Tagged by @clove-pinks !
The last book I read: Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott. Another really fun 18th century Scottish adventure. He writes a surprisingly good teenage girl; 10/10 teenage Michelle would be friends with Julia Mannering.
A book I'd recommend: J. R. McNeill's Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914. (I actually have recommended this one to work colleagues--an RN and an MD--recently.)
A book I couldn't put down: Russell Bonds' Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the Medal of Honor. An utterly captivating read that sparked a hyperfixation so intense that it led to one of the best dang college research papers I've ever written.
A book I've read twice or more: Here's one that grew on me with the second read-- Beirne Lay and Sy Bartlett's WWII novel 12 O'Clock High. I first read it in high school after I had fallen in love with the 1949 movie adaptation. However...I haaated it. After re-reading it 10+ years later, I have much more appreciation for it, and would recommend it. (But I still think the movie is better for cutting out the extraneous love story, dealing more justly with the character of the relieved group commander, etc.)
A book on my TBR: Joanne Freeman's Affairs of Honor. I have no idea why I haven't committed to it yet--it's been on my TBR for YEARS.
A book I've put down: My ADHD and a relatively low tolerance for fictional violence combined to make me abandon Michael Chrichton's Timeline mid-way through. It was one of those blind-date-with-a-book purchases from the 2022-ish era when I was just beginning to get back into reading fiction. I do think I'll go back and finish it someday, though.
A book on my wishlist: Is a complete set of John H Jenkins' Papers of the Texas Revolution too much to ask? I know it's digitized, but my life would be so much better if I had my own volumes.
A favorite book from my childhood: Kate McMullan's Say Cheese, Medusa! . 10/10 most fun *Greek Myth Reimagining* out there...especially the way my dad would read it to me before bedtime. ❤️
A book I'd give to a friend: If I could force my mom and sister to read Ruth Cowan's More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave, I would. Amazing cultural history & material culture work that puts so many modern expectations in perspective.
A book of poetry or lyrics that I own: Early Texas Verse, Philip Graham comp. & ed. It's a collection of pre-1850 poetry published in Texas newspapers, and I used it in my Master's thesis.
A non-fiction book that I own: Most of the books I own are non fiction, so here's one from each of my bookshelves:
- Drew Faust's This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
- Paul Lack, The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835-1836.
- Phillip Cary, Good News for Anxious Christians.
What I'm currently reading: Gregg Dimmick's Santa Anna's Army in the Texas Revolution 1835. The first volume of a chunky, extensive study full of facsimiles and translated documents. Dimmick is such a king, y'all.
What I'm planning on reading next: I'm going to finally go back and finish James Crisp's well-translated & well-commented publication of Herman Ehrenberg's Texas Revolution memoir.
No pressure, but I'd love to hear @unanchored-ship @rmelster @almostqualitycat or @kindercelery on any/all of these categories!
