful My Life in France by Julia Child and her grand-nephew Alex Prud'homme; written (obviously) by Prud'homme alone this tells about Julia Child's television career and later life in the US after returning from France. At one point she mentions her friend and classically trained French chef Jacques Pepin working for Howard Johnsons' to develop recipes for the chain, and I thought "wait, what?"
A bit later I was at my in-laws at Christmas and found myself short on reading material, so I grabbed a sample of this and was hooked enough that I went ahead and bought it. I found the first part, where Pepin talks about the old-school apprenticeship system he went through learning to be a chef in France, far more interesting than the meandering story of his life in America, but that part was interesting enough to me.
9lorax
Incidentally, if anyone's interested in my fiction reads as well, I'm tracking everything over in the 75 group:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/245449
I'm not doing the group stuff, just using it as a tracker, so don't expect animated reading trackers and cute themed images for each month and all that. Just talking about what I read.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/245449
I'm not doing the group stuff, just using it as a tracker, so don't expect animated reading trackers and cute themed images for each month and all that. Just talking about what I read.
10lorax
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky by Jennifer Steil
(Copied from my Dewey thread)
Current and recent geopolitics mean that it seems like books on the Middle East are distinctly gendered; there are war-and-terror focused books featuring guns and/or men in military uniform on the cover, and there are women's memoirs. See https://www.librarything.com/mds/956 or https://www.librarything.com/mds/958 to see what I mean.
Having little patience for violence or sensationalism, I find the latter more to my liking. The Woman who Fell from the Sky is American journalist Jennifer Steil's account of her time running the Yemen Observer newspaper, trying to teach the journalists there basic journalistic concepts like use of multiple sources, separation between advertising and news, and meeting deadlines. Yemen is a country most Americans know very little about, and while the balance between discussion of the country as a whole and the workings of the paper lean a bit more toward the paper than I'd like, I still learned quite a bit. As a Western woman, Steil enjoys a unique position; as a woman, she is able to access women-only spaces and talk freely with Yemeni women, but as a Westerner she is able to access male spaces as well and is not restricted to women's spaces. As a result this is a more complete picture of the country than a Western man would be able to provide.
My primary complaint is that the ending feels rushed, especially with the tacked-on love story (I know it's what happened to her, but that doesn't mean she needed to include it) involving the British ambassador.
(Copied from my Dewey thread)
Current and recent geopolitics mean that it seems like books on the Middle East are distinctly gendered; there are war-and-terror focused books featuring guns and/or men in military uniform on the cover, and there are women's memoirs. See https://www.librarything.com/mds/956 or https://www.librarything.com/mds/958 to see what I mean.
Having little patience for violence or sensationalism, I find the latter more to my liking. The Woman who Fell from the Sky is American journalist Jennifer Steil's account of her time running the Yemen Observer newspaper, trying to teach the journalists there basic journalistic concepts like use of multiple sources, separation between advertising and news, and meeting deadlines. Yemen is a country most Americans know very little about, and while the balance between discussion of the country as a whole and the workings of the paper lean a bit more toward the paper than I'd like, I still learned quite a bit. As a Western woman, Steil enjoys a unique position; as a woman, she is able to access women-only spaces and talk freely with Yemeni women, but as a Westerner she is able to access male spaces as well and is not restricted to women's spaces. As a result this is a more complete picture of the country than a Western man would be able to provide.
My primary complaint is that the ending feels rushed, especially with the tacked-on love story (I know it's what happened to her, but that doesn't mean she needed to include it) involving the British ambassador.
