Where is your nonfiction section please.
Since I've been having a bit of a stress-induced reading slump these last months, I'm trying to motivate by picking up books that I've really wanted to read but never seem to get around to. Which brought me to a favorite topic: Empress Elisabeth. I've mentioned before that if you don't know Sisi already and... Continue Reading →
In preparation for (a little Vorfreude - something like the joy in anticipating something) and during my time in Germany this summer, I was reading more German nonfiction than usual, two of which are new/upcoming releases and absolutely stellar. Los geht's! Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall, by... Continue Reading →
Isn't science grand? Let's look at some very different recent releases in pop science. Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the Search for the Cancer-Diet Connection, by Sam Apple Did you know that Hitler was obsessed with both sugar and cancer? He was! He was also consuming the former in the worst possible proportions if... Continue Reading →
Is there anything I love more than a best-of list? Maybe, but when a year's half-over and it's time to recap favorites, I can't think of anything better. Here are my favorites of the year's new nonfiction so far. The Soul of a Woman, by Isabel Allende - Allende's short but mighty powerful memoir (in... Continue Reading →
Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz, by Gail Crowther Both were emerging poets, and both were hugely ambitious women in a cultural moment that did not know how to deal with ambitious women. Author and biographer specialized in studies of Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath (cool job alert) Gail Crowther weaves together the groundbreaking similarities... Continue Reading →
Before I start on my 2020 favorites, I'd rather take a quick look ahead first. We're all hoping for a better 2021 -- eventually, at least -- so let's start there instead. Here are some upcoming nonfiction titles scheduled for early 2021 that I've got my eye on. Any of these on your list too?... Continue Reading →
Although it was overshadowed by the US Election Day beginning the next morning, on November 2 there was a terror attack in my former home of Vienna. I lived there for more than seven years and met my husband there, so it'll always be a place precious to me, even if I was very ready... Continue Reading →
We Keep the Dead Close, by Becky Cooper (Bookshop.org) I complain a lot, A LOT about the spate of true crime books in the last few years where an author with no or minimal connection to a crime they find interesting writes a book about it that's also memoir, and inserts themselves into the story... Continue Reading →
She Come By It Natural collects author Sarah Smarsh's four long-form essays about Dolly Parton and the beloved singer's connections to feminism through her roots in rural poverty in Tennessee (it's better than I'm setting it up, but that's the basic premise). These essays were the result of a Freshgrass Foundation journalism fellowship Smarsh won,... Continue Reading →
It's August, which means: Women in Translation month! This is far and away my favorite literary event of the year. Meytal Radzinski of Bibliobio began this initiative in 2014, which serves to increase awareness of and engagement with translated works written by women. Female-authored books comprise only around 30% of those translated into English each... Continue Reading →
The Hunting of Hillary, by Michael D'Antonio (Amazon) Time and again, [Donald Trump] resurrected his favorite enemy, Hillary Clinton, as if she possessed powers that made her more than human and thus someone to be feared despite her retirement from politics. Journalist, CNN commentator, and author of a number of histories and biographies Michael D'Antonio... Continue Reading →
Finding Dora Maar, by Brigitte Benkemoun, translated from French by Jody Gladding (Amazon / Book Depository) Author Brigitte Benkemoun's husband lost his Hermes agenda so she bought him a vintage replacement on eBay. When it arrived, she noticed that its old pages were intact. They dated back to 1951, an address book filled with a... Continue Reading →
