Holly Quick Backlist Reviews, Bookman!: Week 51

Just to get through some backlog of books I've read, I'll post 4 super short reviews of backlist titles every Wednesday.

1. Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson (Harper, 2014): An interesting read definitely. I do wish she spent more time with each archaeologist and delved a bit deeper into why they wanted to be archaeologists. But still, some cool stories and insights. 4 stars.
2. Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks (Thomas Dunne Books, 2000): A humorous, and true, tale of a man who made a bet that he could hitchhike around Ireland in 1 month with a mini-fridge in tow. He manages to do it and despite some trials along the way, sees the good in humanity and has a very meaningful experience. A fun read and makes some observations about Irish culture. 4 stars.
3. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler (St. Martin's Press, 2015): Incredibly engrossing. Imagine you discover, through a mysterious book sent to you by a mysterious bookseller, that every woman in your family has drowned herself on July 24th...this is the situation that the main character finds himself in. Switching back between Simon and the story of a pair (and eventual trio) of his ancestors, the mystery grows as one part seems to unfold another fold. And it doesn't end as tragically as I feared. 5 stars.
4. Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn (Hill and Wang, 2014): This was a very interesting book. I love how the author pulled on an incredible number of sources. She didn't just use explorer and merchant narratives (although she does use them), she pulled on oral histories, archaeology, and mythology. At times the author suffers from what I call "historian syndrome." See historians do a ton of research for their books, which is fantastic, but they then feel the need to tell you every bit of minutiae they learned. Overall though, great book. Some particularly interesting parts are a discussion of the smallpox epidemics, a discussion of the ceremonial and ritual life of the Mandan people, and archaeological evidence of a potential purification after an epidemic. 5 stars.