Non-Fiction Five Sept 2010 Reviews and Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Non-Fiction Five Challenge!

Post your September reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (Lost City of Z)
Your URL: http://lovelaughterinsanity.blogspot.com/2009/06/lost-city-of-z-david-grann_7694.html

If you are posting a wrap-up to the challenge, enter in "Your Name": Trish (Wrap-Up)



Congratulations on coming to the end of the challenge--whether you read one book or several.  This will be my last year hosting the challenge and I appreciate those who joined again this year.

Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five August 2010 Reviews

If you haven't signed up, it isn't too late. Click HERE to officially sign up.

Post your August reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (Man's Search for Meaning)
Your URL: http://www.lovelaughterinsanity.com/2010/07/mans-search-for-meaning-viktor-e-frankl.html

If you don't have a blog, simply fill out the name portion with the title of the book you read using the URL for this post in the URL field.

Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five Challenge July Reviews

Welcome to the Non-Fiction Five Challenge!

If you haven't signed up, it isn't too late. Click HERE to officially sign up.

Post your July reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (Lost City of Z)
Your URL: http://lovelaughterinsanity.blogspot.com/2009/06/lost-city-of-z-david-grann_7694.html

If you don't have a blog, simply fill out the name portion with the title of the book you read using the URL for this post in the URL field.



Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five June 2010 Reviews

Sorry for being a few days late with the June Linky!

If you haven't signed up, it isn't too late. Click HERE to officially sign up.

Post your June reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (Catch Me If You Can)
Your URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/catch-me-if-you-can-frank-w-abagnale.html

If you don't have a blog, simply fill out the name portion with the title of the book you read using the URL for this post in the URL field.

Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five May 2010 Reviews

Welcome to the first set of Non-Fiction Five reviews for 2010!

If you haven't signed up, it isn't too late. Click HERE to officially sign up.

Post your May reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (Catch Me If You Can)
Your URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/catch-me-if-you-can-frank-w-abagnale.html

If you don't have a blog, simply fill out the name portion with the title of the book you read using the URL for this post in the URL field.




Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five Challenge Sign Ups

NON-FICTION FIVE CHALLENGE

MAY 1 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

And we're back! I'm posting this a little earlier than I normally would, but there's been a bit of confusion as to whether or not I'm still hosting, so here we are. This is the fourth annual Non-Fiction Five Challenge and I'd be thrilled if you joined me.

The Rules (unchanged from previous years)

1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2010 (please link your reviews on Mister Linky each month; Mister Linky can be found at the beginning of each month on this blog)

2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices (i.e.: 4 memoirs and 1 self-help)

3. If interested, please sign up below with the link to your NFF Challenge post (all choices do not need to be posted and may change at any time)






Happy reading!




**Many thanks to the totally awesome Paxton and Veens who made the lovely buttons (Paxton on top and Veens below). I'd hug you to death if I could. And thanks to those of you who offered. I'll be calling on you next time. ;)

Non-Fiction Five Challenge in a week!

Just a reminder that the Non-Fiction Five Challenge starts next Saturday May 1st! Have you signed up yet?

Any particular books that you're looking forward to? Any that you've read in the past and would recommend for timid non-fiction goers?

Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five Challenge Button Help

Yes, you probably are thinking--what? She's still hosting the NFF when she hasn't regularly blogged in months?? Ya well... :D Who can resist a good challenge?

I need some help. I don't know how to make buttons and two very lovely ladies provided me buttons for last year's challenge but I didn't want to pressure them into it this year if they didn't want to. So...is someone willing to make a Non-Fiction Five button for me? Pretty Please?? The challenge will remain the same--May through September 2010.

With sugar on top?? If you're interested, you can leave a comment below or get in touch with me via email.

Edited Note: Thanks to those who offered! I think we've got NFF buttons covered!! :)

(who is convinced that one day she truly will be caught up and back in the game)


Incidentally--the plan is to get the Classics Challenge sign ups posted this weekend so watch for that at http://classics2008.blogspot.com/

The Impostor's Daughter - Laurie Sandell

Title: The Impostor's Daughter
Author: Laurie Sandell
Published: 2009 Pages: 245
Genre: Memoir/Graphic Novel
Rating: 3/5

I read this book about five weeks ago, but I wasn't really sure how to review it. Then BBAW and Europe happened and it got put on the back burner. I even asked around on Twitter for some advice on how to review it and Bookfool was sweet enough to give me some starter questions. Last night, though, I flipped back through the book, quickly re-reading, and think I finally have a better handle on my feelings.

Summary:
The Impostor's Daughter is mostly a memoir about Laurie Sandell's relationship with her father growing up. Her father was an amazing man with even more amazing stories to tell, and Laurie, the eldest child, was always the apple of his eye. That is until she grew to be older and began seeing some discrepancies in her father's stories. Laurie began to piece together some oddities in her father, including his taking out credit cards in her name and incurring debt, finding out her father did not have the degrees or military background he said he did, and other inconsistencies.

As Laurie grew into adulthood, she struggled to come to terms with her relationship with her father. In many ways she was lost herself and began experimenting with sex, aimless travel, ambien, and other destructive pastimes. As she landed a position in journalism, she began to use her father's stories as a backbone for a piece outing him as an impostor. But could she really out her father? And at what cost to her and her family?

My Rambly Thoughts:
Sorry for the long summary, but because this book is two-fold, it is hard to summarize quickly. And perhaps that's where my problems with this book stem from. On the one hand, this is a book about Sandell's relationship with her father and on the other about Sandell's finding her own self amongst all of the uncertainty. I personally believe that we are products of our environment, and so these two story-lines are in my opinion very related, but I'm not sure that Sandell makes the connection herself in the book. She's lost and can't settle on a relationship and begins taking pills and-and-and, but even through some of the things that happen in the end I don't think Sandell truly comes to terms with what her relationship with her father means to her and her well-being. Perhaps a closer second read would give me more insight into this, but the ending of the book left me feeling really unsettled as it just felt so unresolved.

I wish I had more to say about this book, but if you'll read through the reviews below they say many of the things I would say anyway. The sex--yuck. Couldn't relate to Sandell (actually, I could relate in many ways to her relationship with her father but not to the self-destructive way in which she reacted). Wanted to continually compare this book to Fun Home, which I loved.

One plus about the book is that I really liked Sandell's illustrations. Most of the comics I've been reading have been in black and white (which I prefer), but The Impostor's Daughter is all in color and I loved how much depth it brought to the story. Sandell is great at capturing emotion in her illustrations. I really hope you can enlarge the illustration below to see the conflicted feelings Sandell has while listening to her father's stories:


In the End:
All in all, I liked this book better than my review comes across. I just wish there would have been a little resolution to Sandell's story. But since it's a "true memoir" I don't know how that could have been different unless she did find resolution. I'm not sure writing this book will give her what she's looking for, but I hope she does eventually find closure to her relationship.

Bookfool asked me "If you had a choice, would you happily let your cat shred and eat it or recommend it enthusiastically to your friends and neighbors?" Luckily Maggie doesn't tear/eat/chew books, but I wouldn't let her shred this one. The illustrations are too beautiful. Not sure I'll be recommending it to my friends and neighbors either. Good news is that there are many people who liked this book better than I did. And I didn't dislike it--just feel kind of wishy washy towards it. Definitely go check out Laurie Sandell's website, though!

Do you think we are products of our childhood? How can we overcome that to become our own person--or will those experiences always color our future?



For a balance of opinions:
Claire from Kiss a Cloud ~ Bermudaonion ~ Alyce from At Home with Books ~ Bookfoolery and Babble ~ Nymeth from Things Mean A Lot ~ Avisannschild
(let me know if I missed yours)

Non-Fiction Five Challenge Thank You

I want to give everyone who participated in the 2009 Non-Fiction Five Challenge a big THANK YOU. With Mr. Linky going down in the middle of the challenge I'm not sure exactly how many people signed up, but there were a lot of you. Even if you didn't finish, give yourself a big pat on the back for reading at least some Non-Fiction.

If you're still writing reviews for books finished during the challenge or a wrap-up post, you can link your posts at the September Mister Linky. And don't feel bad--even as the hostess I still haven't written all my reviews. Oops!

In the comments, tell us what your favorite Non-Fiction read was! Mine was Maus. Hands down.

And if you have any suggestions for next year, please let me know--for example, would you like to see NFF have its own blog? More participant participation? More hostess attention? I know, I suck. Goal for 2010 to be more interactive.

THANKS AGAIN for making NFF such a successful challenge!!



Oh, and I added the widget below. Apparently it takes time to be "accurate." Is it distracting?

Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes

Title: Under the Tuscan Sun
Author: Frances Mayes
Published: 1996 Pages: 280
Genre: Memoir/Travel
Rating: 3.5/5

Lately I've come into a lot of timing issues with books--as in "I probably didn't like X book as much because of bad timing." For this book, though, the timing was absolutely perfect. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it. Let me see if I can explain. Lately my reading has been sporadic at best. I've found that it's hard for me to enjoy a book as much if I have to continually put it down after reading only a few pages. For this book, though, because of the richness in the writing, sporadic reading actually worked toward my reading pleasure. When I had ample time to read the last 100 pages in one sitting, I noticed my enjoyment went down. Basically, this is the type of book to enjoy in small snippets.

Under the Tuscan Sun is an intimate memoir of Frances Mayes' experience of buying and restoring a villa in Cortona, Italy with her partner Ed. Both university professors from San Francisco, they begin spending their summer and winter holidays pouring their hearts and souls into their house, Bramasole, and in the history drenched area of Tuscany. But Mayes does more than just share the struggles of buying a home in a foreign country and working with unfamiliar systems to renovate the centuries old villa; Mayes asks her readers to slow down, take in their surroundings, and really enjoy what life is all about.

This is not a book to devour quickly but rather to savor quite slowly. Instead of writing a simple chronological order of events (although that is there in a way), Mayes takes each chapter and explains a separate part of Tuscan life--the history, the food, the community, the customs, the surrounding towns, family, and so on. Because each chapter is mostly self-contained, with the exception of the continuing construction work, Under the Tuscan Sun lends itself well to picking up and putting down. And because of the richness of the language, I would recommend doing just that so as not to burn out on Mayes highly descriptive language:

"On my way out, I see a man in a sweater, despite the heat. The trunk of his minuscule Fiat is piled with black grapes that have warmed all morning in the sun. I'm stopped by the winy, musty, violet scents. He offers me one. The hot sweetness breaks open in my mouth. I have never tasted anything so essential in my life as this grape on this morning. They even smell purple. The flavor, older than the Etruscans and deeply fresh and pleasing, just leaves me stunned. Such richness, the big globes, he heap of dusty grapes cascading out of two baskets. I ask for un grappolo, a bunch, wanting the taste to stay with me all morning" (112).

The whole book is filled with descriptions such as the one above and I constantly felt I was transported to another time and another place. Under the Tuscan Sun made me yearn for a life where I could just stop and look around. My life is so go go go that I don't always sit back and enjoy the moment. And as I was reading this book I was racing around Europe trying to see as many things possible in a very limited amount of time--something that she scorns in the book. Is it better to see everything or to take one place and truly immerse yourself within the culture and community? I have a tendency to go for the first, but it's good to slow down every once in a while.

Under the Tuscan Sun is all about experience and Mayes' diary-like writing was perfect for me at the time. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have found myself frustrated or even bored by this book. Yes, the writing is sensuous and scrumptious, but I had to keep myself from asking "what is the point?" There doesn't always have to be a point. If you like travelogues, I'd certainly recommend this book. I definitely enjoyed it more than A Year in Provence, which tackles many of the same subjects but in France rather than Italy. Unlike with A Year in Provence, Mayes breathes life into this book. Oh, and watch for her mouthwatering recipes she includes!

A note on the movie adaptation. I LOVE this movie. Love it. Could watch it over and over (and have). The movie took a very huge departure from the book--while many of the little details from the book were put into the movie (like the quote above), the plotline itself is completely different. Kind of a disappointment to me while reading this book, but it also allowed me to experience the story with fresh eyes.

Do you have a favorite travelogue/travel memoir? A book that truly transported you to the places described?



For a balance of opinions:
Melissa at Book Nut
Mary at BookFan
(Let me know if I've missed yours)

Also shared on Cym's Book Review Party Wednesday--check it out!

Non-Fiction Five September Reviews and Wrap-Up

Post your September reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (The Complete Maus)
Your URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/complete-maus-art-spiegelman.html

If you've finished the challege and want to write a wrap-up post, you can also leave your link here. Put (Wrap-Up) after your name.


Thanks for participating--we'll see you next year!

Non-Fiction Five August Reviews

Look what's back--Mister Linky! Post your August reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (The Complete Maus)
Your URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/complete-maus-art-spiegelman.html

**Thanks for your patience with Mister Linky being gone. I know I'm a day early posting this, but go ahead and put your links here. Wanted to make sure it was all set up before I left town.


Happy reading!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt

Title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Author: John Berendt
Published: 1994 Pages: 388
Genre: Non-Fiction/True Crime
Rating: 4/5

The first time I read this book, I’m not entirely sure I realized it was non-fiction until after I finished. Half of me wants to believe that the characters in this book can’t possibly be real, but part of me hopes that they are as colorful as Berendt explains them to be. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is an exposé of Savannah, Georgia during the early 1980s. Reporter/writer John Berendt happened upon Savannah during a weekend trip and decided to split his time between New York City and Savannah. Over a period of eight years, Berendt got to know many of the Savannahian citizens as well as their habits, quirks, and deep dark secrets.

The book is divided into two parts—the first half focuses mostly on different people Berendt befriends during his stay in Savannah and the second half of the book turns into a true crime murder mystery as one of the lead characters, Jim Williams, is accused of murder and has a series of trials. Because this was a re-read for me and I've seen the movie several times (it is super boring by the way), I wasn't as interested in William's case this time around. Sure it is fascinating and I think you'll be pulled into the details, but what I got out of my second reading was just how dynamic the citizens of Savannah truly are.

Some of my favorites are Luther Driggers whose hobbies include carrying flies around on string and threatening to poison all of Savannah if he has a bad day; Joe Odem who everyone loves despite the fact that he probably owes everyone a little money here and there; Jim Williams who throws the most luxurious parties in his restored house filled with expensive antiques. And of course, Williams is the central character of the book who causes a stir in Savannah when it becomes known during his murder trial that he is a homosexual--something the refined upper class wasn't quite sure how to handle in the early 80s. My favorite character, is hands down The Lady Chablis. Chablis is a transsexual drag queen who meets Berendt after receiving her monthly shot of horomones. You never know what's going to come out of Chablis's mouth and she loves ruffling feathers everywhere she goes.

One thing I noticed in my reading this time was how much race and sexuality were at the forefront of the story. Everything is very black and white for the Savannahians and I'll admit that reading some of the passages made me a little squeamish because of the backwardness of their beliefs. From what Berendt notes, desegregation was actually a very smooth process for Savannahians during the 1960s. There were no major protests and the whites and blacks had gotten along fine for decades before desegregation. Berendt implies that even though there was no big protest or rebellion or outcry, it is understood that both will have their own societies and there is no need for real mixture between the two races. Now, this book was written 15 years ago and set almost 25 years ago, so I can only hope that things are a little more progressive now.

Do I recommend the book? Without very many reservations. I haven't met anyone who read this book and didn't like it. Simply put the characters are incredibly vibrant and memorable, and that alone makes this a worthwhile read. It's the perfect armchair traveler book and has me itching to make road trip plans out to Savannah. I loved the atmosphere--the southern gentility and charm, a little old world mixed with the new world, and the dark brooding tone of the second half of the novel. Berendt and Williams dabble in a little hoodoo with a woman named Minerva when Williams' murder trials don't seem to be going as planned. All of these things combined with Berendt's rich storytelling capabilities create an exciting and entertaining read. I didn't record my original thoughts on the book, but I think my initial rating probably would have been 4.5 out of 5.

Have you ever read a non-fiction book that felt like reading fiction? Was there a book you read that made you want to visit that locale immediately?



**For a balance of opinions:
CJ from My Year of Reading Seriously
Robin from A Fondness of Reading
Stacy’s Bookblog
Tim from Blogging the Bookshelf

And in case you're curious, yes, I've read The City of Fallen Angels as well.

The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman

Title: The Complete Maus
Author: Art Spiegelman
Published: 1986/1991 Pages: 295
Genre: Graphic Novel/Memoir
Rating: 5/5

This is the type of book that I hate writing about—the one that I loved so much that I simply can’t do it justice or organize my thoughts in a coherent manor. So, here we go:

Go read it. The End.

Ok, I guess I’ll go into a little more detail. I’ll be honest, I was pretty resistant towards this book. I had some prejudices that were holding me back a little bit. What prejudices? Well, mostly the talking animals. I know, it’s weird, but talking animals are sometimes a turn-off for me. It almost seemed childish that the author would choose to portray the Holocaust using mice and cats and Jews and Nazis—part of me even though this was a children’s literature book. But I’m glad I finally read enough reviews to convince me to get this book. I waited patiently until my 40% coupon for Borders arrived so I could rush off and buy a shiny new hardcover edition—the complete edition.

The Complete Maus is a combination of biography and memoir—the story Art Spiegelman’s father's survival of the Holocaust, particularly his imprisonment in Auschwitz, and Spiegelman's own experiences with his father as he works on the book. I loved both parts of the book equally, but the dynamics between Arty and his father, Vladek, created such an intimate texture to the story. I can't say I particularly cared for either Arty or Vladek as characters--Spiegelman often shows them with all their faults in plain view--but the creation of Maus gives the two common ground and helps each other understand one another better.

Spiegelman's father's story provides the meat of the book. It begins during Vladek's youth and his increasing success in both his personal and business life. He marries into a wealthy family of Polish Jews and quickly rises in his various occupations. This all quickly halts, however, when the Nazis begin imposing laws and regulations aimed at denigrating the Jews. Vladek and his wife, Anja, are successful in keeping from imprisonment for a long time due to Vladek's industrious nature and the strong ties they have to wealthy Jews, but eventually they are forced to enter Auschwitz along with hundreds of thousands other Jews.

Like any other book about the Holocaust, Maus is incredibly heartwrenching and oftentimes unbelievable. I was constantly angered and sicked by the crimes committed and the atrocities millions had to endure. What makes this book especially poignant is its illustrated form. I can't imagine a more effective way for Spiegelman to share his father's experiences. I'm constantly amazed at what authors can accomplish in the illustrated form--the emotions the drawings can portray, the multi-layered dimensions of the story, the action, the misery, the joy, the love. There is a lot to be said about words, and I am a lover of words, but the drawings in this book continually speak for themselves--conveying things that words simply cannot accomplish.

As I mentioned above, I have a weird thing about talking animals, but I love how Spiegelman chose to portray the different races in the book--mice for Jews, cats for Germans, pigs for Poles, so and and so on. I don't know for sure what Spiegelman's intentions were with these depictions, but on the one hand I saw the stereotypical cat chasing mouse theme, but on the other--and more importantly, it showed the ridiculousness of distinguishing between different races. I don't think I'm making sense with that thought, but it's there in my head.

This review is already far longer than I wanted it to be and I still feel like I haven't said anything at all. We've all read Holocaust stories before. We know the history and we know what happens. But this is different than anything I've ever encountered before and I can't recommend it enough. I couldn't be more glad that I put my prejudices aside and read this book. Although I'm haunted by what I read and saw in this book (what was I thinking children's lit??), I am grateful that Spiegelman was persistent enough to get his poor stubborn father's story to share with us all. It is not one that should be overlooked or forgotten. None of them are.

So what do you say? Are you going to read it? If you have read it, what did you think?

Non-Fiction Five July Reviews

Post your July reviews in the comments below using the following format:

Your name and title of book: Trish - The Hot House
Your *URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/hot-house-life-inside-leavenworth.html

I'll add them to this post so you have a list to click through (so *please leave a url I can copy and paste--if you want to leave a clickable link, that's fine in addition to the url).

JULY REVIEWS:

1. Becky - To Be a Slave
2. Jeane - It's Not About the Bike
3. Natasha - That Went Well, Adventures in Caring for My Sister
4. Alyce - Lumber Ghosts
5. Alyce - Long Walk to Freedom
6. J.T. Oldfield - The Third Jesus
7. Lynne - To Hell and Back
8. CB James - On Writing
9. Scrap Girl - Waiting on Manana
10. Corinne - Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
11. Corinne - Gift from the Sea
12. Corinne - An Edible History of Humanity
13. Alyce - Crazy for the Storm
14. Alyce - Alex & Me
15. Peta - The Burma Chronicles
16. Christina - Silent Spring
17. Jeane - Seaworthy
18. Jeane - Splendid Solution
19. Matt - The Hitler Myth
20. Matt - The Invasion of America
21. Matt - Weakness is a Crime: The Life of Bernarr Macfadden
22. Jeanette - Fred Astaire
23. Jeanette - Posters for the People: Art of the WPA
24. Book Psmith - Stephen Fry in America
25. Cath - Trains and Buttered Toast, a collection of radio broadcasts/essays
26. Nymeth - 84 Charing Cross Road
27. Lula O - The Wives of Henry the VIII
28. Scrap Girl - Angels in the Hair
29. Amanda - Mind-Rain
30. Katrina - The Long Way Down
31. CB James - The Great Mortality
32. Becky - Clara's War
33. Heather J - The Lost Men
34. Heather J - The Island at the Center of the World
35. Heather J - The Secret Doorway
36. Trish - The Complete Maus
37. Peta - Dreams From My Father
38. CB James - The Shakespeare Riots
39. Krin - Gipsy Moth Circles the World
40. Amanda - A Room of One's Own
41. Mish - The Female Brain

See June Reviews

The Lost City of Z - David Grann

Title: The Lost City of Z
Author: David Grann
Published: 2009 Pages: 299
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 4.25/5

I'm not entirely sure how I ended up getting my hands on this one-or how I let it sit on the shelf for so long, but I'm glad I finally took the time to read this one. What an exciting book/adventure/story/legend!

In the early twentieth century (1920s), Percy Fawcett led a number of expeditions into the depths of the Amazon in South America in search for the lost city of El Dorado, a city he coded as “Z.” In 1925 Fawcett, along with his son and other expedition party members, disappeared and were never heard from again. While the search for Z in many ways consumed Fawcett, his disappearance has caused such a buzz that it is estimated 100 people have also died in the search for Fawcett’s remains.

In The Lost City of Z, David Grann, a journalist and columnist, delves into the Amazon and searches for answers to the mystery surrounding Percy Fawcett’s disappearance. It is evident that Grann has done his research, not just on the life of Fawcett, but also on the numerous other expeditions into the Amazon before and after Fawcett’s disappearance. Grann must have looked at a ton of resources because the book is brimming with information, but one thing that I really appreciated was how Grann included his quotations and secondary information seamlessly. The facts and material he used never felt out of place or even superfluous—even the details about other sometimes non-related events occurring during Fawcett’s time were fascinating.

This book could not be more interesting—well, it could be, but if I explained then I’d be giving something exciting away and you want to find that out for yourself, don’t you? Even though the book is relatively short at 300 pages, there is so much crammed in—information about Fawcett and his explorations, information about the Amazon and the tribes that currently live there (what little is known), information about the flora and fauna of the Amazon and all over fascinating tidbits (lots of information about contemporaries of Fawcett including Arthur Conan Doyle whose The Lost World is loosely based on Fawcett and his search for Z). There are some aspects, especially near the end, that I would have liked to know more about, but I think the reason why Grann does not provide more information is because of the lack of information in general on said topic (my lips are sealed!).

Would you enjoy this book? Sure! I just passed it on to my mom and I hope she likes it. While it isn’t incredibly gripping, it isn’t dry either. Non-fiction sometimes gets such a bad rap for being boring—the author shoving too many facts in your face or not incorporating research material well or stilted writing—but this book is very readable. While I don’t think we will ever know just what happened to Percy Fawcett once he disappeared, Grann compiles and interprets all of his research in a way that posits a very realistic theory. Overall a very exciting book—you know those books you read and you want to tell everyone you see little tiny details? This is definitely one of those—especially when it comes to the bugs in the Amazon—my favorite being the “eye licker.” I found myself saying over and over, “Oh my gosh—listen to this!” If you’re on the fence about this one, check out David Grann’s website. Still on the fence? Did I mention a Lost City of Z movie in 2010 with....Brad Pitt??

What's the most exciting non-fiction book you've read? (The Devil in the White City by Larson is probably mine).

Non-Fiction Five June Reviews

Post your June reviews in the comments below using the following format:

Your name and title of book: Trish (The Hot House)
Your URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/hot-house-life-inside-leavenworth.html

Since Mister Linky is down, I'll try to add them to this post so you have a list to click through.

JUNE REVIEWS:
1. Scrap Girl - Cinnamon City
2. Christina - Proust was a Neuroscientist
3. Lula O - Bird by Bird - Some Instructions on Writing and Life
4. Missy - My Cat Spit McGee
5. Kerri - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
6. Ms Ulat Buku - Three Cups of Tea
7. Nymeth - Reasonable Creatures
8. Nymeth - Virgin: The Untouched History
9. Brittany - My Life in France with Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme
10. Karen Beth - Students Must Write
11. Jessica - Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt
12. Nicole - Nine Lives
13. Alyce - The Unlikely Disciple
14. Amanda - Yemen
15. Linda Ellen - Tuesdays with Morrie
16. Jessica - Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
17. Christina - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
18. Trish - The Lost City of Z
19. Scrap Girl - The Funny Thing Is
20. Literary Feline - Chemical Cowboys
21. Jessica - Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era
22. Lula O - The Devil in the White City


Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five May Reviews

It's here!! Are you guys excited? I know I am! I am not going to make this a sticky post, so click on the challenge button on the right side bar to take you to this post when you're ready.

If you haven't signed up, it isn't too late. Click HERE to officially sign up.

*5/28/09 - Mr. Linky is down. Please copy and paste your url into the comments section. I apologize for the trouble. I'll try to add the links once Mr. Linky is back up again. (You can leave a direct link as well, but please also leave the url as exampled below).

Post your May reads in the Mister Linky below using the following format:

Your name: Trish (Catch Me If You Can)
Your URL: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/catch-me-if-you-can-frank-w-abagnale.html

If you don't have a blog, simply fill out the name portion with the title of the book you read leaving the URL field blank.

Happy reading!

Non-Fiction Five Challenge Sign Ups

Non-Fiction Five Challenge

May 1 - September 30, 2009

After hosting the Non-Fiction Five for two years, Joy has graciously passed the torch onto me. I'm thrilled to be carrying on one of my favorite reading challenges.

Button by Nymeth

Button by Bethany

The Rules (unchanged from previous years)

1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2009 (please link your reviews on Mister Linky each month; Mister Linky can be found each month on this blog)

2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices (i.e.: 4 memoirs and 1 self-help)

3. If interested, please sign up below with the link to your NFF Challenge post (all choices do not need to be posted and may change at any time)

PARTICIPANTS

My Tentative List:
~Stalin's Children - Owen Matthews
~The Lost City of Z - David Grann
~1776 - David McCullough
~The Tender Bar - J.R. Moehringer
~Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt