Time for our first discussion prompt of Nonfiction November! Yay! Our host this week is Julz at Julz Reads and you can share a response to the prompt any time this week. We’re starting with our traditional first prompt this year and as always, I’m excited to hear from all of you! My response is below.
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?
I’ve managed to narrow it down to three! The Five did a great job focusing on Jack the Ripper’s victims and showing what life was like for the lower class during this time period. Underland was truly beautiful, thoughtful nature writing. And A Woman of No Importance was one of the most dramatic true stories I’ve ever read. I highly recommend them all!
Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?
I’ve always really loved medical, science, and social justice nonfiction. This year, I’ve also added quite a lot of reading on true crime and technology.
What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?
I’ve recommended The Five quite a bit and I’m still recommending my book I listed here last year quite a lot, Bad Blood. It was such an engaging read and is relevant to a lot of the people I know who work in the Bay Area in biotech.
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
I’m just looking forward to getting to know more readers who love nonfiction and to hearing more about nonfiction from those of you who don’t always focus on it!
Monika @ Lovely Bookshelf
Whoa, Underland sounds so interesting! I read your review and I usually connect really well with that kind of writing style. Definitely adding it to my list.
DoingDewey
I enjoyed Underland much more than I expected to and I’ll definitely be looking to get to the author’s backlist. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🙂
Eva @ The Paperback Princess
Bad Blood was so good!! I read it and listened to the podcast at the same time and it was such an immersive experience.
I’m glad to hear about The Five because I’ve always felt that anything I read about Jack the Ripper didn’t focus on the victims enough!
DoingDewey
Reading the book and listening to the podcast at the same time sounds like it would be fun! I read the book and then listened to the podcast, so I felt a little let down that the podcast didn’t add much information. It was really cool to actually hear people from the book tell their own stories though.
In general I’d like to see more true crime focus on the victims and this book was a great example of doing that in a really interesting way 🙂
Rennie
I’ve gotten a little more into medical and science-themed nonfiction this year too. And The Five, Underland, and A Woman of No Importance are all on my favorites list this year. I was so glad your review of Underland convinced me to read it!
DoingDewey
I’m definitely glad we trade recommendations back and forth! And I’ve enjoyed hearing about medical and science-themed nonfiction on your blog. I’m way behind on reading people’s posts, but I think I saw you had a review of the new Susannah Cahalan book up and I’m particularly excited to hear how it was 🙂
Angela
A Woman of No Importance sounds incredible!
DoingDewey
I’ve recommended it to my grandfather, who has it on hold at the library, and I can’t wait for him to pick it up 🙂 It was so good!
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out
Thanks for sharing these favourites, I look forward to seeing what else you will be reading this month.
DoingDewey
Thanks! I’m looking forward to hearing about your reading too 🙂
Brona
I’m just waiting for Underland to come out in pb. The cover is beautiful on the hb, but it’s such a brick of a book!
DoingDewey
It is! I ended up with a paperback review copy from ALA and it was still kind of heavy to carry around 🙂
Bryan G. Robinson
I keep seeing Bad Blood various places. I guess eventually I’ll have to read it. As for your top three, I’d have to say The Five and Underland look the most interesting to me.
DoingDewey
I thought both Underland and The Give were exceptional examples of their genres, so I’m optimistic that anyone who’s interested in them will really enjoy them 🙂
Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life
Underland looks absolutely up my alley! And The Five sounds fascinating as well. Thanks for sharing your reads!
DoingDewey
I don’t read a lot of nature writing, so I wasn’t sure Underland would be my sort of thing and I still really enjoyed it! Hopefully you’ll like it at least as much as I did 🙂
Stacie @SincerelyStacie
A Woman of No Importance sounds intriguing. Our library has both the eBook and the audiobook. Any recommendation for which version I should request?
DoingDewey
I’m afraid not an informed recommendation. I read a physical book and there weren’t any pictures, so any audiobook shouldn’t be at all inconvenient. I can’t say anything helpful about the narrator though. My guess is that either would be good 🙂
Jenny @ Reading the End
Hahahaha it’s not even November and I’m already accumulating tew many recs from Nonfiction November. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s posts as the month goes on!!
DoingDewey
Yes! I consider this event a success when we grow everyone’s TBRs 🙂
Lou
I normally read stacks of medical/science nonfiction, and I’ve hardly read any this year – I don’t know why. I did love A Woman of No Importance, though, and in fact I think it was your review that convinced me to pick it up. So thank you for that! 🙂
DoingDewey
Oh, awesome! I sometimes wonder how much my reviews matter and it’s always nice to hear someone picked up a book based on one of my posts. I’ve also recommended this one to my grandpa and am excited for him to read it 🙂
JoAnn @ Gulfside Musing
All three of your favorites look interesting… but some excellent nature writing is especially appealing to me right now. I still need to get to Bad Blood, too! Thanks so much for these recommendations!
DoingDewey
I hope you’re able to get some of them 🙂 They’re all good enough that I’ve recommended them to at least a few people in person.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Helen Murdoch
I have “A woman of No Importance” on my shelves, but keep putting it off. Perhaps I should read it this month.
DoingDewey
I hope you’re able to get to it 🙂 It’s definitely one I’ve been recommending to people.
Jaymi @orangecountyreaders
The Five sounds like one I might try… I do love this month of posts! Here is My Year in NonFiction
DoingDewey
I love this month of posts too! If you like learning about the lives of ordinary people during different time periods, I’d particularly recommend The Five 🙂
Jade @ Reading with Jade
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about The Five.
Happy reading this November (& of course, thanks for hosting this month too).
DoingDewey
It was really good – a nice blend of personal stories and interesting history.
Thanks for joining in and happy reading to you too 🙂
Julie @ JulzReads
I’ve been dying to read The Five!
DoingDewey
I hope you’re able to get to it. I really enjoyed both the personal stories and the broader history it covered 🙂
Allison | Mind Joggle
Ooh, I just paired up books about trees today, with The Overstory top of mind, and The Underland sounds like a great companion. Not solely about trees, but nature and people’s connections to it. Adding it to my list!
DoingDewey
Ooh, that sounds like a great pairing! I’d like to get to The Overstory and I’ll at least consider revisiting this book when I do.
Emma @ Words And Peace
I have heard a lot of good things about Bad Blood
DoingDewey
As someone who works in biotech in the Bay Area, I’m probably biased, but it’s one of my favorite nonfiction reads of all time. I really loved it 🙂
Rachel
Wow. These books look really interesting. So glad I stopped by!
DoingDewey
Thanks for joining in this month!