Non-Fiction writers
#Non-Fiction: 2022
- TOP 5 non-fiction books
- How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith (336 pg). ….excellent!! 2021 REVIEW
- Red Zone – P. Hartcher – …very interesting REVIEW
- The Road to Unfreedom – T. Snyder …very interesting – REVIEW
- The Little Devil in America –398 pg H. Abdurraqib ….excellent!! 2021 REVIEW
- Empire of Pain – P. R. Keefe….excellent!! – REVIEW
- A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson (travelogue) – REVIEW
- A Cultural History of Causality – S. Kern- REVIEW
- The Dawn of the Belle Epoque – M. McAuliffe – REVIEW
- The Crossroads of Should and Must – E. Luna – REVIEW
- John Adams – David McCullough biography – REVIEW
- All That She Carried – T. Miles (NF) – REVIEW
- Unbound – Tarana Burke (memoir) – REVIEW
- Thomas Becket – J. Guy (NF) biography – REVIEW
- Theatre & Ireland – L. Pilkingkton – REVIEW
- Patrick Kavanagh – Antoinette Quinn biography – REVIEW
- The Best of Frank O’Connor – F. O’Connor (essays) – REVIEW
- Cézanne: Puissant et solitaire – M. Hoog – REVIEW
- Le maniérisme – P. Falguières – REVIEW
- Bring the War Home – K. Belew – REVIEW
- Writing Deep Scenes – M. Alderson – REVIEW
- Caravaggio – José Frèches – REVIEW
- Les délassiés – T. Porcher – REVIEW
- Le fagot de ma mémoire – S. Diagne – REVIEW
- The Road to Unfreedom – T. Snyder – REVIEW
- The Age of the Strongman – G. Rachman – REVIEW
- La guerre des idées – E. Bastié – REVIEW
- Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission – Y. Katz – REVIEW
- Flyboy in the Buttermilk – Greg Tate – REVIEW
- Stony the Road (NF) – H.L. Gates jr. – REVIEW
- All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep – A. Henry – REVIEW
- Hooked: Art and Attachment – Rita Felski – REVIEW
- When Harlem Was In Vogue – D. Lewis – REVIEW
- Until Justice Be Done – K. Masur – REVIEW
- Stages of Struggle: Modern Playwrights – J. DiGaetani – REVIEW
- Unfollow Me – J. Busby – REVIEW
- Why We Did It – Tim Miller – REVIEW
- Invisible Storm – Jason Kander – REVIEW
- Le Dieu de Dostoïevski – Marguerite Souchon – REVIEW
- Thank You For Your Servitude – M. Leibovich – REVIEW
- Red Zone – P. Hartcher – REVIEW
- Out of Africa – I. Dinesin (memoir)
- Tunnel 29 – H. Merman – REVIEW
- Freezing Order (2022)- B. Browder (memoir) – REVIEW
- The Periodic Table – Primo Levi (memoir) – REVIEW
- The Man Who Could Move Clouds (memoir) – Ingrid Rojas Contreras – REVIEW
- Plot and Structure – J.S. Bell (240 pg ) 2004 REVIEW
- The Figure of the Detective – C. Brownson (216 pg) 2014 REVIEW
- Bloods – Wallace Terry (320 pg) 1984 (NF) REVIEW
- Pushout – M.W. Morris ((303 pg) 2018 (NF) REVIEW
- How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith (336 pg) 2021 (NF) REVIEW
- The Little Devil in America -398 pg) H. Abdurraqib (300 pg) (essays) 2021 REVIEW
- Empire of Pain – P. R. Keefe (NF) ….excellent!! – REVIEW
- The 1619 Project: The New American Origin Story – Nikole Hannah-Jones (590 pg) REVIEW
#Non-fiction: 2021
- AI Superpowers – Kai-Fu Lee – Excellent! 5 star
- Society 4.0 – B. de Wit – Review
- How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley – REVIEW
- Kill Switch – Adam Jentleson – REVIEW
- Pure White and Deadly – J.Yudikn – REVIEW
- A Promised Land – Barack Obama REVIEW
- The Jakarta Method – Vincent Bevins REVIEW
- The Dead Are Arising – Les Payne – REVIEW
- How to Make a Slave and Other Essays – Jerald Walker REVIEW
- Dying of Whiteness – Jonathan Metzl REVIEW
- The Origins of Totalitarianism – Hannah Arendt REVIEW
- Talking To My Country – Stan Grant REVIEW
- Wayward Lives – Saidiya Hartman (criticism) REVIEW
- Rembrandt and the Female Nude – E. Sluijter REVIEW
- Classical Art: From Greece to Rome – M. Beard REVIEW
- Has China Won? – K. Muhbubani REVIEW
- Gulag Archipelago vol 1 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn REVIEW
- Henri Matisse: Rooms with a View – S. Neilsen Blum REVIEW
- Bloodlands – T. Snyder – REVIEW
- The Betrayal – W. R. Corson (1968) REVIEW
- Entangled Life – M. Sheldrake REVIEW
- How the Word is Passed – Clint Smith REVIEW
- The Grand Chessboard – Zbigniew Brzezinski REVIEW
- Anseo – Úna-Mingh Kavanaugh REVIEW
- Ghost Wars – Steve Coll (2004) REVIEW
- Een Klein Land Met Verre Uithoeken – Floor Milikowski REVIEW
- Revolusi – David van Reybrouck REVIEW Longlist Brusse Prize 2021
- Urk – M. Declercq REVIEW Longlist Brusse Prize 2021
- Mediocre – Ijeoma Oluo REVIEW
- Zero Fail (2021) – Carol Leonnig REVIEW
- Catch and Kill (2019) – Ronan Farrow REVIEW
- Everything Happens for a Riesling – G. de Morgan REVIEW
- A Black Women’s History of the United States – Daina Ramey Berry REVIEW
- The Anarchy – W. Dalrymple – REVIEW
- Say Nothing – P. R. Keefe winner 2019 National Book Critic’s Circle Award NF – REVIEW
- Body Count – Paddy Manning finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award – REVIEW
- How to Do Nothing – J. Odell – REVIEW
- How to Make A Slave – J. Walker finalist 2020 National Book Award – REVIEW
- Don’t Touch My Hair – Emma Dabiri – REVIEW
Literature:
- Essayism – Brian Dillon – Review
- Nolan on Bradbury – W.F. Nolan – 2013 READ
- The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 – J. Shapiro 2015 READ
#ReadIreland
- The Spaces of Irish Drama – H. Lojek READ
- The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir – Samantha Power – 2019 READ
- The Irish Writer and the World – Declan Kiberd (2001) READ
#AusReadingMonth2020
- Hazelwood – T. Doig – #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov 2020
- We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know – Sophie McNeill – #AusReadingMonth2020
- Fallen – Lucie Morris-Marr – #AusReadingMonth2020
- Comrade Ambassador – S. FitzGerald #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov 2020
- City On Fire: The Fight For Hong Kong – A. Dapiran #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov
- The Altar Boys – S. Smith #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov 2020
- Penny Wong – M. Simons #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov 2020
- After the Count – Stephanie Convery #AusReadingMonth2020 #NonFicNov
Memoir:
- My Vanishing Country – B. Sellers (2020) – Review
- Sightlines – K. Jamie – READ
- Surrender – Joanna Pocock (2019) – READ
- Heavy – Kiese Laymon – Review
Essays:
- The Fire This Time – editor Jesmyn Ward – 2016 – Review
- Critics, Monsters and Fanatics – C. Ozick – Review
- Just Us – C. Rankine – Review
- We Live for the We – D. McClain – Review
Biography:
- Thomas Aquinas: A Portrait – Denys Turner – 2013 READ
- The Churchill Factor – Boris Johnson – READ
- Master of the Senate – R. Caro – READ
- Saul Steinberg: A Portrait – D. Bair – Review
- Penny Wong – M. Simons #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov 2020
History
- The Influence of George Soros – Emily Tamkin – Review
- Tears We Cannot Stop – M. Dyson – Review
- The Accidental President – A.J. Baime – Review
- Democracy In Black – E. S. Glaude jr. – Review
- How To Be An Anti-rascist – I.X. Kendi – Review
- The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander – Review
- Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates – Review
- Brown is The New White – Steve Phillips – Review
- Nixon at the Movies: A Book about Belief – M. Feeney – 2004 READ
- Unmaking of the Presidency – S. Hennessey, B.Wittes READ
- From Russia with Blood – Heidi Blake (2019) READ
- Hit List: Mysterious Deaths Witnesses JFK Assassination (2013) READ
- JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died – J.W. Douglass – READ
- Mary’s Mosaic: CIA Conspiracy to Murder JFK, Mary Meyer– P. Janney READ
- The Secret Team: CIA and Allies – L. Fletcher Prouty (1972) – READ
Economics/Politics:
- The Room Where It Happened – John Bolton – Review
- Too Much and Never Enough – Mary Trump – Review
- White Too Long – Robert P. Jones – Review
- Donald Trump v. The United States – M. Schmidt – Review
- Compromised – Peter Strozk – Review
- The China Model – Daniel Bell – Review
- Front Row at the Trump Show – J. Karl – Review
- A Warning – Anonymous 2019 – Review
Science
- The Best Australian Science Writing 2017 – M. Sleazak, E. Johnston
- Cosmic Chronicles: A user’s guide to the universe – Fred Watson
- Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore – Elizabeth Rush
- The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder – Sean McFate
- The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future – David Wallace-Wells
- Good Reasons for Bad Feelings – Randolph Nesse
- Wild sea: a history of the southern ocean – J. McCann READ
#Non-fiction 2019
Non-fiction 2019
Memoirs/personal essays
- A Woman’s Experiences in the Great War – L. Mack
- Thick – Tessie Cottom
- Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger – F. Wright
- Can You Tolerate This? – A. Young –> #HiddenGem most recommended
- A Time of Gifts – Patrick Leigh Fermor
- The First Casualty – Peter Greste
- We Can Make a Life – C. Henry
- Le Lambeau – P. Lançon
- Aunts Up the Cross – R. Dalton
- Memoir: J McGahern
- Everywhere I Look – H. Garner
- The Thinking Woman – J. van Loon
- Boys Will Be Boys – Clementine Ford
- Nine Lives: Postwar Women Writers – S. Sheriden
- True Stories – Helen Garner
Biography:
- In Extremis: War Correspondent Marie Colvin – L. Hilsum
- Sisters In Law (S. Day ‘O Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg) – L. Hirshman
- Pulitzer – J. McGrath Morris
- The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke – J.C. Stewart
- No Friend but the Mountains – B. Boochani
- Teacher – G. Stroud
- Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom – D. Blight
- Fouché – E. de Waresquiel
- Je suis fou de toi – D. Bona (Jeanne Voilier and lover poet Paul Valéry)
- Beyond Words: A Year with Kenneth Cook – J. Kent
- James Tiptree, jr. The Double Life Alice Sheldon – J. Phillips
- Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing – Ashleigh Wilson
Theatre
- Twenty-First Century American Playwrights – C. Bigsby
- 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write – S. Ruhl
- August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle: 13 critical essays – editor S. Shannon
Health
- All-Day Fat Burning Diet – Y. Elkaim (…I lost weight!)
History
- Deep Time Dreaming – B. Griffiths
- Age of Eisenhower – W. Hitchcock
- The Mueller Report – R. Mueller
- The Art of Time Travel – T. Griffiths
- Stamped From the Beginning – I.X. Kendi
- The History of the Church – Eusebius
- The Twelve Caesars – Suetonius
- The Billion Dollar Spy – D. Hoffman
- America’s War for the Greater Middle East – A. Bacevich
- These Truths – Jill Lepore
- Ghosts of the Tsunami – R. L. Parry
- Sea People – C. Thompson NSW General History Award 2019
- Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin – Dr. Fiona Hill
- Blowout – Rachel Maddow
Social History
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit – M. Desmond
- The Rich Brew: How Cafés Created Modern Jewish Culture – S. Pinsker
- The Coddling of the American Mind – G. Lukianoff, J. Haidt –> #MustRead #Eye-opener!!
Literature
- Writers on Writers: Patrick White – Christos Tsiolkas
- Poemcrazy – S. Wooldridge
- On Poetry – Glyn Maxwell
- The British Short Story – A. Maunder
- The Cambridge Introduction to The American Short Story – M. Scofield
- Moby-Dick as Philosophy – M. Anderson
- Alice in Space: The Sideways Victorian World of Lewis Carroll – G. Beer
- Literary Brian Friel Companion – M. Snodgrass
- Essay: From Monaghan to the Grand Canal ( Dublin) – S. Heaney
- The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe – S. Peeples
Indigenous (Aboriginal, Indonesian)
- The Tall Man – Chloe Hooper
- Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia – editor Anita Heiss
- Indonesia etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation – E. Pisani
- Not Just Black and White – Lesley and Tammy Williams
True Crime
- The Arsonist – C. Hooper
- Trace: who killed Maria James?
- The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island – C. Hooper
Science
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- The Best Australian Science Writing 2018 – editor J. Pickre
- Dr Space Junk vs Universe: Archaeology the Future – A. Gorman #AUSReadingMonth
Art:
#Non-fiction 2018
Non-fiction 2018
- Seamus Heaney – H. Vendler – READ (7 essays) – READ (biography)
- The Path to Power – R. Caro (LBJ) – READ
- Means of Ascent – R. Caro (LBJ) – READ
- The Hidden Life of Trees – P. Wohlleben – READ
- Wild Kingdom – S. Moss – READ
- Psychanalyse de Victor Hugo – C. Baudouin – READ
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Art Chrétien / Art Sacré – Isabelle Saint-Martin – READ L’ Art France 19th-20th C
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(difficult read…too many quotes art historians….not much analysis!)
- Victor Hugo, vol 1 Avant l’exile – J. Hovasse – READ (1159 pg) (biography)
- River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze – P. Hessler – READ
- Border – K. Kassabova – READ
- Mapping Irish Theatre – C. Morash/S. Richards – READ
- Tracker -A. Wright – READ
- Simon Leys: Navigator Between Worlds – P. Paquet – READ (biography)
- Quicksilver – N. Rothwell – READ (6 essays)
- Best Words, Best Order: Essays on Poetry (16 essays) – READ
- A Writing Life Helen Garner and Her Work – B. Brennan – READ (biography)
- Blood in the Water – H. Thompson – READ
- Feeling the Heat – J. Chandler – READ
- Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays in Hunger – F. Wright – READING
- The Trauma Cleaner – S. Krasnostein – READ (biography)
- Locking Up Our Own – J. Forman jr. – READ
- Joan: The Remarkable Life of Joan Leigh Fermor – S. Fenwick – READ (biography)
- The Butchering Art – L. Fitzharris – READ
- Wounds – F. Keane – READ
- Kitchen Sink Realisms – D. Chansky – READ
- Her Father’s Daughter – A. Pung – READ
- Saga Land – R. Fidler and K. Gislason – READ
- Brit(ish) – A. Hirsch – READ
- Essays: The Australian Face (editor C. Menzies-Pike) – READ (17 essays)
- How To Get There – M. Mackellar – READ (memoir)
- Deep South – P. Theroux – READ
- A Very Expensive Poison – L. Harding – READ
- Why Horror Seduces – M. Clasen – READ
- Islander: Journey Around Our Archipelago – P. Barkham (NF) – READ
- From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories – M. McKenna (NF) – READ
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – W. Shirer – READ
- Berthe Morisot – D. Bona ( biography) – READ (french edition) – (biography)
- Chateaubriand – Jean-Claude Berchet – READ (french edition) – (biography)
- Letters From a Stoic – Seneca – READ
- The Revolutionary Road – L. Pryce – READ (Iran)
- Darkness Visible – W. Styron – READ (memoir/essay)
- Our Man in Charleston – C. Dickey – READ
- A Spy Named Orphan – R. Philipps – READ (biography)
- Hawthorne – Henry James – READ (essay/biography) 176 pages
- The Pillow Book – Sei Shonagon – READ
- A Vindication of the Rights of Women – M. Wollstonecraft – READ
- A Kim Jong-IL Production – Fischer, P. – READ
- The Enigmatic Mr. Deakin – J. Brett – READ #AWW2018 (biography)
- Atomic Thunder – E. Tynan – READ #AWW2018
- The Life of Johnson – T. Boswell – READ #Classic – (biography)
- Maupassant – F. Martinez – READ (biography)
- Just Enough Liebling – J. Liebling – READ
- James Wright: A Life in Poetry – J. Blunk – READ (biography)
- An Ordinary Day – Leigh Sales – READ #AWW2018
- Looking for Lorraine – I. Perry – READ (biography)
- Nobel Streven – F. van Oostrom – READ WINNER! #LibrisPrijs2018 Dutch history
- De Sigarenfabriek van Isay Rottenberg – H/S Rottenberg – READ Dutch History
- Thorbecke Wil Het – R. Aerts – READ – winner Prinsjesboekenprijs (best political book)
- Adieu Montaigne – J. Delacomptée – READ ( 50%…gave up, read why!)
- Pulitzer – J. McGrath Morris (biography) – READ #NonFicNov
- Christ Stopped at Eboli – C. Levi – READ #NonFicNov
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit – M. Desmond – READ #NonFicNov
- The Best Australian Science Writing 2018 – editor J. Pickrell – READ #NonFicNov
- Moby-Dick as Philosophy – M. Anderson – READ
- The History of the Church – Eusebius – READ
- Alice in Space – G. Beer (literary criticism) – READ
- In Extremis: War Correspondent Marie Colvin – L. Hilsum – READ #TBRnovember2018
- Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia – Editor Anita Heiss – READ #AWW2018
- Indonesia etc. – E. Pisani – READ #WorldFromMyArmchair
- The Tall Man – Chloe Hooper – READ #AWW2018 2009 Queensland Premier’s Literary Prize
- Sisters In Law – L. Hirshman (S. Day O’Connor/Ruth Bader Ginsberg) – READ
- The Rich Brew – S. Pinsker – READ
Non-fiction: 2017
- Badinter, E. – Le pouvoir au féminin
- Milligan, L. – Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell
- Bautman, E. – The Possessed
- Mac Cormaic, R. – The Supreme Court
- Zapruder, M. – Why Poetry?
- Tóibin, C. – On Elizabeth Bishop
- Brodsky, J. – On Grief and Reason
- White, H. Essay: Without America: Australia in the New Asia
- Scott-Mobley, J. – Female Bodies on the American Stage
- Barry, B. – Georgiana Molloy: The Mind That Shines
- Canetti, E. – The Voices of Marrakesh
- Du Bois, W.E.B. – Of Our Spiritual Striving
- Mahood, K. – Position Doubtful
- Franklin, R. – Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
- Eltchanihoff, M. – Dans la tête de Marine Le Pen
- Fosse, J. – An Angle Walks Through the Stage
- Galbraith, J.K. – The Great Crash, 1929 – READ…interesting!
- Veil, S. – Un Vie
- Greenwald, G. – No Place to Hide – READ….”eye-opener”
- Trumpington, J. – Coming Up Trumps: A Memoir
- Hegarty, N. – The Story of Ireland
- White, E.B. – Collection of Essays
- Hochschild, A. – Strangers in their own Land – READ…very interesting!
- Brands, H.W. – The General and the President
- Tye, Larry – Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon
- Jablonka, I. – Laëtitia
- Sophocles’ ‘Oepidus The King: a Reader’s Guide – S. Sheehan
- Jones, L. – Foxes Unearthed – READ…interesting!
- Kaplan, G. – Bird Minds – READ…very good Australian non-fiction
- Peraino, K. – A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman and Birth of Modern China
- Brown, E. – The Bloody Mary Book
- Lee, L. – Village Christmas – READ….quaint
- Massimino, M. – Spaceman
- Levingston, S. – Kennedy and King
- Lamb, K. – Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather
- Massie, R. – Catherine the Great
- McCoole, S. – Easter Widows
- Ogien, R. – My Thousand and One Nights
- Prescott, T. – Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century
- Rebanks, J. – The Shepherd’s Life
- Katz, Yaakov – Weapon Wizards
- Robinson, M. – The Death of Adam – READ…..bah!
- Verdier, F. – Passagère du Silence
- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi – Dear Ijeawele
- Sayarer, J. Interstate – READ
- Lewis-Stempel, J. – The Running Hare
- Sinha, M. – The Slave’s Cause – READ….very academic
- Wood, L. – Walking the Nile
- Shestokas, D. – Constitutional Sound Bites – READ…informative
- Williamson, G. – The Best Australian Essays 2016
- White, R.C. – American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
- Briant, L. – Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism
- Lahr, J. – Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh: Tennessee Williams
- White, R.C. – American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
- Tuchman, B. – A Distant Mirror – READ…interesting
- Viner, K. – How Technology Disrupted The Truth – READ …interesting essay
- De Tocqueville, A. – Democracy in America – READ…classic!
- Plutarch – Plutarch’s Lives
- Paxton, R. – The Anatomy of Fascism
- Meade, M. – Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This
- Paine, T. – Common Sense
- Leovy, J. – Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America
- Plato – The Republic
- Yong, E. – I Contain Multitudes
- Madigan, K. – Medieval Christianity: A New History
- Sands, P. – East West Street
- Vinciguerra, T. – Cast of Characters
- McLennan, C. – Salt Water
- Butterss, P. – The Life and Work of C.J. Dennis
- Taylor, R. – Into the Heart of Tasmania
- Ormsby, E. – Silk Road
- Pao, E. – Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change
- Citron, D.K. – Hate Crimes in Cyberspace
- Gaiman, N. – Norse Mythology