Stephanie wrote: "I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned these but they are both very good.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Left to Tell: Discover..."

From the perspective of the UN troops during the genocide try:
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
by Roméo Dallaire, Samantha Power

Stephanie wrote: "I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned these but they are both very good.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Left to Tell: Discover..."


Shake hands With the Devil Romeo Dellaire
UN commanding officer during the genocide which the UN did nothing about, neither did countries which had troops in the region ie USA (approx 300 troops in Kenya/Uganda) & France (the role of France in the genocide is a murky one indeed).

Oh yes, and Will in the World How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, by Stephen Greenblatt, is first-rate.

Recently I read The Great Influenza The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History and American Lion Andrew Jackson in the White House. Both were very interesting.

For nature fans, I would recommend A Supremely Bad Idea Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All, The Animal Dialogues Uncommon Encounters in the Wild, Wesley the Owl The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, and A Walk in the Woods Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail.

Garlic and Sapphires The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is excellent, and so are Ruth Reichl's other two books of autobiography: Tender at the Bone Growing Up at the Table and Comfort Me With Apples More Adventures at the Table.

I am hopeful she eventually will write a volume about her years at the head of Gourmet magazine.

Diane wrote: "El wrote: "I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Helter Skelter The True Story of the Manson Murders or not, but for anyone interested in serial killers it's definitely an interesting..."

It was!

I just saw this book on swaptree and I want to get it so bad! It looks like it could be really interesting: The Women Who Lived for Danger The Agents of the Special Operations Executive. It's about women spies during WWII.

Sharon wrote: "The Christian Bible is really interesting to read.
For example, the chapter about Esther, how she became Queen, what she went through to save her people, the Jews. The bad guy.... the good guy ......"

"non-fiction" ??

El wrote: "I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Helter Skelter The True Story of the Manson Murders or not, but for anyone interested in serial killers it's definitely an interesting (and true)..."

I'll bet that is very interesting and creepy!

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Helter Skelter The True Story of the Manson Murders or not, but for anyone interested in serial killers it's definitely an interesting (and true) story.

The Christian Bible is really interesting to read.
For example, the chapter about Esther, how she became Queen, what she went through to save her people, the Jews. The bad guy.... the good guy ... How Esther is remembered as being created "for such a time as this". Really a great non fiction story.
Sharon,
Peace

Three of my favorites- all very different moods:
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, and
my latest favorite,
Columbine by Dave Cullen. There's an AuthorQA starting on this today and I'm eager to see what other readers think about this NY TImes bestseller.

Oops I left out :

11. Blue Latitudes by Horowitz
12. Eats Shoots and Leaves

I also just recently finished a fun one called Garlic and Sapphires about a food critic and her disguises that was fun.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven by Krakauer
2. The Perfect Storm
3. City of Falling Angels by Jon Berendt
4. The Glass Castle
5. Eat, Pray, Love
6. Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
7. Wild Swans by Jung Chang (one of my all time favorites)
8. Running with Scissors
9. A Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
10. The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker

Hope you find some good ones!
Mari Anne

Darlene wrote: "The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman is really good and gives a look at Warsaw, Poland during WWII. I would recommend it."

Darlene, My live book club just finished it and I liked it as well. By the last 50 or so pages, I could not keep all of the details of each individual straight, but overall I loved the story. Particularly the compassion that was shown by the main characters.

I am reading Susan Orlean's The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup (very good if you like her writing which I do), just finished The Orchid Thief. Last month I read James Woods' How Fiction Works, which is a surprisingly engaging study of the novel as a form. I have my own nonfiction book coming out--it's called Perfection, it's a memoir.

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman is really good and gives a look at Warsaw, Poland during WWII. I would recommend it.

Stephanie wrote: "I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned these but they are both very good.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Left to Tell: Discover..."


Speaking of Rwanda -- there was a great book about Rwanda:

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch

Also - I have An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina in my piles by the man Hotel Rwanda was based on, that looks really good

I love books about science and nature, so here are my recommendations:

Anything by Carl Sagan: Cosmos, The Demon-Haunted World, Varieties of Scientific Experience, Broca's Brain, The Dragons of Eden, Comet, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Pale Blue Dot, Billions and Billions

Anything by Brian Greene: The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos

Anything by Michio Kaku: Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension, Parallel Worlds: The Science of Alternative Universes and Our Future in the Cosmos

Anything by Stephen Hawking: A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes, The Universe in a Nutshell, a Briefer History of Time

Reflections of Eden by Birute M. F. Galdikas

Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

I generally read more non-fiction than fiction and the best (five star) non-fiction I've read this year is:

1 Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson (fantastic)
2 No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels - Jay Dobbins (fantastic)
3 Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish
4 Seal Doctor - Ken Jones (setting up the first seal rescue centre in Cornwall)
5 Fragments of Isabella: A Memoir of Auschwitz
6 Call the Midwife: a True Story of the East End in the 1950s - Jennifer Worth
7 Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia - Dennis Covington (fantastic)
8 The Dressing Station: A Surgeon's Chronicle of War and Medicine - Johnathan Kaplan
9 Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel by Alek Wek (an amazing woman)
10 The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery
11 Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil
12 Within These Walls - Carroll Pickett. A prison pastor's mentoring to the death row victims he was with at their end.
13 Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers - Amy Stewart. (Fantastic).

I hope that isn't too many, but all of the books are so different, except the two books on Hells Angels. Thompson hung out with them for journalistic purposes, Dobbins as an undercover cop, but could not maintain his distance from them. Two fantastic books especially read one after the other (in any order).

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
by Michael B. Oren

Seems topical, just started it (Audio CD).

I just felt that while I see where she was coming from in writing the book (opening readers' eyes to the woes of the working class, etc.), I felt she maintained a holier-than-thou attitude throughout - as if while illustrating how bad minimum wage is, thankfully she didn't have to deal with it, her life was okay. Like you said, she did make it easy on herself, and that defeats the purpose. Even people in reality shows have to give up most of their comforts. This author made sure she still had an out.

Additionally the time spent at each job was too short to get a real idea as to the real experiences. I have a feeling she filled a lot of holes in on her own.

Overall I don't generally appreciate books where the writer puts themselves in a specific position in order to write about it. It can be very exploitive, and that's what I felt happened here. Instead of trying to fix anything, she wrote a book about it in hopes that someone else would fix the system after she went home to her comfortable place in society.

El wrote: "Ick, I found Nickel and Dimed pretty offensive."

In what way? I know she made it too easy on herself - heard a lot of complaints about that. but I just think most people have no clue how impossible it is to live on minimum wage

Ick, I found Nickel and Dimed pretty offensive.

I liked Nickel and Dimed. i think all people need to read it, esp. those who are managers

Under the Banner of Heaven by Krakauer
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Diane wrote: "

Did you know that the author is a Goodreads..."

I think I did in the back of my mind

Fiona wrote: "I'm going to try to read two books at the same time - one fiction and one non fiction and I'd like suggestions.

I want history, biographies etc, politics too... general stuff. Not interested in ..."

I just finished "Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny" by Robert Wright. It is a terrific read.

Also pick up any of the collected essays of John McPhee. They contain truly wonderful insights into the topics they cover.

Fiona - I think Terri made a good recommendation with American Eve and that it might fit what you are looking for. Turn of the century 1900s....lust, murder, madness......

Terri wrote: "I really liked the whole way American Eve progressed. And I really got a feel for the players- boy was her mother a piece of work!

"

Did you know that the author is a Goodreads author?

I really liked the whole way American Eve progressed. And I really got a feel for the players- boy was her mother a piece of work!

Terri wrote: "I am reading American Eve about Evelyn Nesbit. Very interesting. I never knew hwe picture was the inspiration for LM Montgomery for Anne of Greene Gables"

I started reading Amercan Eve and unfortunately had to put it aside due to other reading commitments (book club, work...).
I made it to about page 120, though, and really found it compelling - i'd love to hear your thoughts on it when you are finished.

Although you said you didn't want memoirs, I recently read a really good memoir called Defying Hitler by Sebastian Hauffner, who lived in Nazi Germany and gives fascinating insights on the psychology and German feeling behind the Nazi rise to power in an eloquent, clear way.
Although you said you said you didn't want anything post-WWII, I recommend O, Jerusalem (sorry, i can't remember the authors-2 of them), the story of Israeli independance. Very human, giving the stories of both sides with compassion, and very interesting.

I am reading American Eve about Evelyn Nesbit. Very interesting. I never knew hwe picture was the inspiration for LM Montgomery for Anne of Greene Gables

Another book that I thought was pretty good is a memoir but it's not whiny in tone or a "woe is me" type, which personally annoy me, too. It's called Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki.

hmmm me and nonfiction don't get along that well. I'm trying to remember the last nonfiction book I read.
The Four Agreements A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book - It's one those "self-help" things but it was good.
Nicholas and Alexandra
And the Band Played On Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
Murphy's Boy
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

The Year of Living Biblically One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible

Belle Weather Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits and Conniptions

The Necklace Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives

Kabul Beauty School An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil

Jane Boleyn The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford

The Last Lecture

Dewey The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

1) The Solitary Vice: Against Reading by Mikita Brottman is a nonficiton book I recommend to every avid reader I come across. Whether or not you agree with the author, all the people I know find plenty or parallels between their reading habits and what the author describes. :)

2) Even though her novels are hit and miss (mostly miss) with the general public, Alice Sebold's memoir Lucky really affected me and my views on random assault. Definitely not for the light-hearted though.

Sex With The Queen and Sex With The King both by Eleanor Herman.

I like memoirs. A few all time favorites:
The Orchard by Adelle Crocket Robertson
Heat by Bill Buford
All Over But the Shouting by Rick Bragg
The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis
Endurance : Shackleton's Incredible Vogage by Alfred Lansing
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Eric Newby - anything you can find
Hunter S. Thompson - all the Fear & Loathing books

I keep recommending John Bacevich's "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism". It is a compelling argument for lowering our expectations and extremely well written.

A couple of my favourite non-fictions:

- Margaret MacMillan's Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
- Orlando Figes's The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
- David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
- Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling
- Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order
- Jane Dunn's Mary and Elizabeth: Cousins, Rivals, Queens

Geisha by Liza Dalby is an interesting look at the world of geisha from it's history to when the book was written. I believe the late seventies?

if anyone enjoyed the aj jacob's book living biblically, he has another book out, The Know-It-All One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. i picked it up at borders the other day, but haven't read it yet. it seems quite interesting, and i'm looking forward to reading both books.

Just finished , which in the US was called Time Was Soft There A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co.

I really liked it.

I just started A Mighty Heart its about Danny Pearl the Wall Street Journal correspondent that was killed in Pakistan just after 9/11

I haven't read it yet, but a friend told me that The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It is pretty good. That one is about Champagne and the Napoleonic wars. Like I said, I haven't read it yet, so I can't vouch for it personally.
And I agree with Robin and Liz about Devil in the White City. Twice I skipped over the serial killer 'interlude' to read more about the Chicago World's Fair. I always made myself go back and read the story, though :)

Pamela wrote: "I also read another one recently: The Fortune Cookie Chonicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. It was pretty interesting. It examines Chinese Food in America. It is a fascinating culture--there's a whole under..."

I just finished this book last week. I found it very interesting and I will certainly look at my Chinese food differently in the future.

I have also read Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages that Shaped Our History twice.

A couple of my favorites:
1)The Discoverers
2)A Short History of Nearly Everything Special Illustrated Edition
3) The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich a History of Nazi Germany
4) Great Tales from English History The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More
5) Undaunted Courage
6)William Shakespeare The World As Stage

Happy Reading!