I am just starting to read My Story, by Elizabeth Smart, and am quite looking forward to it. I have been amazed at what Elizabeth went through and what she has been able to do with her life. What a strong, faith-filled woman, and what an amazing family who never gave up on her either. I really appreciate and admire the insight and education that Elizabeth Smart and others like her bring to us.
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After much consideration, I have decided to go with What if? I don’t do a lot of non-fiction teasers here, but I love xkcd, and after the first few entries in What if? I can say that his humor and brilliance flow through in these Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.
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I have just started reading The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel, an account of a hermit who lived in the woods of Maine for almost three decades, surviving off of bold thefts from the camp and homes just a few minutes from his tent without discovery. It’s interesting to hear Finkel’s firsthand account of his interviews with Christopher Knight and the investigation into how he survived without any contact with humanity.
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Fiction and nonfiction author Sergeant Patrick O’Donnell has seen it all in his 24 years working for one of the largest police departments in the country. Now he helps crime/thriller authors write more authentic/accurate books and screenplays
Last week I read Beautiful Boy by David Sheff. This is a tough book, a memoire of his son’s addiction too meth. If you have a family member with an addiction, you’ll find a friend in Sheff. He puts it all out there, the guilt, the worry and anxiety, imagining what might have happened to him every time he disappeared. He goes through the stages of not knowing, telling himself it wasn’t so bad, and then Nic’s rapid downward spiral and cycles of recovery and relapse.
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I don’t often post about non-fiction books, and I didn’t even mean to pick this one up, but it has been a fascinating journey so far. Journalist Douglas Preston takes the reader through the discovery of ancient cities in Honduras using liar in 2012 in The Lost City of the Monkey God. Learn the history of the area, meet colorful characters, and find out what happened after the discovery.
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Neurotribes by Steve Silberman has been on my “to read” list for a while now, and I wish I had picked it up sooner. Silberman delves into the history of the recognition of autism, its diagnosis and treatment, and the neurodiversity movement. He is a great storyteller and has a genuine interest in the children, families, and adults he learned about autism from.
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What are you doing to make 2018 great for you?
Do you have a special project planned for the new year? A goal you are working toward? Maybe you want to learn a new skill, develop a healthy habit, reconnect with friends or family, or check something off of your bucket list.
I don’t read a lot of memoirs, but this is one that caught my eye. Jeffrey Archer is a bestselling fiction author, but he has also published nonfiction accounts of the time he spent in prison for a perjury conviction. Interesting reading if you want to hear some of the details of life behind bars. I just recently started the first book, A Prison Diary, and so far it is very interesting reading.
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So you’ve been reading my Auntie Clem’s Bakery series, and now you are craving some gluten-free treats of your own! While I do eat gluten-free myself, I have a lot of other dietary restrictions, so my repetoire is limited, and when I want to make something that isn’t on my usual weekly meal plan, it’s usually an experiment, swapping ingredients on the fly.
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