Last non-fiction book?

I do prefer non fiction usually, just finished reading 'Cold' by Ranulph Fiennes, and found it hard to put down! Starting on 'Empress Cixi' and getting engrossed in it- should really be tackling the ironing !

Joseph Knight by James Robertson, and had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of years ago, very nice and funny man

Worlds of Arthur, by Guy Halsall, an intriguing reassessment of Dark Ages Britain by an expert on the decline of the Roman Empire in Europe.

"Wait for me", by the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, a memoir of her family, the Mitfords. "Forgotten Voices of the Falklands War" which had me appalled, laughing out loud (Army humour will always surface in the most dreadful situations), and in tears by turn. One of the major contributors to these eye witness accounts was, interestingly, a female war artist.

"Speak Swahili, Dammit!", by James Penhaligon. It's the story of the author's childhood in what was then Tanganyika. I was attracted by the title because I spent some time in Kenya and tried to learn Swahili. The author was allowed to run wild and made friends with other children irrespective of race, hence the need to speak Swahili. Using this language, he was able to be cheeky to the snooty Wazungu (whites) at the club without their knowing what he was saying.

I've only just read "The 100 yr old Man who Jumped Out of The Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Johansson it had been on my to read list for quite a while and I really enjoyed it well worth reading.

The Little Girl in the Radiator: Mum, Alzheimer's & Me by Martin Slevin. An account of a son's relationship with his mother as he cares for her during the onset of her Alzheimer's. This book is both funny and sad. It held a special interest for me as it is set in Coventry where I was born and lived for many years.

Danny Baker Going Off Alarming, the second volume of his autobiography. Both this and Going to Sea in a Sieve are very funny and written just has he speaks. I love the way he uses language so richly.

Again, you asked the question, but you don't really want to know. I am, at this very moment, reading "Electric Round the Pole Flying" by Peter Bullivant, published 1975.

There, I said you didn't want to know

I like a mix of fiction and non-fiction with a sight bias toward fiction but my wish list has certainly grown reading this thread. Let me tell you about a few I have enjoyed.

From way back when, one that has been on my shelf for years is James Laver's A Concise History of Costume. I love learning that nothing is new under the sun in the way we dress and, of course, these things always include a view of social history.

Newer, and one to pick in and out of is The Spirit Level; Why Equality Is Better For Everyone. A really interesting view backed by useful stats.

Currently I have just started on Scarcity - Why having too little means so much.

Thought nobody else was reading political books, gracesgran.
I am reading Enough is Enough, building a sustainable economy in a world of finite resources.

Ninathenina - yes of course a Freddie Mercury biography counts. I've remembered in recent days that I read Edwina Currie's autobiography which linked into my own growing up experience - I think it was called "She's leaving home" - a Beatles reference - - - bye bye.

And Aka - of course the Bible counts. For me its one or our ancient, historical myths and legends - which I respect and acknowledge as part of my own culture, but do not subscribe to - see what follows:-

Yes, I mostly read non-fiction, but have less and less inclination to plough, diligently, through worthy tomes on subjects that nonetheless interest me.

So, well, I sometimes take out a talking book from my large, town-centre library. I am a humanist. I found a talking books reading by Christopher Hitchens of his book "God is not great - How religion poisons everything". I found it very long-winded but enjoyed listening to the 7 or 8 recording tapes, and as a humanist I totally agree with his basic arguments.

Has anyone else read it? Any feedback would be great.

Queen Victoria's Daughters a cheapo on Kindle. Very interesting that a couple of her daughters were very keen on the benefits of breast feeding and she was not amused. Very apropos re Claridges and Farage

Haven't read it, onmyown, but Giles Frazer had a good article about God being the first humanist when he sent Jesus as a baby. " There's nothing more human than changing God's nappy."

The Bible question surely depends on the individual as to whether you think of it as fact or fiction.

Forgotten Voices of Dunkirk by Joshua Levine. My father was wounded at Dunkirk and he always said he was on the last First Aid ship home. Apparently Churchill said resources should be concentrated on getting the fit men home rather than the injured and I've been trying to find out more about it.

They've always done that, lindylou. It's called triage.

Have just started reading 'A Soldier's Way' by Colin Powell.

Yes I understand the reason for the decision, I'm ex-military myself, durhamjen, but if Dad hadn't got on that last ship, he definitely would have bled to death on the beach and I would not be here, so I'm just interested in the background around a pivotal point in his life.

durhamjen - God as the first humanist? - sounds crazy theology to me.

U R winding us up?

Fact or fiction?

Surely myth embraces both fact and fiction and deserves to be treated as a third level of understanding (maybe there are more?)

1. fact?
2. fiction?
3. myth?

[I am sure there are other levels of understanding but I'm not into philosophy or theology - anyone want to expand on these matters? (or not, and just lets enjoy a and a and a - - happy days - - - )

Sorry if I am being too un-literary. If so, please ignore me.

I didn't say it, onmyown, it was Giles Frazer. I'm not clever enough to think of that.

Lyndylou, my dad was at Dunkirk, too, but he never talked about it. He was unharmed, but it must have been horrific for them all, so it's not surprising many of them did not talk about it. He then had the honour of being sent to Burma, which he talked even less about.

I've got quite a few of the Forgotten Voices, Lindylou. They are very interesting and harrowing. The ranks and the officers have very different ways of telling their experiences, don't they?

If you read the Falklands one, it gives the lie to that, but there were decisions made by one or two very senior officers that had dreadful repercussions for both officers and men on the ground.

I wouldn't say "Scarcity" is a political book Durhamjen although I am sure we could both see a political angle.

On my wish list I have:
The Establishment: And how they get away with it
^The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State
Capital in the Twenty-First Century^
War and Gold: A Five-Hundred-Y​ear History of Empires, Adventures and Debt
Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy: Brutality and Compexity in the Global Economy
The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism

If anyone has read anyone of them I would love to know what they make of them.

I have just looked on my bookshelves and realise that they are full of cookery, gardening and sewing/crafting books - all non-fiction of course.