false 12 11 10 true 6163797 read 1 true 2118215 currently-reading 0 true 2118214 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67073786 to: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Paperback) by Timothy Egan
This had a lot of things I like about nonfiction: a completely engrossing story of ordinary people dealing with extraordinary times; a piece of history I knew next to nothing about; and excellent reporting. It's about the great dust bowl in the High Plains during the Depression. I knew this had happened, but I had no idea some of the dust storms moved literally tons of earth across the country, in horrible, terrifying, sky-blackening swirls. I didn't know there was a thing called "dust pnuemonia" that killed many.And I certainly didn't know that a generation of homesteading and over-farming of these former prairie lands (as well as a prolonged drought) did in the plains, in some cases permanently. I highly recommend. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58852546 to: Columbine (Hardcover) by Dave Cullen
Wow. Just wow. Dave Cullen gets my ultimate respect as a journalist for delving into the real story of the Columbine school shooting, explaining not just what happened, minute by minute on that day, but also what led up to it, month after month beforehand. The two shooters were, in reality, hardly anything like their portrayal in the national media in the days and weeks after the event. One example: The so-called Trench Coat Mafia had nothing to do with either Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold. In point of fact, Harris was a classic psychopath, while Klebold was likely suicidal. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58852017 to: Sacred Hunger (Paperback) by Barry Unsworth
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/51296567 Frank's review of When You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris

The ONLY complaint I had with this book is that I'd read so many of the essays already, in the NYer. But otherwise, it's totally hilarious. And it's funny about reading with his voice in your head; I realize that's what I'd been doing! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31253277 to: Moyers on Democracy (Hardcover) by Bill Moyers
bookshelves: currently-reading
I have just about zero respect for anyone in TV news, with the glaring (and wonderful) exception of Moyers. I'm glued to his show every Friday night. This book is a collection of speeches he's given over the years that all touch on the theme of democracy. I'm less than a quarter of the way through, but I'm savoring more than reading. He's a masterful speechwriter -- I almost want to read these aloud. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31253100 to: When You Are Engulfed in Flames (Hardcover) by David Sedaris
I can't help but adore David Sedaris. When he has an essay in the New Yorker, it's the first thing I read. I know he'll start out on one topic, veer someplace else, and somehow come back at the end -- and I know I'll likely laugh out loud. THis book was for the most part repeats of some recent New Yorker pieces, but for the last section on his stay in Tokyo, where he's trying to quit smoking. No one can write a book title the way Sedaris can, either. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31252848 to: Bridge of Sighs (Hardcover) by Richard Russo
Russo's previous book, Empire Falls, remains one of my all time favorite books, so I had high hopes for this new one. I still adore Russo's writing, character building, and storytelling. He's a master, and this book is perfect evidence of that. But it was not up to the level of Empire Falls. Though it was lengthy, it wasn't hard to plough through at all (because he's such a deft storyteller), but that pace got rushed at the end, when I felt too much got tied up or dealt with at once. But I'd recommend it, for sure. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19526603 to: The Last American Man (Paperback) by Elizabeth Gilbert
I'd read Gilbert's profile of Eustace Conway, the subject of this book, in GQ several years ago, and tore it out to save because it was such a terrific article. She's an amazing writer (jealous, much?), and Eustace Conway is a fascinating man, unique, uniquely American, and she does an amazing job of painting him in all his contradictions. Plus, it's a great treatise on the loss of nature in America. Absolutely recommend this. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19526497 to: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir (Hardcover) by Bill Bryson
Not Bryson's best (my favorite remains "Notes from a Small Island," the book I wish I'd written about being an American living in England), but he's so engaging and I liked how he interwove America in the 50s with his own childhood. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19526405 to: Grace [Eventually]: Thoughts on Faith (Hardcover) by Anne Lamott
I love Annie Lamott; I think she's wonderfully funny and wise. This was not my favorite of her books, though I thought one particular essay in the collection, "Dance Class" was wonderful. ]]>