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!
I didn’t get around to participating in week 2 and week 3 is at least a day late, but I really don’t want to give up on posting these entirely, so here we go! Week 3’s theme was “book pairings”, hosted by Liz @Adventures in reading, running and working from home.
I will be recommending nonfiction books to read if you like certain types of fiction. For some of these I’ve picked out specific fiction books, but generally they’re more like “if you like this fiction category, try this nonfiction book”-type recommendations!
- If you like healing books…
- If you like books about gender…
- If you like books about language…
- If you like books about war…
- If you like historical fiction set in Korea…
- If you like East Asian fantasy…
- If you like books about the impact of class…
If you like healing books…
If you like “healing books” or “cozy books” you could try Wintering by Katherine May.
Some books that spring to mind are the Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers, or The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Hoyeon, but cozy fantasy books or similar readers might also enjoy this book. It’s a sort of cross between a memoir and a self-help book, a combination which helped me enjoy it much more than I usually enjoy self-help books (not at all), and it’s perfect for this time of year. It’s all about learning not to shut out negative emotions but instead notice when they’re becoming stronger and preparing to go through the emotional winters they bring on.
If you like books about gender…
If you like books that deal with gender inequality, whether that be something more literary like Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Namjoo and Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi or a historical fiction or fantasy novel where gender discrimination is a significant part of the worldbuilding, you might like some of these nonfiction books that highlight how gender inequality has impacted our science and attempts to reverse that effect.
If you’re more interested in looking at the contemporary issues caused by gender inequality, I recommend Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez.
If you’re more interested in finding fault in the “science” used to “prove” male superiority over women and finding out more about how women’s bodies work and evolved, I recommend Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon.
If you like books about language…
If you’re interested in books about language in society, you might like some of these nonfiction books about language.
I can think of two main types of books here – one would be contemporary, literary fiction, or even fantasy books (Babel!) exploring the impact of language barriers or the relationship between immigrants/children of immigrants and language.
The other type would be sci-fi or fantasy books where language is an important part of the worldbuilding system or interesting things are done with the language. A quick example that comes to mind is The Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie.
You might want to check out The Magical Language of Others by E. J. Koh, a memoir about a Korean American woman discovering letters from her mother, written in Korean. Translating them, she learns about her history and the history of women in her family and comes closer to understanding the mother she felt abandoned by when her parents returned to Korea, leaving her alone with her bother in America, aged 15.
Alternatively, you might be interested in The Art of Language Invention by David J Peterson, which looks into how fictional languages are created, especially for books and TV.
If you like books about war…
If you enjoy (or think it’s important to) read books about war and especially the horrors it causes, then you might want to check out some nonfiction about wars as well.
How War Begins: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Invasion is a graphic novel by Igort, published in 2022, based on information and letters coming from those feeling the wrath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
If you like historical fiction set in Korea…
If you like reading historical fiction set in Korea, such as the works of June Hur, then I recommend checking out some nonfiction about Korea as well.
An obvious one would be a short introduction to Korean history, like A History of Korea by Kyung Moon Hwang, which is less than 250 pages (not including the bibliography).
If reading history books is not for your though, fear not! Why not read some translated nonfiction work written by Korean women in the time periods you’re reading about! You could check out The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong – especially if you liked June Hur’s The Red Palace or the Kdrama The Red Sleeve. If you’re looking for something a little shorter (and free!) check out Classical Writings of Korean Women for 19th Century travel writing and a couple of shorter pieces.
If you like East Asian fantasy…
If you like East Asian (or South East Asian) fantasy books like the works of Sue Lynn Tan, Axie Oh or Wesley Chu (and many, many more), you might like nonfiction books about the myths and folklore that likely inspired these stories.
The Other World is a stunning book featuring the artwork of many East and South East Asian artists that have been inspired by Asian myths and folklore, including some little explanations and interviews with some of the authors. Highly, highly recommend!
If you like books about the impact of class…
If you like books about the impact of class and/or colonialism such as At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop or Saha by Cho Namjoo, then you might like to read some nonfiction books about it as well.
If you’re interested in the effects of colonialism, global politics and class on medicine, then I highly recommend John Green’s Everything is Tuberculosis.
If you’re interested in how someone of relative privilege thought about things like poverty, class, colonialism and socialism in the early to mid-20th Century (or if you liked Animal Farm or 1984), then I highly recommend checking out a collection of George Orwell’s essays. I’m quite partial to Shooting an Elephant, but any decent size collection should include some of his writings on these topics.
Did any of these peak your interest? Let me know and give me your own recommendations down below!
I will be checking out some of the posts that Liz has linked, but if you did your own post for this topic, feel free to link it the comments below so that I definitely see it!
Keira x
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