Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

The non-fiction book discussion participants were very interested in reading this. The group was given two and a half months to do so, but only two actually finished it. So first, let’s get the negativity out of the way. Here are those comments: “WAY, WAY, WAY too long.” OK, that is true. “WAY, WAY, WAY … Continue reading →

The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn

According to author Jeff Guinn’s research for The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, the commonly used expression “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid” should actually be “Don’t drink the Flavor Aid.” It was this cheaper version of Kool-Aid that Jim Jones’ most devoted followers mixed with cyanide on that day at the Jonestown … Continue reading →

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

It’s always interesting in seeing a young person evolve from child to adult and Anne Frank is no different. Her world was very different from that of a normal 13 year old, but her process of maturation was not. She talked too much, often disliked her mother, thought everyone believed her older sister was perfect, … Continue reading →

The Feud by Alex Beam

A book built on two literary elites arguing about the translation of Russian writer Alexander Pushkin’s narrative poem “Eugene Onegin” may not sound like thrilling reading. While I won’t say it’s on par with Stuart Woods or Lee Child, Alex Beam’s The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship is … Continue reading →

Call Me Burroughs: A Life by Barry Miles

When I was an undergrad at Illinois State University many years ago, a writing workshop classmate of mine claimed that he and some friends had made a visit to Lawrence, Kansas in hopes of meeting William S. Burroughs, who was living there at the time. Not only had they met him, he said, but they’d … Continue reading →

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

Wes Moore got the idea for his nonfiction work The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates when he heard about another man named Wes Moore who had recently been involved in the violent robbery of a jewelry store. The author wondered how the two of them, who were roughly the same age and from … Continue reading →

American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin

The kidnapping of Patty Hearst, granddaughter of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, by the Symbionese Liberation Army was one of the strangest events of the 1970s. It moved beyond strange when Hearst, now using the name Tania, was seen carrying a machine gun and assisting with the SLA’s holdup of the Hibernia Bank in San … Continue reading →