| Title | Description | Author | Category |
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| | | |
| Arguing About Slavery | Gives the appearance of a long and weighty book, but never judge a book by its cover. This is a wonderfully gripping account of the 'gag rule' about slavery in America's House of Representatives during the 1830s and 40s. Lots of wonderful insight into John Quincy Adams. | William Lee Miller | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Atlantis | Laraine: Doty's fourth book of poetry, this won the Ambassador Book Award, the Bingham Poetry Prize, and a Lambda Literary Award. This book is the poetic equivalent to "Heaven's Coast", in that much of it is an elegy to his lover Wally. This book will help you discover that life exists in metaphor. | Mark Doty | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before | LynnMarie: Tony Horwitz has a way of combining many elements in his travel books that make them interesting: lots of history, sociology, psychology, a little philosophy, and lots of humor too. Cook travelled to an amazing number of island locations and Horwitz copied much of the same route, noting vastly different impressions of the same places. | Tony Horwitz | Non-Fiction(Travel) |
| Brendan Voyage, The | Very good account of how he proved that the medieval Irish monk could have reached New World shores centuries before the Vikings. | Tim Severan | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen (Cambridge Companions to Literature) | LaurieC, Barbara, Laraine: First-rate collection of criticism. One essay on the first three novels, one on the next three, one on the letters and one on the shorter works. Other topics include Money, Class, Politics, and Style. | Edward Copeland, Juliet McMaster | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Coming Fury, The | WilliamL: This book does not deal much with battles, but with the things leading up to the election of Lincoln, and the advance toward war. | Bruce Catton | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Descent of Woman, The | WilliamL: A very funny (and quite perceptive) look at the evolution and development of the human race. | Elaine Morgan | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Dig and Hotel Fiesta , The | A reprint of earlier works now out of print, I think you'll find these poems wonderfully funny, ironic, and intelligent. Emanuel is a great contemporary poet. | Lynn Emanuel | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| End of the Novel of Love, The | Gornick asserts that romantic love can no longer be the major theme of a novel; that we've grown to no longer truly believe that love will change the character's spirits or infuse their lives with meaning and purpose. The greatest thing about this book is Gornick's ability to make her readers want to storm into the library or the bookshop to get all of the works she discusses. | Vivian Gornick | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Friendly Jane Austen, The | Barbara: More light hearted than real criticism, you can find here Austen trivia tests and snippets of information, and even a recipe for white soup. | Natalie C. Tyler | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Galileo's Daughter | Personal look at the relationship Galileo had with his oldest daughter, a nun. | Dava Sobel | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic | LaurieC: The concept of water-borne disease is familiar to us now, and sanitation standards have improved accordingly. In 1854 London, however, the source of a deadly outbreak of cholera took all the investigative resources of scientists and community leaders to pinpoint the agent of infection. Easy to read, this book demonstrates how science and politics interact in matters of public health. | Steven Johnson | Non Fiction(History) |
| Hot Zone, The | Keeba: The true story of how a deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in a Washington, D.C., animal test lab. Don't try to read it over lunch. | Richard Preston | Non-Fiction(Science) |
| Imagining Characters: Conversations about Women Writers | The bestselling author of Possession pairs her searching intelligence with the insights of psychoanalyst Ignes Sodre in a free-wheeling and exhilarating discussion of one novel each by six women writers. The result reveals how literature engages and nourishes the reader. | A. S. Byatt and Ignes Sodre | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England | . | Roger Sales | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Jane Austen: Real and Imagined Worlds | Fascinating hodgepodge of chapters in which he takes a topic and uses the novels to illustrate the history, and vice versa. | Oliver MacDonaugh | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Jane and Her Gentlemen: Jane Austen and the Men in Her Life and Novels | Cinthia: Rather entertaining, if not profound. | Audrey Hawkridge | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen | This is a fictional series of letters from Aunt Fay to her niece Alice who is reading Jane Austen for the first time and is not enjoying it very much (this is implied, as only Aunt Fay's letters are included). This is a book along the lines of A Room of One's Own--literary criticism with a twist. | Fay Weldon | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| March of Folly, The | WilliamL: An account of a number of foolish decisions by men and governments of power, beginning with the Trojan Horse and ending with the US actions in Vietnam. | Barbara Tuchman | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Mary, Queen of Scots | Golda: If you are interested in British history or the 16th century, I highly recommend this book. | Antonia Fraser | Non-Fiction(History) |
| My Alexandria | Laraine: Doty's third book of poetry, and winner of the the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry for 1993. His first book of truly haunting and resonant verse; this is where Doty came into his own as a great poet of our time. | Mark Doty | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| Right Stuff, The | This follows U.S. test pilots and the first astronauts as they break the sound barrier and go into outer space. Really captures the flavor of Houston and environs. | Tom Wolfe | Non-Fiction(History) |
| Shakespeare in Performance | Paula: An insight into the world of Shakespearean production. The color photographs are wonderful and there is also a wonderful list of all the notable productions. The book is not just full of wonderful illustrations, it offers wonderful insights into production and Shakespeare's plays. | Keith Parsons | Non-Fiction(Literary Criticism) |
| Source | Laraine: Doty's sixth book of verse. His poetry continues to be strongly visual, wry, and marvelously articulate. | Mark Doty | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| Sweet Machine | Laraine: Doty's fifth book of poetry. Intensely lyrical. It contains Doty's wonderful commentary on his critics: "Concerning Some Recent Criticism of His Work" --Glaze and shimmer,/luster and gleam,/can't he think of anything/but all that sheen?/--No such thing,/the queen said,/as too many sequins. | Mark Doty | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| Then, Suddenly | Emanuel's third book of poetry. You'll love her humor and what she calls "raptures of self-regard". Very, very smart verse. | Lynn Emanuel | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| Travels with Charley: In Search of America | Laurel: This book recounts Steinbeck's trip across the United States in a camper with only his French poodle Charley as companion. It's downright funny in many places, while quite thought-provoking in others. And who could imagine that he would be so besotted with a poodle? Though the book was published in 1962, I'm amazed by how fresh and relevant his words still are. | John Steinbeck | Non-Fiction(Travel) |
| Turtle, Swan | Laraine: . | Mark Doty | Non-Fiction(Poetry) |
| Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (2008) | Laurel: Pemberleans' favorite WDW guide book, it has saved the sanity of scores of vacationers. This link is for the 2008 version; make sure you purchase the latest to get the most up-to-date information. | Bob Sehlinger | Non-Fiction(Travel) |
| Worst Hard Time, The | Kathleen, Laurie: This book combines historical data with oral histories in a very readable book about the years before and during the 1930's dust bowl years. It's difficult to imagine how anyone survived -- physically or emotionally -- during this long period of hard times. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. history, ecology, or oral histories in general. | | Non-Fiction(History) |
