I read this book for the True Crime category of Nonfiction Reader Challenge, a genre that I usually don’t gravitate to. The factual starting point was a matricide by a young boy in Victorian London. Records from Robert’s trial, his subsequent time in the Broadmoor insane asylum, and an intriguing glimpse at this later life … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader: The Wicked Boy
Richard Holmes, Falling Upwards Hello there! I’ve been on a bit of an unannounced blog break, as I was off visiting family and friends in the US (my first time back in 5 years) and didn’t have time to do anything else. I did manage to fit in some reading: a book subtitled “How We … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Falling Upwards
When I picked Savor as my book for the “Food” category of the Nonfiction Reader challenge, I thought I’d be reading mostly about food. I knew the author, a talented young chef, died far too early, but somehow I thought that before that point, the focus would be on more cheerful and tasty things. I … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Savor
I’m doing a combined post with shorter reviews here, because in the summer my attention span for blogging has gone out the window. Plus, these books happen to go together well, as I hope you’ll agree… In early June I read All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader: Culture, Architecture, and Science
What causes the United States of America to be so internally fractious and thoroughly disunited? The federal government is grinding to a halt, as opposing factions battle to wrest control of it for their own, deeply opposite agendas. Why is no one interested in getting along so that things can work better? Well, now I … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader: American Nations
Patrick Stewart: Making It So (2023) With his patrician voice, I had no idea that Patrick Stewart came from a working-class Yorkshire background. In this memoir, he tells how he made it from obscurity to worldwide fame, and from a way of life that was practically Victorian into shows and movies that imagine a space-age … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Making It So
Eliza Griswold, Circle of Hope (2024) For the Nonfiction Reader Challenge category of a book published in 2024, I sampled a number of forthcoming releases, but for some reason this was the only one that caught my attention and made me want to read further. It’s a fairly up-to-the-minute story, too; it won’t be published … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Circle of Hope
Ever since reading Hidden Valley Road (which I highly recommend), I’ve been wanting to read more about schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to learn more about these mysterious and very challenging states of soul, from as many points of view as possible. I’ve put a number of titles on the TBR, to work through gradually. The … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: The Collected Schizophrenias
I’ve joined the Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Book’d Out, and with my very first read I decided to take on the scariest topic: The Future! Brian McLaren pulls no punches with the title of his forthcoming book, Life After Doom. The topic may be alarming — the coming environmental collapse, which could take a … Continue reading Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Life After Doom
Before I started blogging, I hardly read nonfiction. Now I can’t imagine my reading life without it. During the last decade, which has been tumultuous for both my outer and inner life, nonfiction books have educated, consoled, and inspired me. However bad things get, I am still given hope and strength when I receive news … Continue reading Nonfiction November
