Well, this has come quickly! It’s Nonfiction November everyone! Today we have our first prompt, hosted by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness, so you can hop over to her blog to check out other responses.
Your Year in 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?
I have a had a great year for nonfiction, which has made up more than half of my reading so far. I’m excited to keep that going with Nonfiction November.
What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?
Always a tough one! In fact, I’m going to give you five favorites 🙂
- The Dinosaur Artist – people stealing dinosaurs
- Black Ink – a history of black literature
- I’ll Be Gone in the Dark – the story of the Golden State Killer
- Bad Blood – deception by a medical start-up
- In Praise of Difficult Women – vignettes about a diverse collection of women who inspire the author
Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?
I’ve been a little more into true crime this year then previously. I’ve also just started reading through the National Book Award short list and these are longer books on weightier topics that what I usually pick up.
What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?
Definitely Bad Blood. This story about the startup Theranos and how they deceived people into believing their blood test worked for almost a decade reads like a thriller. It was so good! It’s also relevant to a lot of people I know, since I work in biotech in the Bay Area.
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
I always love talking to people about nonfiction and discovering fellow nonfiction lovers. I’m also particularly looking forward to the Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert prompt. I have a few topics I’m interested in starting reading about and I’d like to use this prompt to put together my own to-read list and to ask for your suggestions.
That’s all I’ve got for you today! Now head over to Kim’s to hear what other Nonfiction November participants have to say 🙂
Emma
Bad Blood does sound interesting. Here is my post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/10/29/nonfiction-november-my-year-2018-in-nonfiction/
DoingDewey
It was so good! Thanks for sharing 🙂
whatsnonfiction
I’ll be Gone in the Dark and Bad Blood are among my favorites this year too! I think I’m going to try the Dinosaur Artist soon too.
DoingDewey
Awesome! It seems like our tastes are pretty similar, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I did 🙂
iliana
Thank you for hosting another year! Really looking forward to this.
DoingDewey
Thanks for joining in! I’m excited too!
Angela
I feel like I’m the only person who hasn’t read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark yet!
DoingDewey
It does seem to be getting rave reviews! I’m sure it’s not just you though and there are certainly some hyped books I’ve not picked up – Educated comes to mind.
Sarah's Book Shelves
I just listened to Bad Blood on audio..what a crazy story! And I’d love to get a psych diagnosis for Elizabeth Holmes.
DoingDewey
It was really unbelievable! I was just commenting on someone else’s review to agree that if this was fiction, I’d find it too ridiculous to be good 🙂
NancyElin
My choice to put on my TBR is Black Ink.
I just finished reading the biography of Lorraine Hanesberry (2018) (playwright and screenplay for ‘Raisin in the Sun’).
This give me an idea: become expert: read non-fiction about some iconic Black American writers.
DoingDewey
That is a good idea for a list! I’d be excited to check it out 🙂
Rachel
I didn’t realize Bad Blood is about a medical startup company. Makes me more likely to want to read it. ?
DoingDewey
Oh good! This really is a book I’m pushing on everyone this year 🙂
joAnn @ Lakeside Musing
Bad Blood sounds like my kind of nonfiction! It makes me think of The Philadelphia Chromosome… another book I loved and read on your recommendation.
DoingDewey
Oh yay! I’m glad you picked up and enjoyed the Philadelphia Chromosome. I’d say Bad Blood is good in a slightly different way – more suspense, less detailed science -but similarly engaging and likely to interest a lot of the same people, so hopefully you enjoy it too 🙂
kelly
True crime this year — especially the non-violent kind — has been so good. I am eager to dig into (heh) The Dinosaur Artist, as I liked Bad Blood and The Feather Thief (worth reading if you haven’t!).
DoingDewey
It’s true! And I definitely feel more unambiguously good about enjoying true crime when it’s not violent. More violent crimes or more recent ones make me think more about the ethics of enjoying this type of a story.
Haha, solid choice. I did read The Feather Thief, around the same time, and I enjoyed it too! It was a little lighter and easier to read than The Dinosaur Artist, but I enjoyed them both in their own way.
Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)
Bad Blood is so good! I’ve recommended that one a lot too. It’s been a great year for true crime, with a lot of variety in the genre. I always love the Be/Ask/Become week too 🙂
DoingDewey
There really has been a wide variety of books in that genre! Now that you point that out, I suspect that has something to do with why it’s stayed interesting for me. Be/Ask/Become week and the book pairing seem to be perennial favorites. I’m glad we always bring them back 🙂
Jade @ Reading with Jade
Happy reading this month!
DoingDewey
Thanks! Happy reading to you too 🙂
Melissa
The Dinosaur Artist sounds fantastic! I read The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs this year, which just reignited my passion for dinos, so The Dinosaur Artist sounds right up my street.
DoingDewey
It was so good! And I just read a rave review of The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs, so I’m putting that on my to-read list too 🙂
Helen Murdoch
I am doing Non-fiction November as well. I didn’t used to read a lot of non-fiction, but in the last few years I have found a ton of interesting narrative non-fiction so that makes me happy.
DoingDewey
Oh yay, I’m glad you’ll be joining us! I discovered narrative nonfiction around the time I started my blog about 7 years ago and I’ve been loving it ever since 🙂