What non-mystery books are you reading? (2023-25)

[Louise]

The War Workers by E.M. Delafield. Quite amusing story about women volunteer workers in WW1.

[Jackie]

I am currently reading Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live which I recommend to anyone who lives in the US for it's frightening premise that our health is severely impacted by ageism in this country.

I am also re-reading The Hobbit which is very enjoyable, if at times a bit of a shock since it's been a long time and I'd forgotten the Elves are so different than they are in Lord of the Rings.

[Jill]

I am currently reading A Bridge to the Stars by Henning Mankell. I had only known about this author’s mystery series and hadn’t realised he had written children’s books. This is a coming of age book of an eleven year old boy.

[Jill]

I’m about halfway through A Spell of Winter. By. Helen Dunmore. I have read 4 of this author’s books and really liked them, but this, although it won the women’s prize back in the 90’s, I am not enjoying it anywhere as much.

[Susan in NC]

Just started We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time by José Andrés.

[Craftyhj]

Right now I have regressed to my childhood and am reading The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown. I read this and all of the sequels avidly when I was about 10 years old. It's quite fun, a little dated but beautifully nostalgic.

[Susan in NC]

Craftyhj wrote: "Right now I have regressed to my childhood and am reading The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown. I read this and all of the sequels avidly when I was about 10 years old. It's quite..."

Oh, lovely! I was in a group, been inactive for a year or so, but the mod used to come up with fun challenges like “reread one of the books that got you hooked on reading”, amazing, touching reviews among the members from that one - books remain with us!

[Jill]

Strange how we can remember some books from years ago but then forget about the ones we read last week. I find when I'm reading something I'm living it, but then unless someone reminds me of a certain moment in it, it's gone

[Sarah]

Jill: good point. I remember certain books from my childhood and teenage years because I re-read them so much, they were like constant friends to me. A few I've returned to as an adult, out of curiosity, to see if or how my reaction has changed, but mostly it brought back personal memories, and I wasn't focusing on the actual writing so much. I very, very rarely re-read adult fiction, except the classics (and that includes Golden Age classic mysteries!), but return to some non-fiction or biography; one example is Henry Marsh's "Do No Harm," after his own cancer diagnosis and latest book.

[Susan in NC]

Jill wrote: "Strange how we can remember some books from years ago but then forget about the ones we read last week. I find when I'm reading something I'm living it, but then unless someone reminds me of a cert..."

Definitely!

[Susan in NC]

Started a reread of Cotillion by Georgette Heyer, an entertaining old favorite.

[Sarah]

I'm reading , Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone,
a book by Aussie writer Benjamin Stevenson. The main character is a writer who writes about how to write mysteries and true crime novels, and he starts with the Membership Oath of the Detection Club, 1930, and Ronald Knox's "10 Commandments of Detective Fiction," 1929.

[Annie]

I added this non fiction book to my Goodreads last August, but unfortunately never got around to reading until today Walking with Nomads by Alice Morrison . I've previously read a couple of her books, and watch the her BBC TV series 'From Morocco to Timbuktu'.

[Jill]

I am reading Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler. A book about an inter- racial relationship, and I am loving it so far.

[Susan in NC]

I’m starting Middlemarch for the umpteenth time! It’s been on my TBR list for years, since seeing the television version (from England, only cast member I remember was Causabon, played by the same actor who was Inspector Alleyne). I’m listening to the audiobook, recommended by a GR friend, also find audiobooks help me stay focused on reading a chunky book!

[Jackie]

Susan, how do you like to do it?

I was reading a chapter (in The Brandons) and then listening to the chapter with the audio book.

[Susan in NC]

Hey Jackie - I like to listen as I read along, it really makes chunky books manageable, keeps me on pace so I feel I finish in a reasonable amount of time. If I take too long to get into it and keep having to start over, and it’s a sprawling Victorian novel with a huge cast of characters, or a nonfiction science or history book, I forget the first bits before I get to the end! That’s what kept happening with Bleak House; took me years to finally hit on reading while listening- I found if I tried to listen while exercising or knitting, my mind would wander too much…

For a Heyer novel, or any other reread, where I know what happens, I can listen and enjoy while knitting, without losing track of the plot or characters.

[Jackie]

that sounds good, too.

[Sandy]

I am currently reading Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self, chosen more because I liked her other books rather than interest in the subject. While I have little knowledge of these people or their philosophy, I'm finding the book quite interesting.

I recently read Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths and Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong. I must have found one of these while searching for the other as I requested them on the same day. Neither were terribly engaging; Jar because I am only mildly interested in the subject and Lab because I knew most of the incidents already.

I also read Baseball Haiku: The Best Haiku Ever Written about the Game. The poems seemed much the same after a while and most of the bulk was bio's of the poets.

[Sandy]

I have two non-mysteries going: Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic, an author I love, and The Private Life of Spies and The Exquisite Art of Getting Even: Stories of Espionage and Revenge, another favorite author but quite different.

[Sarah]

I'm alternating between two short books which could not be more dissimilar. The first is somewhat like Winchester's work Sandy mentions, written from a scientific point of view: There Are Places in the World Where Rules are Less Important Than Kindness
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
a series of essays connecting art, literature, physics, history, philosophy, and politics, from the Greeks to the present day. The second book is an experimental autobiography, written entirely in questions, by writer David Shields. I'm not even sure I can say he's "written" it; he condensed and collated interview questions he's received over his 40 year writing life. But he did remix and "reimagine" the questions, so this is an act of creativity, breaking all the rules and expectations. One book on cultural history, the other tearing it down.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

[Nicole]

I just stated Crime and Punishment this morning.

[Susan in NC]

For my July nonfiction reads, I’m reading the American Revolution trilogy of Nathaniel Philbrick. Finished Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution, now about midway through Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution.

[Kirsten]

Sandy wrote: "P.S. It may be because I was forced to read David Copperfield in school, but I do NOT remember it fondly."

That was how I felt about Great Expectations, but I reread it a few years back and LOVED it! I have found that books I read in school are much better now that I am older. Also, I find that getting a good audiobook of a classic novel makes it easier.

[Sarah]

Re: Sandy and Kirsten's comments on reading Dickens in school. For me,in high school, it was Tale of Two Cities, which I thought was inferior to The Scarlet Pimpernel! Later, as an undergraduate, I had an English TA who thought Dickens was the Best Writer in English Literature, better than Shakespeare, so my respect for Boz grew. I re-read most of Dickens when I had a boyfriend who named his cat Pip, and fell deeply in love with the orange marmalade moggy, the Dickens aficionado, and Bleak House, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.

[Sandy]

I am currently reading The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us, having greatly enjoyed the author's prior book about dinosaurs. And I think it was recommended in this thread much earlier.

[Rosina]

I have that in my queue - so much to read ...

[Sarah]

I recently read a non fiction book by a writer from The New Yorker, Burkhard Bilkger's Fatherland. A combination of history, investigative reporting, and autobiography. Very interesting, presenting a different perspective, but slow in a few places.
Now I'm reading a novel that won the American National Book Award: The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
I haven't gotten very far, but unlike anything else I've encountered– has anyone else read it?

[Jan C]

I just started Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century.

[Susan in NC]

Sandy wrote: "I am currently reading The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us, having greatly enjoyed the author's prior book about dinosaurs. And ..."

Oh, I enjoyed that, I hope Brusatte is working on a new book!

I’m reading the third of Nathaniel Philbrick’s Revolutionary War trilogy, In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown. Also still working my way through Middlemarch.

[Sandy]

Susan in NC wrote: "Sandy wrote: "I am currently reading The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us, having greatly enjoyed the author's prior book about d..."

You've reminded me I left Philbrick's revolution unfinished. Loved Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution and always meant to continue,

[Susan in NC]

I was so grateful my library had the ebook, physical book and audiobooks for all three. I love how Philbrick approaches history with almost a novelist’s eye, seeing the people as real, with faults and flaws along with their heroism or brilliance. I think the best historians do, makes the writing informative and entertaining, instead of just a list of battles.

[Jackie]

non fiction: currently reading Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends

and for fiction currently reading Business as Usual


they are both excellent!

[Jill]

I am about to start The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

[Jan C]

Jill wrote: "I am about to start The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame"

Well, that's a blast from the past! I remember years ago reading part of it to my friend's daughter - since then the daughter has been married and widowed.

[Jill]

Jan C wrote: "Jill wrote: "I am about to start The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame"

Well, that's a blast from the past! I remember years ago reading part of it to my friend's da..."

I'm pretty sure I have read it a long time ago, but I felt like something light

[Craftyhj]

I love The Wind in the Willows - it brings such happy memories of sitting at the kitchen table reading as a little girl.

I have been reading Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris and Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York - the original books which prompted the film.

[Susan in NC]

Recently finished Miss Mapp by E.F. Benson, The Vicar of Bullhampton by Anthony Trollope, The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer, and currently reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan

[Jackie]

Jill wrote: "I am about to start The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame"
I recently re-read this and I loved it all over again.

[Sarah]

I have a beautiful edition of The Wind in the Willows, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham, given to me as a literal birth-day present when I came into this world.

Re: Cosmos. The last book I read was astrophysicist Sara Seager's "The Smallest Lights in The Universe," an appropriate memoir for this time of year: she mourns her late husband while I mourn my late friend Diane, another physicist, on her birthday today, and my late step-father, an astro-biologist at NASA. I think of them both every day.

Each moment seems infused with the chance to "do what's good for the brain," as I fight my latest tumor, finding this gem in retired neurosurgeon Henry Marsh's latest book "And Finally," as he studies his own MRI: "As I looked at the images on my computer monitor, one by one, just as used to look at my patients' scan, slice by slice, working up from the brainstem to the cerebral hemispheres, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of complete helplessness and despair... The urge to avert my eyes was very great. I forced myself to work through the scan's images, one by one, and have never looked at them again. It is just too frightening."

It has gotten harder and harder for me to put my own MR disc in my computer, but the need to know, to see for myself, outweighs the fear. I also noticed that my new Neuro-Onc finds it easier to look at the scan than to look me in the eye. There's a story in that, as long as I have enough neural activity to tell it.

[Susan in NC]

Sarah wrote: "I have a beautiful edition of The Wind in the Willows, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham, given to me as a literal birth-day present when I came into this world.

Re: Cosmos. The last book I rea..."

Oh Sarah, I am so sorry, I’ve been there with brain tumor MRIs, hoping for the best, terrified of the worst - mine was dangerously placed on brain stem but “benign”, but my husband said for the damage done getting it (mostly) out, they should come up with a better term…I have no words, thanks for the book recommendations, I am sending peace and serenity to you. There is a story there, and you express yourself beautifully with clarity and unflinching honesty - would it help you to write it? Please forgive me if that is a thoughtless suggestion, I know my fatigue can be debilitating, yours is worse I’m sure.

[Sarah]

Dear Susan:

You have never said anything thoughtless, and, believe you me, I understand about the aftereffects of tumors, especially what's called "chronic fatigue."

As for writing, I recently had the highlight of my publishing career by making a COMMENT on a JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Oncology aritcle, making a major medical error, then having the correction appear a few days later!

It really helped me to read Henry Marsh's three books, which are incredibly honest. He writes about the mistakes he's made, which, as you know, in neurosurgery is no small potatoes, and in his latest book he describes his journey from doctor to patient. You need to have nerves of steel to read, but i felt relieved to know that even the best of physicians can feel frightened by what we face. Just not when we go into OR; then they have to have a colossal ego, More power to them.

Thank YOU for all the work you do for this discussion group, which has become another source of motivation for me. Reading mysteries is part of my routine for "brain health," which also gets me out of bed to visit the library, picking up the books I've put on hold.

I hope you're susrvivng the heat in NC! Be well– Sarah

[Susan in NC]

Thank you for your kind comments, and congratulations on your published correction! Keep ‘em honest!

I am so glad you are staying motivated, that helps so much - keep reading, enjoying the small pleasures. I found so many things that seemed important or stressed me out before, really don’t matter.

It is humid and very hot today, I find this weather really wipes me out, so I try and stay inside as much as possible - great reading weather! ;)

[Keith]

I am reading 'Got2Go' by Lea Rieck a German woman who rode her Triumph Tiger motorcycle round the world alone and wrote a book about her 516 day, 87,000 km journey. She has since done several more long journeys in Africa, Europe and North America, which she videoed and posted on Youtube so I have got to know her pretty well. An interesting and fascinationg story really of self discovery..
There are several world travellers posting on Youtube of their journeys, I am following and for the last 4 years have followed 'Itchyboots', Noraly Schoenmaker, a Dutch woman who posts a video, now twice a week of her 140,000 km (87,000 miles) solo trip, more of a National Geographic style documentary. Until recently she produced an episode three times a week

[Susan in NC]

Wow, thanks, Keith, these sound fascinating, good to know YouTube has such great content!

[Keith]

Susan in NC wrote: "Wow, thanks, Keith, these sound fascinating, good to know YouTube has such great content!"

You can find her website at 'itchyboots.com'. She is an attractive blue-eyed blonde and travels alone. For a long time people were sure she must be accompanied be a camera crew, the quality of her work is so professional although her first few episodes are very short and quite amateur while she was learning.
If you look at her channel, I recommend you begin right at the start of Season One in India and follow all her adventures, she grows on you! At present she has 1.77 million subscribers following her channel

[Susan in NC]

Thanks!

[Jackie]

I'm reading and really enjoying Last Bus to Wisdom.

I've never read this author before but I will try more for sure.

[Susan in NC]

I’m reading Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, one of my favorite historians

[Kirsten]

I'm reading a historical romance - A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore