NonFiction Stack

NonFiction

Free For All: oddballs, geeks, and gangstas in the public library by Don Borchert. Longtime California library employee tells all. drug busts, neglected kids, burkha-wearing breakdowns, sex toys in the book return. The most interesting events I've had were the AWOL soldiers getting arrested in Kansas, and the shapely lady in tight green pants with no underwear in Arizona.

Identical Strangers: a memoir of twins separated and reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein. Elyse and Paula both knew they were adopted. But not until Elyse was in her thirties and tried to track down her birth mother did she get the shock that she had a twin sister. What's worse, the twins were separated as infants for a psychological study.

Utter Incompetents: ego and ideology in the Age of Bush by Thomas Oliphant. Well, I'm guessing Oliphant is anti-Bush. "How could some of the smartest, most experienced and politically savvy people in Washington screw up so badly?"


Father Knows Less, Or: "Can I Cook My Sister?" by Wendell Jamieson. City Editor of the New York Times is caught flatfooted by his son's queries.

Day of Battle: the war in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson. Atkinson won the Pulitzer Prize for the first book in his World War Two series, An Army at Dawn. The Italian campaign seemed to always play second fiddle to the landings in Western France. But, after reading a couple memoirs and histories I found out that A LOT happened there.

Clapton: the autobiography by Eric Clapton. Drugs, booze, drugs, booze, rehab, drugs, booze, rehab.

The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. The current plan on Iraq.

All the Rage: the Boondocks past and present by Aaron McGruder. Compilation of strips and all the ones that were edited and censored. Plus some interviews.

Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz. Jump rope, palm reading, building a campfire, math tricks.

Knives 2008 edited by Joe Kertzman. Be still, my beating heart.

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. Martin's reminiscing of his wild and crazy guy days. He wore the white suit so people could see him better.

Combat Techniques: an elite forces guide to modern infantry tactics by Chris McNab and Martin J. Dougherty. I saw the authors to this and thought, "Hey, I'll get that." But, the book comes in and I find that this Andy McNab is not the former British soldier and current novelist Andy McNab. Dang it.

Warrior: a visual history of the fighting man by R.G. Grant. A DK book. Very high quality survey of warfare through the ages.

Complete Guide to Attics and Basements by Philip Schmidt and Matthew Paymar. Guide to finishing and fixing attics and basements. Great. Like I have not been trying to finish the dang kitchen for the last four months.