Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Non-fiction book meme

Bill West on the West in New England blog and Colleen on the Orations of OMcHodoy blog, and perhaps others that I've missed, tagged me for the ongoing non-fiction meme. I'll play for a bit. The questions and my answers are:

What issues/topic interests you most--non-fiction, i.e, cooking, knitting, stitching, there are infinite topics that has nothing to do with novels?

Genealogy, biography, history and current political affairs are the topics that I read most often. I am presently reading the Peter Morton Coan book on Ellis Island Interviews. I have James Mann's Rise of the Vulcans and Mona Charen's Do-Gooders on my hope chest for vacation reading.

I really like historical fiction - where fictional characters are put into historical situations and are witnesses to history. James Michener, Edward Rutherfurd, William Martin and Jeff Shaara's books are great examples.

Would you like to review books concerning those?

Not really - too much work for no reward.

Would you like to be paid or do it as interest or hobby? Tell reasons for what ever you choose.

Not really. I have blogging to do!

Would you recommend those to your friends and how?

Recommend what? The books I haven't yet read? How could I? Stupid question.

If you have already done something like this, link it to your post.

I did review Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick here, and have reviewed several of the Schaara books in the past - see here.

I'm not going to list 10 more bloggers to respond to the meme. It would be a waste of my time and theirs, I think. What did anyone learn from this?

I hate to be a grinch here, but memes like this do not advance the cause of genealogy. In my judgment, they are a time waster.

1 comment:

Thomas MacEntee said...

Hey Randy - I don't think you're a grinch. I've often felt the same way about some of the recent memes - I think the way other genea-bloggers have stated, you need to pick and choose the ones that are fulfilling to you - on whatever level.

At first I didn't think this meme would interest me, but I went through with it only because it helped me to recall some of my favorite tomes and tell others about them.

I am always torn when I just can't participate in a meme or a carnival and I somehow fear that the host or originator will feel slighted. But I think we've got a pretty level-headed, laid back and great group of like souls here. So when I can't join in the fun, I know it won't be taken personally and that there will always be some new fun tomorrow, and the next day . . .