Wednesday 26 November 2014

Nonfiction November Week 4: New to my TBR

cork w books


Guys, Nonfiction November has been pretty much the best blog related thing I've done all year. I've loved it and I'm so so sad to see it coming to a close! I've read some brilliant books this month, the most brilliant of which was We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which I have yet to review but really, read it. I only heard about it through the event and received it as part of the Nonfiction Book Swap I organised this month but it's just so good I don't have words, and so much useful stuff to say on the topic of raising feminists, whether they be male or female.

Other things I read this month are Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare & Co by Jeremy Mercer, Bossypants by Tina Fey, and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. I'm also in the middle of Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (my first Sarah Vowell despite having her recommended to me for about three years!) and Enough: Breaking Free from the World of More by John Naish. I'm unlikely to finish either of these before the end of the month, especially with my readalong of The Pickwick Papers now in full swing, but we'll see!

This week, Katie of Doing Dewey asks:
 New to My TBR: It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!

I honestly can't answer the question for this week, as I now have a nonfiction wishlist which has nearly 60 titles on it, almost all of which are recommendations from this month! What I'm going to do is just list the ten titles I'm really desperate to read as soon as possible. Due to my generally disorganized state I can't actually remember whose recommendation caused which book to be added for most of them so if it was you, I apologise!

Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay - this has been recommended by so many people now and I really want to read it! It also has the added advantage of contributing towards increasing diversity in my reading.

The World's Strongest Librarian: A Book Lover's Adventure by Josh Hanagame was recommended to me on twitter by Gotham Books and is a memoir about Tourette's, among other things. Sounds interesting!

The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison has been recommended by so many people I've lost count! I received this collection of essays on empathy as part of the nonfiction book swap and I'm really excited to start it!

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Jr has been mentioned by a lot of people this month and sounds like a great book about an interesting subject!

Plug In Drug: Television, Computers & Family Life by Marie Winn was recommended by Ellie (hooray I remembered one!) and is about the effect of television, computers etc on us and especially, as it says in the title, on family life.

Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti was on my radar before this month but was recommended in a fantastic post by Shannon. I loved Full Frontal Feminism by the same author and am excited to read the arguments for and against having kids from the perspective of a new mother.

The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death & Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar J. Mazzeo was recommended by Kerry and sound absolutely fascinating! It's about the Ritz during the Second World War and I'm amazed I haven't heard of it before this month as it sounds like just my kind of book.

The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart was sent to me as part of the book swap and is about a mother and her three kids who pretty much stop using technology for six months. We've been on a few days screen free (Benji was losing the ability to distinguish between Mario Kart - with somebody else playing and him just watching - and reality and kept throwing things at people.Not behaviour we want to encourage!) and the difference has been noticeable so I'm excited to read this.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson was (I think) recommended by Jennifer on twitter and to a Brit who knows next to nothing about American history, it sounds fascinating.

How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise by Chris Taylor has been mentioned by both Kerry and Kim this month and it's Star Wars, how could I not want to read it?

If you'd like to see the full extent of my madness, my Nonfiction Wishlist can be found here

2 comments:

  1. I agree--Nonfiction November was even more fun this year than it was last year!
    Warmth Of Other Suns is a great book--after I finished the copy I borrowed from the library I went out and bought the paperback because it's one of those books that I just have to own.

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  2. Ooh, there are some interesting-sounding books here... Cause, you know, I NEEDED to make my wish list bigger!

    The Why Have Kids? Book and the one about the Ritz look amazing.

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