Week Two of Nonfiction November is about how we choose the nonfiction we read. Hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune, this topic is about:
What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
There are a few topics I gravitate to more than others: memoirs about survival, mental health, and overcoming trauma; racial justice; family history and genealogy; and nature and environmental issues. And then, on the lighter side, I enjoy books about travel and cooking, two things I love to do myself.
Across these topic areas, I’m most interested in nonfiction that tells a personal story. It’s rare that I read nonfiction that is simply explanatory or academic, and I much prefer memoirs to biographies. I enjoy books that explain difficult concepts to me in a way that I can relate to, and I want to learn about people’s personal journeys.
Here are some books I love in each of these categories.
Mental health and overcoming trauma:
- What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
- Know My Name by Chanel Miller
- The Choice by Eva Eger
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Family history and genealogy:
- Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
- When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
- All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
History/Racial Justice:
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
Nature and environment:
- The Story of More by Hope Jahren
- Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert
- The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall
- Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
Travel and food:
- Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed
- The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
I especially like when nonfiction books cover a few of these categories, as many of them do. I also really like books about serious topics that can be told with humor, like Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, and everything by Jenny Lawson.
I think I read a fairly broad variety of nonfiction. What kinds of nonfiction do you look for?
