The 2022 Nonfiction Challenge in December -- As You Like It!

Better late than never??

Anyway, here it is -- the final thread of 2022. And with it, a chance to finish up reading those big chunkster nonfiction books, dip into something that didn't neatly fit into any of this year's categories, or revisit a favorite book/theme/genre.

I'll be interested to see what you pick! I'm going to kick off by reading/listening to Devil-Land by Clare Jackson, a history of a turbulent century in England.

And see the next post for the new categories for 2023!

Proposed 2023 Categories:

January: Prizewinners and nominees. A group fave, and the logical first "bookend" for next year's challenge

February: Hobbies & Pastimes. Gardening, Genealogy, Travel. Whatever floats your boat. Including sailing.

March: Empires. The history of them, bios of their emperors, stories about how empires rise and fall. You can pick any empire, any era, but it must be seen to be an empire (so, the USSR and the USA may have imperial tendencies, but they are not formal empires...) Napoleon, Genghis Khan, China, the Byzantines, the Roman emperors, and I'll accept the Egyptian Pharaohs.

April: The Sea/Ocean. What happens on and in the sea, from trade and travel to oceanography and the study of fishes (think, Mark Kurlansky's book about the humble cod...)

May: Literary Biography. Books about literary creators, and some of the books they created.

June: Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples/ First Nations. Explore their history, the first contacts with interlopers, land rights and treaty issues, human rights, social justice issues, etc.

July: Explorations and Expeditions. Define this any way you choose. Someone could walk the length of the Silk Road, or explore the structure of the human genome.

August: The World of the Land, Trees and Plants. So, think the natural world, here. This could be scientific; it could also be a travel book that is tied to geography, ecology, etc.

September: Family Ties. A family-based memoir (so, not just any memoir, but one revolving around family members), a book about family history or exploring a family's past/roots.

October: Crimes, Mysteries, Puzzles, Enigmas. What did happen to the Princes in the Tower? Does the Bermuda Triangle exist, really? Where did DB Cooper go? Or anything puzzling that intrigues you.

November: Matters of Faith and Philosophy. Basically: books about any ideas that shape the way we live and how we interact in society.

December As You Like It. Yes, it's the other perennial bookend! A go-anywhere/read-anything challenge.

Sounds like another good reading year!

Oh - there are some goodies in these categories, and now that I am retiring I will have time to read more than one of these a month!

A PROMISED LAND will work to close out 2022.

I need a laugh to end the year, whilst also wallowing in being thoroughly cheesed off with our government, so I am looking forward very much to Russell Jones' The Decade in Tory. (his 'The Week in Tory' Twitter threads are a work of genius)

I am going to finish reading Third Horseman by William Rosen. I started this book for the October category and just didn't get it finished. I also want to read End or the Beginning: How Hollywood - and America - Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell and get that done this month as well. I am not sure exactly what this book is about, but I saw a review of it and wanted to read it, so on this list it goes.

Well, I've already finished my first book/my first nonfiction read for December, and it was a good one. We Are Bellingcat is a fascinating look into the birth of online open-source investigation, which is one of the directions in which legacy journalism is moving. 4.4 stars; recommended. It's remarkable what these folks have accomplished -- as is their commitment to transparency.

I'm happy about the categories for 2023, whether I get to read many of them or not. Thank you, Suzanne. This month I hope to finish Melville: A Biography at last. It's well worth my time, but I am eager to get on to something else.

The category for October looks especially intriguing. Not sure what I'm going to read for this month yet.

Since I am going to be re-reading The Great Gatsby this month, I am going to read Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell to go along with it.

I finished The Decade in Tory by Russell Jones, which is the book-length version of his wildly popular Twitter threads, #TheWeekInTory. Its subtitle is "An Inventory of Idiocy from the Coalition to COVID", and it meticulously (and hilariously) covers, month by month, the pronouncements and policies of our Tory leaders and what was going on behind the headlines between David Cameron becoming PM in 2010, and the end of 2020 (and a bit beyond). Anyone familiar with the Twitter threads will know he has a fine line in creative insults, and I'm glad that "Pee Wee Herman reflected in a table spoon" (Matt Hancock), "Boris Johnson's comfort turbot" (Michael Gove), and "Witless Dickington" (Boris Johnson), which were particular favourites of mine from the original threads, made it into the book. I'd give a trigger warning that it's very sweary, but to be honest I think I should give a trigger warning that it's full of grifters, corruption, indifference and weapons-grade incompetence. I'm not sure if I should say that it's grimly hilarious, or hilariously grim. I'd certainly recommend it to any non-Brits who are despairing of the calibre of their own leaders, to give them a bit of encouragement that their country doesn't have the monopoly on terrible politicians. Obviously if you're a Tory voter you'll probably hate this, and it makes absolutely no claims to being an unbiased account. But I honestly think everyone should read it.

The last few days I've spent some quality time with a library copy of Ken Burns' Our America: A Photographic History (2022). It's very easy to just browse and slowly page through the stunning photographs. Each image is on one page, with a caption of place and year. At the back of the book is a more detailed description and history (a few paragraphs) of each plate with a thumbnail photo, photographer (if known) and source. The photos are all black & white; a few are in sepia tone.

I think there are about 250 photographs; I recognized a handful that I'd seen before or in Burns' films, but most were new to me, as were many of the photographers. Even some of the American history that it chronicles was new to me. The range of photos spans from 1839 to 2021. I've written down names of new-to-me photographers that I want to explore some more.

The book is huge, so I had to lay it in my lap or on a table to read. But it was well worth the "heft" it took to read it.

I finished reading Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen. I started it in October for the "Middle Ages to the Renaissance" category. The thesis of the book was that a significant change in the North Atlantic Oscillation caused a corresponding significant change in the climate of Northern Europe. This ended, what is known as the Medieval Warming Period and resulted in a greater loss of life than the coming of the Black Death did 30 years later. This population loss was the death knell of Feudalism and promoted Nation State building and the formation of the modern map of Europe.

The book was full of interesting facts about medieval life in a farming community. This author gathered a huge amount of material about population, population counts of numbers of farm animals, acres under cultivation, number of calories consumed per day, for Northern Europe and used all of it to create a picture of life for the average serf during that time. This information was used to explain how the Great Famine of 1315 - 1322 resulted in more lives lost in terms of percentage of the population, than any other event of the 14th Century, including the Black Death. Along the way, he managed to tell the story of Robert Bruce, William Wallace, Scotland, England, the Holy Roman Empire, and most other areas of Northern Europe. It was a very interesting book and I am glad I read it as I now have a much better picture of that time period and the forces at work in the society and culture and weather combined to move Europe into the Renaissance.

>14 benitastrnad: Sounds interesting, I'll add it to my list, thanks.

>15 karspeak:
I read a previous book by this same author for this challenge. That one was titled Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe by William Rose. That one was about the first documented outbreak of Bubonic plague in Constantinople in the reign of Justinian in the 450's. It was very interesting and along the same lines as this book. Both books were very readable and thought provoking. They both concentrate on common people, population statistics, farm production, etc. etc. Different way of looking at historical events.

>16 benitastrnad: That also sounds interesting, thanks.

True crime is one of my go to nonfiction genres. I find historic crimes very interesting. Black River Road was no exception. Set in New Brunswick in 1869, it was about the death of a young woman and her toddler. Society was very different at that time. This was made clear by attitudes to the black berry pickers who found the bodies as well as during the trial.

There were two men who were thought to have done the dirty deed. One was a working man, low in the social ranks. The other an architect from a well to do family. Even though testimony was going against the architect, public opinion and even the newspapermen covering the trial were sure the other man had done it. Prevailing thought was that only people from the lower orders committed crimes. Maybe that explains a lot about history.

A bit belatedly... the January challenge is up and ready!

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