I've read two nonfiction books in January.

The Gilded Page by Mary Wellesley - a book about Medieval manuscripts - how they were made, the scribes/authors that wrote them, how they were preserved (or not). It's like walking through a museum with a friend who happens to be an expert in Medieval manuscripts. Loved it.

The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family by Kerri K. Greenidge
This one was harder to read - dense and LOTS of characters. But it's a fascinating topic - looking at the famous abolitionist Grimke sisters and how their family was indebted to slavery and following their black relatives (their brother Henry fathered three children - at least - with a black enslaved woman).

Anonymous wrote:Behind the Beautiful Forevers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Beautiful_Forevers

The best nonfiction book I've ever read (and it won the 2012 National Book Award, so others loved it too).

+1 This stuck with me for a long time.

Surely PP above knows that Harry hired a ghost writer to write the book?

Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50743767-between-two-kingdoms

Between Two Kingdom about a young woman going through treatment for leukemia.

Spare by Prince Harry

I just finished about the Spanish version that our neighbor’s daughter scanned and sent from Valencia. Some of the things I knew about such as The Queen making Meghan stop wearing the earrings that were a gift from the murderer of Adnan Khashoggi and Dodi Fayed’s mother was from the Khashoggi family.

In addition to Harry calling the people he killed pieces on a chessboard, another sadness was his mocking of a disabled teacher at his school.

There were many similar revelations, some of them laughable like his two day bender with Dominic West after they left The South Pole. Again, most were already known.

What I found interesting was how Harry smoke his truth in such a clear, literate way. Even in the book he says what most know that he is not bright. But this book gives the lie to that. It is very well written and engaging. I am certain his subsequent thre books will be similarly engaging. I now understand why Americans admire him so much. He is a fantastic man and writer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Quantum Zoo: A Tourist's Guide to the Never-Ending Universe, by Marcus Chown

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, Daniel J Levitin

Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty that Creates Havoc, by Arthur Miller

I picked this up based on your rec and am LOVING it.

Great!

Year of the Puppy! I just finished it. Pretty quick read, very fun, interesting and heartwarming.

Candice Millard - River of Doubt about Teddy Roosevelt’s voyage-gone-wrong in the Amazon