What’s got two thumbs and is doing a blog event?
I am so on top of this blog event that I’m posting about it before the month of November even begins. It’s Nonfiction November, and you can find the full announcement and schedule here! We’re starting with Your Year in Nonfiction, and I have had a year in nonfiction! Some things have changed! Things have changed about my nonfiction reading habits! If you want to participate in Nonfiction November (which you surely do), you can pop over to check out other people’s posts and link up your own at Julz Reads, the host for this week’s portion of the event!
What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?
My top two have to be Punishment without Crime, by Alexandra Natapoff, and To Tell the Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B. Wells, by Mia Bay. These were two books that I went into thinking “oh I basically know what’s up with this” and then as I read more and more into them, I was more and more astonished. In the case of Ida B. Wells, I was shocked at how relentless and tough and brave and smart she was, even more so than I had imagined based on, I have to assume, a third-grade biography of her that I probably read at some point. In the case of Punishment without Crime, I just couldn’t get over how thoroughly fucked our criminal justice system is, and how entirely many of its elements are set up purely to punish poor people. Fuck this.
Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?
A neat thing about 2019 in nonfiction is that I started reviewing for Booklist! So one of the trends of the year has been that I don’t choose all the nonfiction books I read; many of them are chosen for me and just show up in my mail box. I like still being able to choose some/many of my nonfiction reads, but it’s been neat to check out a range of topics, some of which might not have been at the top of my list if I’d just been reading for fun. A few favorites were the books I gave starred reviews from, Inconspicuous Consumption, by Tatiana Schlossberg (a funny? but really informative! book about climate doom), and Mo Moulton’s The Mutual Admiration Society, which is about Dorothy Sayers’s intellectual circle. Would I have read these of my own volition? Maybe not! Did I adore them? You betcha!
What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?
Definitely Priestdaddy, by Patricia Lockwood! I didn’t have unmixedly positive feelings about it, but the parts that were good were incredibly good. Lockwood’s a terrific writer, and I am very on board for whatever she decides to write next. What a fucking weird book.
What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet?
Honestly, history! A lot of what I’ve read this year has been more sociological in nature, which is great, but I miss piling history information into my hungry brain cells. I’m reading Samantha Power’s history of American nonintervention in genocides, and it’s reminding me of how much I like learning about different topics in history. HISTORY. I’d especially love to read more histories by women and people of color. White authors should not be so goddamn dominant in nonfiction. Damn.
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Recs, recs, recs! And maybe some new blogging friends?
Are y’all participating in Nonfiction November? Tell me about your awesome nonfiction reads of the year so far!