Guys. Guys! We had 54 posts linked up for our first week of Nonfiction November. That is just so cool. I love that there are so many people jazzed about talking about nonfiction. Thank you!
One of the common themes I saw among the posts is that people didn’t feel like they were reading enough nonfiction. While I obviously I think it’s great that people want to incorporate more nonfiction into their reading lives, I also think it’s important not to feel bad about what we do or don’t read. Pay attention to what you’re consuming, but don’t let it make you feel inadequate, ok? </rant>
Your Year in Nonfiction
Trying to recap all of those posts got out of control fast, so I decided to pull one book from each post to share, either a favorite read or a book that was frequently recommended (while trying to avoid repeats). Yes, reading this will make your TBR explode. For more information, click the link for each name that goes back to the full post. I apologize in advance if I missed anyone (and for not commenting on every post – I’m coming back this weekend)!
- The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison – Amy (Amy Reads)
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand – Amanda (Gun in Act One)
- I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai – Amelia (Little Thoughts About Books)
- Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty – Andi (Estella’s Revenge)
- Sweet Tooth: A Memoir by Tim Anderson – Becca (I’m Lost in Books)
- The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson — Becky (Becky’s Book Reviews)
- Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand – Beth (Too Fond)
- Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck – Bex (An Armchair By the Sea)
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – Caro (A Girl That Likes Books)
- Open by Andre Agassi – Carrie (Other Womens Stories)
- Thirteen Days in September by Lawrence Wright – Christina (The Ardent Reader)
- An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield– CJ (ebookclassics)
- And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts – Debi (Talking to Myself)
- Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel – Elizabeth (the dirigible plum)
- Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer – Ellie (Book Addicted Blonde)
- The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough – Heather (Based on a True Story)
- Quiet by Susan Cain – Heather (Capricious Reader)
- Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Human Mind by Margalit Fox – hillarypat (ahorseandacarrot)
- Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine – Iris (Iris on Books)
- The Game Plan by Bill Polian – Jay (Bibliophilopolis)
- An Age of License by Lucy Knisley – Jancee (Jancee Reads)
- Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman – JaneGS (Reading, Writing, Working, Playing)
- Five Days of Memorial by Sheri Fink – Jennifer (The Leaning Stack of Books) and Florinda (The 3Rs Blog)
- Mao’s Great Famine by Frank Dikötter – Jennifer (The Relentless Reader)
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby – Julz (Julz Reads)
- The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown – JoAnn (Lakeside Musing)
- Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson – Katherine (Writerly Reader)
- Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff – Kelly (The Well-Read Redhead)
- Packing for Mars by Mary Roach – Leah (Books Speak Volumes)
- Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim – Leila (Readers’ Oasis)
- Things I’ve Learned from Dying by David R. Dow – Lu (Regular Rumination)
- Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney – Melissa (Feminist Texan Reads)
- Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart — Melissa (Melissa Firman)
- Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch — Melissa (Avid Reader’s Musings)
- Violins of Hope by James A. Grymes – Monika (A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall)
- The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown – Musings from a Bookmammal
- Relish by Lucy Knisley – Napur (One Hot Stove) and Trish (Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity)
- Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott – Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves)
- Undress Me in the Temple of Heavenby Susan Jane Gilman – Savvy Working Girl
- The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone, 1932-40 by William R. Manchester — Semicolon
- Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed – Shannon (River City Reading) and Holly (Gun in Act One)
- Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky – Sharlene (Olduvai Reads)
- The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue by David Sax – Sophie (Paper Breathers)
- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson – Stefani (Keep it Wordy)
- The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr – Travis (Head Subhead)
- Born to Run by Christopher McDougall – TJ (My Book Strings)
- Pilgrim’s Wilderness by Tom Kizzia – Trisha (eclectic/eccentric)
- Is That a Fish in Your Ear? by David Bellos – Wendy (Wensend)
Reviews
We also had several people link up reviews they posted this week:
- The Life of I: The New Culture of Narcissism by Anne Manne – Brona’s Books
- Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott – Sarah’s Book Shelves
- Cannibal by Lois Jones – Julz Reads
- Glimpsing Heaven by Judy Bachrach – Julz Reads
- First Family Detail by Ronald Kessler – Sarah’s Book Shelves
- Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer – An Armchair By The Sea
- Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? – Sophisticated Dorkiness
- The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka — Brona’s Books
- The Collapse by Mary Elise Sarotte — My Book Strings
- French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano — Word Evidence of the Fact
- Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley — Confessions of a Book Hoarder
Programming Notes
- NEW STUFF: Bex (An Armchair By the Sea) contacted us and asked if we were cool with her organizing a nonfiction book swap in conjunction with Nonfiction November. It sounded really fun, so check out that post for more information.
- Our readalong posts for The Restless Sleep and Cleopatra: A Life will go up on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Follow this link to find out more about the readalongs.
- If you’re talking about Nonfiction November on Twitter, please use the hashtag #nonficnov. The Twitter conversations this week have been really awesome.
- A big shout out to my co-hosts: Leslie (Regular Rumination), Katie (Doing Dewey) and Rebecca (I’m Lost In Books). Leslie will be your host next week when our topic is “Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert.”
Finally, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your enthusiasm this week. It’s been really been really amazing, and I just expect it to keep getting better.
Comments on this entry are closed.
I’ve loved reading all the posts so far!
This week has been awesome and I agree the twittersations have been lots of fun. Thank you SO much for your hard work in putting together this wrap-up. My list IS exploding (love it!).
Thank you! I added quite a few of these books to my list this week too.
Hi there! I heard about Nonfiction November and came over to your site because I was very curious to see what that was all about… lo and behold, you’re a fellow Minnesotan! I’m originally from Chicago but moved up to Minneapolis this summer for work. Not looking forward to my first Minnesota winter, but at least I’ll have an excuse to stay indoors and read some more nonfiction books! 🙂
Welcome to Minnesota — it looks like our Minnesota winter is arriving sooner than many of us expected (or are ready to deal with)! I do find all sorts of extra time to read when there’s no point in leaving the house though 🙂
Thanks for this very helpful post round-up. I can’t wait to add even more books to my list!
Thanks for mentioning the swap 🙂 and for the awesome list of books! So many have been added to my wishlist already and I’m so excited about all the nonfiction I’m reading. Such a great event and this week’s been so fun, thanks for hosting!
I love having a constant little #nonficnov stream up in my TweetDeck, it’s made the past week pretty great. Thanks for all the work of putting everything together – so many great recommendations!
I’ve got a separate stream in Hootsuite too. It’s fun to check in throughout the day to see the posts and conversations that are happening.
I’ve loved reading everyone’s posts this week. My wish list is OUT OF CONTROL, lol.
What a great resource list! Thanks for taking the time to compile it!
I am definitely adding to my to-read list. Thank heavens Christmas is coming.
Wow, that is quite a list. Thank you for putting it all together. I have a battle going on right now between my shoulder angel/devil.
Don’t look at the list right now. Wait until after Nov and you can spread out your reading.
Don’t listen to her, read all the books.
You can’t read all the books and you have a hefty list already. Be sensible.
Sensible? Ha! Sensible is for sissies. Read all the books.
“Sensible is for sissies” should be the book nerds motto 🙂
Thanks for the wrap-up post and the rant, Kim! 🙂 I love the variety in books read by nonfiction readers and bloggers, and it’s great to see the nonfiction community come together for this event.
Wow, what a list! I’ve been slowly making the rounds through the 50+ posts linked up and my to-read list is growing and growing. So many great recommendations and we haven’t even gotten to the Be the Expert section yet!
Thank you to you and your co-hosts for organizing this event!
Such a great week! I’ve just gotten back from travelling and have been a bit jet lagged, so I’m hoping to jump into reviewing nonfiction more next week 🙂
It looks like a great list you’ve posted. For my book club, I need to read “Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil” this month. So I’ll link the review when I get done. thanks for hosting this
That sound so interesting! I can’t wait to hear about it.
Excellent list! I wasn’t sure if I should link review posts in the main link sign-up posts? Yea/nay? I’ve got a few reviews scheduled for this month. I want to do it correctly.
Yep, you can just link them with the weekly post — that always seems like the simplest thing to do.
Such a great round-up list. I discovered so many new books for my TBR. I can’t believe you made it through all of the posts and had to cover the elections too. Great job. Also love that you are doing this again. I am having so much fun. It isn’t often I get to talk about nonfiction.