The Content Reader

We are nearing the end of November and are already on week 4 in Nonfiction November challenge. This week is hosted by Rebekah @ She Seeks Nonfiction . I find this weekly challenge difficult. Mainly since I read mostly historical nonfiction, and I am not sure it changes anyones world views. I will probably go a slightly different path, so, let's see where I end up.  Week 4:  Worldview Changers:    What nonfiction book or books has impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way?   I went to my book shelves to check out my nonfiction books. I choose three of them that has impacted me. Maybe not changed my world views but the historical events had a great impact on many people. The Sleepwalkers , How Europe Went to War in 1914  by Christopher Clark This must be the most thorough research and writings on the first world war. Mainly centered on the origins of the war. The main event, we are told, are the shots in Sarajevo killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, h...

I very much enjoyed Miranda Seymour's biography Robert Graves, Life on the Edge, so it was with much anticipation that I started her biography of Hélène Delangle, or as she called herself Hellé Nice. One of these women that seem to embrace life and go for it. She was born in a small French village in 1900. The 1920s saw her in Paris and its swinging life. She started out as a model for nude photos, took ballet and dance lessons and entered show business. She had numerous lovers, she really could not stay with anyone for long. Many of them within her own business, and many of them within the car racing business. That is how she became one of the best and most famous women in the car racing area. She was fearless and loved to challenge life. And, she was interesting in winning which made her a fierce competitor. "Hélène charted out her own course of victories in the ALps. Bobsleighing and skiing in the winters, she spent each summer with Kléber Balmart, one of France...

It is March and another chain of books for 6 Degrees of Separation , hosted by Books Are My Favourite And Best.   This month begins with a book published in 1990, The Beauty Myth  by Naomi Wolf. Summary from Wikipedia: " The basic premise of The Beauty Myth is that as the social power and prominence of women have increased, the pressure they feel to adhere to unrealistic social standards of physical beauty has also grown stronger because of commercial influences on the mass media. This pressure leads to unhealthy behaviours by women and a preoccupation with appearance in both sexes, and it compromises the ability of women to be effective in and accepted by society. " It comes well into the #metoo movement and is worth thinking of. That brings me to someone who was not happy with her looks, Charlotte Brontë and her heroine Jane Eyre. It is about a plain girl who manages to catch the hero with her brain rather than her looks. Women still fighting today to be taken for...