The members of the NCN Book Club are serious readers, and our reading selections lean heavily to gritty, often lengthy nonfiction! This year at our annual book selection gathering, several members agitated for more fiction choices! So, for 2020- seven fiction selections, four nonfiction, among ... [Continue Reading]
by Bryan Stevenson
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson Before the feature film Just Mercy starring Michael B. Jordan, before the HBO documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality, before the TED talk that has more than seven million views, before the five successful arguments before the Supreme Court, ... [Continue Reading]
The Second Mountain by David Brooks
The Second Mountain, The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks The Second Mountain is a worthy read, if you can get past the cliché of a middle-aged man who experiences a life-changing epiphany on the back of a midlife crisis. The fact that Brooks’ journey to personal fulfillment also meant ... [Continue Reading]
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
No surprise--I loved The Library by Susan Orlean. But it is not a typical narrative non-fiction like Orlean’s earlier books. The book’s chapters are only loosely connected around the history of the Los Angeles Public Library, and the fire that destroyed the flagship Central Library building in ... [Continue Reading]
Save Me the Plums, My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl
I hate to cook, but I would gladly have worked at Gourmet magazine under the editorial leadership of Ruth Reichl. It sounds like such fun—the exotic travel, the best restaurants, the top-notch writers, and of course, the test kitchen that was always turning out something yummy. Even the gossipy, ... [Continue Reading]
Educated by Tara Westover
Educated, a Memoir by Tara Westover Despite the title of the book, “educated” is not a word that describes the young Tara Westover. Of public schools, her father declares, “I may as well surrender my kids to the devil himself.” An extreme Mormon and a passionate, paranoid survivalist, Dad isn’t ... [Continue Reading]
The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss
The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss It’s not often that we get to brag about Tennessee’s progressive history, but in 1920 the state cast the deciding vote for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution granting all women the right to ... [Continue Reading]
Timing IS Everything!
How many times in response to a decision, competition, or conversation have you said, “Timing is everything?” A zillion, right? But good timing always seemed more serendipity than science. Not so says Daniel H. Pink, author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Based on research in ... [Continue Reading]
Red Notice by Bill Browder
Red Notice, A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder Bill Browder, a mild-mannered financier working in Russia, gets on the wrong side of the Putin government, and soon he and his plucky team are in a race for their lives in a virtually lawless ... [Continue Reading]
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson What a ghastly title! Only for you dear readers would I read this one since I know many of you are managing the downsizing of a relative’s home or your own. The ... [Continue Reading]