New Nonfiction (with commentary): 8 February 2016
08 February 2016
A weekly series, published each Monday, sharing a selected list of new nonfiction titles to be published during the week. List originally published at The Reader's Advisor Online. Text in bold is commentary.
Also: Sorry for the lack of posting this month. Turns out when you have a cold that never goes away it might actually be pneumonia. Good to know. Now, onward!
Brooks, John – The Girl Behind the Door: A Father’s Quest To Understand His Daughter’s Suicide
Damour, Lisa – Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood [It seems to be fate that these top two titles are right next to each other.]
Dillon, Roxy – Bio-Young: Get Younger at a Cellular and Hormonal Level [You got anything easier? And more easily apparent? Like being younger at the completely superficial level? No more post-40-year-old-lady neck?]
Engel, Richard – And Then All Hell Broke Loose: A Reporter’s Two Decades in Arabia
Glenny, Misha – Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio [I don't know why I know the name Misha Glenny; I've never read any of his books. But they all look interesting. This one is about Rio's criminal underworld. Yikes.]
Giudice, Teresa – Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again [You've got to go check out that cover. Honestly. I can't find one single pair of basic sneakers that fits me without bugging some part of my foot--how does this woman or any woman wear those shoes? Giudice is of course the former star of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," who just served prison time for being convicted on federal fraud charges.]
Hardt, Marah J. – Sex in the Sea: Our Intimate Connection with Kinky Crustaceans, Sex-Changing Fish, Romantic Lobsters and Other Salty Erotica of the Deep [40,000 first printing. I'm always wary of science titles that try to make their books sound too, well, sexy, but I'll admit I'm intrigued by this one.]
Lahiri, Jhumpa – In Other Words [The novelist's account of moving to Rome and learning to live and work in Italian.]
Light, Alan – What Happened, Miss Simone? The Nina Simone Diaries
Mason, Paul – Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future [Sounds kind of intriguing.]
Ratliff, Ben – Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways To Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty
Ribacoff. Daniel – I, Spy: How to Be Your Own Private Investigator [60,000 first printing. For some reason I am addicted to books like this. I don't know why. What little I can investigate about people without trying very hard already pretty much horrifies me. Here's a tip: if you work anywhere in public service, never look anyone up in court databases. What you find won't make you happier.]
Scott, A. O. – Better Living Through Criticism: How To Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth [I love books on criticism, for the most part, although sometimes they are too intellectual too me. And I like the title of this one. I'll be looking into it.]
Stein, Jean – West of Eden: An American Place [An oral history of Los Angeles.]
So, what do you think? Anything look good there?