Hey All - a big bunch o' non-fiction here. Good stuff and very topical in lots of ways. Looks like my reviews are becoming more "when I have a stack of good books" rather than monthly. I hope to remedy this as I put 60 books on hold last week, thanks to the bibliographies of these lovely choices... Mmmmm, bibliographies....

U-Turn:What if You Woke Up One Morning and Realized You were Living the Wrong Life? - Bruce Grierson

The epically long title of this books reflects the equally massive amount of information in this book. A hair under 300 pages it manages to pack in a dense, and truly fascinating, amount of information. A u-turner is someone who makes a radical change in their life - often swinging 180 degrees to a full polar opposite of their former beliefs. Many of the u-turners switch on strong stances as religion - becoming Christian on a walk, leaving Evangelicalism to become an atheist writer. Some swing wildly on politics - one day an ardent Republican, the next writing screes against Bush and his ilk. Still others take a less precise tack and simply stop being how they were to become almost another person. Interspersed with numerous true stories, Grierson talks about the trial by fire u-turners go through. Many lose their jobs, many more lose family members, friends and communities that they have been ensconced in. Despite almost certain loss and pain, the u-tuners interviewed talk about a bedrock certainty that they had to change, no matter what the cost. While many contemplate the change silently for a long time, then change suddenly. Others find a commanding voice telling them, literally out of the blue, to make a change. Who knows who will make a silent, violent shift in their life? While most of us are, and probably always will be "happy carrots" there may come a day one we suddenly find ourselves compelled to become another, alternate version of ourselves.

House Lust: America's Obsession with Our Homes - Daniel McGinn

Boy howdy what a timely book! As the prices of houses plummet and loans are near-impossible to attain, this book makes it crystal clear where it all went wrong. Actually, House Lust author McGinn makes the claim that he will do nothing of the sort in his book. While there is little mention of the current financial mess we are currently mired in, it is oh so clear how we got here. Greed, pure and simple, is what has driven our economy into a pit. Not just greed from the no-money-down banks but house owners' lust for marble counter tops, brand-new houses and bigger, wider, deeper living rooms for their bigger, wider and narrower tvs. McGinn, a self-confessed house-luster himself, covers the various areas of house lust. There are the redecorators who watch numerous tv shows on redoing their place. There is the renovating crowd, taking out massive loans against their mortgage to build "additions" larger than the original home. There are those that "need" a minimum of 4000 square feet to be comfortable and those that believe they are real estate moguls who merely have to invest their life savings into a dilapidated shack. With a coat of paint and a few flowers, they will flip that baby for a mint. *sigh* Many people are really stupid. Yes, there is definitely a strong element of voyeurism in this book "ooooh, they're spending $200,000 on a house worth $150,000, that's going to bite them in the buns." If you are a homeowner already, read this book. It will make you you appreciate your own little ranch house in the not-at-all fashionable neighborhood. I sure appreciate our affordable little house a great deal more.

Green With Envy: A Whole New Way to Look at Financial (un)Happiness. Why Keeping up with the Joneses Is Keeping Us in Debt - Shira Boss

Not to flog a dead horse or anything...    Green with Envy was quoted in House Lust, so I couldn't resist reading this book too. Boss starts her book with her personal story. She and her unemployed husband worry over bills and try to subsist in New York on her single income. New neighbors move in and the apartment scuttlebutt tells them they paid cash for their new digs. Boss jealously eyes her new neighbors' piles of deliveries from Barneys and seethes with envy as they mention they are heading upstate to "antique" for the weekend. However, once Boss's writing project on money is underway, she asks her neighbors if she can interview them. What seems like a perfect, wealthy life quickly fades. By the end of the project Boss has gone from envying her neighbors to deep relief her problems are so small in compare. This, she concludes, is the way the majority of Americans live today. Rich, flashy and expensive facades backed by styrofoam peanuts and credit card debt. Money, the "last taboo" is simply not spoken of. To admit being broke, not being able to afford a trip, needing to borrow money or going into bankruptcy are simply too embarrassing to discuss, even with the closest friends and family members. Boss interviews families who go into hundreds of thousands of debt without one partner knowing. Others are nearing retirement age and either have nothing in their savings or have no idea what their spouse has saved. The median most retirees have in their 401(k)s or IRAs is around $16,000-20,000. Over a lifetime of work, this is all many people have managed to sock away. This book is a definite wake-up call, a scary and gripping look at American debt and, like House Lust, has its moments of smug satisfaction for the average reader. We could NEVER let things get that bad, right?... Right? When you are done with Green With Envy, grab your Suze Orman books and go to your happy place.

How Starbucks Saved My Life - Michael Gates Gill

Entire Michael Gates Gill, a man who would make a prime case study for U-Turn, Green with Envy and House Lust. Gill, the son of a wealthy "New Yorker" writer, grew up with anything and everything he could want. His family lived in a brownstone in Manhattan. His ivy league school and connections delivered a job to him on a silver platter. He gave his life to his company, working insane hours and moving his family repeatedly. And then, suddenly, Gill was too old and out the door. His own start-up business foundered, he had little savings, a huge house and an affair that ended his marriage. Finally, at the end, found himself sitting in a Starbucks with nowhere to go, nothing to do and no money. So Gill became a trainee at Starbucks. This, Gill claims, saved his life and made him happier than he has been in his whole life. I do believe that Gill is truly sincere and I do think the job was a lifeline for him. He certainly became a u-turner in attitude and lifestyle. However, there are moments of wistfulness where I could tell he might consider trading it all back for his old life. Maybe... Gill truly did live a charmed life and his stories and flashbacks to meeting Hemmingway, rubbing elbows with famous writers and knocking the queen of England's elbow at tea do have a certain "I was somebody, really, truly, see?" ring to them. But then again, I doubt Gill's story would be nearly as compelling if he had merely been an average middle-manager who ended up as a barrista. A very satisfying, uplifting and good read.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere  - Mike Carey and Glenn Fabry

This Neil Gaiman approved graphic novel of Neverwhere was excellent. Slight variations in the story line and an occasional missing character don't affect the overall story arc. The novel has gorgeous art and the depictions of Door, de Carabas and Hunter are particularly good. Any fan of the original book will enjoy this, though I'd recommend neophytes read the book first if you are not familiar with the story.