Kim, at Sophisticated Dorkiness, is once again hosting Nonfiction November. I'm so excited about it, in fact, that I set Margaret Atwood aside for now.
For week one, Kim is asking that we take a look back at our year of nonfiction so far. This is going to be a little embarrassing for me, not having read nearly as much nonfiction as I wish I had. But...here goes.
What Is Your Favorite Nonfiction Book of the Year?
This one's kind of a tie - for making me laugh uproariously, it would have to be Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened; for teaching me and scaring me at the same time it would be Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness by Susan Catalan.
I'd have to be cautious about recommending either of the above. You can't be too sensitive and appreciate Lawson. On the other hand, you have to be good with going into medical details for Cahalan. So it might well end up being Extra Virgin because you can never go wrong with recommending a fish-out-of-water, stranger-in-a-new-land book.
What Is One Topic or Type of Nonfiction You Haven't Read Enough Of Yet?
Hmmm. I don't know that I have one topic or type that I would want to focus more on. I've got a wide interest in terms of nonfiction. I'd be tempted to say it would be easier for me to give a topic that I'm not interested in, like economics. But then I do enjoy the "Freakonomics" podcast so I'm bound to read about economics before long. Or political biographies. But then there are a lot of political historical figures I'm interested in reading about. Maybe I could narrow that down to current political biographies. Because I have no interest in reading the approved version of some candidate's life and philosophy nor the salacious version.
What Are You Hoping To Get Out of Participating In Nonfiction November?
I'm hoping to double the number of nonfiction books I've read this year. There are so, so many of them I want to read!
Are you a nonfiction reader? What's your all-time favorite nonfiction book?
Honestly, I don't read many nonfiction books. Kudos to you. But I supposed if I read them more, I'd stick with memoirs. One book I loved was Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki. When I had read Memoir of a Geisha, I was so surprised it was historical fiction as I thought it was a biography. I felt a bit let down and then I found Mineko's book. It was so interesting. I also liked Eat, Pray, Love as Elizabeth went on a journey to find her true self and happiness. Chef Marcus Samuelsson's memoir was really good; it was raw in some places and he kept it very real.
ReplyDeleteI really like nonfiction but don't think I've read all that much this year. I'm looking forward to all the Nonfiction November reviews so I can get some great ideas! Extra Virgin sounds interesting and I love Jenny Lawson! I'm looking forward to starting her new book soon!
ReplyDeleteBrain on Fire was such a scary book to read! Totally fascinating -- I love the idea of reconstructing the time she can't remember -- but also pretty scary thinking about how easy it is for us to get sick.
ReplyDeleteMy boo club discussed Brain on Fire last year and it was a great discussion...which ended in a bunch of women drinking lots of wine b/c we became instant hypochondriacs!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Let's Pretend This Never Happened. I look forward to listening to Lawson's next book.
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