Nonfiction
“Homicide: The Graphic Novel, Part One” by Philippe Squarzoni (4 stars)
Here’s how we got here: I run a True Crime Book Club, so I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to represent the subject matter. We’ve read interpretations, watched documentaries, and researched the typical true crime literature. Someone on a message board suggested this graphic novel (which is broken into two parts, but we’ll get to that later). Intriguing that I’d never heard of a graphic novel rendition of a true crime book. Apparently there are a few and I’m looking forward to giving a few of them a try with the club in the future. I figured I’d give this one a try since it came so highly recommended. So I ordered a copy from my public library and away I went.
By Kristen Barenthaler11 months ago in BookClub
“Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless” by Laurah Norton (5 stars)
I have to start off by saying that Laurah Norton is my new superhero! She is a “Writer and former academic with 15 years in the fields of literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and archival and primary research.Practiced podcast showrunner and host with experience in serial and single-episode formats. Work includes creation, writing, research, and hosting of podcasts One Strange Thing and The Fall Line” (Laurah Norton). She has collaborated on many of these projects with top-ranking scientists, artists, and forensic anthropologists.
By Kristen Barenthaler11 months ago in BookClub
How To Read Like A Pro — Lessons I’ve Learnt From Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday is an American best selling author of numerous different books including The Obstacle Is The Way, Stillness Is The Key and Ego Is The Enemy. He’s also one of my favourite authors. Not only have I learnt how to become a better writer and person from Ryan’s books, but he’s also made me a much better reader.
By Tom Addison12 months ago in BookClub
The Titanic: Disaster of the Century, by Wyn Craig Wade
In my semi-unhealthy binge into maritime disaster books, I was saving the Titanic for last. After all the books I've read covering shipwrecks I have come across the most horrific, stomach churning, "well I'm never setting foot in a boat of any kind ever again" scenes. Stranded sailors being eaten by sharks, cannibalism, mutiny, near rescue only to be overlooked, I've read pretty much everything by now. In comparison the Titanic, to me, almost seemed...dinky? In the scope of maritime disasters. Why is this disaster so romanticized? Why does the image of stoic first class men in their finery going down with the ship span across the WORLD?
By Carly Doyle12 months ago in BookClub
Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson
This is mandatory reading for every single person in the United States. Wilkerson put an inordinate amount of research into this book to shine a spotlight on the caste system in the United States and its parallels to the caste system of Nazi Germany and India. Nazi Germany, in creating its eugenic laws determining how much Jewish blood made a person Jewish, thought that the United States' policy of "one drop of blood" determined that someone was black, was too over the top. That bears repeating:
By Carly Doyle12 months ago in BookClub
Three White Women
My initial rating of this book was 5 stars because it matched my expectations from reading the brief description, taking a journalistic dive into the sex lives of three women and a promised “riveting page-turner that explores desire, heartbreak, and infatuation in all its messy, complicated nuance.” Which, to Taddeo's credit, it mostly was. This book is way out of my repressed comfort zone and when I finished it I decided it was "three real American women," and I did relate to a piece of each women's story, and it did make me feel a little less alone. However, going back and reading all the hype from well-respected authors and literary critics I began to take issue with things:
By Carly Doyle12 months ago in BookClub
winch
winch I was floating all through a half-rest. We were 3 hours into our flight and the robot of the motors behaved like background noise the dim lodge. I expected to extend yet didn't have any desire to upset the others in my line. I lifted my arms over my head and extended my legs under the seat to get blood streaming. I looked to one side at my neighbor in the center seat. He had his earphones on and was spread in a reshaped position-sleeping soundly. I'll be fine for some time, so I waited. I chose to really take a look at our flight status on the screen in the seat before me. I realized we were over water; our flight passed on London in course to Atlanta at 12 PM and my telephone said it was 3 AM.
By Deen Mohammed12 months ago in BookClub
Each Book I Read in 2024: Studies, Pieces of information and Key Central focuses. AI-Generated.
2024 has been a lengthy season of fabulous examining, stacked up with books that drawn out my understanding, essentially affected my perspective, and created how I could decipher various subjects. From fiction that delivered me to various universes to self-awareness books that offered huge encounters, this once-over covers generally that I've examined up until this point this year.
By Kajal Devi12 months ago in BookClub
