Semicolon’s Twelve Best Adult Nonfiction Books Read in 2011

Dec14

This post is the first in my annual, end of the year series of “Twelve Best” posts. If you want to use this list or any other links on this blog to shop at Amazon for your Christmas gifts, I will appreciate the support. And I think you will appreciate and enjoy the following books that I read this year.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Semicolon review here.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. Semicolon review here.

Unplanned: The dramatic true story of a former Planned Parenthood leaderâ€™s eye-opening journey across the life line by Abby Johnson with Cindy Lambert. Semicolon review here.

For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz. Semicolon review here.

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild. Semicolon review here.

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin. Semicolon review here.

Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me: A Memoir . . . of Sorts by Ian Cron. Semicolon review here.

Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff. Semicolon review here.

Praying for Strangers by River Jordan. Semicolon thoughts here.

Little Princes by Conor Grennan. Semicolon review here.

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef. Semicolon review here.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxis. Semicolon thoughts on Bonhoeffer and the Cost of Discipleship here.

I read a lot of nonfiction this past year: history, biography, and memoir. If you are interested in any of the subjects covered by the above books, or if someone on your gift list is interested, I recommend all of these.

Semicolon’s Eight Best Nonfiction Books Read in 2010.

Christmas in England, 1861

Dec14

From Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper. Semicolon review here. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coberg and Gotha, died on December 14, 1861. Victoria wore black in mourning for him for the rest of her life, forty more years, and “Albert’s rooms in all his houses were kept as they had been, even with hot water brought in the morning, and linen and towels changed daily.”

It was the day of Prince Albert’s funeral and a good proportion of the British Isles had come to a complete halt. Shop owners had been hoping that general trade, always slow in December and almost at a standstill since the death of the Prince, might have improved because of the festive season, but it seemed that Christmas had been cancelled that year and no one was inclined to be merry. In London, and in Windsor especially—where the funeral service was to be held in St. George’s Chapel—there was an aspect of the most profound gloom, with shops closed, work suspended, each curtain in every house drown across and the streets deserted. Everyone seen outside, however low or high, wore some symbol of mourning, and in the great churches across the land the tolling bell sounded.

Christmas in Belgium, Bastogne, 1944

Dec8

From Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the men received General McAuliffe’s Christmas greetings. “What’s merry about all this, you ask?” was the opening line. “Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South, and West. We have identification from four German panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. . . . The Germans surround us, their radios blare our doom. Their Commmander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance.” (There followed the four paragraph message, “to the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne” from “the German Commander,” demanding an “honorable surrender to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation,” dated December 22.)

McAuliffe’s message continued: “The German Commander received the following reply: ’22 December 1944. To the German Commander: NUTS! The American Commander.’

“We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas. A.C. McAuliffe, Commanding.”

The men at the front were not as upbeat as General McAuliffe. They had cold white beans for their Christmas Eve dinner, while the division staff had a turkey dinner, served on a table with a tablecloth, a small Christmas tree, knives and forks and plates.

On the day after Christmas, Patton’s Third Army broke through the German lines relieving the siege of the American troops at Bastogne.

Giving Books: Mystery Series for Young Readers

Dec7

The Milo and Jazz Mysteries by Lewis B. Montgomery.
The Case of the Stinky Socks.
The Case of the Poisoned Pig.
The Case of the Haunted Haunted House.
The Case of the Amazing Zelda.
The Case of the July 4th Jinx.
The Case of the Missing Moose.
The Case of the Purple Pool.
I read the seventh and most recently published book in the series, The Case of the Purple Pool, because it was one of the books nominated for the Cybils in the Early Chapter Books category. Milo and Jazz are detectives-in-training, but even with the benefit of their lessons from Dash Marlowe, Super Sleuth, the two youngsters are stumped when someone turns the neighborhood swimming pool water purple. How? Why? And will it happen again? I figured out the solution to the mystery within pages, but young readers might just have to exercise their brains to solve this one. I think mystery fans ages 6-10 will enjoy this series.

The First Kids Mysteries by Martha Freeman.
The Case of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Dog.
The Case of the Diamond Dog Collar.
10-year old Cammie and 7-year old Tessa have a very important mom and a very lively dog. Hooligan, the dog, lives up to his name and creates havoc wherever he goes. And Mom, well, Mom is the President of the United States. So Cammie and Tessa and Hooligan live in the White House with their mom and dad and Hooligan and Granny and Aunt Jen and her son, Nate, and Granny’s canary who doesn’t have a name—yet. In the Case of the Diamond Dog Collar, Hooligan receives a gift from the president’s dog in a neighboring country, and one of the twelve fake diamonds on the collar goes missing. Cammie and Tessa must put on their detective hats and go to work to find out where the (fake) diamond could be. This series is a little more challenging for readers, so I’d suggest it for ages 9-12, especially if those mystery fans are still prefer shorter books.

Young Cam Jansen Mysteries by David Adler.
Young Cam Jansen and the Dinosaur Game.
Young Cam Jansen and the Missing Cookie.
Young Cam Jansen and the Lost Tooth.
Young Cam Jansen and the Ice Skate Mystery.
Young Cam Jansen and the Baseball Mystery.
Young Cam Jansen and the Pizza Shop Mystery.
Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery.
Cam Jansen has a photographic memory, and that’s one of the things that makes her such a good detective. Some people nicknamed her “The Camera” because she remembers things just like a camera, and then they just called her “Cam.” These books are beginning, level two readers for very young readers. If your reader finishes these and wants more Cam Jansen, there are a slew of Cam Jansen mysteries that are in the “Early Chapter Books” category, second to fourth grade reading level.

Then, there are these classic series that still hold the attention of young readers:

The Boxcar Children series.
Encyclopedia Brown series.
Nate the Great series.

Christmas in Northampton, Massachusetts, 1734

Dec7

From A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God by Jonathan Edwards.

And then it was, in the latter part of December, that the spirit of God began extraordinarily to set in, and wonderfully to work amongst us; and there were, very suddenly, one after another, five or six persons, who were to all appearances savingly converted, and some of them wrought upon in a very remarkable manner.

Particularly, I was surprised with the relation of a young woman, who had been one of the greatest company-keepers in the whole town. When she came to me, I had never heard that she was become in any wise serious, but by the conversation I then had with her, it appeared to me, that what she gave an account of, was a glorious work of God’s infinite power and sovereign grace; and that God had given her a new heart, truly broken and sanctified. I could not then doubt of it, and have seen much in my acquaintance with her since to confirm it.

What a wonderful Christmas celebration, even if the Puritans didn’t celebrate Christmas!

Christmas in England, 1939

Dec6

George VI, King of England (the one who is featured in the movie The King’s Speech) quoted (the portion in bold print) from the following poem in his Christmas speech to the British nation in December, 1939.

God Knows by Minnie Louise Haskins

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.
God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.
Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.

The photo is a 1942 picture of King George VI, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Queen Elizabeth, George’s wife.

Christmas at Home and Abroad, 1943

Dec5

In 1943, Bing Crosby has another hit Christmas song with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” written by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent and Buck Ram. The soldiers fighting the war all over the world and their families at home listened to this song and “White Christmas” and longed for the end of the war with all the troops safely at home.

Christmas in Germany, 1915

Dec4

Richard Hannay, the narrator in John Buchan’s spy novel Greenmantle, is an English spy inside Germany at Christmas, 1915, World War I.

“It was the 23rd day of December, and even in war time one had a sort of feel of Christmas. You could see girls carrying evergreens, and when we stopped at a station the soldiers on leave had all the air of holiday making. The middle of Germany was a cheerier place than Berlin or the western parts. I liked the look of the old peasants, and the women in their neat Sunday best, but I noticed, too, how pinched they were.”

Pinched because they were hungry. The British blockade of Germany in the North Atlantic meant that Germans were short of cloth, machinery, raw materials, and even food that was removed from ships sailing to Germany before the ships reached a German port. Germany responded to the British blockade with its own policy of “unrestricted submarine warfare,” and we all know what came next. The Americans entered the war.

My head was beginning to swim, but I made one more effort.
“There is food in my rucksack—biscuits and ham and chocolate. Pray take it for your use. And here is some money to buy Christmas fare for the little ones.” And I gave her some of the German notes.
After that my recollection becomes dim. She helped me up a ladder to the garret, undressed me, and gave me a thick coarse nightgown. I seem to remember that she kissed my hand, and that she was crying. “The good Lord has sent you,” she said. “Now the little ones will have their prayers answered and the Christkindl will not pass by our door.”

Christmas in Connecticut, 1942

Dec3

The hit song of 1942 is Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, sung by Bing Crosby in the movie Holiday Inn. Crosby first sang the song on Christmas Day, 1941 on an NBC radio show. But the song took off in late 1942, and it’s credited as the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.

Christmas in Norway, 1952

Dec1

From Arne and the Christmas Star, a story of Norway by Alta Halverson Seymour. Illustrated by Frank Nicholas. Wilcox and Follett Company, 1952.

Arne knew there would be stacks of flatbrod, hard and crisp and round, each piece larger than a plate. Besta baked these right on top of her well-scrubbed cookstove. There would be heart-shaped waffles, and lefse and bakelse and rosettes and all kinds of good coffeecakes. His mouth watered at the thought. If a boy hung around the kitchen at the right times, he was sure to come in for a good many samples, especially broken bits.

He knew there would also be a final scouring of the house just before Christmas, that the windows and the copper flowerpots on the window sills would be gleaming. The geraniums and begoneas would be coaxed into bloom for Christmas. And of course the womenfolk would be busy planning and preparing food to last through the Christmas season.

Semicolon

Books we must have though we lack bread.

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