Confessions of a Book Lover: Nonfiction

So, I'm trying something new. I think on some Tuesdays--ideally every Tuesday but probably more like every two--I might go over what we're reading right now. Some of my books will be the ones I've read over the last 6 months, by theme.

Right now, Autumn's favorite book is Mickey Meets the Giant. It's an older book that actually once belonged to my little brother and sister.


It's not the best book in the world, haha, and it's painfully long but she likes it so whatever.

Mike isn't reading much lately because he's been so busy with work stuff. He's kept up better with the book we're supposed to read for community group, The Great Divorce by CS Lewis. I've only read the first 5 chapters. The weird thing is that I think I've read the book before. Either that or one of my old college professors was so influenced by it that he or she taught it a whole, whole lot.


As far as me, I've been chugging along on my book goal. I'm at approximately book 33. I am pretty sure I've forgotten to write down a couple of books. I'll remember what they are at some point, I'm sure. I thought I'd share a couple of great nonfiction books I've read.

The first two are by Erik Larsen. I can't remember how I found out about Larsen but I've read two of his books. I really enjoy true crime novels but I have a hard time reading things that are too gory or too recent. I guess I spend enough time thinking about attacks (I think most martial artists probably sit around choreographing fights in our heads way more than the average person, ha) that I don't want much to add to the weirdness that is my head. It's a reason I don't read (or watch) a lot of horror or super violence. Anyway, the first was called Thunderstruck and it combined the stories of Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the wireless telegraph, and Hawley Crippen, a murderer. The stories seem pretty random to put together at first but the author does a remarkable job of making the communication race exciting and brings the two tales together in a way that doesn't seem like a major stretch.


I like the second Erik Larsen book better, Devil in the White City. It's funny, I was able to look up the Chicago World's Fair in wikipedia so it's not like it was a big surprise what happens. But in all three of the books I'll mention in this post, the writers managed to create really intense narratives that made me want to keep going. The Chicago fair brought about a lot of changes that we'll recognize today--labor laws, architecture, landscaping styles--and, honestly, that alone would have made a fascinating read. But Larsen weaves in the story of a charming serial killer who basically builds a death chamber in his home...and leaves a trail of dead and missing women on the road to his special building.


The last book is Hellhound On His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides. I heard about this book on the Drake and Zeke radio show, of all places. The show is even thanked in the acknowledgments which I thought was pretty funny and random. Anyway, the book was a page turner. Even though Hellhound is primarily about the events immediately preceding assassination of Dr. King and the hunt for James Earl Ray (who is only spoken of as his various aliases until nearly the end), Sides does an excellent job of describing the charged atmosphere of the Memphis area before and after April 4th as well as giving the reader a rundown of the state of the civil right movement at the time. I've been somewhat involved in a few local race relations and community building events around town. One I attended last year was the White Privilege Conference and I really wish I had read this book before attending (I couldn't have, because it just came out) because there were some people there with ties to the SCLC and some of the other organizations mentioned in Hellhound. At the time, I was a little confused about who did what with which organization and when but I feel a little more clear now. I'm planning on getting this for Stephan for Father's Day. I've also added Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Sides to my "to-read" list.


And now! A monkey photo for making it this far. :D