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Post by gilmoreren on Feb 7, 2007 15:48:03 GMT -5
Hope this is ok....
Can we talk non-fiction?
Travel writing History books Real Life Diaries Political writing Biographies Lit Crit
What do we like? What do we hate?
I love to read travel writing, especially from Bill Bryson. Political writing from Woolestonecraft and Paine electrifies me Memoirs of great historical figures can give great insight too.
Anyone?
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Post by Hanna on Feb 7, 2007 16:19:08 GMT -5
I basically love all of it. History is very interesting, like now I'm reading "Ancient Greece" by Carl Grimberg which is book nr. 3 og 25 in his series about the history of man. It's a great series which he wrote with the intention to make history available for the people. My dad read the entire thing before he turned 18, so my goal is 25;) I also find political writing, diaries and biographies very interesting.
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zeldafitzgerald
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
ancora imparo
Posts: 1,948
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Feb 7, 2007 19:36:58 GMT -5
I LOVE Bill Bryson. I started a Memoirs thread where I really go into detail about my love of memoirs - a lot of other people posted great ones too.
Let's see, I am looking forward to reading "George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism" - which is about (surprise surprise) two brothers who have autism. The mother writes the book about what it's like to have 2 children with autism, and one without. Nick Hornby (who also has an Autistic kid) really likes this book and thinks it gives a very honest insight into what Autism really is.
I love the book "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore.
I recently purchased "The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, and want to read it very soon.
I'll have to think a little more, and look at my books, and post again with more!
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Post by Dominique on Feb 7, 2007 20:13:39 GMT -5
I haven't gotten too much into non-fiction yet, mainly because my to be read list is so long But I find my favourite type is often a collection of journalism from a particular person, like a collection of the interesting interviews and profile pieces they've done or something like that.
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bookworm148
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of a sky of a tree called life."
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Post by bookworm148 on Feb 7, 2007 21:06:33 GMT -5
Historical and Travel
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Post by gilmoreren on Feb 8, 2007 5:50:19 GMT -5
I LOVE Bill Bryson. I started a Memoirs thread where I really go into detail about my love of memoirs - a lot of other people posted great ones too. He is awesome isn't he? I'm partway through Neither Here nor There at the moment and he has reinspired me to do the northern lights thing. Bill is chancellor of my old university, Durham, partly because of that comment he made about it in 'Notes from a Small Island.' I'm a little sorry I graduated before he took on the role, but I did get to meet Peter Ustinov instead. I got into biographies through a paper I wrote about Mosley, the fascism movement in the UK was fascinating.
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Post by gilmoreren on Feb 8, 2007 5:55:52 GMT -5
I haven't gotten too much into non-fiction yet, mainly because my to be read list is so long But I find my favourite type is often a collection of journalism from a particular person, like a collection of the interesting interviews and profile pieces they've done or something like that. I love collections of journalism too. May I recommend Paul Foot? One of the UK's finest investigative reporters who recently passed on. Lots of compilations of his work are published. wiki on PFarchive of PF writingsreflection on PFPaul was a prolific writer who worked for the Private Eye magazine, one of my favourite reads. Has anyone heard of it? wiki link heremagazine online
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czarval
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
Posts: 607
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Post by czarval on Feb 8, 2007 12:29:07 GMT -5
I like history books. They combine travel and good stories. I like some science books too, but I often find them hard to understand since I'm not very good with science.
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Bina
First novel published
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Post by Bina on Feb 8, 2007 13:46:25 GMT -5
I mostly read journalism and memoirs. But I also like travel books and history about Egypt because I´m so fascinated with it. Actually most books I bought today fit into this category:)
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zeldafitzgerald
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
ancora imparo
Posts: 1,948
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Feb 8, 2007 21:33:56 GMT -5
I LOVE Bill Bryson. I started a Memoirs thread where I really go into detail about my love of memoirs - a lot of other people posted great ones too. He is awesome isn't he? I'm partway through Neither Here nor There at the moment and he has reinspired me to do the northern lights thing. Bill is chancellor of my old university, Durham, partly because of that comment he made about it in 'Notes from a Small Island.' I'm a little sorry I graduated before he took on the role, but I did get to meet Peter Ustinov instead. I got into biographies through a paper I wrote about Mosley, the fascism movement in the UK was fascinating. He did the exact same thing for me too! That is one of the places I want to visit next - to see the northern lights. It actually does not sound bad to me at all. I like cold weather, and I think I would really like a slow-paced, relaxed, cozy vacation. Cuddling up in a hotel to read when it's absolutely freezing outside sounds perfect and cozy. Or sitting in the cafes and bars he mentions, staying warm and cozy by the fire and reading in the dim light. Sounds perfect - and then absolutely incredible when you get to see the northern lights at their best!
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Lu
Administrator
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Post by Lu on Feb 9, 2007 9:28:44 GMT -5
I like reading political writing (mainly italian authors) and biography, but also I think that history books and lit crit are very interesting readings. During my last visit to a bookstore I saw a book about role of women in the history of Europe...it sounds like interesting, I think it can be added to my list of book-to-buy. ;D even if a don't remember the title now.. I usually don't like Travel writing but I recently read a book about a travel along italian coast written by an italian journalist and I really enjoyed it!
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Post by gilmoreren on Feb 9, 2007 14:03:25 GMT -5
He did the exact same thing for me too! That is one of the places I want to visit next - to see the northern lights. It actually does not sound bad to me at all. I like cold weather, and I think I would really like a slow-paced, relaxed, cozy vacation. Cuddling up in a hotel to read when it's absolutely freezing outside sounds perfect and cozy. Or sitting in the cafes and bars he mentions, staying warm and cozy by the fire and reading in the dim light. Sounds perfect - and then absolutely incredible when you get to see the northern lights at their best! Tell me about it. I'm dying to see the Ice Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland and check out the northern lights and Iceland at the same time. Maybe new years would be good...
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Post by bookaddict on Mar 24, 2007 16:34:03 GMT -5
Here's a list of nonfiction that reads like Fiction from Book CLub Companion 1- The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magis and Madness at the Fai that Changed America by Erik Larson 2- Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China by Rachel DeWoskin 3- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 4- Into Thin Air: A Personal Accout of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer 5- Midnight into the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt 6- Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose 7- The Planets by Dava Sobel 8- The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester 9- SeasBiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand 10- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
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florence
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
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Post by florence on Mar 27, 2007 8:14:25 GMT -5
Thanks for the list bookaddict. It looks very interesting.
I like reading about arthistory (Janson, Gombrich, Panofsky etc.) history (e.g. Barbara Tuchman, Gibbon) and about books itself (so many books so little time, a lifetimes reading). Right now I'm into Bill Brysons 'a short history of nearly everyting' . Its soooo interesting! I wasnt a star at physics, math, biology and chemistry at high school, but I ike the book very much. Everyting is very well explained so even I can understand it. Maybe its because Bryson was also a layman at this field.
And I'm fascinated by Egypt too, Dorothy Parker!
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lindsay
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us." - Franz Kafka
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Post by lindsay on Mar 27, 2007 10:10:30 GMT -5
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" was so great, especially for those of us who are not big into science . Not only was it not dry, it was funny and interesting.
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