Comments on: Nonfiction November: Choosing Nonfiction

By: Katie @ Doing Dewey

Katie @ Doing Dewey — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 01:55:00 +0000

I definitely think citation style is important! In my perfect world, all nonfiction books would be as well cited as scientific papers 🙂

I’d actually like to read in more of a ‘billiard ball’ style myself. I currently topic-hop without much connection. I find that I tend to learn information better when my books connect by chance though, so I’d like to start intentionally reading in a more connected way.

By: Tasha B. (heidenkind)

Tasha B. (heidenkind) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 04:49:00 +0000

Well, first of all, The Good Place IS a really good show that everyone should watch. I mean, Kristen Bell and Ted Danson! Why wouldn’t you?? And second of all,I guess I kinda pick NF titles based on whatever I’m interested in. Like, art and food and cocktails. My real passion is fiction so I’m fairly picky with my NF titles

By: Memory

Memory — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 00:12:00 +0000

I’m the world’s most boring nonfiction chooser. I either go with stuff I see people talking about on Twitter/their blogs or, in particularly wild moments, stuff that caught my attention on NetGalley to the point where I said, “Hey, that sounds interesting but I don’t want to feel like I have to review it, so I’ll see if my library’s preordered it.”

If my library has preordered it, I then put in a request. If they haven’t, I completely forget about it like the fickle reader that I am.

I read soooooooo little nonfiction, though. Sooooooo little. I want to read more because I like learning stuff, but I resist because I know it’s gonna take me forever on account of how much time I spend arguing with the text to see whether I actually agree with it. Like, I’m currently reading THE PROMISE OF CANADA by Charlotte Gray, and there’s an excellent chance I’ll have to return it to the library partway through and put my name back in the queue because I keep furrowing my brow and saying, “But what are the biases here? Who does this leave out? How does this historical tidbit compare to all the other historical tidbits I’ve heard in my life?”

By: Alley

Alley — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 22:51:00 +0000

Yes, I very much like your point about citation style because important. And I like your non-fiction reading path.

Side note MORE PEOPLE NEED TO WATCH THE GOOD PLACE.

By: debnance

debnance — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 21:03:00 +0000

Anything nonfiction that isn’t a textbook is good for me!

http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/11/my-week-in-books-nonfiction-november.html

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 22:02:00 +0000

I definitely read more fiction than nonfiction when it comes to books – I think part of it is that I read the New Yorker regularly and a lot of my nonfiction wants and needs get satisfied by that. (I’m currently several issues behind because I was away for 17 days in late September/early October, and then I was reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but I’m looking forward to getting caught up again!)

When I do read nonfiction books I tend to go for narrative nonfiction/essays, and/or books about place/home/travel and/or books about sex and love – I was just reading a review in the New Yorker of Emily Witt’s Future Sex, and yeah, that one definitely is going on my TBR list.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 15:08:00 +0000

I like your billiard ball analogy!

By: Aarti

Aarti — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 22:56:00 +0000

I LOVE the subtitles of history related non-fiction titles! I have a book whose subtitle is ”

Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV.” WHAAAAAAAT? Note the number of As I used there. The correct number to use in that word is actually 1.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 19:20:00 +0000

I can relate to your billiards analogy. Sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed by all the things I’ve found out I don’t know about and now wish to know!
Btw, could you tell me where you got that nice purple bag that seems to hold so many books?

By: Stefanie@SoManyBooks

Stefanie@SoManyBooks — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 19:11:00 +0000

Why Jenny, I didn’t realize you had such a long beard! I bet it comes in handy when the weather does actually get chilly, you can wrap it around your neck like a scarf. Don’t know why I never thought of growing one for myself in these Minnesota winters. I lurve nonfiction. How do I choose? It is almost just as random as how I choose what novel to read next, it all depends on what mood I am in and what topics strike my fancy. I just finished The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh a book about climate change and literature and just picked up Rebecca Solnit’s Faraway Nearby. I wanted Hope in the Dark for a little post election comfort reading but all copies were checked out of the library and I figured Faraway Nearby was the next best thing.