Thank you for the new thread Southeast - can't believe we're on thread four already.
Bringing over my list and a few new ones:
- Ranger Confidential: Living, Working and Dying in the National Parks, by Andrea Lankford.
- Ghost Ship, by Kate Mosse.
- Unreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara.
- Madonna, by Mary Gabriel.
5 True West, by Betsy Gaines Quammen. I'm on a bit of a US history and sociology kick at the moment, as will become apparent, so some of these are a bit niche. This is an exploration of myths about the American West, and how real life stacks up against them. At only 300 pages, this packs in an incredible amount of information. It's quite dense at points as she explains all the different groups and organisations, from militias to religious splinter groups to ranchers and land preservationists. This means it's not always an easy read, but it's fascinating and I learned a lot.
6 Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell. Magical creatures, adventures at sea, an excellent cast of characters and wonderful writing - this may be a children's book but it was an absolute standout for me. Strongly recommended for anyone in a reading slump or in need of comfort.
7 Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connolly. A Lincoln Lawyer/Bosch mashup, I thought this was one of his best in ages. Our protagonists are investigating a miscarriage of justice and trying to get a wrongly imprisoned woman released from jail. The storyline was a little paint by numbers in places, and the outcome is heavily signposted, but the LL/Bosch dynamic keeps it fresh, and I enjoyed the hints at a future direction.
8 The Best Land Under Heaven, by Michael Wallis. A workmanlike account of the Donner Party expedition, which is very well known in the US but I think less so in the rest of the world. The Donner-Reed party were part of the pioneer trail following a wagon trail west to California in 1846. They become trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains over the winter and half of the party dies. The party are notorious in folk memory for eating the dead to survive, but the story is a lot more complex than the myths. This tells the story in a fairly dispassionate way, so it's a good primer on the topic but not wonderfully written. There are useful appendices about the party members and rescue missions, although they have some factual errors (for example mixing up the infant Elizabeth Graves with her mother).
9 The Indifferent Stars Above, by Daniel James Brown. Another take on the Donner Party, but this doesn't aim to be a straight history, instead telling the story through the lens of one of the party members, Sarah Graves. It's beautifully written and very humane. A definite bold although I'm having to retreat into some comfort reading after all this trauma!