Nonfiction Recent Reads

 Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard (2024)

Kathleen Sheppard explores the female Egyptologists who paved the way for later explorers and also helped shape the field in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  A lot of the major findings in Egypt have been credited to men, but there were several women, enamored with Egypt and its history, who were critical in the excavation, recording, and education about Egyptian sites.  At a time when the lives of women were perhaps not that well-documented, Sheppard has managed to pull together some amazing personal histories.  She also shows how the work of these women inspired each other.  I did, however, think the writing was a bit heavy-handed and clunky, in that it felt more like a college thesis than a cohesive narrative.  There was a lot of telling the reader why things were important, instead of letting the reader naturally draw those conclusions.  3 stars

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep (2020)

During the 1970s, a Southern man was accused of killing his family members to gain the insurance money.  When he was shot dead, his previous lawyer helped the shooter get an acquittal.  The case piqued the interest of author Harper Lee, who attended the trial and hoped to write a book about it - but she never did.  Cep explores the murder cases and also gives a comprehensive portrait of a successful but elusive author.  I really enjoyed this book!  The first half of the book is about the Reverend Willie Maxwell, accused of murdering five members of his own family, and the trial of the man who shot him.  I found this part to be absolutely fascinating.  The second half focuses on Harper Lee, author of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird.  It explores her early life, her success, and her struggles to write another book.  While interesting, I did think this part was a bit slower and kind of rambled toward a somewhat unsatisfactory conclusion.  4 stars

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