New in April: Non-Fiction

 April is turning out to be a big month for books!  While there is a lot of good fiction on the publishers’ calendars, there are some very interesting non-fiction books a well.  Here are a few of them:

Dame Judi Dench, the wonderful British actress who has delighted audiences with her performances in movies including a turn as M in the James Bond series, turns her attention to her stage work. In Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, she offers insight into the Bard’s plays as well as anecdotes about her roles in them.  According to the publisher, this includes having a live snake in her wig and cavorting naked (albeit painted green) in the countryside.

 Doris Kearns Goodwin is known for her insightful, well-written books on history.  Her newest book, An Unfinished Love Story, is a very personal look at America in the 1960s, when her husband Richard worked for leaders such as Lyndon Johnson and Robert Kennedy.  The book came about as she and her husband began sorting through boxes of papers from that era during the last years of Richard’s life, bringing a mature assessment to both people and events.

Anne Lamott brings her insight to one of our basic emotions in Somehow: Thoughts on Love.  It’s not just romantic love under consideration here, but platonic love, family love, and spiritual love.  

Erik Larson is well known for his riveting non-fiction that has readers turning pages as if reading a thriller.  The author of Devil in the White City, Isaac’s Storm, and In the Garden of Beasts turns his attention to the American Civil War in his new book, The Demon of Unrest.  Larson examines the time between Lincoln’s election and Ft. Sumter which the publisher describes as “a political horror story.”

 

Author Salman Rushdie survived an assassination attempt in August 2022, when a knife-wielding assailant stabbed him several times. In Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, his publisher tells us that Rushdie “reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. Knife is a gripping, intimate, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.”

 

James Patterson is known for his many, many, many fiction books, but of late he has turned his attention to non-fiction, writing about true crime, combat veterans, police officers, nurses, and more. His latest non-fiction title is The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians and I have to say that several staff members are really looking forward to this one!

Nevermore: Roosevelts, Taft, China Dolls and Death, Snow, and Mistletoe

It may or may not have had something to do with the airing of the recent Ken Burns series on PBS, but this week’s Nevermore members brought in two books which featured members of the Roosevelt family. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit illuminates the turbulent times at the turn of the century when two close friends become heated rivals over the presidency of the United States.  Theodore Roosevelt was the young, charismatic, dynamic leader who took on special interests and looked to reform the nation.  He endorsed his friend William Howard Taft to succeed him as President, believing that Taft was a kindred spirit who would continue on the path Teddy had begun.  When Taft failed to live up to Roosevelt’s expectations, Teddy took it as not only a political but a personal affront.  One member described it as a book about “spectacular people who extended democracy in a new way.”  Goodwin has received much acclaim as an historian whose books have broad popular appeal in addition to solid scholarship.

The second book was a tie-in to the aforementioned series and has the same title: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns.  The book follows the show in covering the roots of this fascinating family, including background on Theodore, his fifth cousin Franklin Delano, and Eleanor, wife to Franklin and niece to Theodore.  Our reviewer praised the books many illustrations, saying that there is much information to be gleaned from the photos alone but that the text is quite well done. The story begins with Theodore, who began life as a sickly child, and ends with Eleanor’s death in 1962.  The relationships between the principals and their circles are fascinating and will give readers an entirely new perspective on the family.

China Dolls by Lisa See is a novel set in the late 1930s, when three girls vie for a job as a showgirl at the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco.  Although the girls are all of Asian descent, their backgrounds are very different.  Despite this, Grace, Ruby, and Helen become close friends. They rely on each other for their very survival.  Then Pearl Harbor happens, and Japanese are being rounded up for the internment camps.  Since few people know that Ruby isn’t Chinese but Japanese, her arrest means someone close to her has betrayed her. Lisa See is the author of the best-selling book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love.

Finally, there was Death, Snow, and Mistletoe by Valerie Malmont.  Tori Miracle moved to the little town of Lickin Creek, PA to be near her fiancé, who promptly took a job in Costa Rica.  Tori is waiting (mostly) patiently for his return while acting as temporary editor for the local paper, taking photos and writing about the Christmas pageant.  Then a child goes missing and a local resident is murdered, and Tori’s job becomes a lot more interesting—and maybe dangerous.  Our reader said this was a cut above many small town mysteries, with a good mix of humor and danger.