NonFiction Week 1: My Year of NonFiction Reading

It is time! I am so excited that it is finally November and time to dedicate the month to all things NonFiction. Well, except my night reading because, everyone needs variety.

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THE HOST THIS WEEK

The first week of Nonfiction November our host is Heather from Based on a True Story When I checked out her post I saw that Heather and I both read The Divorce Colony!

THE PROMPT

Week 1 (10/30-11/3) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

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MY THOUGHTS

NonFiction is a beautiful friend to me. It doesn’t matter what you feel you are lacking in life, NonFiction has a book to help you fill that hole. This was a hard year for me and you can see the work I was trying to do reflected in my book selections. I went through and obsession with Cults – all sparked from Rebekah’s @ She Seeks Nonfiction post last year. That got me thinking about feminism and equality. Then I looked into how societal norms impact me personally and, whew, when I took a look under the hood the ol’ brain box needed some tune ups.

STRONG WOMEN

Since 2020 when I started really reading about female spies, stories of strong women have been a yearly theme for me. My favorite book this year in this category is The Woman They Could Not Silence. Elizabeth Packard sparked a revolution that changed men’s ability to put women in the mental institution for just any reason at all. Wife has gotten ugly? Institution. Wife has different opinions from your? Institution. The wife reading too much – institutionalize her!

The fact that she lived here in IL and her childhood and adulthood locations echo my own made me feel a deeper connection to her. She is buried here in Chicago and, upon completion of the book, I went to visit her grave to thank her.

CULTS

Of all the books I read about Cults this year, Cultish was my favorite. I love linguistics and how language can impact a person. Amanda Montell did such an excellent job of demonstrating the pervasive nature of language in controlling other people.

SELF-HELP

I read a lot of self-help. And, when I decided to own and tackle my anxiety head on this year, I learned a lot. But something I have never been good at is boundaries. This book was not the first one I picked up to learn about the topic but it spoke to me so clearly that I found myself empowered to set boundaries at home, at work – and most important of all – with myself.

GENERAL NONFICTION

This book was one to beat all year and it couldn’t be done. All marginalized people suffer at the hands of health insurance companies and government control and where it intersects? Well, marginalized people die. These incredible black men were the first paramedics in America. They went into their own neighborhoods when no one else would, saved lives, and changed the world for the better. If you have ever had to call 911 and heard that siren getting closer and closer and knew that help was on the way – you have these men to thank.

MY GOALS FOR NONFICTION NOVEMBER

Stack the shelf! Last year, I found a bunch of new blogs and two shelves of new nonfiction to entertain me and enlighten me. I hope that I will be able to do to the same this year.

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Tell me, please! Are you participating? How did your year in NonFiction go?

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