nomadreader

The book I'm most excited about in 2018 is the new novel by Hannah Pittard, Visible Empire . I've loved two of her earlier novels, Reunion  ( my review ) and Listen to Me. Like me, Pittard grew up in Atlanta and now lives in the Midwest. I'd be excited about any new novel by Hannah Pittard, but the premise of this one took my breath away:  "an epic novel—based on true events—of wealth, race, grief, and love, charting one sweltering summer in Atlanta that left no one unchanged. It’s a humid summer day when the phones begin to ring: disaster has struck. Air France Flight 007, which had been chartered to ferry home more than one hundred of Atlanta’s cultural leaders following a luxurious arts-oriented tour of Europe, crashed shortly after takeoff in Paris. In one fell swoop, most of the city’s wealthiest residents perished." How, I marveled, did I manage to grow up in Atlanta and not know about a plane crash that killed 132 people? As I began my quest to know more ab...

narrated by Reza Aslan The basics: Zealot  is a biography of Jesus, the historical figure, and the times in which he lived. My thoughts: I grew up in an intellectual United Methodist family. The churches in which I grew up were not ones to take the Bible literally, and they encouraged critical thinking and deep reflection about all things, including faith. I've long been curious about where exactly the lines between Jesus as a verifiable, historical person end and the lines of Jesus as the son of God begin. Zealot  attempts to answer those questions of where fact ends and where faith begins, but it also explores the why and how of where faith begins by illuminating historical detail about the time in which Jesus of Nazareth lived, as well as the conditions in which Christianity developed after his death. In the introduction, Aslan describes his journey from Muslim to fundamentalist Christian to losing his faith when he realized the Bible could not be taken literally be...

The basics: Sally Heathcote, Suffragette  tells the story of the British suffrage movement through the story of (fictional) Sally Heathcoate, who begins this graphic novel as a maid for the (real) Pankhursts. My thoughts: I have long had a fascination with the U.S. and British women's suffrage movements, and I was excited to see the British suffrage movement depicted in a graphic novel. Perhaps because I was so familiar with the key public moments depicted in this graphic novel, I was quite drawn to its art. There's a beautiful intentionality to Charlesworth's use of color. As depicted on the cover, Sally's red hair is often one of the few bursts of color in early panes. Yet as the story develops, and the different groups fighting for suffrage argue, their different colors shine brightly in the often otherwise black and white panels. The ruse of inserting a fictional character into an otherwise factual tale is typically a device I adore. In this case, Sally's ...

The basics:  Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born  is a historical and anthropological look at childbirth. My thoughts:  Since I got pregnant (the nomadbaby is due August 9th), I've become more interested in books about pregnancy and birthing. As with many things in life, part of me is drawn to the natural way of doing things, while part of me is drawn to modern convenience. For example, I eat as much local and organic produce, meat, eggs and cheese as possible. But I have no desire to actually have my own garden, grow my own food, or kill the animals I eat. So I rely on local farmers and belong to a two CSAs, one for meat.With pregnancy and birth, these choices between natural and modern seem to have impossibly high stakes. For the first time in my life, my biology dictates many of my choices. As the one carrying this baby, I have responsibilities Mr. Nomadreader doesn't. How far those extend after birth is something I think about often, particularly as we...

The basics: As the title indicates, this biography of Sylvia Plath takes a narrow scope: the summer of 1953, when she was a college intern for Mademoiselle magazine and lived in New York City with other interns from around the country. My thoughts: 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Sylvia Plath's death. Despite her fame and talent, I'm ashamed to say I know more about her infamy and death than her life. Still, there's something that has always fascinated me about Plath, so I welcomed this opportunity to dive deeper into her back story. From the earliest pages of Pain, Parties, Work , however, I realized I was as fascinated by Sylvia's time in the summer of 1953 as I was her colleagues. While Plath drew me to this book, the other women kept me turning the pages. Winder's research for this book is remarkable. The book is laid out much like a magazine. There are frequent text boxes featuring details and quotations. Thankfully, these boxes enhance the narrative rat...

The backstory: My obsession with love of Downton Abbey has inspired me to learn more about the period and customs of British country homes at that time. The basics: Upstairs & Downstairs: An Illustrated Guide to the Real World of Downton Abbey  is part nonfiction, part coffee table book about typical life in an Edwardian country home. My thoughts: Most of what I know about this time, I've learned from Downton Abbey . I was curious to learn more about the time, in part to better assess how true Downton  is to history. Upstairs & Downstairs  was an informative, engaging look into life at the time. Divided into sections based on a typical day. This structure allowed author Sarah Warwick to examine the roles of those upstairs and downstairs simultaneously. There was much that was familiar from Downton , but I also learned many things that added more nuance to my understanding of the servant's roles on the show. What I enjoyed most about this book, however, w...