Nonfiction Challenge - Chapter 3

Hello fellow Nonfiction readers!

Welcome to Chapter 3 of the 75 Books Nonfiction Challenge for 2024. As a reminder of what the focus for this group is, and to make it easy for all of us to find the parameter information, I a reposting the guidelines for the group. This is our third thread for the year and I am very happy that we have had so much participation.

I am the moderator for this group. I have been a member of this group for many years and I have been moderating another group for several years so am happy to take on this group. I am a newly retired academic librarian and I really like to read and share what I have read.

Late last year the group from 2023 decided on a few changes for 2024. We are not going to have a separate thread for each month. We will run a continuous string until we reach the 250 posts line and then I will establish a new thread. This will enable us to have better linkage when we start new threads and it will take less time to administer the group.

This group was established to encourage reading and discussion of works of nonfiction using a guided topics format. That means that you get to read what you want, but the moderator sets the parameters for the topics. At the end of the year, the group decides what topics they will pursue for the coming year. The moderator then assigns months in which these topics will be read and discussed. The list for 2024 will be in the next post on this thread.

The 2023 group decided on the monthly topics and that list will be posted in the next post along with the explanations of what the boundaries are for the topic. Each person generally will post the title and other information about the book they have chosen for the month at the beginning (or whenever they make the decision about what to read) and when they have finished the book write about their opinions, recommendations, and other comments about the book. Thoughts of this nature generally elicit comments so sometimes there will be discussion about the book. In fact, that is what this thread is, a forum for discussing nonfiction titles. You can attack the title you have chosen to read for whatever reason you as a reader have, but do not attack the people in this discussion group. We want to be critical readers, not critical people.

There is no publication limit for the books chosen by readers. If you want to read a classic published in 1820, go ahead.

If you don't finish a book in the month that topic was to be read, don't feel bad, just let us know when you finished the book, and your thoughts about it, then move on to the next topic.

I will try to make a reminder announcement about the next topic on the last day of the month for the next month. Please don't jump the gun and announce what you are going to be reading for the month until the first day of the month. It will get confusing if you post your selection before the moderator has made the beginning post for the month.

Along with the posting of the topic for the month I will sketch out the parameters for that topic. If there are questions about those parameters bring them forward in the discussion posts so that I can clarify the parameters for you. If you can make a good case for choosing that title, even if it may not appear there is a connection between the book and the topic, bring your good reasons to the discussion screen and make your argument. We are a wide open group so generally most titles are acceptable. Just remember, this is a Nonfiction group, so keep the works read to nonfiction.

The nonfiction topics for 2024!

January - Prize Winners - prize winning books that won literary prizes that are off the beaten tracks. Not the National Book Award, Pulitzer, or other prizes of that ilk. There will be more details in subsequent posts. - DONE

February - Women's Work - what women do or did. This could be books about WWII pilots, civil war nurses, the women who sued Newsweek over pay and promotion issues, or the history of home economics. - DONE

March - Forensic Sciences - forensics is a wide open topic so read about criminal forensics, genetic forensics, even astronomical forensics. - DONE

April - Globalization - all things global, exports, international banking, terrorism, pandemics.

May - Wild Wild West - books about the western U.S. Historical or modern. Indian wars, water wars, conservation, settlement, etc.

June - Middle Europe - anything about Europe from the Elbe to the Ural's, from Finland to Turkey. History, language, travel, etc.

July - Insect World - insects are important. Butterflies, honey bees, mosquitoes, ants, roaches, etc.

August - Being Jewish - this topic is wide open as long as it is nonfiction. Zionism, modern Israel, history, religion, Kabbalah, Judaism.

September - Essays - any book of essays. Scientific, religious, political, racial, social commentary, etc.

October - Music, more music - lots of books being published now about composers, the music industry, history of music, and even memoirs and biography's from the Boss to Bach.

November - Too Small to See - books about Bacteria, Viruses, Atoms, Dust. maybe even microaggressions?

December - This is a dual topic month. As You Like It - whatever you want to catch up on that is nonfiction
OR
Political Biography - ancient or modern, any person who had a role in politics of their day. Even people who might not have had a job or title, like historian Theodore White, or women like Madam Chiang Kai-Shek or Nancy Regan. People who had influence in the politics of their day, but not a job title that would indicate the scope of their power.

Details about these topics will come monthly.

I know for sure that I will be reading How Music Works by David Byrne for this months challenge. Beyond that, I am not sure although I am thinking of revisiting Alex Ross' excellent The Rest is Noise which I loved several years ago and one of his that I have not yet read, Listen to This. We will see!

It is now the last day of September and time for us to change our topic. The topic for October is "Music, More Music." This is a wide open topic. You can read books about composers, the music industry, the history of music, and even memoirs and biography's from the Boss to Bach, and even Babs. Music is now a hot topic in the publishing world with lots of biographies and memoirs from popular to classical music being published. There are books about the science and psychology of music, such as the classic This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin. There are works of criticism and essays such as The Rest is Noise that critics the music of the twentieth century. There is a new history of music being released on October 1, 2024 titled How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music by Alison Fensterstock. There are memoirs recently done by Bruce Springsteen and Barbara Streisand and even Keith Richards and the King or the Chairman of the Board. There are classic memoirs such as Loretta Lynn's book Coal Miners Daughter and numerous biographies of popular, classical, and world musicians that would qualify. The YA nonfiction Symphony for the City of the Dead by M. T. Anderson is an excellent book on Shostakovich and life in Leningrad during the 900 Day siege of that city in WWII.

There are even books on the music business such as Appetite for Self Destruction that is about music in the digital age. How Music Got Free by Stephen Witt would also be possibilities. The history of MTV with books such as I Want My MTV by Craig Marks

Books about specific works of music are also in the mix for reading. Inextinguishable Symphony was a book that really opened my eyes to classical music and what is hiding behind all those notes while being wrapped up in a biography of two amazing refugees from Germany. Times Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler is another possibility.

Don't forget the fringe music like religious popular music and Heavy Metal. I read a biography of Larry Norman a few years ago titled Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?. A bit more specific is Myth and Magic in Heavy Metal a 2018 title that focuses on the mythology and imagery found in Heavy Metal.

Feel free to explore music from ancient times to modern, from past divas like Maria Callas to modern ones like Taylor Swift. If there is a book out there about Euro Vision read that. There are so many possibilities out there for this topic that the topic probably should have been more restrictive, but go out there and see what you can find to read and pick up a good book on music.

I am going to start out the month with Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever by Geoff Edgers. I am also going to try to read Tradition: the Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg. The hyperbolic titles of both of these books is what attracted me to them. I can't wait to see just how "'Walk This Way" changed American Music Forever. And now that Aerosmith is no longer a band there is a bit of nostalgia tied into their music as well.

I am looking forward to seeing what books we will read for this month.

Last year I read and listened to The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece A fascinating look at the Bach cello suites from 3 vantage points: Bach's life, cellist Pablo Casal's life, and the author's life. Provides a contemporary view of Bach's cello suites which I found positively delightful! I really enjoyed learning how Casal discovered these"lost" suites and brought them back to life. The author discusses each suite and while I didn;t understand the music theory I understood enough that my enjoyment listenening to them increased. Highly recommended

I do have Bab's memior that I have been avoiding because of its size. But I have always loved her music, and its time to read it

I'm planning on reading Live! Why We Go Out by Robert Elms which is a memoir and exploration of why we go to see live music. The author is a long-standing presenter on BBC Radio London (which before the BBC corporatised it in 2000 was the mighty Greater London Radio, or GLR, much beloved and missed by many fans even though the BBC insisted the rebrand didn't change it).

We've got a couple of music reference books on our shelves, but I don't think they'd make for good reading. I've also got a copy of The Melody Lingers On: the Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals, but I'm not sure I want to read that one at this time. However, I see that my library has This is what it sounds like: what the music you love says about you, which looks interesting, so I might try to pick that one up.

Before this month ends I want to mention I read Women & Power which was a perfect timing because I used some of the material from the essay with my mentee at work.

I will be reading The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart which is about an atelier and his shop.

I finished three essay books last month: Crying in the Bathroom, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, and Slouching Towards Bethlehem. And I learned that I'm not a big fan of essay books! I prefer going into deeper dives into issues and I don't like that the topic ends so quickly and then a new one begins. The content of the books was decent, but it would sometimes be repetitive between one essay and the next. It didn't feel like a coherent book.

For the music topic, I'm planning to read Catch a Fire by "Mel B" or "Scary Spice" of the Spice Girls. So far I have read books by Ginger (If Only) and Posh (Learning to Fly). This will likely be my last Spice Girl book. And, if I have time, I'll try to add the new Brittney Spears audiobook to the list.

Some (non-Spicy) books I previously read that would fit in this category are I'm glad my mom died (this book is fantastic and highly recommended and she had a small singing career so it counts!), Red Paint, and Parental Discretion is Advised. They are all worth reading if anyone wants a recommendation.

>11 Kyler_Marie:
I think that your critic of the essay form is a valid one. I thought that for many years as well. It is only recently that I started looking at books of essays about one topic or on related topics. For instance, the Daniel Mendelsohn book was essentially literary criticism and it was clear to me that the essays about the Greco-Roman and the Romantic Classics were much better, or at least were more interesting to me than the one that were critics of modern authors. But the entire book gave me a much broader view of this subject. The book I read about the issue of repatriation for museum pieces was a much involved book on a very narrow topic and I appreciated its depth. As a result, I gained a greater understanding about the bigger picture problem of repatriation of museum pieces. With both books it was clear to me that a person had to read all of the essays in order to get the gest of the message and conclusion that the author came to. Reading a single essay in the group would not have provided that depth, but taken as a whole the books I read did provide that depth. I think that if the books had contained a variety of essays on a variety of topics I would have felt the same as you did about the essay form.

>10 Tess_W: I read that one a few months back, Tess, and enjoyed it. I hope you do too.

>3 alcottacre: Beyond the books listed there, I may try and sneak in Absolutely on Music by Haruki Murakami, which is a book of conversations that Murakami had with Seiji Ozawa, who knows something about music :) This would be another re-read for me.

>14 alcottacre:
That sounds interesting. I will need to check to see if the UA library has a copy of that one.

I couldn't sleep last night so at 3 AM I started reading Walk This Way and realized that it is a book about the Rap/Hip-Hop version of the Aerosmith megahit. Oh well - I don't know much about the world of Hip-Hop so it will be a good way to learn a bit about this part of the modern music industry. I read about 35 pages in it and it was interesting so I will stick with it for awhile.

>12 benitastrnad: Interesting. I will try not to write off all essay books. Oddly enough, I don't feel the same about collections of short stories. But, my feelings may be the result of the books I chose. Freedom is a Constant Struggle, for example, was a collection of essays, interviews and speeches. A few basic points were repeated in almost every new chapter. Presumably not all essay collections will have that issue.

Benita,
I have books on Elvis Costello, Country Music and Morrissey which I am interested to get to soon, so I'll try to get to one of them soon.

>17 PaulCranswick:
We look forward to hearing about the books when you get them read. I just finished the first chapter on the beginnings of Run-DMC and the early years of hip-hop and am now started into the basic history of Aerosmith. Both are very different worlds than the one in which I live so it is a stretch for me.

I was crusin' through the latest issue of "Booklist" (the book review journal of the ALA) and came across this totally appropriate list for this month's topic of music. I thought I would pass it on to all of you. There might be something here that will call out to you to be read this month.

Music history is being enriched and electrified with a surge of books about rock bands and bands at the roots of rock ’n’ roll. These group portraits, memoirs, and biographies reflect the rich spectrum of artistry, personalities, adventures, struggles, and resilience that make rock music and its kin profoundly and universally influential.

Bet My Soul on Rock ’n’ Roll: Diary of a Black Punk Icon. By Jean Beauvoir and John Ostrosky. 2022. Chicago Review, $27.99 (9781641604765). Haitian American Beauvoir, best-known as the bass player in the punk band Plasmatics, with his signature platinum mohawk, shares tales of his collaborations with Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, KISS, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Justin Timberlake, and the Ramones. Black Diamond Queens: African

American Women and Rock and Roll. By Maureen Mahon. 2020. Duke, $114.95 (9781478010197). Mahon centers the many African American women who profoundly influence rock ’n’ roll, including Big Mama Thornton, LaVern Baker, Merry Clayton, the Shirelles, and Tina Turner.

Dreams: The Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac. By Mark Blake. 2024. Pegasus, $29.95 (9781639367320). Blake’s fun and eccentric account of an eccentric rock band that turned its members’ tumultuous personal lives into hit records charts Fleetwood Mac’s journey from London to California, from British blues to West Coast rock.

A Fool’s Journey: To the Beach Boys and Beyond. By Carli Muñoz. 2023. Interlink, $30 (9781623717513). Pianist Carli Muñoz’s vibrant, dishy memoir covers his highly successful career as a Puerto Rican band leader to a downand-out existence in New York to his rebirth in 1970s Los Angeles and exciting decade with the Beach Boys.

George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle. By Philip Norman. 2023. Scribner, $35 (9781982195861). Norman gives the “Quiet Beatle” his due, capturing songwriter and guitarist Harrison’s tremendous skill, creativity, humanity, humor, and spiritual quest.

John McLaughlin: From Miles and Mahavishnu to the 4th Dimension. By Matt Phillips. 2023. Rowman & Littlefield, $35 (9781538170946). Protean guitarist, composer, and bandleader John McLaughlin is a trailblazer in multicultural jazz fusion; Phillips covers McLaughlin’s continual spiritual and artistic explorations in numerous bands in this unique and comprehensive chronicle.

Loaded: The Life (and Afterlife) of The Velvet Underground. By Dylan Jones. 2023. Grand Central, $30 (9781538756560). Although the Velvet Underground only lasted a few short years, they were immensely influential, as Jones affirms in this oral history interspersed with historical background and nuanced looks at Lou Reed.

The Other Fab Four: The Remarkable True Story of the Liverbirds, Britain’s First Female Rock Band. By Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders. 2024. Grand Central, $30 (9781538739969). The Liverbirds were a 1960s all-female Liverpool rock band; the two surviving members, bassist and vocalist McGlory and drummer Saunders, present a sparkling and endearing chronicle about overcoming misogyny, rock ’n’ roll, family, and female friendship.

Parachute Women: Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and the Women behind the Rolling Stones. By Elizabeth Winder. 2023. Hachette, $29 (9781580059589). Winder offers a refreshing portrait of four “bad girls”—Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, and Anita Pallenberg—famous for their association with the Rolling Stones, “remarkable women” who introduced the bad boys of rock to alternative lifestyles and dared to be themselves in the hypermasculine world of rock.

Patti Smith on Patti Smith: Interviews and Encounters. Ed. by Aidan Levy. 2020. Chicago Review, $30 (9780912777009). Singer, artist, and writer Smith’s interviews track her evolution from a brash and magnetizing upstart to an artist of conscience and compassion annealed in a blast furnace of loss devoted to the grassroots power of rock ’n’ roll to bring people together.

Some New Kind of Kick. By Kid Congo Powers and Chris Campion. 2022. Hachette, $29 (9780306828027). Guitarist Kid Congo Powers recounts his California youth as a queer Mexican American in this beautifully edgy tale of how he found himself as he made his way through the glam rock and punk rock scenes as a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the Cramps, and became cofounder of the punk-blues band Gun Club.

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). By Sly Stone and Ben Greenman. 2023. AUWA, $30 (9780374606978). Funk pioneer Sly Stone famously retreated from public life, so his vibrant memoir is a gift, a forthright telling of his extraordinary rise from musical prodigy to genre-bending superstar with the joyous ascent of Sly and the Family Stone, followed by a painful decline, and, now, a triumphant return.

Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me. By George Brown. 2023. Chicago Review, $28.99 (9781641609180). George Brown, drummer, keyboardist, and songwriter, recounts growing up on the tough streets of New Jersey, becoming a founding member of Kool & the Gang, one of the most successful R&B, soul, and funk bands of the 1970s and ’80s, and struggling with myriad challenges.

Too Much Too Young, the 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism, and the Soundtrack of a Generation. By Daniel Rachel. 2024. Akashic, $32.95 (9781636141893). Rachel presents a vibrant history of the bands—Madness, the Selecter, the Beat, UB40, the Specials—at the heart of the 1970s and 1980s movement of punk-influenced ska and reggae-based, antiracist and antisexist protest music, with a special focus on 2 Tone Records founder, Jerry Dammers.

For this month I listened to a Great Courses free with my Audible subscription. It was 39+ hours and I was leery of starting it due to its length, but it was so absorbing that I'm glad I did. I listened to How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition written and taught by Robert Greenberg. Greenberg studied at Princeton and UC-Berkley. I find him to be delightful with a great sense of humor. I think he would be a great teacher no matter the subject, if he had the passion for it.

This particular course began during the ancient world and ended with the early 20th century. Greenburg explained the greatest "invention" or movement of each time period with accompanying musical clips. My favorite unit was the Ancient Greeks. The Greek culture was humanistic. They believed music was able to create miracles and was omnipresent. Their belief in the power of music was so strong that they believed it could create moral character (Doctrine of Ethos).

To sum it up in Greenburg's words: "Concert halls and opera houses are not museums or mausoleums!" and........"One era's popular music is another era's concert music."

P.S. Only one boring section--Renaissance--Pythagoras had to get involved in music!;)

>20 Tess_W: I remember that one, though it might not have been the third edition.

I found all their music courses especially effective. They worked so well in audio media, whereas other topics seemed like they'd be more to my taste in written form.

I used to listen to them in my car while commuting, back before I developed the podcast habit, long before I retired.

Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever by Geoff Edgers
I finished my first book for the October category. This one was a history of the collaboration between the Hip-Hop singers Run-DMC, and the hard rock band Aerosmith. Aerosmith had made and recorded the song Walk This Way in 1977 and was a band on the skids for many reasons, but drug addiction was the main one. The book also introduced the music producer Rick Rubin, who was the force behind getting Run-DMC to cover the Aerosmith hit Walk This Way. He was also the one who, almost forced them, to collaborate on the MTV video that turned the hit into a smash hit. This is the same producer who went on to produce Johnny Cash and revive his career, among others. The book was a biography of the making of the cover and the MTV video. I am not a Hip-Hop fan and so much of the history of that musical genre was new to me, but I enjoyed the book for what it was.

I do have one complaint. I really dislike the use of hyperbolic titles and the title for this book is a classic. One son that changed American music forever? Really? I can see that this collaboration between Hip-Hop and rock did blend parts of both genres. I can see that it opened doors to black musicians by exposing Hip-Hop to white audiences, which was where the money was, thus providing them greater exposure and added economic value to the genre. I can see that it did introduce fans of one genre to another, but change American music forever? I am not so sure about that. However, I am wiling to cut the author some slack on this one because he is a music and culture reporter for the Washington Post and so is much accustom to hyperbolic titles. He probably thought that kind of title was normal.

I have started my second book for this category. It will be Tradition: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg. This one is the story of the making of the Broadway musical and the movie version. So far it has been great fun and full of Broadway history. I haven't gotten to the movie part. yet another hyperbolic book title. sigh.

I read Time's Echo for this month's challenge. This was my first encounter with a book about war's impact on music—quite interesting.

>24 annushka:
I have that book on my To-be-read list, but have hesitated because I find it difficult to read Holocaust books. I am glad to hear the report, but the first thought I had when I read the post was about Paul Wittgenstein. He was a concert pianist who lost his right arm in WWI and became a famous concert pianist after the war doing concerts only playing with his left hand.

I have often wondered how many potential genius's the world has lost due to war. That is a theme that novelist Kate Atkinson has explored in several of her novels.

>25 benitastrnad: I have often wondered how many potential genius's the world has lost due to war.

I wonder this every time I read about war and/or holocausts. How many people who could have made a big difference in the world have died due to war or bigotry?

A little late, I've just finished Margaret Atwood's Burning Questions for the October essay topic. This features essays, speeches, book reviews, and other pieces written by the author between 2004 and 2022, covering issues such as climate change, the writing life, feminism, storytelling, amongst many others. It was very good, I always looked forward to opening it and reading a couple more essays.

>27 Jackie_K:
That short bits is what attracts me to essays. I don't feel like I am being hit over the head and clobbered into submission with an essay, (well, most of the time) the way I sometimes am with a full length book. Plus, essays are usually easier to read in short snatches of time.

>25 benitastrnad: It is difficult for me to read Holocaust books too. We owe it to those who perished and should not forget what happened. This book mentions The Black Book of Soviet Jewry by Ilya Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman. I read it when it was finally published in its original form. This book haunted me for years.

>27 Jackie_K: I read that and for the most part loved it; shes an excellent writer and holds our interest. But i felt too much repetition in the issues she covered to the point that I would skim some. but thats probably more me then her. My fav essays were the story telling, book reviews and author interviews.. but it was well worth reading

>28 benitastrnad: Agree absolutely, Benita! Plus as I'm getting older I don't know if it's my attention span getting shorter, or if my tolerance for waffle and excessive length is waning!

>30 cindydavid4: Yes I agree with that too - I suppose because it's based on speeches and articles in various different contexts she will have 'recycled' relevant material. I enjoyed the book reviews much more than I thought I would (given that I hadn't read most of the books she was reviewing).

Another book I squeezed in for the music category, The Book of Music and Nature, edited by David Rothenberg and Marta Ulvaeus, is an anthology of essays of which I had high hopes. Unfortunately most of the essays were prime candidates for Pseud's Corner, and I'm honestly not much more the wiser now I've finished it. There were a couple of essays I found interesting (by R Murray Schafer and Brian Eno), but I ended up skimming much of this and couldn't really tell you much about what it's about (despite the title, which you would think would be obvious).

>32 Jackie_K: Well that's one I haven't heard before. What does "Pseud's Corner" mean? I've googled it, and the only place I can find a definition is the OED, which requires a subscription in order to read the definition.

>33 atozgrl: Oh I'm sorry! Pseud's Corner is a regular column in UK satirical magazine Private Eye. It contains examples of printed (and otherwise broadcast) material which is so pretentious that all meaning is completely buried by the purple prose. Academics, art critics and celebs feature quite a bit.

There's a photo of one column here as an example: https://pindelski.org/Photography/2005/07/31/pseuds-corner/ (the actual magazine puts very few of its articles online, famously).

>34 Jackie_K: Thank you for the explanation, and the example! I was wondering what it could be.

>35 atozgrl:
I wondered too. I do have access to the OED because I am a University retiree so you spared me from looking into the network and having to do the two factor authentication thing.

>36 benitastrnad: Well, I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one with that question.

I have belatedly finished a book for last month's Essays theme. I was originally going to read Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?, but I ran across Intimations : six essays by Zadie Smith at the library, and it fits the category better. It's a very slim volume of essays written early in the COVID-19 lockdown, and reflects on what we were all going through at the time. These essays provide some of the author's personal experiences, but they bring back what that time was like and are very relatable. I'm not sure that "enjoyed" is the right word to use about this book, since it was such a difficult time, but overall I found it a worthwhile read.

>21 ArlieS: This is the 2nd one I've completed. I also did one on Viruses, also very good, but the long section on RNA either bored me or went way over my head!

I finished reading Tradition: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical by Barbara Isenberg. I had been carrying it around with me while I was doing my moving errands and it proved to be a good companion. It had a breezy style that made it easy to pick up and put down while I was waiting for attention from sales people, either in person or on the phone. I learned alot about Broadway musicals from conception to completion using this one production as the mold. That was why I was interested in the book, so it accomplished its task. I would recommend this book, but beware that the last part of the book is full of boring statistics about the monetary and audience numbers. Parts of it were interesting and parts of it were totally boring, but necessary for academic purposes - if nothing else.

I will be out-of-pocket for the next five days but I will be back in touch with the group on November 1 or 2. Those are the days I will be traveling to Kansas and there are plenty of Starbucks along the way for me to stop and catch up with you.

Just remember that the topic for November is "To Small to See." This is about things we can't see because they are too small. Things such as atoms, viruses, bacteria's, stellar dust, etc. If you want to start thinking about and taking a look at your reading lists, go ahead. I will be back with you on Friday.

I'm planning on reading I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong for November.

I'm also not going to get to my planned book for October, but I did manage to read an unplanned one (review in post >32 Jackie_K:).

>40 benitastrnad: I hope everything goes well with your move, Benita!

>40 benitastrnad: Good luck with the move!

I'm planning on reading What Are Demodex Mites?: Discover demodex mites, microscopic organisms that live on human skin, and their implications. by Leonardimer Arpilor . It's only 59 pages, so I will also be reading Viruses, Plagues, and History by Michael Oldstone Hopefully there will be lots of science and less history so that it will fit this bill.

>41 Jackie_K: I am going to be reading that one as well.

Since it was only 59 pages, I finished my first read, What Are Demodex Mites?: Discover demodex mites, microscopic organisms that live on human skin, and their implications by Mr. Leonardimer Arpilor. I read about these microscopic mites, because I was told that I have them (almost everybody does) and after age 65 they can become a problem due to the natural weakening of the immune system--sigh! I originally went to the doctor for rosy red cheeks that burned. He told me I had rosacea (which I had never had), and that it was most likely caused by this mite. I also thought I was just allergic to most eye make up--but he said nope--these mites love eyelids! He prescribed an anti-biotic ointment that I apply once a day and it keeps these critters at bay! Just plain soap and water does not scare them off for long!

I am in Kansas and will start reading Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things by Hannah Holmes for this month's topic. I just spent 2 days deep cleaning my house in Tuscaloosa and will be traveling back there to finish the task so I decided that learning about dust, of all kinds, was appropriate for this month.

My stuff will get to Kansas on Friday, November 8, and I am sure that unpacking and moving things around in this new house will cut into my reading time as much as did packing, but I hope to finish this book as it isn't that long at 240 pages.

If I do really well, I will also be reading The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage by Tom Ireland. Ever since COVID I have thought I need to know more about virus and so had this one in my TBR list. Time to get it read.

>45 Tess_W:
Even though it was short it sounds interesting. Mites are very interesting insects, according to the book I read this summer about insects. I am glad that you found it informative. It sounds like something I would like to read.

>41 Jackie_K:
I have a copy of I Contain Multitudes but I decided to read something else. I am sure that ...Multitudes will speak to me one of these days and say " Read Me." Just not right now. I await your report about how you like it and what fascinating things you learn from this book.

I have finally finished my read for October. I had initially planned to read This is what it sounds like: what the music you love says about you, but I came across a new biography of Rachmaninoff at the library, and since he is one of my favorite composers, I was interested to pick it up. The one I read was Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile by Fiona Maddocks. As the title indicates, the book is mostly about Rachmaninoff's life in exile from Russia. However, it does begin by recounting his early life in Russia, but not in the detail of his life afterward. It goes on to tell of his life in exile, beginning in Europe, and then in the US, where he took up touring as a concert pianist in order to make enough money to support his family. He became rich earning concert fees. His concert schedule was very demanding, with many appearances scheduled each year. Unfortunately, he did not compose many pieces during his exile, since he was so busy with concerts. He was never able to return to Russia.

Maddocks has used many sources for this biography. Sadly, for me, since I am a fan of both, there appears to have been some conflict between Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, as some of Prokofiev's diary entries about Rachmaninoff are very arch. The book includes a bibliography, many notes, and an index.

I thought this was a good book, though not exceptional. It's worth reading if you like Rachmaninoff and his music and want to know more about his life.

>50 atozgrl:
The lives of so many of the exiles are interesting. That kind of disruption has to be catastrophic and without doubt affects the creativity of these creative people. Rachmaninoff wasn't the only person whose creative output was disrupted - I am thinking of Bertold Brecht and what happened to him in the U.S.

>51 benitastrnad: That is so true. I really don't think Rachmaninoff ever got over it. It's very sad that he was never able to go back to his home country.

I finished I Contain Multitudes yesterday for this month's challenge and I found it fascinating. I gave the book 4 stars.

>53 alcottacre: I'm about halfway through this book and really enjoying it, it's so interesting.

>54 Jackie_K: I am glad to hear that you are enjoying it too, Jackie! I hope you continue to do so.

It is now time for us to talk about next year. There are a couple of things we need to ask ourselves.
1. Do we want to continue this sub-thread of the 75 Book Challenge in 2025?
2. If we want to continue to read nonfiction books, do we want to pick monthly topics and if so what topics are we interested in reading about in 2025?
3. Do we want to continue with the continuous thread or go back to having a separate monthly thread for each topic?

We started out 2024 with a good number of participants and, as is always the case, as the year went on members dropped out. It always seems a bit discouraging to me when people start but don't finish the year with the group. But I think that is because I love reading so much that I want others to like it just as much, so I find it discouraging when people stop participating. However, the reality is that on LT there are many options for nonfiction readers besides this thread and the competition is fierce out there. In the end we didn't do to badly for 2024. We have three threads, with the first 2 going all the way to the 250 post mark.

I am willing to keep setting up the thread and moderating it for 2025. So write your opinions here and let me know what you would like to do about 2025.

>56 benitastrnad: I vote to continue! I love these prompts as they require me to read outside my usual comfort box of historical fiction.

As to continuous or monthly threads, doesn't really matter to me. I would think that would be your preference.

Possible topics: spies, disasters (natural-tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. or man made-plane crashes, boat sinkings, radiation leaks, etc. ), bibliophilia, genocides, classical music, cartography, crime. (Not knowing what has been read before).

On a personal note:
Thank you for hosting this!

I like having the entire list of topics for the year available at once. It helps in planning, borrowing, and purchasing material to read. I'm not very good at spur of the moment selections that are often unavailable.

>57 Tess_W: I am echoing Tess. I would love to continue!

I like having the entire list of topics for the year available at once. It helps in planning, borrowing, and purchasing material to read. This! I would like to know ahead of time so that I can plan. I had at least one book for every month of this year planned.

Thank you, Benita!

I find the continous thread confusing. I do much better when its monthly but thats just me and Ill go along with what ever folk choose. And I also thank you for putting this all together Cant have been easy!

Im in need of some happier topics have no idea what that means but wars and disasters et all is just too much, besides I know or read the books in these areas .

perhaps to go along with the Being Jewish; we could do the same for other religions Id love a theme on traveling perhaps continue the theme by making it regional, or by countries? or travels to unusual climates

Thanks for the input. Ii started reading with this group a few years back when Chatterbox started it because I need some kind of prompt to force me to read things I wouldn't ordinarily read. Prior to that time I read mostly fiction and decided I needed to broaden my horizons.

I generally start out with five broad topics - history, travel, business, science, and arts. From there I start being more specific. I look back at what we did the year before and try NOT to use those topics unless somehow I can tweak them to something more specific. However, when Chatterbox and I talked about the aims of this thread, she advised me to not get to specific because that would cause the group to loose participants. I agree - people need room to maneuver within a box.

I also like knowing the topics ahead of time because I depend on Inter-Library Loan for lots of nonfiction. Knowing the upcoming topic allows me time to get the book in time to read it. I will start playing with a list and see what comes up and get it back to the list later this week. I am not going anywhere for this holiday so will be staying at home reading and relaxing.

Thanks for the input.

>57 Tess_W:
Thanks for the topic inputs. That is helpful.

I too appreciate having the nonfiction-specific subgroup as a prompt for books to read. I have not been able to participate every month, but I did have something for most months. And I agree about knowing the topics ahead of time.

I was afraid the continuous thread would be hard to follow, but it actually worked OK for me this year. It's definitely easier to get the prompt for starting a new thread, rather than having to set up a new thread every month and add a link to the new thread in the old one. We don't ever seem to have enough commentary every month to get a long enough thread for the "new thread" prompt to come up.

Tess mentioned disasters, and although I've read/am reading a couple that fit that prompt this year, I actually have more I'd like to get to, so that topic would work for me. I'd have to think more about what other topics might be good--I don't have anything to suggest right off the top of my head.

>56 benitastrnad: I enjoyed participating in this reading activity and read books for most (if not all months) this year (and the last few years). This reading challenge broadened my horizons and exposed me to topics I would not have considered otherwise. I'm not sure if I'll be able to participate every month going forward but that's not because of not reading enough. It is the opposite problem. I neglected some other reading goals and need to focus on them. Thank you for organizing and managing this reading challenge!

I did some work on a tentative schedule of topics for 2025 and am posting it. Take a look at it, and see if you think this would work for the upcoming year.

January - Prize Winners - This is a traditional topic for January and I would like to continue with that tradition with a concentration on the lesser known prizes that are awarded. You can check back to the beginning of this thread for a list of some of those prizes to see what might interest you.

February - Where Are We? Cartography - books about maps and mapping. Think the voyages of Captain Cook. And to pump it up a notch or two, what about mapping the universe. The development of technological mapping - think GPS, or Landsat. What about mapping ocean currents or weather on Mars?

March - Espionage and Counterespionage - This is a topic that the group did in 2022 and it was very popular. We'll do it again as their is a myriad of books on this subject.

April - Revolutions - here is one definition of revolution. A revolution is a fundamental change in a political or socioeconomic system, often involving the overthrow of a government or ruler. Wikipedia definition is more exact. A revolution a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements at their core: (a) efforts to change the political regime that draw on a competing vision (or visions) of a just order, (b) a notable degree of informal or formal mass mobilization, and (c) efforts to force change through noninstitutionalized actions such as mass demonstrations, protests, strikes, or violence." Some examples of revolutions include: American Revolution, Haitian Revolution, Industrial Revolution, October Revolution, French Revolution

May - Modern China, the country - this can be historical or contemporary, but it needs to be something about the sociology, history, politics, arts, business of modern China. This is the period from 1911 to the present. The book can be a biography of a person, a history of a movement, a book about modern travel in China, or about some recent Chinese business scandal, or the struggles with Hong Kong.

June - Natural Disasters - Disasters is a big topic and so we are going to limit this one to natural disasters such as tsunami's, earthquakes, snow storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, fires. This is not about climate change so be careful about what book you choose. For example, the Camp Fire in California was a man-made disaster, (PG&E caused that one with the bad maintenance of power lines) but the Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin in 1871 would be OK, as would the Maine fires in 1947.

July - Fish & Fishing - books about fish, the fishing industry, and the fishing experience. A book about sturgeon, cod, etc., would work. The fishing industry as it is currently or historically. A book about fish farming in the Scandinavian countries, or the collapse of the fishing industry in New England is this part of the topic. Then there is the fishing experience with a myriad of books about the zen of fishing including fly fishing. There is also the scourge of invasive species such as the Lionfish to read about.

August - Movies, Movies, Movies - books about the making of movies, the movies themselves, women in the movies, and even biographies of movie stars, so yes, Mommie Dearest would work here as would Barbara Streisand's tome.

September - Transportation - how we get ourselves and our goods about. Books about roads, bridges, trains, planes, automobiles, ships, cannels, or even walking. Rebecca Solnit's book on walking would work here, even though that one seems to be a contemplation on walking, but still our own two feet get us from here to somewhere else.

October - Bibliophilia - This word means the love of books. This has been a topic before for this group and it has proved to be very popular, but this time we are going to limit it to those who love to read or collect books. Don't confuse Bibliophilia with Bibliomania. Bibliomania is a compulsion to own books that interferes with a person's ability to interact with others and is a whole different topic.

November - Holidays and Cultural Events - Dig out those books about the history of Christmas, or Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations. For this one books about the history of the Star Spangled Banner or Silent Night are acceptable. As would be books about this history of Christmas Markets, or the creation of Veteran's Day. Even the recent addition of Juneteenth as a holiday. A book of Saint's Days in the Christian religion or important celebrations in other parts of the world. Chinese New Year would be a good one.

December - As You Like It - whatever catches your fancy at this time of year.

>64 benitastrnad: Those are so creative and absolutely perfect, IMHO!

>64 benitastrnad: Looks great, Benita! Thanks!

those work for me; I know I can find at least one book on my selves for each topic

Thank you for coming up with the list, Benita. I'll see what I can find for those.

For November's Too Small to See challenge I read I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong, this is a fabulous book about microbes. What they are, what they do, how they work. Much like An Immense World, which I read earlier this year, I loved how every time I turned the page my mind was blown some more. Fantastic.

It also made me think of a meme I saw recently - along the lines of 'after all these millions of years of evolution, humans apparently reach the top of the tree and the only thing we're interested in doing is destroying ourselves'. Thinking about that in the context of I Contain Multitudes definitely made me ponder on the nature of intelligence, and wonder which is the more primitive being.

Benita, thank you for coming up with those topics. I have books I'm already looking forward to for many of those categories!

Personally, I prefer the long threads rather than a new one every month - the monthly ones mean that it's one more thing to have to do to find and star the new ones. But I'm happy to go with the majority.

I can post December's read right away because I "found" 8 extra hours during Thanksgiving to listen to an audiobook whilst I was cleaning and cooking. For December's prompt I read Madame President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson by William Hazelgrove. This book is fatally flawed by a confusing and disorganized chronology. The structure is chaotic, jumping between years without clear order—one chapter starts in 1921, the next in 1911, followed by 1919, and so on. At times, it feels disorienting, especially when the narrative shifts abruptly between events, such as moving from President Wilson courting Edith to her working on League of Nations papers in the span of a few pages. Much of the information is not new, and can be found in other sources. I had previously read Starling of the White House, which provided similar details from a Secret Service agent's perspective on the Wilsons. 8 hours 8 min 2.5*

I have a couple of books that I would like to get to this month: Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel by Anita Shapira and Rosa Luxemburg: A Life by Elzbieta Ettinger. We will see how it goes.

It is December 2 and time for our annual "As You Like It" category. I added the political biography to the traditional end-of-the-year topic simply because I thought that perhaps people might want to read about past political figures. There are the Obama books, the Clinton books, and there are several newer biographies of ancient ambitious political leaders: Julius Caesar and his nephew Augustus Caesar that would work. There is also a biography of Golda Meir that I would like to read and now Angela Merkle's autobiography is out. Take your pick of any political figure's biography and if that doesn't suit you just pick a work of nonfiction and let us know what you are reading.

I was going to read the book by Kamala Harris, but honestly, I think that would make me too sad. So I'll think of something else, maybe finish one I meant to read for one of the previous months.

I don't think I'm going to have time to read something new to my list, like a political biography. I'll have to count something that I planned to read earlier this year but was not able to get in at that time. I will let you know which one I choose.

I went with reading the political biographies because I think that otherwise, I would never read them. Politics is decidedly not my thing.

I think the first political book I remember reading was The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream It was wonderful; I later read his memior, and Michelles . I dont think Ive read anything political since. I dont think I can any more

>77 cindydavid4: Glad you like that one. I disliked it intensely and because of it I also wont' read any more political biographies from 2008 onward.

thats fine, different folks and strokes and all that. I wont be reading those for dec, readng a book Ive been trying to read all year demon copperhead Loved Copperfielld and am very curious how this will go.

>79 cindydavid4: I am sorry--that was not the bio I read, I read A Promised Land by Barack Obama.

np I did not read that one

I had intended to read the political biography of two of England's premier prime ministers - Disraeli and Gladstone, but like so many things right now I can't find it. The book I had selected was Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli by Richard Aldous. I have been interested in both prime ministers for different reasons for a long time and thought this book would make interesting Christmas reading. But alas - the book is in a box and I have more important boxes to unpack. I am not sure what book I will grab for this months topic.

>64 benitastrnad: Can I ask a question? Specifically about the July topic, fish and fishing. Do other aquatic creatures who are caught for food also count? (I'm thinking lobsters, as there are a couple of lobster-related books on my wishlist, but I can't find anything for fish).

>83 Jackie_K:
Well ... I was going to call this one Seafood, but I thought if I did that it would knock out all the books on freshwater fishing and I wanted to include those, so I am going to say that a book on Lobsters will count. Just make sure that Lobsters are the main topic. A book like Last Lobster: Boom or Bust for Maine's Greatest Fishery would work, but a book of essays like Consider the Lobster wouldn't since it includes other essays besides those on lobsters. The intent for this topic was to be a focus on what we are eating from our waters.

>84 benitastrnad: Thanks Benita. Actually I've come across another book, on freshwater fishing, which I'm quite tempted by as well.

>82 benitastrnad: You may not be able to locate said book, but it was a BB for me!

Well, it's not looking good for me to get to the book I had planned to read for this prompt. So I will go ahead and count the nonfiction book I already finished this month: Crusaders : the epic history of the wars for the holy lands by Dan Jones. I was hoping to get another one in, but this book took longer to read than I had hoped. It was a pretty dense read about the Crusades. I'm just running out of time, and with travel to see family next week, the time available for reading before the end of the month isn't looking great.

>64 benitastrnad: The 2025 categories sound interesting to me. I want to read more nonfiction, and I have books about many of the categories in a wish list.

>87 atozgrl:
Don't sweat it. I went looking for two books this afternoon. I knew what boxes they were in and thought I would bring the boxes into the house and unpack them. Unfortunately, I got distracted by other boxes, and couldn't find the two book boxes I was looking for. So, I still haven't started reading a book for this month's topic. I am reading Bound to Please by Michael Dirda and am going to count that one for this month.

>88 thornton37814:
We will be happy to have you join us.

I have a full week of activities coming up and some Christmas baking to get done in the next couple of days. All of which means that I will post the new thread for 2025 after Christmas. I will make sure to put up a post here that has the link to the 2025 post in it.

In the meantime - I will be reading more in Bound to Please and plan to start reading Schulz and Peanuts for my real life book discussion in January. I haven't even started thinking about what to read for this group - yet. I will do so in the next week or so.

I completed two books for this challenge: The Secret Life of Dust for November and Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel for December. Both were excellent reads, though The Secret Life of Dust was more scientific than I had anticipated. With these two books, I’ve officially wrapped up this year’s challenge! A heartfelt thank-you to this group for the incredible recommendations and insightful reviews throughout the year.

I finished Rosa Luxemburg: A Life yesterday. I thought a good, solid biography of the lady with a lot of insight into why she was who and what she was.

I am still hoping to get to Anita Shapira's book on Ben Gurion this month too, but not sure about it at this point.

I have started the 2025 Nonfiction Thread. You can find it here.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/366835