An American Editor

July 15, 2015

On Today’s Bookshelf (XXII)

They say summer is the time for reading. I suppose that is based on the assumption that a person has more time to read while on vacation. Personally, I do not see any difference in my reading habits or the time I spend reading for pleasure (or work, for that matter). So, my acquisition of new titles to read never ends. Here is a list of some of the hardcovers and ebooks that I am reading or acquired and added to my to-be-read pile since the last On Today’s Bookshelf post:

Nonfiction –

  • The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 by Alistair Horne
  • Napoleon’s Poisoned Chalice: The Emperor and His Doctors on St Helena by Martin Howard
  • A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain by Marc Morris
  • The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England’s Self-Made King by Ian Mortimer
  • The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England: 1327-1330 by Ian Mortimer
  • The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare Mulley
  • Treacherous Women: Sex, Temptation and Betrayal by Gordon Kerr
  • Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson
  • The Queen’s Agent: Sir Francis Walsingham and the Rise of Espionage in Elizabethan England by John Cooper
  • The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism by Deborah Baker
  • The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781-1997 by Piers Brendon
  • Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford
  • The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg
  • Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott
  • Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James W. Loewen
  • Monster by Allan Hall
  • The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World by Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone
  • The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee’s Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History by Jonathan Horner
  • The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbridge
  • KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Nikolaus Wachsmann
  • Lincoln and the Jews by Jonathan D. Sarna & Benjamin Shapell
  • The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal by Hubert Wolf

Fiction –

  • The Darkest Hour by Tony Schumacher
  • Blood Song and Tower Lord by Ryan Anthony (2 books)
  • Critical Error by Murray McDonald
  • A Maiden’s Grave by Jeffrey Deaver
  • The Defenders of Shannara: The Darkling Child by Terry Brooks
  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
  • Uprooted by Naomi Novik
  • Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning

Nonfiction Books I’m Thinking About –

These books I am but a keyboard away from ordering. Some are from authors I have previously read, but others are just ones that keep drawing me back.

  • The Story of Science by Susan Wise Bauer
  • The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe by E.M. Rose
  • The Paradox of Liberation by Michael Walzer
  • Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography by Sara Lipton
  • The Last Slave Market: Dr, John Kirk and the Struggle to End the African Slave Trade by Alastair Hazell
  • Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

What are you reading this summer?

Rich Adin, An American Editor

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6 Comments »

  1. For summer reading, I am working my way through Jane Smiley’s ouevre, which covers an impressive range of genres. Most recently finished her five-book series of YA horse novels. Also am trying out new series authors, such as C. J. Box, and revisiting authors I haven’t read in years, such as Isaac Asimov. In nonfiction I’ve been reading a lot about B-17s and B-25s and related WWII material. In between I read an assortment of review titles; currently The Novel Habits of Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith, and for next month Landfalls by Naomi J. Williams. Monthly magazine reads are Sport Aviation and Northern Woodlands. Took a break from long form this morning to read a collection of articles about vintage trains.

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    Comment by Carolyn — July 15, 2015 @ 6:38 am | Reply

  2. From Treacherous Women: Sex, Temptation and Betrayal to Dreamfever… You certainly have eclectic and interesting reading tastes, Rich. Your library is a reader’s treasure trove.

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    Comment by Vicki Tyley — July 15, 2015 @ 4:22 pm | Reply

  3. I just finished 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster, and I’m planning to pick up the sequel, Edward Adrift. I’ve started reading Pride and Prejudice, which I’ve never read before, but think I ought to.

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    Comment by willowtreecopyediting — July 16, 2015 @ 1:17 am | Reply

    • Curious to know why you think you “ought to” read that or any book.

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      Comment by Carolyn — July 16, 2015 @ 5:47 am | Reply

  4. In this case, it’s because it’s considered (by some, at least) to be a classic. And I know a few people who’ve read it and loved it. Plus I really enjoyed just about all of the reading from my Brit Lit and American Lit college classes, and none of that was in the genres I normally read, so I want to continue expanding what I put into my head. So I guess it’s not really a case of “ought to,” and more a case of “want to” now.

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    Comment by willowtreecopyediting — July 16, 2015 @ 2:58 pm | Reply

  5. Thanks for this post, Richard. If you are interested in the history of science, I suggest you have a look at John Gribbin’s “Science: A History 1543 – 2001”

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    Comment by Pablo Lioi — July 21, 2015 @ 3:02 pm | Reply


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