Nonfiction November Week 1: Year in Nonfiction

I’m so excited to participate in Nonfiction November once again, especially after a light reading year and one in which I’ve read more fiction than nonfiction. It’s taken a bit more thought to do each of the prompts this time around, but I had a lot of fun coming up with some great nonfiction titles to share!

Week 1: (November 1-5) – Your Year in Nonfiction with Rennie at What’s Nonfiction

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?  

What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?

You could pick any random post on my blog and the odds of me mentioning Anthony Bourdain are probably a solid 50/50. I, like many of his fans, have been searching for closure since his unexpected death in June 2018. When I was given the advance copy of Bourdain, I read it hungrily, searching each page for insights from those who knew him best about what led to his death. This book has everything I wanted and omits everything I didn’t want and makes me feel like we can finally say good bye.

Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?

It’s been a piratical year for me. I’ve felt more drawn to rebellion and chaos as the pandemic has dragged on and on and the idea of running away to set up my own egalitarian socialist pirate colony is sounding more and more appealing by the day. I’ve read a half dozen pirate books and articles this year and I hunger for more good pirate fiction to accompany them.

What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?

This is always a hard one to answer each year, to think back on everything I’ve recommended at the store and in person. However, this year Jenny Lawson released her latest memoir so thankfully I didn’t have to think too hard! If you haven’t read anything by Jenny before, I highly recommend starting with Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and follow it up with Furiously Happy before reading Broken. A few of my coworkers had never read her books before and given that a few of them suffer from depression, I had them reading all three this year.

What are you hoping to get out of Nonfiction November?

This year? I’m not quite sure. I think I’m looking for some inspiration to get back into reading more nonfiction after a pretty heavy year of fiction reading for me and a light year of reading overall. So hopefully I’ll see a huge number of books that I wind up wanting to add to my TBR by the end of the month!