Nonfiction November Week 4: Favorites

Week 4: (Nov. 18 to 22) –Nonfiction Favorites (Leann @ Shelf Aware): We’ve talked about how you pick nonfiction books in previous years, but this week I’m excited to talk about what makes a book you’ve read one of your favorites. Is the topic pretty much all that matters? Are there particular ways a story can be told or particular writing styles that you love? Do you look for a light, humorous approach or do you prefer a more serious tone? Let us know what qualities make you add a nonfiction book to your list of favorites.

It’s time for Nonfiction November! This week I’m sharing some of my favorite nonfiction books.

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I feel like I haven’t stopped talking about American Predator since I read it but it is so unbelievably enthralling! I really cannot recommend it enough.

Similarly, I’ve brought up Evicted a lot this month. This is such an insightful book that really opened my eyes to aspects of poverty I hadn’t been educated on before.

I spent most of my childhood idolizing Monty Roberts. In his memoir, The Man Who Listens to Horses, Monty details his life and how he’s learned to communicate with horses using their own language. I think I’ve read this probably 4 or 5 times over the years and believe I even have an autographed copy!

Mara Wilson’s memoir Where Am I Now? is interesting, entertaining, and accessible. It was a quick and enjoyable read and I highly recommend it!

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Ask Me About My Uterus was really the first time I had heard much about endometriosis. I read an ARC of it almost two years ago and was earlier this year diagnosed with endometriosis. I’ve been meaning to reread this book — part memoir, part educational — through the lens of what I’ve experienced since my first time through. Even if you don’t suffer from endo, I think this is a quite important, and engaging, read.

I read NurtureShock for a Psych class in college. I was impressed by the different points it made. Each chapter reads like an essay on a different topic, and the format really works.

Whipping Girl is written by a trans woman, and discusses the discrimination that trans women tend to face. This book was the first thing that helped me really get what people meant by “transmisogyny” and I found it really eye-opening in a lot of ways.

A Cat Named Darwin made me cry my damn eyes out, but I loved it.

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I’ll Be Gone in the Dark was fascinating, terrifying, and ultimately heartbreaking. I don’t think you need me to hype it up any more for you.

I’ll be honest, I don’t remember a lot about Lessons from a Child, but I read it for my Teaching Writing class in college and found myself heavily impacted by it. I think it’s an interesting read even if you don’t intend on teaching one day.

While Sex at Dawn had its criticisms, I found it quite interesting and felt validated by it as a polyamorous woman.

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