My Year in Nonfiction 2023
Welcome to Nonfiction November 2023! I’m eager to participate again this year, and I want to give a shout-out to our hosts:
- Heather – Based on a True Story
- Frances – Volatile Rune
- Liz – Adventures in reading, running and working from home
- Rebekah – She Seeks Nonfiction
- Lisa – Hopewell’s Public Library of Life
During the month of November, you will notice one nonfiction-focused post each week.
Weekly Topics:
(Join us?)
Week 1: (October 30-November 3) – Your Year in Nonfiction with Heather @ Based on a True Story
Week 2: (November 6-November10) – Choosing Nonfiction with Frances @ Volatile Rune
Week 3: (November 13-17) –Book Pairings with Liz @ Adventures in reading, running and working from home
Week 4: (November 20-24) – Worldview Shapers with Rebekah @ She Seeks Nonfiction
Week 5: (November 27-December 1) — New to My TBR with Lisa @ Hopewell’s Public Library of Life
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
My Year in Nonfiction: Nov 2022-Nov 2023
Nonfiction November is an opportunity to reflect on the year, to celebrate and appreciate nonfiction, and to share recommendations.
I read 15 nonfiction this year which is ONE MORE nonfiction than last year, so that’s a personal win!
What is your favorite category of nonfiction?
I love narrative nonfiction (followed closely by thought-provoking memoirs).
Narrative Nonfiction is “Nonfiction that uses novelistic devices and strategies to shape the work. That’s material that I really like.”
~Rick Moody
From November 1 to November 1
For this post, I am counting my nonfiction reads from the beginning of November 2022 because those nonfiction reads were not represented in last year’s post. So my nonfiction year will be from November 1 to November 1!
Please join me for Nonfiction November 2023!
Today’s host is Heather @ Based on a True Story
My Year in NonFiction:
***Book titles are Amazon affiliate links or links to my blog reviews
Memoir
America: A Redemption Story: Choosing Hope, Creating Unity by Tim Scott
How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South by Esau McCaulley
Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham
Finding Me by Viola Davis
All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore
Essay
The Life Council: 10 Friends Everyone Needs by Laura Tremaine
Please Grow: Lessons on Thriving For Plants (and People) by Alex Testere
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World by Gretchen Rubin
A Guide to Midwestern Conversation by Taylor Kay Phillips
Biography
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
Self-Help, Self-Reflection
Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connections and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown
You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters by Kate Murphy
Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova
Science
Answering Heather’s Prompt Questions For My Year in Nonfiction:
- What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?
This is a difficult choice because I enjoyed several for different reasons this year. I especially loved And There Was Light, Remember, How Far to the Promised Land, Atlas of the Heart, You’re Not Listening, and Finding Me. (Life Council and Midwestern Conversation were the most disappointing and I was tempted to DNF but ended up skimming) - What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?
The nonfiction I’ve recommended most includes my favorites as listed in question #1. - Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?
Not really….I’m an incorrigible mood reader (even in nonfiction), but obviously I’m always attracted to thoughtful memoirs and biographies. This year’s favorite memoir is Finding Me. - What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
I’m eager to read posts from other bloggers and add inspiring nonfiction titles to my 2024 TBR!
QOTD
I would love to hear all about your favorite nonfiction reads in the comments! If you could recommend ONE NF title for me, what would you recommend?
If you are participating in #NonficNov, please leave a link to your post in the comments.
Happy Reading Book Friends!
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
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I’m hoping to take part in Non Fiction November too. I’ve just got to find time to create the posts!!! I enjoyed seeing your choices for this year.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you join in!
I wasn’t going to join in this year Carol, but you’ve inspired me to to do it!
Yay! 🙌
I read part of A Guide to Midwestern Conversation. It was way too relatable.
I love the part about the Midwest goodbye!
Thanks so much for joining in Carol. You’ve read some amazing books. Brave the Wild River sounds interesting. There are so many untold stories of women who did things before the guys that are only now beginning to emerge. We owe a great debt to the people who uncover these stories.
Yes, I love these untold stories!
Hi, Carol – Along with the Classics, Non-Fiction is my favourite genre for reading. If I didn’t have my book clubs to keep me in balance, I would read even more non-fiction than I currently have. Starting from November 1, 2022 to today, here are the nonfiction books that I have read.
Mockingbird Songs, My Friendship with Harper Lee, Wayne Flynt
Remember by Lisa Genova
The Miracle and the Message, 100 Years of Fatima, John C. Press
How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell
Pandemic Urbanism, S. Harris Ali, Creighton Connolly, Roger Keil
Chat GPT for Boomers, Colin Pickering
A Year of Living Kindly, Donna Cameron
Bourdain, The Definitive Oral Biography, Laurie Woolever
Stock Investing for Beginners, Megan Read
100 Facts about Traditions and Christmas Around the World,Eva Logerty
One Sip at a Time, Learning to Live in Provence, Keith Van Sickle
The Book of Hope, Jane Goodall
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry
If you include reading cookbooks from cover to cover as a nonfiction category, then I have read even move! 😀
Wow! We have Remember in common! There’s an endless supply of excellent nonfiction! Thanks for sharing!
I love narrative non-fiction too. I just finished one that I can’t stop thinking about. EMPTY MANSIONS by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr., is about the making of a huge fortune in 1800s America and the spending of it by an eccentric heiress over the course of her 105 years of life. It’s a super interesting exploration of wealth – how it’s made, how it’s used, how it influences people for good or ill, etc.
Good luck with your nonfiction reading!
Thanks for the rec! I’ll check it out!
Who knew that two women mapped out the Grand Canyon? Not this naturalist! Thanks for sharing your nonfiction reads this year.
It’s a fascinating untold story!
Those look like some interesting books. I have “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” on my TBR pile, maybe I should get to that next year.
My Year in Nonfiction.
It is interesting but also very academic! Maybe I should have read the YA version!
Hahaha! Is there one? Might be a good idea.
I think there is!
[…] Link to (what I hope is) the host for this month’s celebration of reading nonfiction! […]
Thanks for the shoutout! I’m simply a happy participant!
Hello, I’ve been away from blogging and am attempting to jump back in. Nice to meet you! Thank you for hosting this. It’s always a favorite time of the year. (I sent a gr friend request, if that’s OK. FYI)
Welcome back to blogging! I followed you back on GR!
[…] Link to the host for this month’s celebration of reading nonfiction: […]
Great list of books, Carol. I read more memoirs this year than any other, but really dropped the ball with nonfiction reading this year. I want to get back to it, I have a lot of books on my shelf that are nonfiction. I know I added a few of these to my list back when you reviewed them.
Thanks Carla. Some years I do better than others! My goal is 20/year but I have to push myself because I’ve never hit it!
[…] Link to the host for this month’s celebration of reading nonfiction: […]
[…] Week 1: (October 30-November 3) – Your Year in Nonfiction with Heather @ Based on a True Story Here’s “My Year in Nonfiction” post. […]
I’m trying to play catch-up on blog reading tonight. Didn’t realize how far behind I was! It’s sort of like my TBR and the six books that are due at the library on Monday. I think my favorite nonfiction book today is The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, by Peter Frankopan. Of course, if you ask me again tomorrow I’ll probably think of a different book.
I can relate! My favorites are fluid!
[…] Link to the host for this month’s celebration of reading nonfiction: […]