I enjoyed taking part in Nonfiction November for the first time last year, so I thought I would join in again this year. This event runs for five weeks, with five weekly discussion topics, giving us a chance to highlight and talk about our non-fiction reads. Our hosts for 2019 are Katie of Doing Dewey, Julz of Julz Reads, Rennie of What’s Nonfiction, Sarah of Sarah’s Book Shelves, and Leann of Shelf Aware.
This week’s topic is:
Week 1: (Oct. 28 to Nov. 1) – Your Year in Nonfiction (hosted by Julz of Julz Reads):
Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
I have read six non-fiction books so far this year and five of them are history, with the other one being an author’s memoir. These are the topics I’m usually drawn to when it comes to non-fiction; I would like to be more adventurous and try something different, but I always find myself coming back to the same sort of books! Here are the links to my reviews, in the order that I posted them:
When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney
Margaret Tudor by Melanie Clegg
The Afterlife of King James IV by Keith J. Coleman
Richard III: Fact and Fiction by Matthew Lewis
Decoding the Bayeux Tapestry by Arthur C. Wright
Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life by Rose Tremain
Of these, my favourite was Melanie Clegg’s biography of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII and wife of James IV. I found all of the other books interesting and entertaining too, apart from When Women Ruled the World, which was supposed to be about the lives of female Egyptian pharaohs but turned out to be more concerned with women in modern politics.
As well as the books above, I have almost finished Bookworm by Lucy Mangan, which I’ve been dipping into over the last few weeks, and am halfway through Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang.
I also have the following on my TBR:
Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou: A Marriage of Unequals by Amy Licence
Following in the Footsteps of Henry Tudor by Phil Carradice
The Lives of Tudor Women by Elizabeth Norton
And on my Kindle:
The Brothers York by Thomas Penn
Elizabeth Widville, Lady Grey by John Ashdown-Hill
To answer the final question above (What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?), I would be happy if I could read at least some of the books above, but I’m also hoping that visiting other participants’ posts will help me to discover other books that I might enjoy and wouldn’t have otherwise thought of picking up.
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How has your year in non-fiction been? What are the best non-fiction books you’ve read this year?
She Reads Novels 
Helen, I am also taking part in Nonfiction November again this year 🙂 I have found my non-fiction has dropped a bit this year, so hoping to be inspired and re-motivated for the rest of the year and into the next. The best non-fictions I have read this year have been Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley and Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans.
I haven’t read as much non-fiction as I would have liked to this year either, so I’m hoping that taking part in Nonfiction November will encourage me to read more of it. I haven’t read either of your favourites but I do like the sound of the Lucy Worsley book.
Helen your non fiction reading is exactly like mine – almost everything Historical! 😀 I agree with you that we should try and read something else and try some other genres, but I am like you somehow constantly drawn to History! Oh! Well! Atleast, we are reading, we are enjoying it and we are learning more!
It’s good to try new things sometimes, but I also think it’s good to read the sort of books you know you will enjoy!
I don’t know if I have any nonfiction scheduled for this month in order to participate, but I thought I’d reply to these questions. The most interesting nonfiction books I’ve read this year were Grant by Ron Chernow, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and Educated by Tara Westover. It’s hard to pick a favorite of those, but I’ll pick Grant, which I have not yet reviewed on my site. I have mostly read biographies and memoirs this year. The nonfiction book I have recommended the most this year is Educated.
I’ve just read your review of Educated (I must have missed it when you posted it) and yes, it does sound like an interesting book so I can see why you’ve recommended it the most.
Yes, very interesting. Amazing that there are still families like that around.
I need to do my first post! Interesting stuff you’ve been reading!
I haven’t read as much non-fiction as I would have liked this year, but yes, most of what I have read has been very interesting!
Nonfiction November is always a lot of fun. It reminds me every year that I like nonfiction books and that I should read more of them. 😀
I never read enough nonfiction, so taking part in Nonfiction November is a good way to encourage myself to read more!
I think I’ll join in with this for the first time, if I can get organised.in time.
The good thing about this event is that there’s no requirement to read a certain number of books during the month – you can just join in with some of the weekly discussion posts and look back over the non-fiction you’ve already read.
I don’t read enough nonfiction – but I do love history books and biographies/memoirs too.
History and biographies or memoirs are really the only types of non-fiction I usually read – occasionally some historical true crime as well. I keep meaning to branch out and try something different, but never get round to it.
Impressive, Helen. Myself, I’ve seriously neglected non-fiction this year: of the only six titles I’ve read two were about childhood reading (Katherine Rundell and the Lucy Mangan you’re reading now), one popular study of Frankenstein, another on the madness that is populism, a collection of Greta Thunberg’s speeches, and just one was about history (a rehash of a reviews I’ve done of one of Geoffrey Ashe’s Arthurian titles).
I feel a little underwhelmed by my achievement, but maybe I could find a study of 19th-century whaling to go with a read of Moby-Dick… Good luck with your own plans though!
Thank you! It sounds as though you’ve still read a good variety of non-fiction books this year, even if you haven’t read as many of them as you would have liked.
I read 6 non-fiction books this year, two of them huge chunksters of biographies about Martin Luther King and Lyndon B Johnson. But my two favorites were All You Need Is Love, about the Peace Corps and Sisters in Law, about the first two female justices of the US Supreme Court. Now I am reading Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West, taking it at about 20 pages a week. At 1150 pp, it will take me well into 2020 to finish but I am thrilled to be learning so much about the history of the former Yugoslavia.
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon has been on my TBR for years, but the length has been putting me off. I’m glad you feel you’re learning a lot from it!
The Tudors have long fascinated me, but I don’t know much about Margret. Clegg’s book would certainly take care of that. Glad you enjoyed it.
Margaret definitely gets less attention than most of the other Tudors, but I found her fascinating to read about. I would highly recommend the Melanie Clegg book!
How has your year in non-fiction been? What are the best non-fiction books you’ve read this year?
Impressive! I struggle with reading non-fiction sometimes, because I feel like I have to “study” every part and it takes me a long time to finish. I am trying to train myself to skim non-fiction a little more and be comfortable with getting the big picture instead of trying to memorize the details. I’ve been working on A People’s History of the United States for a long time and I’ve also read two memoirs this year: H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald and Becoming by Michelle Obama. H is for Hawk was absolutely beautiful to read.
I often find non-fiction a struggle too, which is why I don’t read more of it. I’m glad to hear you found H is for Hawk a beautiful read. I’ve been interested in reading it for a while, but still haven’t got round to it.