Constant Reader discussion

A new category for Constant Readers - NON-FICTION BOOKS. Please send your two nominations for one non-fiction book to be read May 2024 by Sunday, January 14.

I hope you don't mind, Gina, but I edited the title of the discussion thread to include "Nonfiction Books" for clarification.

Thanks Lynn!

For those who haven't been following the discussion under the Reading List Schedule thread, there is interest in including more nonfiction books in our schedule. As a result, we're going to try voting for a nonfiction selection to go in the May 2024 opening where we would otherwise have a classics selection (i.e. on the 1st of the month). Gina is going to manage the selection process for the May nonfiction book, using the same process we use for the Reading List and Classics Corner.

Thank you Gina, I have no good suggestions, but I am looking forward to the discussion.

WOW. What a response!
It seems like everyone loves nonfiction books. Please email me through the Goodreads system your choice for our empty slot in May 2024. This nomination is due by Saturday, January 20 at midnight. Also give your input on how you would like us to structure fiction, classic and nonfiction books - how many of each category per year. Thanks.

Sarah Lohman - Endangered Eating: America’s Vanishing Foods
Apples, a common New England crop, have been called the United States' "most endangered food." The iconic Texas Longhorn cattle is categorized at "critical" risk for extinction. Unique date palms, found nowhere else on the planet, grow in California’s Coachella Valley—but the family farms that caretake them are shutting down. Apples, cattle, dates—these are foods that carry significant cultural weight. But they’re disappearing.
In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman draws inspiration from the Ark of Taste, a list compiled by Slow Food International that catalogues important regional foods. Lohman travels the country learning about the distinct ingredients at risk of being lost. Readers follow Lohman to Hawaii, as she walks alongside farmers to learn the stories behind heirloom sugarcane. In the Navajo Nation, she assists in the traditional butchering of a Navajo Churro ram. Lohman heads to the Upper Midwest, to harvest wild rice; to the Pacific Northwest, to spend a day wild salmon reefnet fishing; to the Gulf Coast, to devour gumbo made thick and green with filé powder; and to the Lowcountry of South Carolina, to taste America’s oldest peanut—long thought to be extinct. Lohman learns from those who love these rare ingredients: shepherds, fishers, and farmers; scientists, historians, and activists. And she tries her hand at raising these crops and preparing these dishes. Each chapter includes two recipes, so readers can be a part of saving these ingredients by purchasing and preparing them.
Animated by stories yet grounded in historical research, Endangered Eating gives readers the tools to support community food organizations and producers that work to preserve local culinary traditions and rare, cherished foods—before it’s too late. 322 pages

Alfred Lansing - ENDURANCE.
It tells the story of Shackleton's 1914 polar expedition, where his crew got entrapped in ice and lost their ship, requiring an 850 mile, oversea journey for rescue. It is 282 pages long

Daniel James Brown - THE BOYS IN THE BOAT.
The book tells about the University of Washington crew team which competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, transforming the sport. 404 pages

Oliver Sacks - THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT AND OTHER CLINICAL TALES
In his most extraordinary book, Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. These are case studies of people who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people or common objects; whose limbs have become alien; who are afflicted and yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr Sacks’ splendid and sympathetic telling, each tale is a unique and deeply human study of life struggling against incredible adversity. 243 pages

Ned Blackhawk - THE REDISCOVERY OF AMERICA: NATIVE PEOPLES AND THE UNMAKING OF U.S HISTORY
“A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.” 616 pages

David Grann - The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
This is one of the best-reviewed and best-selling non-fiction books of 2023.
From Amazon: “#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, Smithsonian, NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews. 329 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Wager-Tale-Shi...

Helen Garner - THIS HOUSE OF GRIEF
A heartbreaking book by one of Australia’s most admired writers. On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father’s Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven and two, drowned. Was this an act of revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner’s obsession. She followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict.
In this utterly compelling book, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. She presents the theatre of the courtroom with its actors and audience, all gathered for the purpose of bearing witness to the truth, players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice. 300 pages

Matthew Desmond - Poverty, by America
The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?
In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.
Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom. 287 pages

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wu-Dunn (Pulitzer Prize winners) - Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope
I read this book with my in-person book club, and I am still thinking about it. I don’t agree with all the writers’ ideas, but their empathetic pictures of people struggling with their poverty and addictions helped me see them in a very different light.
From Publishers Weekly: “Husband and wife journalists Kristof and WuDunn (A Path Appears) turn a compassionate lens on the failed state of working-class American communities in this stark, fluidly written portrait. In profiling residents of Baltimore, Md., and Pine Bluff, Ark., as well as Kristof’s classmates from rural Yamhill, Ore., the authors seek to counteract the “cruel narrative that working-class struggle is about bad choices, laziness, and vices.” They urge readers to reflect not only on “individual irresponsibility” but on the “collective irresponsibility” of American society, especially in comparison to other first-world countries where the social safety net is stronger.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-...
The reasons for the decline of the working poor of previous generations are complex. Should we care? Is it a case of “the poor will always be with us”? Do we have an obligation to help the less fortunate? Is it even possible to make meaningful changes given a political system which has almost ground to a complete halt? Are individual efforts to help people in this group the best answer. 320 pages

Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross - YOUR BRAIN ON ART: HOW THE ARTS TRANSFORM US
“A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts — and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities.” 204 pages

Have I missed something? How many can we vote for?

Sorry, Ruth. Right now just one for May.

Gina wrote: "WOW. What a response!
It seems like everyone loves nonfiction books. Please email me through the Goodreads system your choice for our empty slot in May 2024. This nomination is due by Saturday, Jan..."

So this is the nomination list, and you want votes by Saturday (not nominations) right?

CR loves non fiction and what a diverse selection. It’s hard to choose.
Thank you all who nominated a book.

Yes, sorry I was not clear. I thought I said one book for May and to vote.

I hope we do more than one nonfiction book next year, and that several of the non-winners this time will be submitted again.

I would support doing half Classics and half nonfiction next year, if that has any support. (Or another split, 60/40?)

NONFICTION BOOK WINNER FOR 2024!

The winning book for our May 2024 nonfiction book is The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. This book won 6 votes followed by Poverty, by America with 2 votes.

We had four comments:

I am in favor of 2 nonfiction books for the 6 month voting cycle.

I think it would be nice to add two nonfictions to our yearly group reads.

One or two non- fiction books per year would be nice, but I can see that taste in nf varies widely so I probably would only join some discussions, sorry, I enjoy many types of nf but not true crime. It’s a fine genre just not for me.

"I'm not going to vote on the nonfiction nominations because I don't think I'll read any of them, but I wanted to give my input on how we proceed with nonfiction in the future.
While I appreciate that there are nonfiction lovers in the group, I read very little of it myself. I like the idea of keeping a schedule of 4books in the Classics Corner and adding 2 nonfiction books (in the months without a Classic) in the future, though. One thing I wouldn't be in favor of is switching the Reading List to become an equal representation of fiction and nonfiction (if someone were to propose that). I also don't think it's viable to add another full schedule of monthly books that are just nonfiction.... but if there's a lot of input suggesting that there are enough nonfiction fans to support it, then I hope that one of them will offer to run the process."

For what it is worth (since I did not comment via message), I agree with all four of these commenters that adding 1-2 nonfiction books in the months where classics are not scheduled would be ideal, but that adding any more than that would be going overboard.

I have to say that it feels odd to me to have our group of self-described Constant Readers advocating any kind of limit or rationing of a genre of books. Of course, we all have the right to free speech, and we have the right to like certain kinds of books and not others. If, for example, a fantasy novel happened to get approved by our group vote to be the selection, I would gladly skip that month's discussion. But at least we had the option to make that choice.

Thinking this over, it occurs to me that there has never been a restriction on reading nonfiction books in the Reading List or Classics Corner conferences. If they got nominated and got the votes, they were on the list. Those two things haven't happened often. My understanding of the current proposal is that we would experiment with having a dedicated spot for nonfiction books. However, if more nonfiction got the votes elsewhere, I wouldn't want to lose the possibility of its inclusion.

That’s how I’ve been thinking of it as well—basically, two dedicated slots where only nonfic titles are eligible, and then the rest of the slots where nonfic could be nominated to compete with fiction (and, typically, lose).

Mary Anne wrote: "I have to say that it feels odd to me to have our group of self-described Constant Readers advocating any kind of limit or rationing of a genre of books. Of course, we all have the right to free sp..."

Short story anthologies have a separate list — how did that come to be?

Joan, the Short Story conference originally came to be because we wanted to read individual stories and discuss them. In the beginning, we just chose the stories and then everyone was on their own finding sources. That was a lot of work and participation dropped off. So, we decided to vote on and choose an anthology. I think the first one might have been Updike's Best Short Stories of the Century. With time though, we realized that participation was limited to those who owned the anthology which didn't encourage new participants. So, we started alternating anthology stories with ones available on the internet.

Short story collections have been part of the Reading List schedule in the past. I nominated a Raymond Carver collection a long time ago and it made the cut. That was a pretty good discussion.

Thank you

For some reason this discussion popped up in my thread tonight. I had forgotten completely about it and missed the whole thing. At least I now know about the plan and I’ll try to join in if I can.

As I (belatedly) posted the note to kick off nominations for the next Reading List tonight, I realized that we never resolved the question about whether to have a separate full schedule of nonfiction titles in the July-December period, or do a smaller number of nonfiction selections interspersed with the four Classics selections, or just encourage nonfiction nominations in the Reading List. If we're going to do a separate list, we need to make that decision soon in order to get the nomination process going.

Note: Gina was kind enough to manage the limited nomination process that we ran last January, but I haven't confirmed with her if she's willing to continue in that role.