Does anyone have a good recommendation for books dealing with 19th century American history? Teacup Guy's birthday is coming up. He is currently reading a biography on Theodore Roosevelt and think he is interested on reading more about that era.
Oh, Pacey! You blind idiot. Can't you see she doesn't love you?
Spike ,'Help'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
sj - Sep 11, 2006 7:28:31 am PDT #1189 of 28134
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Jesse - Sep 11, 2006 7:33:26 am PDT #1190 of 28134
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Ok, so if I'm "the new guy" in a book group, and they want my suggestions, how much me should go into that? Should I know the book well? Not at all?
In my book club, we try to pick books that no one else has read before. For me, I'd just as soon suggest something that I've heard is good, but don't know too much about -- if everyone hates it, it's not really my fault. If you see what I'm saying.
megan walker - Sep 11, 2006 7:33:29 am PDT #1191 of 28134
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Has he read The Alienist? If not, that would be a good fiction read (old NY, early Teddy Roosevelt) for him.
Scrappy - Sep 11, 2006 7:36:28 am PDT #1192 of 28134
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Low Life, by Luc Sante, is FASCINATING and a cracking good read. It's an overview of the crime and vice of that era and is one of my favorite books. [link]
megan walker - Sep 11, 2006 7:41:23 am PDT #1193 of 28134
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Low Life, by Luc Sante, is FASCINATING and a cracking good read. It's an overview of the crime and vice of that era and is one of my favorite books. [link]Oooh, that sounds way better than Five Points by Tyler Anbinder, which I would definitely not recommend. Boring.
sj - Sep 11, 2006 7:43:02 am PDT #1194 of 28134
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Has he read The Alienist? If not, that would be a good fiction read (old NY, early Teddy Roosevelt) for him.
I was hoping for more of a non-fiction history book, but that sounds good. New York in that era is definitely what he is interested in.
megan walker - Sep 11, 2006 7:45:36 am PDT #1195 of 28134
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Was he reading the Edmund Morris TR biography? Because that's in the TBR stack on my table (not to be confused with the TBR stack by the bed). Should it be upgraded to bed status?
JZ - Sep 11, 2006 7:47:55 am PDT #1196 of 28134
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Low Life, by Luc Sante, is FASCINATING and a cracking good read.
Heh. Hec was just raving about that book last night to my brother and spouse, who are newly New Yorkers and not fully steeped in its history as yet.
Also, anything by Herbert Asbury (The French Quarter, The Barbary Coast, Gangs of New York). His books are simultaneously narrower and broader than 19th century history -- each one focuses on a single city or region, and explores everything worth hearing about both before and after the 19th cent. -- but they're great, snarky, lively books crammed with deliciously low, nasty, murderous history. There's so much glorious filth that has played a huge part in shaping the character of our greatest cities, and most of it never makes it into the official texts.
Ginger - Sep 11, 2006 7:49:53 am PDT #1197 of 28134
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
David McCullough does a great job, and his recent popularity means they've reissued his earlier books, which I think are his best. That includes Johnstown Flood; Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge; Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt; and Path Between The Seas : The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914. If he's particularly interested in New York, the Brooklyn Bridge book is really good.
There's also my campaign to get everyone to read The Education of Henry Adams.
sj - Sep 11, 2006 7:50:22 am PDT #1198 of 28134
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Was he reading the Edmund Morris TR biography? Because that's in the TBR stack on my table (not to be confused with the TBR stack by the bed).
Nope. This one is by Kathleen Dalton. We picked it up when we were on vacation in Cape Cod.
I was looking at Gangs of New York. Thanks, JZ.