What Non-fiction are we reading in June, 2018?

Started Chasing New Horizons by Alan Stern and David Grinspoon, about the first mission to Pluto. Engagingly written, with a light touch.

The diving bell and the butterfly was in my book box this month, so I started that right away.
Felt a bit odd reading it in the waiting room while my husband was having a minor op - was this tempting fate... (he was fine btw - me, who had to redress the wound this morning is less happy about the situation!)

I'm reading Who Killed Lynne Harper by Bill Trent with Steven Truscott

Just started Brutal: the Untold Story Of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob, by Kevin Weeks.

I'm reading A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout. It's been on the shelf for a while, and today, one of her kidnappers was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Started Women, race and Class by Angela Davis. I know I read it when it first came out (the eighties?) but can't remember a thing about it - hence the re-read.

I LOVED The best cook in the world: tales from my momma's table by Pulitzer-prize winning author, Rick Bragg.

Highly recommended if you like Southern writers or settings, family memoir, cooking, great stories, memorable characters, and humor!

I'm also a big fan of his earlier book, All over but the shoutin'

Just started All That Remains: a life in death by forensic anthropologist Sue Black. Some of the details are a bit gruesome but she's very interesting and thoughtful about death and what bodies can tell us about their life.

I'm reading American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of Robert J. Oppenheimer by Kai Bird.

I have The Living Forest going as kind of a companion to my last book, The Forest Unseen. The latter is definitely more advanced in terms of what it presents and teaches, the former is more visual, but some of the pictures frankly aren't that good. As a person who photographs the very same things, I have better images in my own work. Oh well. It's still fun.

About to start Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits by Frances Borzello. It starts with the few known drawings by nuns in illuminated manuscripts and goes through to almost present day. Worth the price for the illustrations alone.

Finished She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer about genetics. I won in a giveaway. I will send it to a granddaughter who works in neurology. The book is long but can be read and understood by the average person. I gave it a 5 star rating.

>13 mnleona: That's another one for my wishlist! I loved Parasite Rex but then read some other books by Zimmer that I did not like too much. But this one looks excellent again.

Currently reading The Ground Truth. 'Probably not the best treatment of 9/11 events, I suspect.

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened
Allie Brosh
3.5/5 stars
Brosh writes and illustrates this part book/part graphic autobiography about herself and the funny situations she gets herself into. I found myself chuckling through this book and relating to some of the stories. Short read.

I'm reading The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope by Austen Ivereigh.

Inside Charlie's Chocolate Factory: The Complete Story of Willy Wonka, the Golden Ticket, and Roald Dahl's Most Famous Creation
Lucy Mangan
4/5 stars
This is a celebration of the phenomenon of Roald Dahl’s most famous book Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. The writing of the book is covered, the author is discussed and you get to see a lot of the cover art of the different book versions by various artists. The two movies are also dissected. And of course there has to be a discussion made of all the candy produced under the Willy Wonka brand. Finally I was gob smacked to learn that was there was an actual opera production of it. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh7GvGoiTtY Very interesting!

I'm reading Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill with Lisa Pulitzer.

>19 LynnB: How is this book?

I'm more than 1/2 way through it and find it very interesting. There is a difference between "public Scientologists" who live pretty main-street lives (most celebrity members are this type) and a more cult-like Sea Org group which this author was involved in. I'm learning a lot, and it's also a good story.

I finished Nomadland which is an expose of the multitudes of people, most older, who have left homes they can't afford and taken to a nomadic life moving from one temporary job to the next. It is depressing in that so many are living such difficult lives and uplifting in that many are not only managing but thriving.

Having recently read House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout, I've started The Price of Life by Nigel Brennan, who was held with her.

I've just finished Can Your Conversations Change the World? by Erinne Paisley.

Adrian Cronauer
1938-2018
Airman Who Inspired the Movie - Good Morning, Vietnam
http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20180719_ap_0167086f9fed47948f6a8f9674c3...

This is a good example of how a bio pic probably is more false than true.

I'm trying to finish John McCain's book, The Restless Wave, before it becomes an obituary.

>25 JulieLill: I think you mean Good Morning, Vietnam

>27 lesmel: Thanks - I changed it.