#NonficNov: Week 1 Year in Non-Fiction
- Week 1: (Oct 28 to Nov 01)
- Hashtag: #NonficNov
- Hosted by: Julz of Julz Reads
- Stats: books read between –> 01 November 2018 – 31 October 2019
- Read 61 non-fiction books –> 29% of total books read
- Most read: (see list)
- Favoriet non-fiction: –> Everywhere I Look – H. Garner
Conclusion:
- This was a book I did not want to end.
- Garner’s insights for instance about Russel Crowe’s filmography
- or an Australian Ballet company were mesmerizing.
- But my favorite essay was ‘The Insults of Age”.
- This will be recognizable for every 60+’er!
- Helen Garner’s writing is clean and crisp
- ..nothing is slick or shallow.
- It is “reading caviar” !
Reviews:
Memoirs/personal essays
- A Woman’s Experiences in the Great War – L. Mack
- Thick – Tessie Cottom
- Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger – F. Wright
- Can You Tolerate This? – A. Young –> #HiddenGem most recommended
- A Time of Gifts – Patrick Leigh Fermor
- The First Casualty – Peter Greste
- We Can Make a Life – C. Henry
- Le Lambeau – P. Lançon
- Aunts Up the Cross – R. Dalton
- Memoir: J McGahern
- Everywhere I Look – H. Garner
- Axiomatic – M. Tumarkin
Biography:
- In Extremis: War Correspondent Marie Colvin – L. Hilsum
- Sisters In Law (S. Day ‘O Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg) – L. Hirshman
- Pulitzer – J. McGrath Morris
- The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke – J.C. Stewart
- No Friend but the Mountains – B. Boochani
- Teacher – G. Stroud
- Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom – D. Blight
- Fouché – E. de Waresquiel
- Je suis fou de toi – D. Bona (Jeanne Voilier and lover poet Paul Valéry)
- Beyond Words: A Year with Kenneth Cook – J. Kent
- James Tiptree, jr. The Double Life Alice Sheldon – J. Phillips
Theatre
- Twenty-First Century American Playwrights – C. Bigsby
- 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write – S. Ruhl
- August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle: 13 critical essays – editor S. Shannon
Health
- All-Day Fat Burning Diet – Y. Elkaim (…I lost weight!)
History
- Deep Time Dreaming – B. Griffiths
- Age of Eisenhower – W. Hitchcock
- The Mueller Report – R. Mueller
- The Art of Time Travel – T. Griffiths
- Stamped From the Beginning – I.X. Kendi
- The History of the Church – Eusebius
- The Twelve Caesars – Suetonius
- The Billion Dollar Spy – D. Hoffman
- America’s War for the Greater Middle East – A. Bacevich
- These Truths – Jill Lepore
- Ghosts of the Tsunami – R. L. Parry
Social History
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit – M. Desmond
- The Rich Brew: How Cafés Created Modern Jewish Culture – S. Pinsker
- The Coddling of the American Mind – G. Lukianoff, J. Haidt –> #MustRead #Eye-opener!!
Literature
- Writers on Writers: Patrick White – Christos Tsiolkas
- Poemcrazy – S. Wooldridge
- On Poetry – Glyn Maxwell
- The British Short Story – A. Maunder
- The Cambridge Introduction to The American Short Story – M. Scofield
- Moby-Dick as Philosophy – M. Anderson
- Alice in Space: The Sideways Victorian World of Lewis Carroll – G. Beer
- Literary Brian Friel Companion – M. Snodgrass
- Essay: From Monaghan to the Grand Canal ( Dublin) – S. Heaney
- The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe – S. Peeples
- George Eliot: Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writing
- The Complete Essays – M. de Montaigne
Indigenous (Aboriginal, Indonesian)
- The Tall Man – Chloe Hooper
- Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia – editor Anita Heiss
- Indonesia etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation – E. Pisani
- Not Just Black and White – Lesley and Tammy Williams
True Crime
- The Arsonist – C. Hooper
- Trace: who killed Maria James?
- The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island – C. Hooper
Science
- The Best Australian Science Writing 2018 – editor J. Pickre
21 Comments
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I see a few that I’ve read, but several more that I’d like to read… starting with Everywhere I Look!
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My non-fiction reading is not very structured. I’d like to spend more time searching for some great non-fiction I’ve missed in the past. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich from the 1960s was that kind of great NF….hopefully in 2020 I can find more gems to read!
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I really liked Thick, and Evicted has been on my list forever. I need to get to it. Your nonfiction picks are so eclectic!
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I loved THICK….but rarely see it on any reading lists…another #HiddenGem!
Thanks for your comment.
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I didn’t see it from too many other reviewers but it’s a National Book Award finalist, so hopefully will become better known from that!
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Added the Helen Garner to my TBR!
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This is a perfect book, I think, to listen to as audio book.
I used it on walks and at moments when I could not sleep.
There is a section I played over and over again….about Helen Garner (eldest)
and her younger sisters. So impressed how different each one was….but they supported each other through thick and thin.!
Thanks so much for you comment!
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Unfortunately I can’t deal with audio books but I’m sure I’ll love the physical book!
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Thank you for your recommendations. I’ve added three from your list, including Everywhere I Look.
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I’ve noticed many, many people include books about biography, memoirs, personal essays on their ‘Year in Non-Fiction’.
I too am drawn to them just because they relate to me on an emotional basis.
Helen Garner was down to earth..touching on subjects about relationships with sisters, parents and her children/grandchildren.I enjoyed her ability to explain how important it was to her to remain independent…yet connect with others on her terms.
In 2020 I want to leave this genre and concentrate on other types of non-fiction…there is so much more out there to read!
Thanks for your comments.
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What a lot of nonfiction you’ve gotten to in the past year – I hope you find some more gems throughout the month. Happy reading!
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Thank you….!
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I love how you broke it out by subject! I should have done mine that way to see if there were any patterns. Happy reading!
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thank you!
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What an interesting selection. I’ve read This House if Grief by Garner, I’m interested in this essay collection too. I’ll have to spend some time browsing through the rest of your books.
Please stop by to see my Introduction to NonFicNov
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Browse to your hearts content ! (monthly planning, Challenges, Australian writers, non-fiction…)
I will definitely stop by and have a look at your archive!
Thanks so much for your comment!
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I’ve got 3 Garner’s to look forward to for AusReadingMonth – 2 of which will also fit into NonficNovember. Glad she’s getting lots of love all over the world.
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I investigated the memoirs you mentioned and added 8 of them to my TBR. How do you manage to find such fascinating subjects?????
Also curious to know how you came up with the numbered lines format for your book reviews.
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Well, I’m so glad you found some great interesting memoirs to read.
How do I find them? If you look at the category on my blog head “LISTS” you will find
many links to literary prizes (USA, England, Australia, France, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland etc). I search for many books on long and shortists….not reading ONLY the winners!
The review structure is just the way I like to read a review: concise, to the point, and easy to quickscan. Often when I read review in ‘huge’ paragraphs….I seem to lose interest….they are just too long. I like to hear what the strong and weak points are, the reviewer’s general impression (why like? why dislike?)….and avoid review that just ‘re-hash” the plot.
That is in my opinion not very interesting….let me read the book myself!
Thanks so much for you interest and comments!
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Ahh thank you! I totally missed your “Lists” link. And thanks for explaining your review structure!
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