Task #19: A book of nonviolent true crime

[Book Riot]

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 19th Read Harder task.

[Ann]

What do you all think about Susan Orleans's new book The Library Book? It seems like it could fit for nonviolent. But then arson is considered a violent crime.

[Dixie]

I read The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century this past year and found it fascinating.

[Ann]

I am going to read Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start Up by John Carreyou that came out in the past couple of months.

[Ann]

Dixie wrote: "I read The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century this past year and found it fascinating."

If The Library Book doesn't qualify, I'll go with either The Feather Thief (great suggestion) or The Map Thief, which I already own and haven't read yet .

[Chelsea]

I'm thinking about reading The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine -- loved the movie!

[Ann]

Seluxes wrote: "Ann wrote: "What do you all think about Susan Orleans's new book The Library Book? It seems like it could fit for nonviolent. But then arson is considered a violent crime."

I am pl..."

That is what I wanted to hear. I can hardly wait till January to read it. Plus, it fits with the book by a journalist category, too.

[Martha]

Goodreads defines True Crime as this: "True crime is a non-fiction literary genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people. The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Still others revisit historic crimes (or alleged crimes) and propose solutions, such as books examining political assassinations, well-known unsolved murders, or the deaths of celebrities."

Based on the selections under Genre:True Crime, I'll be reading Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the "powerless" Woman Who Took on Washington,
The Library Book
or Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler

[Chandra]

Ann wrote: "I am going to read Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start Up by John Carreyou that came out in the past couple of months."

Bad Blood is fantastic, hope you also enjoy it!

[Brandon]

Another one to consider is Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

[Shannon]

I loved the movie so I'm going to read Catch Me If You Can! Luckily my library has it!

[Chrissy]

I was looking at Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art, but the butterfly smuggler one also looks interesting.

[Theresa]

With a description that starts, "Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--if only Grant came from Transylvania and was a terrible professional hockey goalkeeper..." I have to go with Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts. I just hope I don't get part way through it & find that someone gets hurt because I'll be so disappointed if this ends up not counting. :)

[Ann]

Theresa wrote: "With a description that starts, "Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--..."

I wouldn't be surprised if there's violence in a book with 'ice hockey' in the title. In the words of Rodney Dangerfield, "I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out." 😉

[Theresa]

Ann wrote: "Theresa wrote: "With a description that starts, "Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort..."

That's hysterical! Maybe he was a terrible player because he wouldn't fight. (Grasping at straws!)

[Rachel]

I actually haven't read All the President's Men yet and it's on my TBR list anyways, so I'm going to use that.

[Stephen]

Theresa wrote: "With a description that starts, "Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--..."

I figure if most of the crimes are non-violent--especially the ones that are the in the blurb--then it still counts as non-violent true crime. The book doesn't have to be 100% violence free so long as that isn't the focus.

And apparently he was a goaltender and they're the least likely to end up in fights (at least on ice). Though it does happen in bench clearing brawls.

[Tracy]

Im going to try and get my hands on The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century since everyone loved it this year.

[Emma]

I'm most likely going to go with Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art. It's been sitting on my TBR for several years.

[Jesica]

We had a true crime for 2018 as well and I opted for nonviolent. I read Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History and The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession. Both very interesting!

I think I'll go with The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession this year

[Renee]

The Stranger In the Woods by Finkel, man lives as a hermit in Maine, his crime he robs a camp for supplies. While B & E can be violent, he wasn’t

[Tabitha]

Jesica wrote: "We had a true crime for 2018 as well and I opted for nonviolent. I read..."

Ohh, thanks. . . think I'm going with The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession cause it sounds highly interesting.

[Nadine in NY]

Theresa wrote: "With a description that starts, "Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--..."

That's the book I was thinking of! I've heard the audiobook is excellent.

[Beth]

Rachel wrote: "I actually haven't read All the President's Men yet and it's on my TBR list anyways, so I'm going to use that."

I was also thinking about that book too if The Library Book wouldn't count. It also counts for the journalist/journalism task.

[Doris]

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum sounds as though it would work for this one, and it happens to be a Kindle Daily Deal today!

[Susanne]

Does anyone know any good YA/middle grade books or comics/graphic novels that would work for this task? That's my usual approach to tasks that I don't find very appealing. :)

[Megan]

Susanne wrote: "Does anyone know any good YA/middle grade books or comics/graphic novels that would work for this task? That's my usual approach to tasks that I don't find very appealing. :)"

Nothing came up on google?

[Susanne]

Megan wrote: "Susanne wrote: "Does anyone know any good YA/middle grade books or comics/graphic novels that would work for this task? That's my usual approach to tasks that I don't find very appealing. :)"

Noth..."

No, otherwise I wouldn't ask. ;) There are many involving murder or other kinds of violent true crime, though. :/ Let me know if you found something, maybe I just didn't use the right phrases in my searches.

[Stina]

I'm planning to read The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World.

[Therese]

Shannon wrote: "I loved the movie so I'm going to read Catch Me If You Can! Luckily my library has it!"

I read this a while ago and it was a lot of fun. Enjoy.

[Therese]

Doris wrote: "Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum sounds as though it would work for this one, and it happens to be a Kindle Daily Deal today!"

We both were thinking alike because I got that when you did and will be reading it. Another one that was good that I read this year was The Art Forger, and it should work for this prompt as well.

[Jaime]

Conspiracy of Fools - Kurt Eichenwald is good for a nonviolent true crime I think. It’s about Enron.

[Heather]

Can someone remind me how to do the html? (I should remember)...anyway, I've picked Can you Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger by Lee Israel.

This one was hard.

[Martha]

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed . It's on its way from the library.

[Teresa]

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake is a favorite of mine. I can't decide between The Library Book, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts, and Thief by J.D. Hylton.

[Maddie]

Ann wrote: "What do you all think about Susan Orleans's new book The Library Book? It seems like it could fit for nonviolent. But then arson is considered a violent crime."

That would count for the journalist/journalism category

[Kristen]

I was hoping to find something about prohibition, but it seems everything is connected to organized crime, which is pretty violent. Anyone know of anything?

[Mya]

Heather wrote: "Can someone remind me how to do the html?


Heather - if you are on the full Goodreads site, when you are typing in the comment window there's a link sitting right above that window. It reads add book/author. Click on that!

Let me know if it doesn't work or if you have other questions. :)

[Mya]

Teresa wrote: "Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake is a favorite of mine. I can't decide between The Library Book, [book:Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of ..."

Teresa - I read Ballad of the Whisky Robber several years ago. I remember very little of it now, except that it was relatively enjoyable.

[Genie]

Ann wrote: "I am going to read Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start Up by John Carreyou that came out in the past couple of months."

The Carreyou book was really good- and it would count as a business book, also.

[Sara]

Shannon wrote: "I loved the movie so I'm going to read Catch Me If You Can! Luckily my library has it!"

I highly recommend it! It has even more included than in the movie and it's also very funny!

[Sara]

I'm going to be reading Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger in anticipation of watching the movie. I find the story fascinating!

[Harper]

I was also going to read ! Loved the episode of "This American Life."

[Jessica]

Sara wrote: "I'm going to be reading Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger in anticipation of watching the movie. I find the story fascinating!"

Me too!

[Jessica]

Has anyone read The Man Who Loved Books Too Much? I'm trying to keep all my authors female this year.

[Heather]

Would Scandals, Vandals, an Da Vincis count?

[Heather]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Lucia]

Hi there, I'm compiling lists of everyone's suggestions in case that's easier for anyone (I know it is for me!) c:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[E.]

I read Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground a few years ago, and it was really good. I think it would be a good fit for this task. Now I just need to find a book for me to read for this task. lol.

[Jenny]

What about things that were/are considered crimes and punsihed as them but shouldn't have been/be? Things like being imprisoned for being gay or quakers hiding escaped slaves? Not the underground railroad in general, I would expect there would be more violence involved there, even if just fighting for their lives..