Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Welcome to my very personal non-fiction project, where I attempt to read 50 titles from my non-fiction bookshelf in 5 years. As of now, there are 72 titles on that list, but I don't want my reading list to be set in stone. Instead I want to be able to choose from a variety of possible reads and also add new books as I go along.
The project began quietly on July 1st and I have already read 4 books.

Read in 2021:
01. ALPHA…Directions
02. How to Build Your Own Country
03. 84, Charing Cross Road
04. Me
05. Black and British: A Forgotten History
06. Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars
07. Gottlos glücklich: Warum wir ohne Religion besser dran wären
08. Heimat: A German Family Album
09. Der bittere Weg: Mit Annemarie Schwarzenbach unterwegs nach Afghanistan
10. Die geheime Welt der Bauwerke
11. Krähen: Ein Portrait
Read in 2022:
12. A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
13. War Diaries, 1939–1945
14. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
15. The Mind's Eye
16. Sailing by Starlight: In Search of Treasure Island
17. What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
18. Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
19. London: The Biography
20. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
21: Berlin - Moskau: Eine Reise zu Fuß

That's the way I am going too, Sam. I am adding to my personal challenge list. Like you, I have list elsewhere, just want this to be the place where I list my progress/successes. Good Luck.

January just flew by ...
I'm in the middle of Black and British: A Forgotten History, a big book and thoroughly researched. Some parts speak more to me than others, but since the overall subject and perspective is pretty unusual and new to me, this read is extremely rewarding.
I had to take a break from this tome to read Wuthering Heights for my book club, and I am counting the days until I can pick it up again.

Good luck with this project!

I love 84, Charing Cross Road. Black and British is in a pile somewhere, I'm glad to hear that it is an interesting read. Will try to move it up the pile.

Just in time, I finished Black and British: A Forgotten History. And while it took me longer than expected to get through, I stand by my verdict: A highly recommended read. I can savely say I learned a lot about the history of GB, slavery, and discrimination.
Also, I started reading Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994. I found myself nodding along with the opening notes, chuckling here and there. The writing is whitty and not too scientific. I must add that I wasn't prepared for the format: Each chapter describes one significant day in the life of a "rockstar", and takes place in one year from 1955 to 1994. I'm not far into the book (I have read the prologue and first chapter so far, to be honest), and hope to get a more precise idea of what the author deems "significant". What I do enjoy immensely is the accompanying playlist for each year, always a mixture of songs and albums representing the musical zeitgeist of the time.

And again, a last minute wrap up: I just finished the final pages of Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars 1955-1994.
The construct of this book is as appealing as it is flawed: Each chapter covers one year in rock history and one topical rock star to represent it. It became obvious that the author was more prepared to write about some topics than others. There was a particularly bodacious chapter on the first meeting of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, describing the mechanics of teen culture in the UK at that time. Others weren't as strong, but the writing made up for it mostly. A pleasure to read and also to listen to, as every chapter is accompanied by a ten piece playlist for that year. The book also comes with a very detailed bibliography for further reading. I only wish it included the video interviews and stage acts mentioned.

I didn't read anything for this project in April, and I did read a lot. Sometimes, you just go wherever fancy leads you. But for May I have another read planned, a reread of Gottlos glücklich. I want to take notes this time.

you are such a freaking rockstar. what a great idea.

I love me a reading project, Newly :)

I'm approximately a quarter into my reread of Gottlos glücklich. It is a bit more complicated to find the time to take notes while listening, this is the only reason why it takes me so long to get through. The book is a bit more repetitive than I remembered, but it is not the storytelling but the facts about church taxes and such that are repeated once or twice. Not really a caveat so far.

In June, I didn't read a title for my project. My main goal for this year is to read all my owned unread books, so this is my first priority. I am in the middle of an unplanned non-fiction read, though, Hacking im Web. I saw it in the library and couldn't resist.
My next planned book for the project is going to be London: The Biography, which I hope to tackle in October.

I just finished Heimat: A German Family Album, and I'm blown away by it. Guess I'm going to pick up a new hobby: Genealogy. Or, according to Nora Krug, I'm obligated to pick it up. And, yes, often I felt is was my duty to find out about my ancestors (or rather, the German half of my ancestors). But back to the book: I loved the combination of graphic novel, memoir, and non-fiction, and found the result deeply moving and inspiring. A great, great book.

A couple of day ago I completed The Cruel Way: Switzerland to Afghanistan in a Ford, 1939. Now I have read Ella Maillart's first travelogue and this book, which is a very different beast. I liked it best when Maillart spoke about her relationship with Annemarie, how she hoped to help her with her drug addicition and how sometimes she resented the poet for it. While in her first book she spoke openly about political topics, the scandal it stirred up made her a lot more restrained in her other books. This is a shame, for it takes a lot of substance out of her writing.

These are such interesting titles that I wouldn't have found on my own. Thank you for sharing your reading journey, Sam.

Thanks Katy! Inspiring others to read, and be it indirectly, is the best one can hope for when posting these personal challenges :)

I finally finished another book, Die geheime Welt der Bauwerke, and it was a five star read! I learned tons in this entertaining book on structural engineering. The subject is miles away from my education, yet I was fascinated and absorbed facts like a sponge. The book contains helpful illustrations and offers everyday examples so I could easily grasp every technique Agrawal described. Actually I had to put the book down from time to time because it made me downright giddy with new thoughts and ideas. A great great read, I'm glad I bought this one!

Sam wrote: "I finally finished another book, Die geheime Welt der Bauwerke, and it was a five star read! I learned tons in this entertaining book on structural engineering. The subject is miles..."

You made this sounds so fascinating, I added it to my tbr.

Glad to be of service, Laurie!

I'm currently in the middle of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, an excellent yet enraging read. I could only read a couple of pages at a time, it made me too angry. Now it's gone back to the library with me only about a quarter into it. I put in on hold again and will continue soon.

I have again borrowed and returned Invisible Women. I'm no on page 195, so slowly making my way through it, but it is really difficult for me to read larger portions. I guess it would be easier to read if it wasn't as dense with statistics all showing how much injustice there is. It makes me angry and is a bit dry to read at the same time. Interesting nevertheless.
I put in on hold a third time.

Meanwhile I have relistened to A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons, a book I enjoyed immensely back in 2012 (*gulp*). It was still very good this time around, but I felt I knew a lot of the facts already. I guess they imprinted themselves on my brain when I first devoured this memoir. It remained incredibly readable and entertaining.

With fascination I listened to Astrid Lindgren's War Diaries, 1939–1945. Sure, she tried to keep personal things out of the equation, for this was strictly to document the war, and therefore one could say the diary doesn't offer much insight into her life. But still, she couldn't help but mention important events in her life and many little mundane ones. It was heartwrenching to read her document her daughter's birthday every year, and like every New Year's Eve she would hope that the next time they might be able to celebrate in a world where peace was restored.
While Sweden never fully entered the war, Lindgren did work as a censor, and lucky for us, she did not fully adhere to the instruction to keeping silent about her occupation. So she recounts details from the personal correspondence of strangers, which renders her whole diary even more concrete and close to the events.
Her view towards Germany was particularly interesting: With suspicion she observed Hitler's doings, occasionally mocking him and his minions. But when the Russians became a real threat to Finland, she admits she fears what Russia might do if they won the war. So she is morally torn between the fear of Russia and her disgust for German politics and unable to pick a side in this war.
To read about Russia's aggression against Finland was a bit eerie, and hit a bit too close to home sometimes. All in all a powerful read.

Cynda wrote: "That's the way I am going too, Sam. I am adding to my personal challenge list. Like you, I have list elsewhere, just want this to be the place where I list my progress/successes. Good Luck."

Me too. I love the Personal Challenge list and being able to modify and add to it. One of my challenges is books I physically own that have been sitting on my bookshelf for years (ok, some even decades), still unread.

Klowey, I can relate! Good luck with your project.

I haven't posted in a while. Haven't stopped reading the non-ficiton, though ;)

14. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
15. The Mind's Eye
16, Sailing by Starlight: In Search of Treasure Island
17. What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Out of these, my favourite experience has been rereading Sailing by starlight, an adventurous combination of travel writing, biography, and essay. I just love it.

18. Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

Reread of On Fairy-Stories, Mythopoeia, and Leaf by Niggle. Only the latter is fiction, and really completes Tolkien's manifesto "trinity".
I read all texts with marker and pencil in hand and had a ball doing it. Sometimes I miss uni. This actually helped me out of a reading slump, so yay for still discovering new sides in Tolkien's work after all this time (over twenty years *gulp*).

#19 London: The Biography (DNF, but I keep my copy as a reference)
This book is a meandering mess and felt really thick and unreadable.
#20 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women
Written for a younger audience but nonetheless a beautiful inspiring read. I'm looking forward to book 2.

Sam wrote: "#19 London: The Biography (DNF, but I keep my copy as a reference)
This book is a meandering mess and felt really thick and unreadable.
#20 [book:Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: ..."

I thought the 'London' book was a mess as well, Sam, if that makes you feel better about the DNF.