This month I will be participating in Nonfiction November, hosted by Doing Dewey, Sophisticated Dorkiness, I’m Lost in Books, and Regular Rumination. In this event, people will be reading and blogging about nonfiction. The event kick-off question is hosted by Sophisticated Dorkiness. 

To date this year, I have read or listened to 51 books, 13 of which were nonfiction (unless you count the Epic of Gilgamesh, of which I’ve read three different translations – hopefully to be reviewed on Friday). So approximately a quarter of my books were nonfiction. 

My favorite nonfiction book of the year would have to be Severed, by Frances Larson. Although all of these books were fantastic , I guess that’s the one that really stands out to me. 


The nonfiction book (of these) that I have recommended the most is Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande. This is actually the book that inspired me to give up my fruitless job search and go back to school to be a physician’s assistant. Of course, I’m far from PA school at the moment, but I’m working my way there slowly. Unfortunately, this book was read before I decided to start up a new blog. So there’s no review.

One topic in nonfiction that I would like to read more of is social justice – especially in terms of mass incarceration, and the horrifying ratios of mentally ill or minority inmates compared to “normal” or white inmates. I have a bunch of these books on my wishlist, so hopefully I’ll get to them soon.

One thing I hope to get out of participating in Nonfiction November is to catch up on my nonfiction reviews. It’s also nice to meet other intelligent people who review books other than YA. Don’t get me wrong – I love my YA. But there are a glut of blogs out there that only review YA, and it’s hard to sift through them to find the more intellectual people. 

What about you? Do you have any nonfiction planned for this month?