Hidden Valley Road; Prophetic City; The Golden Thread; Would I Lie to You

First up, "Hidden Valley Road" by Robert Kolker. The Galvin family had 12 children: 10 boys and 2 girls. Six of the ten boys ended up with schizophrenia (or bipolar disorder, in one boy's case). At the time the boys started being diagnosed, there was a raging debate over nurture vs. nature: no one was sure if it was genetics that caused these illnesses or their upbringing. Genetic and other types of tests of this family have been the backbone of most of what researchers know about schizophrenia today. It was fascinating and sad.

I'm not into sociology: it's interesting, don't get me wrong, but it's never been my thing. I read this book because it's about Houston, and I read a lot of things about Texas. Klineberg has been studying Houston and its residents for forty years now, and he's found an interesting pattern: Houston is a little ahead of the curve of the United States as a whole. It seems wherever Houston goes, the rest of the country soon follows. 

"The Golden Thread" was about the history of fabric. Which, on the surface, sounds very dull, but it really wasn't. St. Clair looked at how fabric has been made over the years (not much has changed, honestly) and its different purposes. How fabric has always symbolized a person's wealth and status. How certain fabrics were only for the very rich or royalty. People have made clothing from spiders' webs and snails...whatever it is snails produce :) 

I had to take a break from the Gossip Girl books because I felt like my soul was dying a little. Book #10, "Would I Lie to You", takes place in the summer following high school graduation. Blair and Serena are staying in the Hamptons with Bailey Winter, a fashion designer. Nate is living next door and working for his coach so he can get his diploma, but when the coach's wife starts making advances, Nate picks up the girls and they bail back to the City. It's Serena's 18th birthday, so they go to Connecticut to her parent's country house where her brother Erik throws her a party. She overhears Nate tell Blair he loves her, and she realizes she loves him, too.
Whoops.
Meanwhile, Dan meets a guy at work who seems like he's pretty cool, and they decide to start a literary salon. They get drunk and Dan makes out with him. Whoops.
Vanessa leaves her nanny gig and comes back to the City after accidentally lusting after Chuck.
Whoops.
Chuck is probably still in Bailey's pool with his pet monkey.