I need a new book >> Apostrophic Rampages>; dick nerds>

[janine]

Aynge wrote: "The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis was great."

yes, excellent!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I'm trying to decide what to read while I wait for my book to be recalled. I just don't know. I feel like something fun rather than something heavy. No French existentialists.

[Michael]

This book was fun: Bad Things Happen

[Jammies]

So whodunnit, Michael?

[Michael]

I'll never tell!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

So I'm ready to read a non-fiction book. What topics should I be considering? I'm really looking for topical recommendations rather than specific book recommendations.

[Cheri]

I got into an art theft/forgery (with Nazis) reading jag awhile back. It started with In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin because I really like the author and think everything he has written is good. But then read The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century which lead to The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece whick was ok. But then had to do The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft. Finally bought Jonathan's book The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren which is on the bedside waiting for me while I finish up our library's winter reading program. It looks real good.

[Cheri]

lg, I like non-fiction bird watching books too. And the lives of plants Tulipomania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused and The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World which leads to coffee and spices. Which leads to colors and dyes A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire. This could go forever...

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Thanks for the ideas, Cheri. Always welcome. I like learning about stolen art and forgeries. I also like tulips. I am extremely interested in color. As far as books go, it's all in the execution. I tend to be somewhat bored by microhistories (the history of the tulip....of cod....etc.)

I went with developments leading to the Third Reich as my topic. I just felt the pull of Central Europe.

[Cheri]

I like most everything that W. Shirer writes The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

I like those micro histories by http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I might read Shirer at some point.

[Cheri]

I read Pretty Birds and was unhappy with the contrived ending. I liked Dispatches from the Edge somewhat better. I've not read much Central European history. Been to Kotar (Montenegro) and Dubrovnik. Very beautiful. What would you recommend?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

What kind of history do you prefer: political, cultural, social, military, general? Recent, or old? Sad, or happy?

[Cheri]

I like political and social history. Less so military history. NOT historical fiction like Girl With a Pearl Earring or The Other Boleyn Girl. I don't care how old or new. Not sure if history is sad or happy; it's history without judgement. Unless it is A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present. Which is very good.

Shirer is good because was a journalist with a keen eye.