NonFiction November 2024 - Week 2

Week 2 of Nonfiction November is hosted at Volatile Rune. Technically week two ended on 11/8, but I am ignoring that fact and posting about it anyway. 

Before I answer the prompt I encourage you to go read the host post at Volatile Rule which talks about the freedom to read. I totally agree with what Frances has to say. It is an important message we should all be thinking about. Please read it.

Q: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? 

A: When I pick up a book I am looking for good writing that fits the subject matter; to learn something I didn't know, or think about something in a new way; and to enjoy the reading experience. I'm looking for these same things regardless of fiction or nonfiction.

Q: Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? 

A: There are some topics that consistently appeal to me: biography (esp. of writers and powerful women), personal finance, organization and project management, history of specific things (bananas, board games, brewing, etc.). Almost anything might jump out at me from the library shelves though and pique my interest. 

Q: Do you have a particular writing style that works best? 

A: The writing needs to match the topic--a light airy tone is great for a memoir about doing everything Oprah suggests for a year, but a serious, scholarly tone is called for with a history of Islam. 

Q: When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.

A: I don't think covers have a big influence on my book choices. 

NonFiction November 2024 - Week 1

This first week of NonFiction November is being hosted at Based on a True Story. This week's questions are what NF have we read this year and what were our favorites?

I have read 78 books so far this year and 30 of them were nonfiction. Mostly I read books about productivity, a little history, and some memoir/biography. 

As far as favorites these were the standouts:

Congratulations! The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas -- funny and touching memoir and the audiobook, read by the author, was great.

The Life List by Kate Christie -- a woman of "a certain age" taking control of her own destiny and nailing it!

All it Takes is a Goal by Jon Acuff -- sensible, practical tools for getting stuff done.

Boom Town by Sam Anderson -- a true story of Oklahoma City and basketball.

As always, I hope to discover some new-to-me NF titles and learn more about ones I might have been considering that are not likely to be good picks for me.

Nonfiction November - New to My TBR

Hopewell’s Public Library of Life is our host for this final week.

These are the nonfiction titles I have added to my TBR this month:

1. The Library at Night by Albert Manguel (Volatile Rune)
2. A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders (She Seeks Nonfiction)
3. Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge: Intimate Confessions from a Happy Marriage by Helen Ellis (Hopewell's Public Library of Life)
4. One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake (LouLouReads) -- also recommended The Rest is History podcast
5. Things to Look Forward To: 52 Large and Small Joys for Today and Everyday by Sophie Blackhall (Shoe's Seeds and Stories)
6. The Gates of Empire: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy (This Reading Life)
7. House Lessons: Renovating a Life by Erica Bauermeister (Beverley A Baird)
8. The Nutmeg Trail by Eleanor Ford (Superfluous Reading)
9. Is the Algorithm Plotting Against Us: A Layperson's Guide to the Concepts, Math, and Pitfalls of AI by Kenneth Wenger (Words and Peace)
10. My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead (My Head is Full of Books)
11. I Didn't Sign Up for This by Tracy Dalgelish (Lisa Notes)
12. The Baroness by Hannah Rothschild (AnnaBookBel)
13. I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening) by Sarah Stewart Holland an Beth Silvers (ReaderBuzz)
14. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (WhatMeRead)
15. Ready or Knot? 12 Conversations Every Couple Needs to Have Before Marriage by Scott Kedersha (Reviews from the Stacks)

Nonfiction November - Week 4

Our host this week is She Seeks Nonfiction. 

One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone?

There are 2 books that come to mind as having influenced my view of the world:

• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubbner which I read in 2008 definitely gave me a different perspective on how the world works. Looking at "the hidden side" of things is a fascinating way to consider things that seem true but actually aren't. 
  
  
• Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson explains where the troubles in the Middle East began and it wasn't at all what I would have assumed before reading this book. The Eastern front of World War I (where Britain and France were battling the Ottoman Empire) was not something I knew much about. This book did a good job of unraveling a very complicated situation in a clear and compelling way.

As far as a book that is required reading for everyone I don't think so. There are certainly things I think everyone should know about, but since everyone is in a different place in their journey toward understanding the world there is no one book that everyone needs to read. I needed the background of Lawrence in Arabia to understand that part of the world, but other readers may have a solid grasp on that history and need to read about something else that I do already know. To paraphrase Ranganathan: Every reader their book, every book its reader.

For an overview of #NonFicNov visit She Seeks Nonfiction.

Nonfiction November - Week 3

This week is all about book pairings and is hosted at Adventures in reading, running and working from home

This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it’s a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. You can be as creative as you like!

I have two pairings made with books I have read this year.

• Africa is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin with Maame by Jessica George.
  The first is a celebration of the unique history and culture of various African nations and the second is a novel about a young woman whose family is from Ghana and how she is dealing with life in contemporary London. Both include discussions of Jollof rice which I got a chance to try at a festival this year. (It was delicious)

• Come Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan with Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters. The first is Christie's memoir of her time on an archaeological dig with her second husband in the 1930s and the second is a novel set in the early 20th century set in Egypt and featuring a family of British archaeologists. Any of the novels in this series would be a match, but that is the one I read this year.

For an overview of #NonFicNov visit She Seeks Nonfiction.

Nonfiction November - Week 2

This week is hosted at Volatile Rune and the focus is on how we choose our nonfiction books. 

What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking. 

Typically I choose my non-fiction books based on the subject matter. I am interested in a wide range of subjects: history, food, social sciences, books-about-books, true-crime, science, travel, crafting and creativity, and biography. All of these topics make regular appearances in my reading life. I am definitely partial to strong narrative, and I especially like when the author is a clear personality within the book. Books where someone decides to try some experiment on themselves and write about it are probably my favorite form of nonfiction (think Julie & Julia, or Living Oprah). A clever title will definitely catch my attention (Personal History, or A Libertarian Walks into a Bear) but since I generally get my books from the public library the cover is less of an influence on my choices.

For an overview of #NonFicNov visit She Seeks Nonfiction.

Nonfiction November - Week 1

November snuck up on me somehow so I am at the end of the week this time. That may end up being the case all month.

Thanks to Mapheads Book Blog for reminding me!

 This week is hosted at Based on a True Story and we are invited to celebrate our year in nonfiction by answering some questions. 

What books have you read?

So far in 2023 I have read 86 books and 43 of them were nonfiction. Sadly, not a single one of them was from the list of title I added to my TBR last November. I did add a couple of those books to my shelves, but they haven't gotten read yet.

What were your favorites?

• Africa is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin
• Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer 
• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
• The Love Prescription by John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman
• The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene by Richard Greene

Have you had a favorite topic?

Not really. I read pretty broadly this year--history, memoirs, project management, relationships, home design, and true crime. 

Is there a topic you want to read about more? 

I visited Dublin, Ireland for the first time this year and would like to read more about it. I compiled a book list ahead of my trip, but only got one of the books read before I went.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

Suggestions for nonfiction books that I might want to add to my gi-normous TBR. Also perhaps some titles that when I read what other people thought of them I can remove from my list. 

For an overview of #NonFicNov visit She Seeks Nonfiction.

NFN: New to my TBR

Week 5: (November 28-Dec 2) – New to My TBR : It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! This week our host is The OC Book Girl.

1. A Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick and A Short History of Russia: From the Pagans to Putin by Mark Galeotti (both from Brona's Books)
2. Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli by Ted Merwin (Plucked from the Stacks) 
3. Wild Women and the Blues (the novel paired with a NF title at Based on a True Story)
4. How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis (paired by Melissa Firman with The Lazy Genius Way which I liked) 
5. 16 Words: William Carlos Williams & “The Red Wheelbarrow” by Lisa Rogers and Chuck Groenink (a NF picture book paired with the poetry of WCW by Plucked from the Stacks)
6. Abandoned Train Stations by David Ross (Superfluous Reading)
7. Both titles in this pairing from Beverley A Baird appealed to me: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd (a novel) and the NF work The Map Thief 
8. The Divorce Colony by April White (Based on a True Story)
9. The Age of Creativity by Emily Urguhart by Michael Blanding (Beverley A Baird)

From last year's list--still TBR:

1. The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley (from Joy's Book Blog)
2. Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan (from Books Please)
3. Vote First or Die by Scott Conroy (from Plucked from the Stacks)
4. The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (from Entering the Enchanted Castle) 
5. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (from Gulfside Musing) 
6. Enid by Robert Wainwright (from book'd out -- though it was on their TBR as well rather than a recommendation)
7. The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of Three Sisters by Juliet Barker (from Doing Dewey)
8. The Barbizon by Paulina Bren and The Girl in White Gloves by Kerri Maher (a pairing from The Paperback Princess)
9. Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark (from LisaNotes)
10. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made by Patricia O'Toole (recommended in a comment from Lory at Entering the Enchanted Castle)
11. Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam (from The Book Stop)
12. Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (from What's Nonfiction) -- essays from various people about eating/cooking for one

NFN: Book Pairing

Week 2: Book Pairing: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title (or another nonfiction!). It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story. Or pair a book with a podcast, film or documentary, TV show, etc. on the same topic or stories that pair together. Our Nonficton November host this week is What's Nonfiction? 

In If Then Jill Lepore takes us through the history of the Simulmatics Corporation which was a social science technology firm active in politics (and other things) in the 1960s. She pulls in all kinds of interesting history about presidential election campaigns, Vietnam, and the culture of the period.

Gate City by Michael Davidow is a work of historical fiction centering on the victory of John F. Kennedy over Richard Nixon in 1960. This novel is the first volume of the Henry Bell trilogy (Split Thirty and The Rocketdyne Commission are the other titles). All 3 novels would make a wonderful companion read to Lepore's history book as they are set in the same social milieu and considering very similar issues. 

NFN: My Year in Nonfiction

Nonfiction November is kicking off (as is traditional) with a look back at the year so far. This first week is hosted at DoingDewey and you can see everyone's responses there. 

I have read 38 nonfiction titles so far this year, across a variety of genres. I had set myself a goal of reading 25 nonfiction titles this year so I am pleased. Last #NonFicNov I compiled a list of TBRs and have read (or began and DNF) 7 of those. 

The books from this year's reading that stand out for me as favorites are Uncommon Carriers by James McPhee and Ninety Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown.

I have been reading quite a few books about Readers' Advisory for a project at work and have also read quite a bit of self-help and biography. No one topic has dominated though. 

The nonfiction book I have recommended the most is probably The Lazy Genius Kitchen by Kendra Adachi which is entertaining, encouraging, and full of good solid advice on making your life in the kitchen work better for you (not some imaginary perfect person whose containers always have lids that they can actually find).

I'm looking forward to Nonfiction November as a chance to think back on what I have read and to learn about new-to-me titles from other readers. 

For an overview of Nonfiction November check out the planning post. 

New to My TBR

Week 5: (November 29-December 3) — New to My TBR with Jaymi at The OC Book Girl: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 

I didn't post for Week 4: (November 22-26) – Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks which focused on all the great nonfiction books that *almost* don’t seem real. I couldn't think of any non-fiction that felt stranger than fiction to me. Maybe I'm just too cynical and prepared to believe outrageous things. 

Anyway, moving on to the 20 books I have added to my TBR during #nonficnov:

• The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley (from Joy's Book Blog)
• Fridge Love: Organize Your Refrigerator for a Healthier, Happier Life by Kristen Hong (from Based on a True Story)
• The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (this has been on my list, as I mentioned in week 3, but I was reminded about it by Deb At Readerbuzz)
• The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile (from Silver Button Books)
• Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan (from Books Please)
• Vote First or Die by Scott Conroy (from Plucked from the Stacks)
• The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne (from Entering the Enchanted Castle) 
• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (from Gulfside Musing) 
• Enid by Robert Wainwright (from book'd out -- though it was on their TBR as well rather than a recommendation)
• Writing at the Kitchen Table: Elizabeth David, the Authorized Biography by Artemis Cooper (from Scones and Chaise Longues) -- I have already gotten this from the library and began reading it.
• The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors: The Story of Three Sisters by Juliet Barker (from Doing Dewey)
• The Barbizon by Paulina Bren and The Girl in White Gloves by Kerri Maher (a pairing from The Paperback Princess)
• The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (from Reading, Writing, Working, Playing) -- this work of fiction was paired with The Code Girls which I already read.
• Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (from The Thousand Book Project)
• Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark (from LisaNotes)
• The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made by Patricia O'Toole (recommended in a comment from Lory at Entering the Enchanted Castle)
• Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam (from The Book Stop)
• Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (from What's Nonfiction) -- essays from various people about eating/cooking for one
• A Libertarian Walks into a Bear by by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling (from What's Nonfiction and Plucked from the Stacks) -- both blogs featured it as stranger than fiction, but I've lived in NH long enough that I doubt I will find it that unlikely; I am interested in reading it. 

Be/Ask/Become the Expert

Week 3: (November 15-19) – Be/Ask/Become the Expert with Veronica at The Thousand Book Project: Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert). 

I can recommend these books on writing--which are also books about how to live a good life.

• Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers by Carolyn See
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

I have these titles related to World War I on my TBR list and want to read them as a "flight" one of these days:

• World War I: An Outline History by Hanson W. Baldwin
• The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
• Fiction of the First World War: A Study by George Parfitt
• The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Began by Jack Beatty 

What additional titles do you recommend on either of these topics?

Book Pairing

Week 2: (November 8-12) – Book Pairing  with Katie at Doing Dewey: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story. 

One of my favorite book pairing experiences has been to read the biography of a poet while reading along with the story in their complete works. If this idea appeals to you here are some possible pairings that I have read:

Jane Kenyon: A Literary Life by John H. Timmerman and Collected Poems by Jane Kenyon (I read her work as I read this biography, but I had to do it with her various books as the collected poems hadn't been published yet.)

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford and Collected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

And here are a couple biographies from my TBR list with poetry collections I have read:

Robert Frost: A Life by Jay Parini and The Poetry of Robert Frost

Carl Sandburg: A Biography by Penelope Niven and The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg 

My Year in Nonfiction

Week 1: (November 1-5) – Your Year in Nonfiction with Rennie at What’s Nonfiction: Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

So far this year I have read quite a bit (at least for me) of various types of non-fiction. The full list is included in my Nonfiction and Poetry 2021 post. I set it as a goal to read 10 works of NF this year and to date have read 33. This included essays (4 books); history (2); self-help/productivity (11); memoir/biography (5); books on writing (3); true-crime (2); poetry (2) and 4 that don't fit any of these categories. I made a conscious choice to read a lot of self-help books this year--I'm not a huge fan of these, but I did find some useful insights in most of the ones I read. 

I think my favorite NF book this year was Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Ward. It is a group biography of 5 women who all lived (at different times) in the same London square. They were all writers and scholars and their individual stories were interesting (I had only heard of some of them before reading the book) and their relationship to the neighborhood was a great way to link the lives together and show some London history as well. 

I have recommended The White Mountain by Dan Szczesny to several people. It is about New Hampshire's famous mountain and the various roles it plays (currently and historically) in the lives of people in the Granite State and beyond. 

I am looking forward to Nonfiction November as an opportunity to take stock of what I have read so far this year and consider what I might want to read next. 

Nonfiction November

I set it as a goal this year to try and read more nonfiction and have been successful with it. Nonfiction November seems like the perfect opportunity to reflect on how I did and where I want to go next. I heard about this on Gulfside Musing where there are links reposted for all the activities. Stay tuned for nonfiction fun coming soon!

NonFiction November - Week 5

The Week 5 topic is New to My TBR and is hosted by Katie @ Doing Dewey.

It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!

Added to my TBR list are the following:

• The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty (from Stacked Books)
• Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill and Days of Reading by Marcel Proust (from WordsandPeace)
• October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Miéville (from Brona's Books)

I missed week 4 -- must have been too focused on pie or something.

Nonfiction November - Week 3

The Week 3 topic is Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert and is hosted by Julie @ JulzReads.

Three ways to join in this week! You can either share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).

I decided to "be the expert" and share a list of excellent books about food.

• Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell. I loved this book! It is the true story of how a young woman decided to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. In a tiny NYC apartment. It is touching, inspiring, and hilarious.
• Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time by Adrian Miller. This book won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award (Reference and Scholarship). There is a lot of food history, and American history, packed into this very readable book.
• Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer by William Knoedelseder. This book was a combination of business analysis, brewing history, pop culture retrospective, and gossip column. It worked. The Busch family was, for the most part a train wreck in their personal lives and how that intersected with running one of the worlds largest and most successful companies is a fascinating tale.

Nonfiction November - Week 2

The week 2 topic is Your Year in Fiction / Nonfiction Book Pairing hosted at Sarah's Book Shelves. 

This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.

The Extra Woman by Joanna Scutts pairs very nicely with the novel Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney. The first one is about a time and place in American history where women had options that closed to them later on. The second is the story of a woman (based on a real person mentioned in the first book) looking back on her life.  

Nonfiction November - Week 1

Nonfiction November — hosted this year by Julie (JulzReads), Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves), Katie (Doing Dewey), Rennie (What’s Nonfiction) — is a month-long celebration of everything nonfiction. Each week, there is a different prompt and a different host looking at different ideas about reading and loving nonfiction.

The week 1 topic (I am a bit behind) is Your Year in Nonfiction hosted by Kim @ Sophisticated Dorkiness.

Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

My non-fiction reading this year (25 books not including poetry) has been a mixed bag in terms of topics: some history, some biography, some social science (think Freakonomics), some craft/decorating books, a bit of literary criticism and one true crime.  I liked most of them but I think my favorite was Reckless Daughter, a biography of Joni Mitchell. I'm looking forward to participating in Nonfiction November as a chance to consider what I have already read and what NF I might want to read next.