January books

[gnomi]

I'm going to try doing 50bookchallenge again this year; here's what I read in January:

#1: Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella: The third in the Shopaholic series; Becky and Luke get engaged, and then the chaos begins. A fun read.

#2: In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker: This is the first in her series of novels about The Company. Much of the action takes place in England in 1553, as Mendoza is taken as a child from Spain during the Inquisition and begins her work as a botanist for Dr. Zeus. Fun and intriguing.

#3: Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle: This book tells the tragic story of the Triangle Shirt Waist fire in context of the history and society of the times. Very, very powerful, and very informative.

#4: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House: Foolhardiness, Folly, and Fraud in the Presidential Elections, from Andrew Jackson to George W. Bush by David E. Johnson: A lively discussion of eighteen presidential races, beginning in 1828 (the first presidential campaign in which there was direct election by the people) through the 2000 election and its controversy. Fun and interesting for those who are interested in the history of our presidential elections.

Comments

[doeeyedbunny.livejournal.com]

Do kids books count for 50bookchallenge?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Anything you want to consider a book counts. The community as a whole is very flexible in terms of what it counts (for instance, some people count novel-length fanfics). Children's books are often used.

Recommendation

[donovanstitch.livejournal.com]

My present state of work-life (im)balance has limited my pleasure reading quite severely, but I just finished Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America," which is extremely worthwhile (and much less profane than much of Roth’s oeuvre).

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Interesting variety... I've been doing a fair amount of reading lately, but it's all SF/F or mystery.

Triangle

[matfein.livejournal.com]

Did I ever tell you that my great-grandmother worked for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company? This was before she married my great-grandfather. Apparently the union organizer trying to unionize the place thought she was cute and kept talking to her, trying to pick her up. The bosses saw that she was talking to the union organizer and fired her. One week before the fire. I still find that amazingly lucky.