Where is your nonfiction section please.
Sadly, Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine just passed its 100th day. Although Russia is forever one of my favorite reading topics, I had been pretty measured about it in recent years. Wanting more information about what's going on led me to push a few titles off my backlist, plus some in-translation new releases. I'm... Continue Reading →
It's been a dark few weeks in the world, hasn't it? Everything still feels surreal, and the news brings fresh horrors every day. I try to keep this blog solely book-related, but of course the world doesn't compartmentalize so neatly. It feels worthwhile right now to point people towards some books that can help to... Continue Reading →
In books that couldn't be published at a more timely moment, the US release of British author Max Egremont's The Glass Wall: Lives on the Baltic Frontier was last week (originally published last year in the UK). This relatively obscure region of the world has been in the news more often recently, as Russian troops... Continue Reading →
Eking in at the veeeery last minute, I've compiled my new release favorites of 2021. Let's dive in! Unsurprisingly, nothing surpassed Elissa Washuta's White Magic for me. This memoir-in-essays is like nothing I've ever read before, although I've come across a lot of memoirs that attempt similar things less successfully. This uses a blend of... Continue Reading →
Nonfiction November continues to fly by! I've been very excited for this week's prompt, courtesy of Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks: Week 4: (November 22-26) – Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks: This week we’re focusing on all the great nonfiction books that *almost* don’t seem real. A sports biography involving overcoming massive... Continue Reading →
In Memory of Memory, by Maria Stepanova, translated from Russian by Sasha Dugdale The subjectivity and selectiveness of the memory means we can fix on a historical “excerpt“ that has nothing in common with history itself – there will be people out there for whom the 1930s were a lost paradise of innocence and permanence. Especially during... Continue Reading →
I've disappointed myself massively this year in terms of one of my favorite book events, Women in Translation Month. The wonderful Rachel@PaceAmoreLibri introduced me to this event and initiative a few years ago and I absolutely love it. Books published in English translations by female authors account for less than 31% of translated literature every... Continue Reading →
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, by Bill Browderpublished 2015 by Simon & Schuster - Used or new @ SecondSale.com The American-born, now British financier Bill Browder got in on the nascent world of free-market Eastern Europe at the beginning, when, during his work for the... 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 →
With the year half over, let's see what new and wondrous upcoming nonfiction we have to look forward to in the coming months! Here's what I'm excited for: The Icepick Surgeon : Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science, by Sam Kean (July 13) - Beginning "with Cleopatra’s... Continue Reading →
I'm guilty of sometimes buying a book because I like the cover. I'm not proud of this at all, but there you have it. Who isn't susceptible to some artistic influence from time to time? I also choose my edition on Goodreads based on the cover, even if I actually read a different one. So... Continue Reading →
Book review: The Border: A Journey Around Russia, by Erika Fatland, translated from Norwegian by Kari Dickson. Used or new @ SecondSale.com I turned and looked out at the grey ocean. Here, right here, is where Asia and mighty Russia end. In The Border: A Journey Around Russia, journalist and Sovietistan author Erika Fatland embarks... Continue Reading →
What's Nonfiction? 