Non-Fiction Five Challenge - wrap-up post

I have to admit, sheepishly, that I didn't compelte this challenge. I'm kicking myself for not completing it because I really wish I had. Here's my problem. I like non-fiction books, there are some topics that totally interest me and I want to read more about them but whenever I go to pick up a non-fiction book I just don't want to! They rarely draw me in like others do. Yet, once I settle down with one I end up liking it (for the most part). So...try as I might, I just couldn't do it, again, this year.

My original list:

War Letters by Andrew Carroll

Love, Mom by Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose

The Stranger Beside me by Anne Rule

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Kaffir Boy in America by Mark Mathabane

Here's what I did read:

Love, Mom by Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose

The Rise and Fall of the Dilinger Gang by Jeffery S. King

In the Land of Cotton by Martha A. Taylor

At least I read 3 books right? That's better than 50%. haha!

In the Land of Cotton by Martha A. Taylor

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 256
Challenges: Non-Fiction 5
New-to-me author? Yes
Author's website (sorry- couldn't find it)

Simple Description
This is the story about the author, Martha Taylor, growing up in the South during the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war. The story starts out in 1956 and continues through the 60's. What makes her story different from a lot of other folks is that she loved a black man/boy. They met when she was 11. His Aunt was the domestic help employed in Martha's home. Martha soon came to love Lucy Boyd, the aunt, and was upset when she was no longer employed. Once day Martha saw Lucy walking home and the next chance she got she followed her. She found that Lucy lived with her extended family in a set of groves in the forest. They didn't have indoor plumbing or electricity, but they had family and that was all they needed. It was here that Martha met Silas. It was here that they formed a deep friendship that soon turned to love.

Martha used to spend her weekends at the Grove, without her family knowing. Then one day she is told that her parents are moving them to Texas. Martha is deeply upset by this because she doesn't want to leave the Boyd Family. Lucky Lucy comes up with a plan where they can talk on the phone once a week. Martha is also able to visit the family while her parents are visiting friends and relatives around the holidays.

Soon Silas decides to join the military. Unfortunately this is around the time that the US is getting involved with Vietnam. He doesn't really believe there will be a war and thinks he will be safe, but as we know that's not the case. Soon he is out of training and fighting in Vietnam. Martha and Silas still keep in touch as much as possible.

While all this is going on, of course we have the Civil Rights movement happening. The different things happening with the Civil Rights are intertwined with this love story.

Now what you really want to know…my thoughts:
I will say that I had some issues with the book but at the same time I ended up really liking it and think it's worth the read. I will admit to crying towards the end, and as many of you know, my thoughts are that if a book can make you cry, it's well worth the read.

Some of my issues are with the grammar and the writing. I found several errors in the book that I feel should have been caught and fixed. Did this ruin the book for me though? No, just found it annoying. I also thought the dialogue between people was weird, but then when I had my DUH moment and remembered this was non-fiction, it didn't bother me as much. And by weird, I found it was kinda formal and not at all what I imagine they actually talked like. I suppose I could be wrong though..it was a different time.

Ok..so that's done. Now…I still recommend the book and this is why. You get captivated with the story! You want to know what is going to happen between Martha and Silas. Will the race issues become too much? Will her family find out and put a stop to it? Will something happen to the Boyds? How will it end? Yeah, the book took me longer than expected to finish but that wasn't due to the book..more just being busy in real life. If I could have sat down and read more I would have. I loved how the author included the entire letters shared between her and Silas. I loved how she included the actual speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King and others. I loved reading this forbidden love story woven between things that were happening in the US. I think this book really just put things in perspective for me. It's one thing to read a love story, it's another thing to read about the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war, it's yet another to read about all of them and how they effected the people. For me, I didn't grow up during this time, I wasn't even alive. So it was a refreshing look at how things were. While reading it I thought about the War Through the Generations challenge I'm working on and can't wait to get to the Vietnam war, whenever that will be. This is a war I don't read much about it, I focus on WWII, but I also don't read many reviews. So whenever this war makes it to that challenge..I think this book would qualify and be a good one to choose.

I do wish that the author had included pictures of the different people..I think that would have been super cool – but I can't really complain about it (I guess.).

So do I think some of my readers will like this book? Yeah, I do. I think some will like it right away, I think some will be bothered by the grammer issues and not get far, I think others will think it is just so-so. I do think that if the story is even a little interesting to you, that it's worth finding a copy and trying it out to see how you like it.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Sorry, no linked reviews yet.

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang by Jeffery S. King

Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Turner Publishing Group

Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 238
Challenges: None-Fiction 5
New-to-me author? yes

Simple Description
I apologize in advance for my description that follows. Due to the nature of the book I found it a bit hard to do the simple description. This is a non-fiction book regarding the Dillinger Gang. The thing that peeked my interest regarding this specific book is that it gives information on all of the members of both Dillinger gangs and not just on Dillinger himself. The introduction gives us some background on the DOI (later the FBI) and how it got started as well as what was going on with crime in the 20's and 30's. Then we move on and get a background on each of the major members of the two gangs. The next step is moving in to the two gangs. The banks they robbed and how they did it, their escapes, what they did in-between the bank robberies, etc. The book finally wraps up with what the outcome was for each member – either how they were captured or killed. The book also gives some info on the women of the gang (wives and/or girlfriends) and other people who helped them. Oh..and the author also gives info on what the police/DOI were doing to try and catch the criminals.

Now what you really want to know…my thoughts:
Ok, so most of you know that I rarely read a non-fiction book, even though I always want to read more. So I'm going to say that I had a hard time getting through this one, but know that I have no idea of it's the book, me, or just a combination of the two. Did I find it interesting? Yes – I really did. However, I had a hard time reading it. There were a ton of names and dates and I kept getting confused. Now though..I did say that I found it interesting. I'm very glad I read it. It was just amazing to me that the gangsters would sometimes rob more than 1 bank in a day. It amazed me that it's the depression and they were able to steal as much money as they did! Let's also not forget that they were walking around in broad day light, going to movies, eating out, etc. They would even go into police stations and inquire about people and not be recognized! On that same note, they also robbed several police stations. I don't know how that could happen now a days, but it's pretty funny that they did it so often and got away with it. I also found it interesting that they kept crashing cars too. They would drive them into ditches, hit trees, hit other cars, etc. I just found that interesting, made it sound like they really didn't know how to drive very well.

Keeping in mind that it was the early 30's, I found it interesting that many of the women were single and living with these men. I guess it's just how we are brought up, always told that stuff like that didn't happen back then and so on. So whether this was more common than I thought it was or whether I need to think about the type of people these are (gangsters) I don't know, but it's interesting.

I think what I found so interesting was seeing how much they got away with before they were caught. Yeah..they were eventually caught but man it took years. And it's not like they were in hiding that whole time, nope, they were still robbing banks!

I had some of my family over on Sunday for a pool party (but it rained instead..boohoo) and while I was cleaning up the kitchen after we had dinner I told my Grandpa I was reading a book on the Dillinger gang and asked if he remembered them. (I live in St. Louis and my Grandparents have always lived here too). My Grandpa remembered! He was around 10/11 at the time and he remembers hearing about them. He was also able to tell me names of several of the gangsters that I read about. How cool is that! Then I started talking to him about all the stuff that I was just amazed about and I'm so glad I did. Because I grew up in a more recent time (most of you would still consider me a youngster even though I feel old) I'm used to having a police force that has the technology and smarts to catch people. I'm also used the media showing pictures of criminals and hearing about it on the news and cnn, etc. So as I'm talking to my Grandpa about some of the stuff that I was amazed about, he reminded me about how things were different then. He said that once he got outside of the STL city limits, most people didn't have power. They didn't have as good of phone systems and the communication technology that we have. He also said that he didn't think the police were that smart and then saved himself by saying that they didn't have the scientific discoveries and technology that they have now. Haha! I thought that was pretty funny. We also talked about how I found it funny they were driving around with machine guns while most criminals these days have hand guns etc. So basically, talking to my Grandpa about it actually made me enjoy the book even more. It was fun to talk about the differences between then and now and also about the gangsters and what they were doing.

So overall – do I recommend the book? Yes. But I give you warning that it might be slow to get through and hard to get through. But even saying that, I think it's well worth the read. For me it was interesting to read about gangsters who are currently gaining some popularity due to the move Public Enemies (which by the way it was interested to read where the title came from).

Oh – and there are some pictures. I loved looking at the pictures!




Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.
Sorry, no linked reviews yet.



Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Love, Mom by Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose

Copyright: 2009
Publisher:Hyperion
Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 247
Challenges: The Pub Challenge, Non-Fiction 5

New-to-me author? Yes
Author's website

Simple Description

One day the two authors were sharing funny emails their Mom's sent them and decided it would be a great idea for a website. So, they start this website and ask people to send emails and IM's from their Moms that could be shared. Before you know it..they have a book offer. If only things like this would happen to me in real life right?

So Love, Mom is a collection of IM's and parts of emails from Mom's to their kids. The book is split into chapters based on different subjects such as blobs and facebook, relationships, appearance, school & work & growing up, etc. You get the idea. I'm going to hazard a guess and say these were also on their website but not sure. Either way…loved the book and now have the website subscribed in my google reader.

Some of the stuff was so funny I giggled while reading it. (Which…I have to tell you what is even funnier – I was reading it in bed and I giggled, so my husband giggled, which made me giggle because it was funny, which in turn made him giggle again. Haha!) Ok..so some stuff was very funny, others made me smile, others I didn't really get and didn't see why it was funny. It's not that I didn't like them – still enjoyed it, but just didn't really get the humor of it I suppose

Now this is the type of book I think is hard to review, so I marked a couple to share with you.

"Joe, I'd like to add you to my professional network on LInkedin – this is Facebook for grown-ups. –Mom"

Haha! I loved that one! I might be a grown-up but I do love facebook, and yes, I'm also on LinkedIn too.

Ok..here's another one:

Mom:I just nailed the entire rock and roll section (british) on jeopardy

Me: wow, nice!!

Mom: yeah!! (me with the big L on my forehead)

I am playing with myself

Ha

Me: please don't ever write "I am playing with myself" to me

Mom: that's why I did it

Haha! I loved that one too. Ok, so that gives you an idea of what you can find in this book.

Why did I read this book?

I read a blurb of the book and it sounded like a fun read.

What I liked most:

I liked that it was a fast read and a fun read. It's the perfect type of book to use as a filler. Just read a very gory thriller and now need something light? Perfrect! Busy with kids and work and school and all sorts of other things and need to take a break? Perfect!

Was there something I didn't like?

I didn't really think some of them were that funny, but can't I really put that in this section. Suppose I can since I'm the blog author. Sure it's something I didn't like, but I can't really blame the book. If it's in the book..that means sever somebody's thought it was funny and worthy.

Do I recommend the book?

I do. I think this was a fun quick read that can lighten the mood. I personally am not a Mom yet, but could totally see myself in some of those emails/chats. Haha! I just just see doing stuff like that to my kids when they are grown.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Sorry, no linked reviews yet.

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Non-Fiction Five Challenge

The Non-fiction five challenge is being hosted by Trish's Reading Nook this year.  Click here to go to the specific post regarding the challenge. 

I've participated in this the last two years (I think it's been two years, I know I did last year for sure).   I haven't done too well with this in the past, but I'm hoping to do very well this year and am excited to see it as a challenge again.

The rules as listed on Trish's blog:

The Rules (unchanged from previous years)

1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2009 (please link your reviews on Mister Linky each month; Mister Linky can be found each month on this blog)

2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices (i.e.: 4 memoirs and 1 self-help)

3. If interested, please sign up below with the link to your NFF Challenge post (all choices do not need to be posted and may change at any time)

I do have some books that I'll plan to read, but since that never goes well, I'm not going to list them. haha!  You'll just have to visit each month to see how I do.

Headless Body in Topless bar from the Staff of the New York Post

I was able to get my hands on a copy of this book and am glad I did. I thought it would be good for a few laughs. I admit that some of the titles I didn't really get, but others were really good.

This book is a collect of the best titles that the New York Post has had over the years. It's not a whole lot of reading, so it's not going to take up your time. But it is fun.

I was thinking of putting some of my favorites on here, but not sure it would be as funny because you don't get to see the pictures,etc.

Let's see if I can find one....

ok, in the section on Mafia. This title was for the story about John Gotti.

The hading was: Gotti's Greatest hits then in smaller print: He whacked 'em all, feds charge.

I think it's funny because well, greatest hits, your going to think of songs or something, but they really were hits. haha! Ok, not your type of humor? Really? Are you really going to tell me that title wasn't clever?

ok, another one dealing with Gotti was: Gotti #1 on Hit Parade

haha! I love it. I just love their play on words.

ok, that's probaby about it for this review. I could really keep going, but I enjoyed looking at the pictures too. So I think it makes more sense when you look at the pictures and read some of the smaller print.

nonfiction/191 pgs/new author

Non-Fiction Five Challenge 2009

Joy from Thoughts of Joy is hosting the Non-Fiction Five Challenge for 2008.

I have decided to take part in yet another challenge. This is a personal challenge for me each year, since I like non-fiction books but don't tend to read them as much. Now, my success in this challenge relies heavily on getting my books out of storage. haha! so my list might have to change, but I hope not.

A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins

Kaffier Boy in America by Mark Mathabane

Every Step a Lotus : Shoes for Bound feet by Dorothy Ko

The Monks of New Skete Divine Canine

The Stranger Beside me by Anne Rule

Never Enough by Joe McGinniss