Nonfiction November

We've reached week five of Nonfiction November and I'm sharing the books I've added to my TBR. The OC BookGirl asks "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 month got busy so I haven't made the rounds as much as I would have liked but I did add several books. Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Town by Lamorna Ash, recommended by Erin at Cracker Crumb Life The Whale in the Living Room: A Wildlife Documentary Maker's Unique View of the Sea by John Ruthven, recommended by ShelleyRae at Book'd Out Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong by Paul Offit (and lots of other interesting title by this author), recommended by Rennie at What's Nonfiction Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt, recommended by Rennie at What's Nonfiction World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, recommended by Erin at Cracker Crumb Life The Ventriloquists by E.R. Ramzipoor, recommended by Katie at Doing Dewey (This title is fiction but Katie shared it as part of a fiction/nonfiction pairing so I'm including it here) Raoul Wallenberg: The Heroic Life and Mysterious Disappearance of the Man Who Saved Thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust by Ingrid Carlberg, recommended by Katie at Doing Dewey (paired with the fictional title above) Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helen Merriman, recommended by Rennie at What's Nonfiction and JulzReads The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage by…

Welcome to Nonfiction November! Our hosts–Rennie at What’s Nonfiction?, Katie at Doing Dewey, Veronica at The Thousand Book Project, Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks, and Jaymi at The OC Book Girl–have five weeks of fun topics for us to explore. I'm writing about women in history for Veronica's prompt: "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'm not a real expert by any means, but these are books I've read and recommend about women in history. Some are major figures, some are more obscure, but they're all fascinating. I incidentally listed three titles in last week's fiction/nonfiction pairings that would work for this topic too but I decided not to write about them two weeks in a row. I haven't written reviews for many of these books but I do recommend them all. Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall, illustrated by A. D’Amico The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott Adventures in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Lucy Bird (There is some problematic language/views about Native Americans in this memoir, first published in 1879. I decided to include it because Mrs. Bird was a pioneer in travel and exploration, ultimately becoming the first woman allowed to join the Royal Geographic Society.) Ada Blackjack: A True Story…

Welcome to Nonfiction November! Our hosts–Rennie at What’s Nonfiction?, Katie at Doing Dewey, Veronica at The Thousand Book Project, Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks, and Jaymi at The OC Book Girl–have five weeks of fun topics for us to explore. This week, we're pairing nonfiction and fiction books. "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." Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen and Hawaii I love Hawaii so books about the state catch my eye. Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen was written by Liliuokalani. She wrote in defense of maintaining her kingdom's sovereignty in 1898. Because she was writing for her contemporaries, she doesn't necessarily fully explain incidents. Why would she? They were aware of current events. I would have been a bit lost if I hadn't read James Michener's Hawaii several years ago. I felt that this chunkster of a novel read like nonfiction but I don't know how accurate it actually is. Still, it did serve to fill gaps in my knowledge as I read Liliuokalani's plea. Last Witnesses and City of Thieves I haven't reviewed Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich yet but it's a powerful book detailing the memories of Soviet people who were children during World War II. Most of the interviewees were living in the Soviet cities the Germans initially invaded but several survived the siege of Leningrad, which is the background for City of Thieves by David Benioff. Lev, the main character, is only seventeen himself so these two complement each other well. Code Girls and Gone to Soldiers The women in Code…

Welcome to Nonfiction November! Our hosts--Rennie at What's Nonfiction?, Katie at Doing Dewey, Veronica at The Thousand Book Project, Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks, and Jaymi at The OC Book Girl--have five weeks of fun topics for us to explore. This week I'm writing about my year in nonfiction. I participated in this event for the first time last year and I had a blast! I added a huge number of books to my TBR that I probably wouldn't have found otherwise, met lots of new bloggers, and received a lot of personal recommendations! If you ever read nonfiction, or even if you don't but kind of wish you did, I hope you'll join in or at least follow along! To start us off, Rennie at What's Nonfiction? invites us to reflect on our year of nonfiction reading. "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?" I've read 34 nonfiction books since November 1, 2020. I'm shocked! I knew I'd been reading more nonfiction but didn't realize how very much more. For comparison, I only read eleven last year! I've come a long way from when I first started blogging in 2009 and thought nonfiction was boring! Favorite Nonfiction I rarely give out 5-star ratings so Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward is the only book to have that honor this year. What a powerful, beautifully-written memoir of grief, loss, racism, and poverty. Focus Topic Links either go to my review or GoodReads I’m a mood reader so I don't consciously…

For this week's Nonfiction November prompt, Rennie at What's Nonfiction invites us to Be the Expert, Ask the Expert, or Become the Expert. 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). Ask the expert I read In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides about five years ago and loved it. It's about George de Long's effort to sail through the Bering Strait and all the way up to the North Pole in 1879. The optimism and confidence as the ship set sail and then the unimaginable hardship as things inevitably went wrong riveted me to the pages. I've been looking for more books about explorers, either famous or mostly lost to history, ever since. I even created a list on GoodReads, Nonfiction Geographical Exploration and Discovery, and hoped people would add new books to it. There have only been a few additions so I'm still searching for recommendations. For reference, I'll mention that I've also read Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose and found it slow going. Can you recommend any exciting nonfiction books about geographical explorers and their expeditions? Be sure to stop by What's Nonfiction to read other answers and link your own post! I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no…

This week for Nonfiction November, Julie at Julz Reads prompts us to create nonfiction and fiction book pairings: 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. I have several ideas for this post but after my nearly four-year blogging break, I haven't reviewed all the books that come to mind! Oh well. My explanations here will have to do for some of these choices. Space My first pairing is The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport (link to my brief review on GoodReads) and The Last Astronaut by David Wellington. I'm currently listening to The Last Astronaut and I'm glad I've already read The Space Barons. I don't keep up with a lot of space news so the nonfiction book filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. The Last Astronaut is a bit of a competition in the near future between NASA and KSpace, a private company that feels like a stand-in for SpaceX. While The Space Barons touts the benefits of privatized space exploration--accountability to share holders and competition should keep costs down and drive faster innovations--The Last Astronaut has me questioning what would happen if a private company was the first to make contact with alien life? It's an interesting question to me. Refugees of War/Violent Conflict The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland (Link to my review) and Little Bee by Chris Cleave--The Bite of the Mango relates Mariatu's appalling experiences at the hands of…

Katie at Doing Dewey, Leann at Shelf Aware, Julie at Julz Reads, and Rennie at What's Nonfiction are co-hosting Nonfiction November. This is my first time joining in! This week's discussion prompt, hosted at Shelf Aware is: Take a look back at your year in 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 general goal is to read one nonfiction book a month and I've read eleven so far this year. Well, I'm 85% finished with Hole in the Sky, but I'm counting it. I think I've done pretty well. Favorite: My favorite nonfiction book of the year (so far) is Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright. Jessica at Book Ouroboros recommended it to me and I was honestly shocked by how much I enjoyed it. I haven't reviewed it yet, but Wright's humor and insight had me riveted to the pages. Look at this quote, located only 1% in: Because when plagues erupt, some people behave amazingly well. They minimize the level of death and destruction around them. They are kind. They are courageous. They showcase the best of our nature. Other people behave like superstitious lunatics and add to the death toll. I mean, really. Can anyone sum up 2020 better than that? And Wright published this in 2017. I guess there really is nothing new under the sun and we do repeat history that we've conveniently forgotten. Topic That Appealed to Me: In glancing through these titles, I can make a case that history has…