I'm not sure what was most shocking about this book and its comprehensive story of eviction: the squalid conditions that many urban poor live in or the shockingly high rents they pay for these conditions or the percentage of their income that goes toward rent (sometimes as high as 80+%) or the number of people… Continue reading Evicted by Matthew Desmond (2016)
Category: Non-fiction
American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee (2017)
The whole wolf debate was not much on my radar until I read this book which I bought for my son--not for me--and devoured in a few days. Who knew that O-Six, 21, 755, 744, and other wolves could feel like characters in a novel? I found myself ready for bed at 9 pm so… Continue reading American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee (2017)
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (2016)
I read this book many months ago, probably last fall: post election season. Like everyone else, I was looking for answers. I was trying to get a better understanding of the rural population in flyover states (in this case rural Kentucky and Ohio) and why many of them voted the way they did. So I… Continue reading Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (2016)
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathanial Philbrick (2000)
When I was 10 or 11, I read the book Alive, the Story of the Andes Survivors. I can still picture scenes from the book in which the passengers (especially the Uruguayan rugby team) were freezing, injured, starving, and near death. And then they succumbed to eating the dead. I was both fascinated and disgusted. … Continue reading In the Heart of the Sea by Nathanial Philbrick (2000)
Deep South by Paul Theroux (2015)
The magic of Paul Theroux's writing lies in his ability to bring out the character of a place through anecdotes and observations. He picks up bits and pieces along the road--often the very bits and pieces that others overlook--and in weaving them together, he creates a story. The main character of his story is a… Continue reading Deep South by Paul Theroux (2015)
Missoula by Jon Krakauer (2015)
I have utmost respect for Krakauer as a writer and an investigative journalist. He always seems to find a story that needs telling, and he humanizes his stories in such a way that his readers understand the issues and implications of his topics, but we also see the personal and emotional side by getting to… Continue reading Missoula by Jon Krakauer (2015)
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
This is a tough and powerful read: it's intellectually challenging, and, at times, emotionally draining. Written as a letter to his teenage son, Coates puts forth his philosophy of life and what it means to be black in America. Within the first few pages he questions not what Abraham Lincoln meant by a "government of… Continue reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
