Non-Fiction

Teaser Tuesdays – Livia, Empress of Rome

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.

I’ve been on a fantasy bender lately so I thought a little non-fiction was in order.  Today I’m starting Livia, Empress of Rome by Matthew Dennison.

Between Tiberius and the throne had stood at various moments five or possibly six candidates preferable to Augustus, as well as Augustus himself.  All died unexpectedly, in each case in circumstances which remain in part unresolved. (page 2)

Review – Savage Kingdom

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Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America

By Benjamin Woolley

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 978006009056-2

3 stars

Savage Kingdom is a recounting of the settlement of Jamestown, in particular, the people who led the enterprise and took on the challenge of settling a land they knew nothing about.  It follows their journey in a landscape completely alien to them with inhabitants they can’t control, and in the end, threaten to destroy.

The book is very broad in its scope.  It covers the goings on in England, John Smith’s explorations into Native American territories, the Jamestown settlement, the settlements in New England, the Spanish, Spanish America, and the monarchy’s involvement and interest in the Jamestown settlement.  Sometimes I felt it was too inclusive.  It wasn’t narrowed down and was more like a semester lecture and general overview of the world at the time instead of being sharply focused on the settlement.

I did enjoy the Native American interactions with the settlers though.  John Smith’s adventures, trading, crowing of Powhatan, fighting, etc. provided interesting insights into how and where it all failed; it’s more than just a general misunderstanding brought about by a language barrier.  Englishman with no ability to survive in the wilderness and with very meager survival skills were expecting the Native American tribes to feed them and became dumbfounded when it didn’t happen.  They were so arrogant in assuming the land was theirs for the taking and truly believed someone would care for them.

Savage Kingdom was a frustrating book for me because you see all the faults and in many ways the problems inherent in the system.  I wanted to really enjoy this book but I didn’t and I think it was due to the fact that I read another book on the subject last year and I felt I had already read some of this.  It doesn’t make it bad, just not for me.  It was well researched but I couldn’t get into it.

Review – Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

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SpookSpook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

By Mary Roach

W.W. Norton & Company

ISBN: 0393059626

4.75 stars

While I don’t foster much belief in the afterlife, I do have a thing about ghosts.  I don’t know whether or not I actually believe in them, but I love stories about them.  This is what partly led me to read Spook, that and I love Mary Roach’s approach to non-fiction.  She doesn’t go all crazy and make you feel as if you must believe everything she’s writing about because it’s non-fiction — in some cases you even wonder if she believes it all — which is refreshing.

In Spook, she takes a look at what science has to say about the afterlife.  She starts out with reincarnation, moves on to measuring the weight of a soul, discusses debunking mediums and psychics, looks at the science of ectoplasm, tries to communicate with the dead, and wraps up with the effects of electromagnetic fields on humans.  For some of the topics, the weight of the soul and ectoplasm in particular, the science is rather thin and doesn’t leave you with a lot of hope or really any good scale for noting how much the soul would possibly weigh.  It seems very little but that doesn’t deter the author here.  She goes with it and at times even pokes fun at some of the methods used to determine such things and why someone would even be interested in finding out the information in the first place.

While I found the chapter on reincarnation interesting, what I loved was the section on debunking mediums.  I’m always fascinated by this, the debunking not crackpot mediums, and the lengths that people will go to to defraud someone, especially someone hurting from the loss of a loved one.  Communicating with the dead was another good chapter especially when she gets into describing the activities involved with talking to, or at least trying, to hear the dead.

Roach approaches her subject with a bit of humor but never lets it overcome what she’s set out to prove or disprove.  I’m not sure that I can say this book made me want to re-visit my belief system but it did provide me with some good info to talk to my sister about who also loves ghost stories.

 

Today’s Book – Spook

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I’ve been reading Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach this week.  I can’t say that I heart this book as much as Packing for Mars, but it is absorbing.  I will admit up front that I don’t put much thought in the afterlife, which may or may not be the reason behind my not getting so sucked into this book.  (Oddly, I think this was also true of the author in certain chapters.)  I did find the chapter on reincarnation enlightening (Oh, indulge me. :-)) especially in the context of Indian society.  Granted, Roach was investigating a report of a reincarnation with a doctor in a poor Indian village where death is a common occurrence but it was the attitude toward death that struck me — and I’m paraphrasing here — why worry so much about death since there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be coming back and rather soon.  I thought it was defining in terms of how we, all societies and cultures, mourn and deal with death.

The chapter on fake mediums and what they went through to defraud clients/patrons/etc. was fascinating but then again seeing something debunked is a favorite of mine.  Ghost Hunters anyone?  “No, the bathroom isn’t haunted.  The seal on the faucet needs to be replaced that’s why it drips,” state Grant and Jay.  No Ghost Hunters, Myth Busters then.  You get where I’m going right?  I like bad television.  Well, that much maybe true, but no, point was that I like seeing fake things shown the light of day.  Anyway, the chapter on machines to register ectoplasm and the weight of the soul were a bit dry but considering the science around both of these topics is a little thin, you can tell the author is not so much impressed either with some of the things she’s shown, but both proved to be necessary to the book.  You can’t talk about death without soul involvement, and well, ectoplasm and ghosts go hand in hand.  Ghostbusters anyone?  OK, OK, I’m done with ghost references.

Roach has a very approachable reading style, especially for non-fiction which can sometimes lean toward the dry, and I enjoy the humorous banter she infuses in the footnotes.  If you ever find yourself reading one of her books, and you should, make sure you read the footnotes.

The Sunday Salon – Long Books and Loot

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For the second week in a row, I’ve been in a one week, one book relationship.  The first was a non-fiction book that I was having some issues with (I wasn’t liking it so much and found some of it annoying so it took me longer, even longer than my normal slow pace associated with non-fiction books because there were times I thought about winging it far from my being.) and the second week was consumed by an almost 800 page historical fiction tome that, well, it just took me a long time to read.  I did enjoy it though so there are no complaints.  🙂

So what book was it?  The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick.  Last year, I read her Arthurian legend trilogy, Pendragon’s Banner, loved it so much I knew I needed to read more and when I saw this one, I bought it.  Lately my restraint tactics which I practiced all last year in regard to buying books have been tossed casually into a black hole from which they will never ever return.  Although, the new books are all ebooks so they aren’t taking up any physical space which is probably why I’ve kept at the buying the last few days with little regard for anything other than how much money is left on my gift cards.  The answer to that is not much.  I also picked up A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin (can’t wait for it!) and Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.  I read two of his books last year and he’s becoming a favorite.

To show there’s more to me than just hitting the download button, I also stopped by the library (thanks honey for double parking and deftly avoiding a ticket) and picked up two books that I’m looking forward to reading.  OK, one I already started…

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach.  Mary Roach writes the funniest and most entertaining non-fiction books I’ve ever read and this is going to be the perfect one to get me back on the non-fiction wagon which I jumped off of in January.  My second book is A Conspiracy of Kings by Meghan Whalen Turner.  I thought, really believed, that I had finished this series last year but I didn’t and well, that needed to be fixed and now I have the final book and all is well.

I’m off now.  My husband has informed me there is football stuff to be watched.  Happy Sunday everyone and enjoy the game!

The Sunday Salon – Non-Fiction

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I’ve been reading a non-fiction book all week.  In general, I find it takes me longer to read non-fiction than fiction I guess because I’m paying more attention to facts, forcing myself to slow down so as not to miss an important detail that will be critical to the master plan later on.  Not really sure but I think I have pinpointed one problem with reading non-fiction — I must not read about the same topic twice.  I should probably explain that rather broad statement.  Follow me if you will…

Last year I read a book about the Jamestown settlement.  The book focused on several people and a specific shipwreck that was being sent to provide provisions for the settlers, and due to the ship being wrecked and its passengers being stranded on Bermuda, when the ship’s crew and passengers finally arrived (on a different ship the first being wrecked; see what I mean about important details in non-fiction?) in Jamestown, they sort of saved the place.  Not entirely saved, Jamestown was a debacle but you don’t need me to tell you that.  Anyway, the current book, Savage Kingdom.  It’s more about everyone and everything involved with the Jamestown settlement.  So not only am I getting information about the settlement itself, the Native American tribes (very interesting and part of the reason I wanted to read a second book on said topic) already inhabiting the Chesapeake area, but also goings-on in England and Spain.  It’s a rather far-reaching and all encompassing book and though I’m finding it interesting, I feel as though I’ve already read great parts of this.

Also, I feel like I’m listening to a lecture and it’s a bit disjointed as if the professor keeps jumping around saying things like: “Oh, before we talk more about Captain John Smith and his dealings with Powhatan, let’s go back to England for a minute and talk about what was going on with James II and his negotiations with the Spanish who had already setup house in Florida and were a little peeved about the English double-talk about Jamestown.”  This is where I would normally say, quietly and to myself, “What?!  Did I miss something?” and start wondering how I could go about transferring to another class.  Also, in the picture in my head, this professor keeps running his hands through his hair and he starts to look as if he’s been electrified.  Also, he’s a man cuz the author of the book is and for no other reason and have no idea why I needed to point that out but I did.

Let’s say I’m not feeling it this time around.  Did I mention that already?  Felt I should again just in case you didn’t get that from the long, rambling above section punctuated with generalized boring class behavior.

A goal of mine in 2011 is to read more non-fiction, once a month if I can.  My next non-fiction book is called Spook and is about the afterlife.  It’s by Mary Roach who wrote Packing for Mars which I absolutely loved and you should read it.  No, really, I mean that.  You should totally read it but don’t read it while eating because there’s a lot of talk about bodily functions.  Fair warning, it’s all I have to offer.  She also wrote a book about cadavers and when I mentioned that to my husband he looked at me weird and I’m pretty sure he was having a silent conversation in his head that involved taking away my library card.  There’s also a book about Cleopatra roaming around that I want to read so maybe I should mention this to him so he doesn’t wonder anymore about my reading.

If you made it his far, thanks for sticking with me till the end of paragraph six today.  Happy Sunday fellow readers.

PS — Next time I promise not to be so disjointed in my Sunday Salon.  Feeling inspired this week I guess.

Today’s Book – Savage Kingdom

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I wanted to read more non-fiction in 2011 (goal is about one non-fiction book a month) and decided to start with a topic I have some interest in, the Jamestown settlement.  I read a book about the settlement last year, The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown, and loved it so thoroughly I thought why not more.

Savage Kingdom is moving a little slow for me and it maybe that I’m feeling I already read this (reoccurring problem I have with non-fiction books of the same or familiar topic) but it does have one thing going for it — more information about the Native Americans and the role the tribes played in the settlement’s history.  The last year’s book had very little about the tribes the settlers came in contact with and that portion of the book is filling the gap I felt I missed last time.  I actually tried to find a book about the Native Americans settled in that area but had no luck with the library but this one came up on the search which is the reason why I picked it up.

Teaser Tuesday

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.

I’m starting Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America by Benjamin Wooley today.  I’m trying to read at least one non-fiction book a month in 2011 and this is book one.  I don’t know that non-fiction makes for the best teasers but let’s play anyway.

“On the morning of 20 September 1565, the sixty-year-old carpenter Nicolas le Challeux awoke to the sound of rain pelting down on the palm-leaf thatch overhead.  It had not stopped for days, and a muddy morass awaited him outside.”  (pg. 3)