Catching up: Non-fiction read in 2009

So, I took a holiday from posting in my journals. I think it's time to come back. Catching up on what I've been reading will mostly mean just listing the books I've read, with maybe a few comments about the really good, really bad, or really interesting ones.


War, Evil and the End of History, Bernard-Henri Lévy

Interesting concept, kind of hypertext, with several relatively standard reportage-style essays on various theatres of war Lévy had covered, linked by footnotes to extensive personal commentary and philosophical ruminations. Dense, but thoughtful.


Jane Austen: A Life, Carol Shields

A pleasant biographical sketch of one of my favourite authors. Worth reading.


The Terror Dream: Myth and Misogyny in an Unsecure America, Susan Faludi

Fascinating analysis of how both the state and the media presented the "stories" of the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. Must read.


Cheek by Jowl, Ursula LeGuin

Essays about writing by a great writer. If this is the sort of thing you like, you'll be delighted.


Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes

A look at the science behind how the body utilises the energy in the food we eat, from a biochemical more than a medical perspective, which asks some very searching questions about the kinds of nutritional advice North Americans have been receiving over the past 50 years, and suggests that many of the things we've been told were good, are not so good, and many of the things we've been told were bad, may be good after all. I found the arguments compelling enough to change my way of eating, and I haven't gone back yet, after more than a year.


Payback. Margaret Atwood

Atwood looks at the concept of debt on the eve of the economic crisis and finds some quite interesting things to say about it all.