The New Mind of the South by Tracy Thompson

This book reminds me of both Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz. There's the personal aspect--as if it's a memoir, but there's also the observer aspect--like many other books about the South, it's author has one foot in and one foot out. I found the writing clear and the thinking on questions Southern (such as: what does history mean? what are the costs of maintaining certain kinds of memory? what things do we falsely assume about the South?) engaging.

Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace, 4th Edition by Joseph Williams

This book summarizes Joseph Williams's theories of writing well in ten chapters. The book is a condensed version of the longer Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, and I think the condensation may make the book harder to understand and use for someone not already familiar with Little Red Schoolhouse principles. I think the principles themselves are sound--especially for those who want to write persuasively (as opposed to fiction or creative non-fiction). This book would be a good supplement to a course, as long as the instructor is committed to reinforcing the book's principles in class.

Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

In this book Flavia de Luce begins solving a mystery starting in the church: when they plan to exhume St. Tancred for the 500th anniversary of his death, little do the villagers of Bishop's Lacey expect to find a more fresh body in the tomb. But there is Mr. Collicutt, the organist who disappeared several weeks ago, and Flavia believes (as usual) that it's up to her to solve the mystery. In so doing, she finds that the roots of this mystery run deep--both beneath the church and into her own family history. The narrator of this audiobook was really excellent--in addition to the great story, it was a pleasure to listen to!

Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone

This book is part biography and part history. It's about the four daughters of Raymond Berenger, count of Provence. Marguerite and Eleanor marry the kings of France (Louis IX) and England (Henry III), respectively, and the two younger daughters marry their sisters' brothers-in-law. Both of these brothers are crowned kings in their own right (although they do less ruling). Sanchia marries Richard of Cornwall, who is briefly king of Germany, and Beatrice inherits Provence and marries Charles of Anjou who takes the throne of Sicily. I was very interested in the power politics behind the thrones, and I loved reading the history associated with these four women. I was surprised by how much a king's prowess in battle mattered in the Middle Ages, and by how religious Louis and Henry both were. I also enjoyed a minor theory expounded in the book: while earlier Provence had been the center of a literary movement (troubadours writing poems about courtly love) after Raymond Berenger died, there was no count (and thus no court) in residence in Provence (Beatrice lived in Sicily, and in other places, after her marriage), so there was not the same support for the arts, and the interest in love poetry moved south--to Italy.

Honest Doubt by Amanda Cross

In this book Kate Fansler takes a backseat to a new PI, Estelle "Woody" Woodhaven. I didn't love the new PI; I missed seeing more of Kate. The plot also felt a little recycled: it's the death of another hated, old-fashioned professor, this time through an overdose of heart medication in the foul alcohol that only he drinks. At the risk of spoiling the ending, I thought the ending of this book took too much from a famous Agatha Christie mystery. The first time it was done, it was novel and exciting, but in this book, it just felt like a cop out.

Day of Doom by David Baldacci

This book concludes the Cahills v. Vespers chapter of the 39 Clues. It wraps up a lot of loose ends (some in frustrating ways). Dan, Amy, Atticus, and Jake race to stop a doomsday machine--and there's less of the charming historical detail and discovery because there's so much action to fit in and so many plot lines to tie up.

The American College and University: A History by Frederick Randolph

This book gives a wide-ranging history of higher education in the United States from its colonial beginnings to the 1960s (when the book was written). It works admirably to show the broad types of changes in higher education--its forms and priorities. Reading this book makes this much clear: while it's easy to look at the challenges facing higher education today and bemoan how much better things were in the past, higher education never faced a clear or easy road. Instead, its history is a long history of compromises and attempts to finance something that many people want but no one wants to pay for. While the book is good on broad strokes, it's less good at looking beyond the history of white men: education for women and education for African-Americans each have only one short chapter.