Title: The World Without You
Author: Joshua Henkin
Genre: Fiction
Year: 2012
Acquired: From the author for review consideration.
Rating:

Review:  It seems like in the weeks before I picked up The World Without You, I’d been reading a bunch of sprawling, multi-generation family epics (Butterfly’s Child and The Chaperone come to mind). The World Without You condenses all of the tension and love and complexity of a big family story into a single long weekend staged in the most difficult circumstances.

On July 4, 2005, three generations of the Frankel family are returning home to their summer home in the Berkshires, perhaps for the last time, for a memorial. One year before, the youngest sibling of the family, journalist Leo, was killed while on assignment in Iraq. As Leo’s three siblings, parents, widow and three-year-old son, slowly converge on their holiday home, tension rises as old family feuds and new personal challenges threaten to overshadow plans to honor Leo’s life with their community.

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Title: The Ball: Discovering the Object of the Game
Author: John Fox
Genre: Narrative nonfiction
Year: 2012
Acquired: From the publisher for review consideration
Rating:

Review: One of my favorite parts of my trip to Book Expo America this year was getting to wander around the expo floor oogling all sorts of new nonfiction titles with two of my favorite nonfiction book bloggers Marc (Maphead’s Book Blog) and Amy (Amy Reads). What I love about talking nonfiction with Marc and Amy is that we each have very separate and very distinct types of nonfiction that we’re drawn too. Among other topics, Amy loves books about sociology, gender, and identity and Marc is into serious history, politics, and comparative religion. They’re serious nonfiction readers.

I, on the other hand, always feel like a nonfiction lightweight because of the way I’m drawn to quirky cultural histories of everyday objects or investigations into everyday things. Two of the books I’m most excited about from BEA are a book about the history of how we cook and eat and an investigation of the culture of sleep. It was so funny to browse tables at BEA because Marc, Amy, and I could immediately point to books at a given publisher and pick which of us would probably like it best.

Anyway, given that quirky history is basically my bread and butter, I think it’s no surprise that I was totally into The Ball by John Fox. The Ball begins with a question from Fox’s seven-year-old son, one of those deceptively complicated questions that can only lead down a super-awesome rabbit hole of research: Why do we play ball?

To answer the question, Fox digs into the history of many of today’s most popular sports — baseball, tennis, soccer, football, rugby and others — and the plaything they have in common. In his quest, he looks into the evolutionary purpose of play and, more specifically, the evolutionary purpose of playing with a ball, and then goes off to try early inspirations for some of today’s sports.

I don’t think there’s anything entirely distinct about the structure or style of the book — it reads very much like other narrative histories of quirky or common things, with the author including stories about the research and travel that went into writing the book, science that helps explain why people do the things they do, and illustrations from experts met along the way. It’s a pretty traditional way of telling a story like this, but since it’s a storytelling method I love I felt right at home.

In the end, I think the best thing that I can say about The Ball is that it was a totally fun book to read — exactly what you would expect about a book inspired by a game of catch.

Other Reviews:

If you have reviewed this book, please leave a link to the review in the comments and I will add your review to the main post. All I ask is for you to do the same to mine — thanks!

I am officially out of bookshelf space in my house.

I knew I was reaching my limit before I headed to Book Expo America, but it wasn’t until I got back and started trying to find space for all of the books that I realized just how crammed everything is. Every shelf is totally full and most have books stacked on top and in front. There’s just no more room.

The interesting thing about all of the books I do have is that most of them are books I haven’t read. I’ve gotten pretty good at culling through the books I’ve finished and only saving the ones I love. It’s the unread books (most of which I’ve purchased myself) that are taking over.

After some thought, I’ve decided to embark on a quest that has been in the back of my mind for several months: I’m not going to buy any more new books until the official end of summer, September 21.

There will be one exception to this rule —  if I’m visiting a town with a bookstore, I’m allowed to buy a book; if it’s an independent bookstore, I can buy two books! Since I live in a town without a bookstore, I feel like this is a valid exception.

We’ll see how this goes. I hope I can do it, and I hope it helps me make a dent in the shelves and shelves of unread books I have so I can start to feel a little more in control of my books. Anyone want to join me?

In other news, I’ve been really exhausted all week — an extended BEA hangover coupled with a busy week at work, I suspect — which means I haven’t gotten as much writing done as I might like. I managed to write four reviews yesterday (well, technically one full review and three mini-reviews, but whatever) and I’m hoping to finish at least a few more later today. I also got about half-way through my overall BEA recap post, so expect that this week.

I have been doing a fair amount of reading this week though. I finished two books — Midnight in Peking by Paul French and Fooling Houdini by Alex Stone. According to Goodreads, I’ve now read 57 books this year, which is, frankly, insane. I don’t know how I’m reading so much, but I guess I’ll take it.

For now though, before I jump into writing and formatting more reviews, I’m going to get back into Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristin Iverson, which is an awesome and infuriating look at life near a secret government nuclear facility. I’ve also been listening to Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, which is vulgar and funny and makes me (sort of) want to do chores so I have an excuse to listen to it more.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Title: All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know about Getting and Spending
Author: Laura Vanderkam
Genre: Nonfiction
Year: 2012
Acquired: Library
Rating:

Review: Folk wisdom tells us that money can’t buy happiness. But what does science say? As one might expect, the research on happiness suggests a more nuanced look at the role money can have on our day-to-day emotional state and overall satisfaction.

In All the Money in the World, author Laura Vanderkam takes on many of the assumptions we have about money and happiness and suggests a new way to consider our finances. Instead of thinking about money as a resource (that most of us don’t have enough of), Vanderkam suggests looking at money as a tool that, when used creatively, can help build a better life. By taking a careful look at what makes us happy — rather than the things experts and society suggest will make us feel fulfilled — Vanderkam suggests each of us can improve our happiness by learning to spend and earn more strategically.

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