Nonfiction is made up of a lot of different genres - history, science, biography, etc. What’s your favorite type of NF book to read? What’s the last really good book you read in that genre?
I think my favorite type of NF is history, but as I look back at my reading list, I only read one this year and two last year! I definitely need to remedy that. My favorite was last year’s The Wager by David Grann.
Interestingly, I’d swear my least-favorite genre is memoir, but seven of the 14 NF books I’ve read so far this year fit that category, and several of them were quite good. In that category, my favorite was The Wound is Where the Light Enters by Chris Young.
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I’m still mulling about whether or not I can pick a favorite in the nonfic category. I most of all love a good narrative—think Patrick Radden Keefe who excels at narrative—but my favorite subgenres are all over the place. I like science (Ed Yong, Susan Casey), history (Erik Larson, Nathaniel Philbrick), true crime (Pamela Colloff), social/racial justice (Wright Thompson, Beth Macy, Imani Perry, Tiya Miles), outdoors/hiking/extreme endurance events (Isaac Fitzgerald, Jon Krakauer) and my most recent favorite still has to be The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet which has been talked about in other threads. I know there are tons of authors, genres and books that I’m simply not recalling. I think most of my favorite nonfic authors are first journalists who know how to put a story together and to hold a reader’s interest.
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I probably read more history and biography in this category. Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie remains my favorite biography and James Battle Cry of Freedom in history
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I do like to dabble in NF now and again and find it difficult to determine a favorite. As somewhat of a political junkie, I will delve into a current event book especially when written by a well known journalist. I am also fond of historical narratives, always find it exciting to see how history does repeat itself, never to late to learn a new and exciting historical fact. I am currently immersed in the 1960’s while enjoying Doris Kerns Goodwin’s “An Unfinished Love Story” However, I must admit that my Achilles’ heel comes in form of a celebrity biography which i can easy get lost in. It brings me back to the days of Photoplay and Motion Picture magazines of my youth, pure unadulterated escape. And I also have a book, Lionel Richie’s newest waiting in the wings for my next escape.
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Non-fiction has become one of my favorite genres over the past couple of years, anywhere from 20 - 40% of my reads. I enjoy many sub-genres (history, nature, science, environment, foodie, travel, diversity/social justice, international affairs, and occasionally, sports and art) so it is probably easier to name what I don’t read - entertainment / entertainment industry-related, US history and/or US current events. Like @Anne_Glasgow, one of my favorites this year is The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet. Another five star for me this year is Haley Cohen Gilliland’s A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children.
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I too loved reading about the grandmothers searching for their lost/stolen grandchildren. My favorite part was probably the researcher who figured out how to do the genetic testing. It’s in character for me to go straight for the medical stuff.
I was at the library the other day pulling books for book festival authors and a lady asked me if I could recommend something good to her. I went straight for The Finest Hotel in Kabul and told her a little bit about it. She almost snatched it out of my hands. I so hope it met her expectations.
The festival - is that the one in November in Austin? If so, I just looked up the authors. What a cool line up. I would love to hear a couple of them talk!
Yes, my favorite event of the year! We are so lucky to have this amazing festival and this year’s author lineup is especially appealing to me. I’m furiously trying to read books so I can set an informed schedule. You should come down and check it out.
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I’m feeling a little bogged down in Chris Young’s book and I want to give it a fair shake. He has just started selling and walking around with money in his pocket. Does it pick up at some point? It seems like it’s been a long winding 100 pgs.
I wish I could! Maybe next year. Are there any authors you are particularly excited about (they all look interesting)?
Of course I have way more than I will be able to fit into my schedule. But at the top of my list: Robert Kolker, Beverly Gage, Hernan Diaz, LaToya Watkins, and Julie Orringer. On my maybe list: Colson Whitehead, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Tom Junot, Denise Kiernan, Josh Weil, Kevin Powers, and Daniel Kraus. I would love to see Beowulf Sheehan if they don’t have him in some difficult to access location.
There’s often someone completely unexpected that I discover when I start reading. Or even wandering around the festival in down times I‘ll sometimes just pop in somewhere that seems interesting and run across a wonderful surprise.
Can you tell it is like a feeding frenzy for me?
I think it sounds like a perfect couple of days!!! Happy sigh.
I actually prefer nonfiction over fiction with history the preferred genre, especially the American West. But I also am crazy for anything about exploration, adventure, travel, animals, current affairs, medicine, etc. I can’t stand anything technology related. Two nonfiction that I’ve read in the past year that were good were No More Tears and Everything Is Tuberculosis. I just purchased National Geographic’s The Atlas of Indian Nations by Anton Maurer and am looking forward to digging into it.
I find myself enjoying non-fiction more than ever before, and David Grann ‘s “ The Wager” was mesmerizing. “ Black Robes Enter Coyote’s World: Chief Charlo and Father Desmet in the Rocky Mountains” by anthropologist Sally Thompson was one of my favorites this year. Also, I adored Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “ An Unfinished Love Story”. “ A Fever In The Heartland” by Timothy Egan and “The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women In Science” by Kate Zernike hold special places in my library. “ How the Mountains Grew: A New Geological History of North America” by John Dvorak, I could not put down.
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You’ve given me another book to add to my never get read in my lifetime TBR list!
Black Robes Enter Coyote’s World: Chief Charlo and Father Desmet in the Rocky Mountains sounds so interesting.
Non-fiction has never been my-go-to genre unless it has relevance to my life. I traveled a lot as a child so now I enjoy reading about the places I live and have visited. I also am interested in memoirs of historic people that intrigued me and especially the books by McCullough. Book Browse has introduced me to The Sisterhood, London Falling and Being Mortal (a most read for all seniors). After reading War and Peace I plan to read about Napoleon’s life.
I am also interested in history that related to my family’s lineage. My older brother is an ancestry geek and has traced my mother’s side to Jamestown. On my father’s side I have an ancestor, Frances Cooke that came over on the Mayflower. One of my ancestors was a cousin to George Washington’s mother Mary Ball which makes me second cousin 5th remove. However. It is rumored that people that had ancestors from the early history of the United States are somehow related.
My chosen genre is fiction. However, that being said, several non-fiction books I have read over the last couple of years have moved me. “Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recioes” by Chantha Nguon - a disturbing and moving story of life in Vietnam during the US/Viet Cong then Pol Pot’s genocidal rule in Cambodia. “The Family Man: Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh” by James Lasdun. (a BB book) “Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground” by Zayd Ayers Dohrn (another BB book)
Always good to read your recommendations. And this week’s The Finest Hotel in Kabul really intrigued me. Alas found electronically on Amazon a few moments ago, only 2.99. So I grabbed it, I’m way over budget in my book buying this month, however, this one I couldn’t pass up. For other followers, please note if you are wanting to follow Anne’s recs.
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Oooh! Thanks for passing that on, @Carol_N! I had a $2.99 credit so the book was free to me! Yay! (And @Anne_Glasgow is probably responsible for a good 80% of my book buying, haha.)
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