Nonfiction November is a month-log blogging and reading event hosted by some excellent nonfiction book bloggers: Heather @Based on a True Story, Frances @Voltatile Rune, Liz @Adventures in reading, running and working from home, Rebekah @She Seeks Nonfiction and Deb @Readerbuzz. Each week a different host provides a blogging prompt and will post a linky so everyone can go and read each other’s posts!
There’s still time to join if you’re interested, so here’s a link to Liz’s announcement page where you can find all the information you need.
The first week’s topic is “Your Year in Nonfiction” and is hosted by Heather @Based on a True Story. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
What books have you read (this year)? What were your favourites? Have you had a favourite topic?
I have finished four nonfiction books so far this year. Emphasis on the “finished”, as I have read bits of many more nonfiction books (doing a master’s degree tends to do that to you). Because I’m yet to actually finish any of the books I’ve been reading related to my degree (that will probably come later when I’m deeper in dissertation writing), there is actually a pretty huge gap between the types of nonfiction books I’ve finished and the types of nonfiction books I’m dipping in and out of.
As for books that I’ve finished, two of them are science/medicine books with a side of social science/activism. Eve is about evolution but also feminism, and Everything is Tuberculosis is about, well, tuberculosis, but the emphasis is especially on issues of social justice preventing access to cures for the disease.
The other two books are completely different – Wintering is part-memoir, part-self help, whilst The Pink Book is a collection of largely unrelated musings and factoids about the colour pink.
Of the four, all got four stars except for The Pink Book, which only got 3 and wasn’t quite as compelling.
The kind of books I’m reading for my master’s degree are mostly history books about premodern women’s lives and writings in China and Korea, or classic nonfiction texts from this time period, including philosophical works, memoirs etc.
There are also a couple of non-fiction books I have on the go at the moment (apart from uni books) and will probably finish soon.
An Apology for Idlers is a classic, a collection of essays by Robert Louis Stevenson (or Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde fame). The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down is essentially a collection of life lessons from a Zen Buddhist monk. I’m currently listening to it in German and enjoying it more as language practice than as a book itself, but oh well. Finally, Save the Cat! Writes A Novel is (as I’m sure many of you know) a novel about creative writing and outlining.
Is there a topic you want to read about more?
I’d like to actually finish some history books at some point instead of just reading random chapters. I’d also quite like to read a wider variety of science books. I quite enjoy reading about space but I haven’t in a while, so I think I should pick up a book about astronomy sometime soon. Kind of weird that I’m very much a humanities student but also really enjoy reading science books – popular science though, the stuff for those of us who didn’t fully grasp advanced mathematics hehe.
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
I’m hoping to find some new blogs to follow and give myself a good excuse to actually finish some nonfiction books this month despite having a crazy busy schedule with uni and work. If it gives me blog ideas then, well, that’s just a bonus.
Are you participating in Nonfiction November? Do you enjoy reading nonfiction? Give me some nonfiction recommendations below!
Keira x
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