The 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge Part XII: Quirky, Uncategorizable or "Who Knew?"

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The 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge Part XII: Quirky, Uncategorizable or "Who Knew?"

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1Chatterbox
Editat: des. 5, 2016, 12:15 pm

Wow, the first year or the non-fiction challenge is drawing to a close! I hope that the final category won't give too many people heartburn -- it should be fun and not too much trouble. The idea is to look for a book that kind of defies easy categorization, or that falls into multiple categories. Some examples that I might read include Where the Jews Aren't by Masha Gessen, a book about a bizarre attempt by Russia to create a Jewish autonomous homeland; Outpatients: The Astonishing New World of Medical Tourism by Sasha Issenberg; Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky; and The Porcelain Thief: Searching the Middle Kingdom for Buried China by Huan Hsu. Books about books might qualify; books by Mary Roach would qualify. Jill Lepore's book about Wonder Woman. And so on.

What we're reading:






Don't forget to come back and tell others what you're reading -- especially for this challenge! The quirky books are sometimes the most intriguing and fun.

As always, post questions here, or send me a PM.

To whet your appetite for 2017, here are next year's categories!

January: Prizewinners
Non-fiction books that have won, or been short-listed for, any kind of literary prize.

February: Voyages of Exploration
You define it. It can be a literal voyage (travel) or an imaginary voyage into one's own psyche. The key words here are exploration and voyage -- the book must have some kind of journey, real or rhetorical, toward some kind of goal.

March: Heroes and Villains
People you admire or people you hate. Or people others admire or hate, and that you're just curious about.

April: Hobbies, Pastimes and Passions
Anything you want. People suggested categories about gardening, cooking, animals, sports, etc. Whatever excites and interests you. See if you can get the rest of us excited, too...

May: History
Pretty self explanatory. One of a few holdovers.

June: The Natural World
Another holdover. Anything about rocks, logs, the sea, the air we breathe, what grows around us, animal life, etc. And the pollution of same...

July: Creators and Creativity
Rather than just a category about the arts, I've broadened this. So, writing, books about books would qualify.

August: I’ve Always Been Curious About….
A catch-all category. If the topic of the book can complete the sentence, you can add it to the challenge.

September: Gods, Demons and Spirits
Religion, spirituality of al kinds; read about the Salem witch trials or animism in West Africa if you want.

October: The World We Live In: Current Affairs
It will be a year after Brexit; a year after Trump's election. What does the world look like? What forces are driving us? Find a book about some of the themes and issues that are at the top of the news by then.

November: Science and Technology
Probably self-explanatory, another holdover.

December: Out of Your Comfort Zone
A nonfiction book that isn't something that you would normally gravitate to, about a subject you'd never normally read about, or that is a "book bullet" you'd never previously heard about from another LT reader.

2fuzzi
nov. 28, 2016, 9:45 pm

Here's the thread, yippee!

Quirky? I'm going to have to think about that one.

3cbl_tn
nov. 28, 2016, 10:10 pm

I plan to read Notes from a Small Island. The book summary for at least one edition says that it "presents a look at England's quirks", so I'd say it fits.

4rosalita
nov. 28, 2016, 10:18 pm

>3 cbl_tn: Such a funny book! I'd say it definitely fits the category.

5The_Hibernator
nov. 28, 2016, 10:33 pm

Ok. I'll read Packing for Mars

7benitastrnad
nov. 29, 2016, 3:43 pm

I'll have to check my shelves. I am reading Lost City of Z not that it's quirky, but it is out of my comfort zone. But then I see that is for 2017. Ok. Back to my shelves. I think I have a book somewhere on French style. That might be quirky enough.

8torontoc
nov. 29, 2016, 7:51 pm

I am still looking for quirky

9Chatterbox
nov. 29, 2016, 10:50 pm

>7 benitastrnad: I think that would qualify. Exploration, history, an element of "what on earth?" or a "who knew?" factor. Something that would surprise you, or that you never would have imagined or considered would have been true or happened. (A bit like Mary Roach, in some aspects -- yes, she is quirky, but who really thinks about details like barfing in space, for instance, other than 9 year old boys?)

10Chatterbox
nov. 29, 2016, 11:03 pm

>8 torontoc: Think about the "who knew??" element of this -- and books by the likes of Mark Kurlansky about cod, or the Basques, etc. Or books that really cross genres, or cover multiple genres and end up being very hard to pigeonhole (maybe Simon Winchester's books about the Atlantic and the Pacific, which involve history, trade, oceanography, geology, etc. etc.) I've tagged some of Alain de Botton's books this way (like his book about sitting at Heathrow and writing about life in an airport and life of an airport), or The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner (his search for the world's happiest places); Tom Vanderbilt's book about Traffic (subtitled why we drive the way we do and what it says about us...), also Toby Lester's The Fourth Part of the World, a book all about the first map to ever name America. There's The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett (or other books about books, for that matter, which almost always cross genres, because they are about books, about their authors (as memoir), about the context in which the books were written in, and about the act of reading. There is Among the Janeites by Deborah Jaffe, a trip through the world of Jane Austen fandom, which is hilarious, if somewhat slight. I adored The Lost Carving: a Journey to the Heart of Making by David Esterly, a carver in limewood from Canada (I think?) who is called on to replace Grinling Gibbons' 17th century carvings at Hampton Court after a fire there. It's a simply wonderful, and beautifully written book about the joys of working with your hands to create an object of beauty. Going Solo by Eric Klinenberg about how more people are living alone. And so on.

So quirky doesn't have to mean bizarre; just something that intrigues you or makes you think, wow, I just didn't realize that this was "a thing", or "I never knew that!" Or, look what is going on below the surface of ordinary, everyday life -- all the people who are doing intriguing, different, slightly offbeat things, and making the world a little more diverse and interesting for the rest of us, even without our being conscious of it.

Hopefully this helps...

11Familyhistorian
nov. 30, 2016, 1:00 am

I have Necropolis: London and Its Dead on my shelves but I think London Under would also qualify. Hmm, what to choose.

12Chatterbox
nov. 30, 2016, 1:22 am

>11 Familyhistorian: It definitely would! (The Ackroyd book, I mean...)

13charl08
nov. 30, 2016, 2:05 am

Ah I have the happiness project on the shelves. Somewhere.... Just to track it down!

14benitastrnad
nov. 30, 2016, 10:02 am

Wow! Alain De Botton qualifies! I have been wanting to read one of his books for a long time. Now I just have to find one at the library that isn't listed as "Lost" or "Missing." In 30 years as a librarian I have learned that books are lost or missing because people love them and want to keep them. The Art of Travel is Lost from our library, so I may have to go on-line and look for a digital copy.

15Chatterbox
nov. 30, 2016, 8:45 pm

Oh dear, did I pick a stinker this month?? Or are people just busy?

16amanda4242
nov. 30, 2016, 9:04 pm

>15 Chatterbox: I just haven't found the right book yet.

18Chatterbox
nov. 30, 2016, 9:55 pm

>17 torontoc: I'd be curious to know whether Menzies' theory was challenged, but I do recall reading about a lot of chinese navigation from those centuries... Happy choosing!!

19Oberon
nov. 30, 2016, 10:15 pm

I read Rory Stewart's new book The Marches. Part travelogue, part history, part biography of Stewart's father. I will get a review up in a bit.

20katiekrug
des. 1, 2016, 11:02 am

I may change my pick to Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America because nothing says quirky like John Waters... It seems to be a mishmash of travelogue, cultural study, and memoir.

21AnneDC
des. 1, 2016, 11:38 am

I'll finally be finishing Moby-Duck about all those bath toys. I've slotted it into multiple categories for this challenge but never got around to actually reading it.

22charl08
des. 1, 2016, 2:07 pm

Moby Duck! I really want to read that...

23Chatterbox
des. 1, 2016, 8:05 pm

>22 charl08: I think I read about half of it, but never finished it. It was my inspiration for this challenge!

24Chatterbox
des. 2, 2016, 2:01 am

I'm going to add A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in the Trash. I ran across this at the Providence Athenaeum on the new book shelves this evening, and had heard about it already -- the title alone should explain why it's being added! Literally, someone found 148 diaries in a giant rubbish skip in London (I think) and the book is about the author's attempt to identify the author(s) from the content. I mean, wow. Too much time on one's hands? Too much curiosity? Or...??? I think it ended up as a top pick on some year-end list somewhere.

25rosalita
des. 2, 2016, 12:49 pm

>24 Chatterbox: I have to say I don't get the attraction of trying to figure out who wrote the diaries, but I'd be first in line for a crack at reading them! I am a very nosy person.

26benitastrnad
des. 2, 2016, 1:17 pm

#19
I just ordered The Marches: A Borderland Journey Between England and Scotland by Rory Stewart. It sounded like just the kind of travel book I like to read. Not really a travel book, but a book that makes me travel to a place in my mind.

#20
The reviews of Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America have been really good, so I had added that one to my TBR list. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about it.

#22
I have Moby-Duck floating around on my shelves somewhere. Like Suz, I haven't gotten around to reading it. Or even half of it.

27benitastrnad
des. 2, 2016, 1:17 pm

#24
A Life Discarded definitely sounds quirky.

28fuzzi
des. 2, 2016, 7:02 pm

I have one that's been sitting around for a while, Bible Numerics, is that quirky enough? :)

29Chatterbox
des. 2, 2016, 8:23 pm

>28 fuzzi: Looks entertainingly esoteric to me, thus by definition quirky!! :-)

30weird_O
des. 3, 2016, 10:00 am

Moby Duck is a terrific read. I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it highly.

31charl08
des. 3, 2016, 10:41 am

>30 weird_O: Good to hear! Looking forward to getting it from the library.

32mdoris
des. 4, 2016, 6:07 pm

I have started The Nordic Theory of Everything and it is very interesting, and thoughtful.

33fuzzi
des. 4, 2016, 6:35 pm

>29 Chatterbox: done, and an interesting read it was. I liked how the author did not claim to be an authority on what certain numbers in the Bible "mean", but gave his thoughts based upon a lifetime of study.

34banjo123
des. 5, 2016, 12:11 am

I am afraid that I will probably pass this month, as none of the things I am reading seem to fit the category. Currently, I am reading Passage of Power; perhaps one could say that reading a multi-volume biography of LBJ is quirky by it's nature?

35ronincats
des. 5, 2016, 12:16 am

Here are two I just completed. The second book would fit into April, but the first book I hereby designate as quirky.



How to Manage your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets by Dana K. White (223 pp.)

I have a whole shelf of books on cleaning and organization. I often pick up one or two things I use from each, but my house is still cluttered (more cluttered than disorganized in most areas, with paper being the biggest exception). This lady is the first to tell me why. It is because, like her, I am a slob (she writes a blog called "A Slob Comes Clean"--I don't know anything about it. I picked up the book because I saw it on Amazon.)

Like Dana, I love PROJECTS. Even as a child, I would let my bedroom devolve into total chaos to the point where diving in and bringing order to chaos was a real project and I loved it. Project lovers dive in, give it all their attention, finish it, admire it, and then step away and move on. I created things of beauty. But housework/home management is NOT a project...it has no end. It consists of doing the boring stuff, not the project stuff. She (and I) have Slob Vision; we don't see incremental mess. So the condition goes from beautiful at the end of the project, blindness to the incremental mess, and then the whole house is a mess again. You know what makes the difference? Doing the dishes.

Doing the dishes every night is now a non-negotiable task. You don't have to think about are you going to do it, don't have to allocate decision-making resources to it, you just do it, EVERY night. And after that habit is set, you add sweeping the floor EVERY NIGHT. And so on.

Clutter thresholds differ. The concept of your house as a container, like a bookshelf or a memory box is a container. If stuff doesn't fit, you prioritize and get rid of the most disposable. Keep what you want as long as it fits in the container. But respect those boundaries--don't keep more than will fit in the container, be it shelf, box, closet or house.

Anyhow, very readable, I think it is closer to my MO than any other such books I have, and I have been doing my dishes!



Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook by Simon Leach (240 pp.)

This was a birthday book from my sister. I haven't viewed the two DVDs that come with the book yet, but I have read the book and all its pictures. A good review of what I do know, some good ideas for construction, and lots of info on glazes and firing that I have no idea about because the studio takes care of all of that for me!

36Chatterbox
des. 5, 2016, 12:43 am

LOL, the first is DEFINITELY quirky!!!

37Oberon
Editat: des. 5, 2016, 1:19 am



The Marches by Rory Stewart

The Marches is Rory Stewart's fourth book but it has much in common with his first book The Places In Between. The Marches defies easy classification as it is part travelogue, part history, and part narrative of a unique father/son relationship.

The Places in Between chronicles Stewart's hike across Afghanistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban. The book catapulted Stewart to fame. Stewart seems like a man from a different era, specifically that breed of explorers like Sir Richard Burton or Francis Younghusband who were not only explorers but poets, naturalists, statesmen and writers.

Following the success of The Places in Between, Stewart founded a non-profit in Kabul dedicated to teaching traditional Afghani crafts. He then joined the British diplomatic service following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and became a deputy governor of one of the southern provinces (the story of which forms the basis for his second and, in my opinion, best book The Prince of the Marshes. Following those exploits, Stewart taught at Harvard only to leave that position and run for Parliament. His first attempt was unsuccessful but he was elected in Penrith and the Border in 2009. In 2016, he became the Minister of State at the Department of International Development. It seems unlikely that his political career will end there but who knows. My hope is that he continues to write wonderful books.

The Marches, is similar to The Places in Between as it grows out of Stewart's decision to undertake two hikes through the border country between Scotland and England and then the Middlelands - a collection of former kingdoms, like the kingdom of Northumbria, that once sat between Scotland and England but were largely destroyed by the Norse invaders and ultimately absorbed into Scotland and England. The first walk runs along Hadrian's Wall and Stewart discusses the wall, its creation, and the impact that such a wall must have had on the people's both inside and outside the wall. Stewart starts out with the idea that walking the wall will help him understand the divisions between England and Scotland and the decisions driving a vote for Scottish independence.

The second walk, through the Middlelands, is more of a walk through a vanished world. While Stewart finds traces of Northumbria and similar kingdoms, much has been lost. Even more distressing is how few of the people that encounter the remnants in their daily lives understand the significance of the monuments and buildings.

Stewart makes it clear that he sets out on these walks to try and understand the land, its history, and the people - precisely what his walk through Afghanistan did. However, as Stewart describes, his plan collapses. The historical ties to the land that Stewart expects to find are largely gone. Many of the people inhabiting the land are more closely tied to far flung places around the globe. Scotland in particular comes across as an almost modern creation and that the kilts, the bagpipers and so on are more the stuff of Braveheart than any reflection of an actual culture. The few remnants of the true division between Scotland and England are largely unknown and forgotten by the nearby residents.

Throughout his walks, Stewart discusses his findings, his thoughts, and his frustrations with his elderly father. It takes awhile to fully develop but eventually it becomes clear that The Marches is as much about Stewart's relationship with his father as it is about the Middlelands and the Scottish/English border. This dialogue between father and son ultimately forms the core of the book and there are very interesting parallels between Stewart's observations about the modern border region and his father.

Stewart's father, Brian Stewart, is a walking embodiment of Empire. His career begins in the Second World War and the proceeds to various far flung diplomatic posts in Malaysia, Vietnam and Hong Kong where he rose to a very senior level in MI6. Brian Stewart took great pride in his Scottish heritage and insists on wearing tartans and teaching his son Scottish dancing. But like many of the people that Rory Stewart encounters in his walk, Brian Stewart's intense pride in his Scottish heritage is as much a personal creation as it is a reflection of any actual, inherited culture.

Stewart's work at trying to sort through his relationship with his father and his attempt to draw a common thread from history to his walks in the borderlands ultimately fails to come together. In the third section of the book, Brian Stewart grows increasingly frail and dies.

In less capable hands, the death of Brian Stewart and the failure to trace a single narrative for the borderlands would seem to make a failure of a book. But The Marches does not fail. Rather, it seems to come together with an acknowledgment that some of our truest stories are invented ones and that while we may crave stories that follow a straight line and finish with a satisfying denouement real life does not always oblige.

The Marches ends with a poignant description of Brian Stewart's funeral as his son asks the mourners to join in Scottish dancing in remembrance. Rory Stewart wryly acknowledges that the dance is a bastardized version of a dance from the French court and has little to do with the ancient Scottish highlands but yet it is fitting memorial to a man who prided himself on his Scottish heritage but lived a life more tied to Empire and the East than he ever was to Scotland.

The Marches is an engaging book that sticks with you after completion. However, the more I have thought about the book the more I feel like the reader would benefit from having read The Places in Between first as The Marches does much to expand on themes first raised by Stewart in the earlier book. Since The Place in Between is such an excellent book, a read or a re-read is well worth the time before diving into the The Marches.

38amanda4242
des. 5, 2016, 2:21 am

I've just finished Lawrence Weschler's Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, an odd book about an even odder museum. I liked it, but have absolutely no idea how to describe it.

39Chatterbox
Editat: des. 5, 2016, 1:30 pm

Kirkus Reviews has just posted its list of the best non-fiction books of 2016.

40katiekrug
des. 5, 2016, 6:52 pm

>39 Chatterbox: - Thanks for posting that, Suz. I will look more closely at it when I'm more settled, but from just the first page, I want the book on immigration tot NYC, and I just picked up The BOys in the Bunkhouse on a Kindle sale recently...

41katiekrug
des. 5, 2016, 6:53 pm

I started listening to Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America on my drive from Little Rock to Knoxville today. It definitely fits this challenge - it's completely odd and bizarre and a lot of fun. I should finish it tomorrow...

42Chatterbox
des. 5, 2016, 10:55 pm

>40 katiekrug: I read an article (a long one) that he did based on that, which was chilling. It was excellent, but I'm not sure I'd want to read more about it. Still, it's probably very good, based on the piece I read (NY Times magazine, perhaps? can't remember...)

I've still got At the Existentialist Cafe here to read.... it's been around all year, and I've been waiting for the right occasion, though I did toss it into my suitcase and bring it to NYC this time. I just finished the Teju Cole essays (for last month's challenge), which are indeed excellent -- Known and Strange Things. The Iceberg was good but not fabulous (IMHO), and Evicted and In the Darkroom also are waiting for me... The book about Syria is calling my name. I read Rogue Justice but found it heavy going. Finally just finished The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (which would work for this challenge...) and loved it. Have Claire Harman's bio of Bronte on hand to read, but... Just got Lab Girl in a Kindle sale over Thanksgiving, and I have ARCs of both Stamped from the Beginning (from the publisher, about racism in America) and Mad Enchantment (about Monet, from BookExpo). Weapons of Math Destruction and Nathaniel Philbrick's new book are kicking around in digital galleys, I think, and I plan to read the ARC of City of Thorns this month. DID read Eleanor and Hick, which was fascinating, about Mrs. Roosevelt. Hillbilly Elegy will be one of my more interesting reads of 2016, and from what I hear about it, Another Day in the Death of America (which I got sent by the publisher) may be just as good. In other words, my TBR is TOO DAMN BIG!!!!

43rosalita
des. 5, 2016, 11:15 pm

>40 katiekrug: I'm sorry to say that the Boys in the Bunkhouse incident happened right here in eastern Iowa, and the state of Iowa did not exactly cover itself in glory when it all came to light. The ways in which human can continue to be inhuman never fails to disgust me.

And on a lighter note, who the heck tagged that one "stand-alone novel"?? Sheesh.

44cushlareads
des. 7, 2016, 4:04 am

Hi Suz. Do you think this book counts for this month's challenge? (Excuse pun...) An Imaginary Tale: The Story of {the square root of -1} by Paul Nahin. It'll be esoteric to lots of readers - quirky enough? (It's not quirky to me - it's just a great history of maths read! I've just started it.)

Nearly bought Hillbilly Elegy yesterday but far too many unread books...

45charl08
Editat: des. 7, 2016, 3:21 pm

Well, the ducks have come into the library. Hoping to get to it as soon as I finish the Nina Simone bio (but that's a different month!)

46Chatterbox
des. 7, 2016, 3:19 pm

>44 cushlareads: Absolutely -- esoteric and intriguing to me... it's not just about maths, but a deep dive into exploring it.

47cushlareads
des. 10, 2016, 1:56 pm

>46 Chatterbox: Thanks. It's a great book so far. Loads of historical detail and loads of maths too. It's taking me ages because I am solving all the equations with him as I go!

48Chatterbox
des. 10, 2016, 8:21 pm

I finished Where the Jews Aren't by Masha Gessen, which was indeed a quirky and bizarre tale of Birobdizhan -- an ill-fated attempt by the Soviet Union to cultivate a Jewish Autonomous region out near the Chinese border. As you can imagine, trying to turn tailors and merchants into farmers in a region of swampland, with no tools or cattle was doomed, and then in the 40s and 50s, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head. Gessen tells the story via a few of the main characters, people who tried to create a form of cultural nationalism for Jews that didn't necessarily involve political nationalism -- not necessarily Zionism or Soviet idealism. Today? No one there can even speak or read the handful of Yiddish books that survived a late Stalinist purge, and some of the community's biggest boosters were executed. The restaurants serve pork and (gasp) warm gefilte fish... An intriguing look at part of the story of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.

49brenpike
des. 11, 2016, 12:31 am

50benitastrnad
Editat: des. 11, 2016, 2:41 pm

I went looking for another book in my boxes and shelves and came across Stacked: A 32DDD Reports From the Front by Susan Seligson. My sister read it and gave it to me years ago. She said it was quit interesting, so I think I will give it a go over Christmas.

51charl08
des. 11, 2016, 3:01 pm

>49 brenpike: Oh I want to read that. I had a look in the bookshop last week but no luck.

52avatiakh
des. 11, 2016, 3:47 pm

My mission this month is to finish reading a couple of the nonfiction books that I listed for various challenges through the year.

I have finished reading The Osamu Tezuka Story: a life in manga and anime by Toshio Ban and wonder if it would count as quirky? It's a graphic biography and an exceedingly interesting read.
Tezuka is the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney, the father/godfather/god of manga, and he also found time to train as a medical doctor in case his manga career didn't work out. There was so much of interest in this graphic biography and Tezuka comes across as a really extraordinary person.

Here's a couple of quotes that sum him up - Despite being often referred to as the “Walt Disney of Japan”, Helen McCarthy, author of The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, sums it up best by saying Tezuka “was more like Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Tim Burton, Arthur C. Clarke, and Carl Sagan all rolled into one incredibly prolific creator”

Foreign visitors to Japan often find it difficult to understand why Japanese people like comics so much… One explanation for the popularity of comics in Japan is that Japan had Osamu Tezuka, whereas other nations did not.”
– Asahi Shinbun (February 10, 1989)

http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/?page_id=2

53Chatterbox
des. 11, 2016, 4:18 pm

>52 avatiakh: yes indeed, that qualifies as quirky!! :-)

54laytonwoman3rd
Editat: des. 11, 2016, 10:19 pm

I'm thinking about The Professor and the Madman, which I hope I can fit in before the end of 2016.

55Chatterbox
des. 12, 2016, 10:14 am

>54 laytonwoman3rd: It's a short book... (an incitement to commit an act of reading!)

56laytonwoman3rd
des. 12, 2016, 10:47 am

>55 Chatterbox: Thanks. Because I need that kind of encouragement. *snort*

57jessibud2
des. 13, 2016, 9:25 pm

Tonight I will finish Toponymity An atlas of Words, which is a small volume of how words became names and names became words. I have always been drawn to books about language and their origins. I think this fits into the *quirky* category though I can't always tell if the stories behind these words are really all true or just made up. Some are weird enough and you know what they say about truth being stranger than fiction. Quite a fun little read and the illustrated maps are fun, too.

I had slotted Moby Duck into this month but I don't think I'll get to it so will save it for 2017. I bet it would work for February...!

58GerrysBookshelf
des. 14, 2016, 5:59 am

I read The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart.
It's part botany, part history, part chemistry and part folklore with a few recipes thrown in. From antiquity to today, mankind has turned just about anything that contains a little sugar into an alcoholic beverage and has used an amazing array of plants for flavorings. Quite a fascinating little book. Cheers!

59kac522
des. 14, 2016, 7:14 pm

Not sure how quirky this is, but just finished The Carols of Christmas: A Celebration of the Surprising Stories Behind Your Favorite Holiday Songs by Andrew Gant. Gant gives us a history of 21 Christmas carols (mostly from England, a few from America) in a lively and intelligent style. He provides the background of both the tunes and the text, the composers and the lyricists. Some of these take very interesting paths, from medieval times up until today. Many can be traced back to native tunes of old. A very fun read, especially if you have a little musical background.

60Chatterbox
des. 15, 2016, 11:26 am

>59 kac522: That fits -- it's one of those uncategorizaeble books, that could be music, could be history, could be -- who knows what?? Sounds fun! Especially for some of those carols that have at least two musical versions, and people who argue over which is "correct."

61avatiakh
des. 21, 2016, 2:30 pm

I've just started Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life by Patrick Van Horne. Not sure how I found this but it seems like a useful if somewhat quirky read, about following your 'gut' instinct and 'increasing your sensitivity to threats before they happen.'

62Chatterbox
des. 22, 2016, 7:47 pm

I'm wavering between starting Kurlansky's history of Paper, and Jill Lepore about Wonder Girl. Dither, dither, dither.

63torontoc
des. 24, 2016, 11:24 am

I started 1421 The Year China discovered The World and put it down- I will pick it up in sections during 2017- I think that I want to look at other sources as well to see if the author's theme is covered by other historians. I am reading the diaries of Harry Kessler from 1918-1937- he is like Woody Allen's Zelig- always in the right place with the right people from politicians to artists to writers- to scientists . I had read the book about his earlier diaries and enjoyed it. I don't know if he qualifies as quirky. Berlin in Lights The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler 1918-1937

64Chatterbox
des. 24, 2016, 6:04 pm

>63 torontoc: if he is hard to fit into any single category -- eg memoirs or history -- then he would count in this challenge.

65Chatterbox
des. 27, 2016, 3:33 pm

The 2017 challenge is up... For those already trying to get rid of 2016!

66laytonwoman3rd
Editat: des. 28, 2016, 10:19 pm

I did finish The Professor and the Madman before Christmas. My impressions are here. It was worthwhile, but not one of my top reads for the year.

>65 Chatterbox: Could we have a link?

67Chatterbox
des. 28, 2016, 11:09 pm

>66 laytonwoman3rd: Indeed you can. Here it is. I'm a little slow on the uptick this week, clearly; my apologies!

68Familyhistorian
des. 31, 2016, 5:21 pm

I finished London Under just in time to complete the non-fiction challenge for 2016! I have walked London's streets but never thought of what was under them unless I was using the Underground. It is very interesting to know more about what is beneath those streets. I just wish I was there to have a better look at some of the areas written about in the book.

69Caroline_McElwee
Editat: des. 31, 2016, 7:18 pm

>68 Familyhistorian: I think you hit me with a bullet there Meg. Peter Ackroyd is a fave writer too. Not sure how I missed this one.

70Familyhistorian
des. 31, 2016, 8:49 pm

>69 Caroline_McElwee: It's a recent one and short for one of his books. I'm sure you'll like it.

71laytonwoman3rd
gen. 1, 2017, 1:54 pm

>67 Chatterbox: Yeah, holidays will do that to us! Thanks for the link. I've starred it.

72Chatterbox
gen. 1, 2017, 3:38 pm

>68 Familyhistorian: I really relished that book!!

Finished Outpatients on the 30th and enjoyed it -- a good layperson's introduction to the whys and wherefores and hows of medical "tourism", or traveling in pursuit of lower-cost/higher-quality medical care, and the impact on the systems of those nations who deliberately are pursuing this as a strategy to maximize the income of, or save, their own system's finances. Fascinating. 4 stars.

73Familyhistorian
gen. 1, 2017, 7:27 pm

>72 Chatterbox: Glad I am in good company on London Under. He packs a lot into a short book.

75Chatterbox
gen. 1, 2017, 8:18 pm

>74 ronincats: Hurrah, Roni!! That's fabulous!

(On a personal note, glad to see you read my former colleague's book -- Greg Steinmetz' book about Jacob Fugger.)

I may have to give Listen, Liberal a try. I really wasn't in the mood for more polemics last year.

76ronincats
gen. 2, 2017, 4:56 pm

Oh yes, that book went on my wishlist at your suggestion, Suz, and it ended up being the longest hold I've ever had on a library book--10 months! It was quite interesting.

Frank doesn't really do polemics. He did the same thing for Republicans in What's the Matter with Kansas?--analyzes and points out issues. I tended to downplay his concerns in this book until the election, when he ended up hitting them on the nose.

77benitastrnad
Editat: gen. 3, 2017, 5:49 pm

I did not finish Stacked: A 32DDD Reports From the Front by Susan Seligson. This is my quirky non-fiction work that I finally settled on for December. My sister read this years ago and the book got left at my mothers house in Kansas. I picked it up and found it interesting enough to continue to read. I will finish it, but it just didn't get done in December.

78jessibud2
gen. 7, 2017, 10:52 am

Is there a separate new thread for the 2017 non-fiction challenge, set up yet? I am just now finding my way back to LT, after a computer crash and being locked out of the site. I am still groping my way around, looking for threads...

80jessibud2
gen. 7, 2017, 11:47 am

>79 laytonwoman3rd: - Thank you for this. How do I get myself on the list in that members' threadbook? I thought I had *joined* by starting a new thread in the 75ers page.

81drneutron
gen. 7, 2017, 1:27 pm

I'll add you when I make my way through talk to your new thread.

82benitastrnad
Editat: gen. 8, 2017, 1:40 pm

I finally finished my "quirky" non-fiction. I read Lost City of Z by David Grann. This one was a selection for my real life book discussion group and I just couldn't get through it. To be honest it just didn't interest me that much. There were parts of it that I found interesting, but overall it was a disappointment. At times it read like one of those exotic travel books were somebody goes off on a quest to put meaning back in their life (think Eat, Pray, Life here). At times it read like one of those intellectual quests that people do periodically (think A. J. Jacobs Year of Living Biblically. The author tried to turn the hero of the story into a real life Indiana Jones and that didn't work either. For all its hype this was an under average book for me.

Now I move on to next years non-fiction.