Nonfiction recommendations

Parent Cafe
41

<p>Beautiful Boy
Tweak </p>

<p>Father and Son Sheff - tribulations of dealing with drug abuse.</p>

42

<p>mathmom:</p>

<p>The Spirit Catches You… is fabulous. It’s now recommended reading at a number of Med schools.</p>

43

<p>^Another vote for Spirit Catches You. Wonderful, heartbreaking book.</p>

44

<p>I’m a nonfiction freak. I think Guns, Germs and Steel is one of the best books ever written. </p>

<p>Other books I love: </p>

<pre><code>-Eleni, by Nicholas Gage (not Cage!) Author’s memoir of his mother and life in a remote
village during the Greek Civil War.
-River Town: Two Years on the Yangtzee, by Peter Hessler Wonderful Peace Corps
memoir. . . Hessler now writes for the New Yorker.
-Innocents in Africa, Drury Pifer About growing up as the son of a mining engineer in
Namibia and South Africa.
-Nine Hills to Nambokaha, Sara Erdman A Peace Corps memoir from Ivory Coast right
before the country went into turmoil.
-Girls of Tender Age, Mary Ann Tirone Smith About a murder in a trusting, Catholic
community.
</code></pre>

45

<p>if we are going the memoires route ones I have loved:</p>

<p>Vera Britain’s *Testament of Youth<a href=“WW1%20and%20aftermath”>/I</a>
Alexandra Fuller’s *Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood<a href=“she%20grew%20up%20in%20Rhodesia,%20but%20it%20reminds%20me%20so%20much%20of%20my%20years%20in%20Somalia”>/I</a>
Beryl Markham *West with the Night<a href=“growing%20up%20in%20Kenya%20in%20the%201930s%20-%20gorgeous%20descriptions%20of%20the%20landscape”>/I</a></p>

46

<p>‘Fermat’s Enigma’- I’m definitely mathematically challenged, but I was still able to enjoy this book.</p>

<p>‘Violin Dreams’ by Arnold Steinhardt. I don’t play the violin, but enjoyed reading about Mr. Steinhardt’s lifelong journey of learning to play and enjoy playing the violin. It comes with a CD recording of him playing Bach’s Chaconne when he was a teenager, and another recording of him playing it later as an adult. If you don’t play the violin, but always wish you had (me), this is a lovely book.</p>

<p>I love this thread by the way. So many excellent suggestions!</p>

47

<p>Tom, I’m currently reading a very interesting book called The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt. If you’ve ever been to Cape Cod, you’ll find it fascinating, and, even if you haven’t, it’s still interesting. :slight_smile: Here’s an excerpt from a review I read before getting the book:</p>

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<p>The featured history of the area, and of life in this Brahmin family, is very well researched and particularly interesting.</p>

48

<p>^Thanks for the suggestion - I know this house very well - sailed by it many times! I’d love to read it.</p>

49

<p>You’re welcome, mathmom. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the book! Our family has spent many summer vacations at the Cape and it’s always fun to read books about the area.</p>

50

<p>Our book club loved The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Our next book is The Soloist by Steve Lopez.</p>

51

<p>^^Oh, I love Steve Lopez and have since his days in Philly. I am looking forward very much to The Soloist but I’m waiting until after I see the movie to read the book. Can’t wait!</p>