If nothing else, 2020 has been my year of more “I had no idea” reading than any other in my adult life. I’ve read fiction and nonfiction on a number of issues for years, but somehow race was never a large part of that reading. Now, like many others in this country, I’ve seen just how insidious systemic racism is in America and want a better understanding. To that end, I read A ... Read More...
Text Me When You Get Home
Today is the last of my summer nonfiction reviews, but it’s a bit unusual. It’s only partially a review of Text Me When You Get Home and mostly a rumination on all the thoughts the book brought me. Which is kind of wonderful, right? When you read a book and it fills you with good memories and positive emotions? It’s a bit of a rarity in entertainment these days, but is one of ... Read More...
Blowout by Rachel Maddow
As you well know I’m not a big nonfiction fan, but like everything else in 2020, that fact is fiction right now. I’m enjoying a lot of nonfiction, especially audiobooks. So much so that I’m often scrolling through my online library catalog looking for something immediately available to listen to while I trudge up and down our basement stairs (cardio…yuck) or knit. That’s how I ... Read More...
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
It’s May 1940, but Hitler is already on the move, invading and collecting countries like Monopoly properties. In Great Britain, Prime Minister Chamberlain has lost the confidence of his party and is going to be replaced. It is a momentous time in the world and in British history. Winston Churchill fulfills his lifelong dream of being Prime Minister when he is chosen as the ... Read More...
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America
Last week, I left behind heavy nonfiction with Adam Rippon's memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, but today I'm back with a heavy dose of reality. Dopesick is Beth Macy’s well-researched and documented rise of opioid addiction in America. Specifically, in the Appalachians—starting with the over-prescribing of high dose Oxycontin to coal miners in the late 1990s. Macy weaves ... Read More...
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
It’s embarrassing enough to be ignorant about American history, but, as a librarian, to not know about the largest library fire in the country? I’m pretty sure my librarian membership can be revoked for that. Thankfully, Susan Orlean’s new book The Library Book not only remedies my ignorance, but is a reminder of why libraries are one of the greatest government ... Read More...
