NonFiction November - Week 1

I am excited to be participating in Nonfiction November this year (see what happens when you retire!). 

This week's prompt is hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story, and it is: 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? 

I do like nonfiction and tend to read around particular topics (birding, gardening, archeology, literary biography) as well as picking a pet topic for the year and diving into it (aka "going down a rabbit hole").  This year's pet topic was the American Civil War, and believe me, there are thousands on nonfiction titles on this topic!

So far this year, I've read 12 nonfiction books out of 63, which is 19%. I am happy with that ratio. Here are my titles with links to the ones I've posted about. They're also so grouped by general topic.

• Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench - absolutely loved this book. As a fan of Dame Judi and a long-time devotee of Shakespeare, it ticked all the boxes for me. I would say this was my favorite nonfiction--fun, interesting, insightful, thoughtful.

• The Backyard Bird Chronicles, by Amy Tan - a slow listen, literally, I had to speed up the pace on the audio version as Tan is a slow reader, but I loved it.
• Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World, by Christian Cooper - an excellent memoir of a birder I admire on so many levels.

• The Elegant and Edible Garden: Design a Dream Kitchen Garden to Fit Your Personality, Desires, and Lifestyle, by Linda Vater - an Xmas present and a feast for the eyes, with lots of good tips for garden design and maintenance.
• Seeds: One Man's Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton, by Richard Horan - interesting and glad I read it but a few issues, so only 3 stars.

• Bruno's Cookbook: Recipes and Traditions from a French Country Kitchen, by Martin Walker and Julia Watson - I love Martin Walker's Bruno mysteries, mostly for the cooking, eating, gardening, imbibing, and location, but the mysteries are also good! This was another Xmas gift, and I loved reading it cover to cover.

• The Civil War, by Bruce Catton - I did a major deep dive on the American Civil War this year, reading a host of fiction (Jeff Shaara) and nonfiction as well as a Great Courses Lecture series. Bruce Catton is one of the most prolific writers on the topic, and this book was an excellent overview of the war.
• The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, by Erik Larson - I love Erik Larson and have read most of his books. This was very focused and extremely well-written. A good addition to the vast amount of stuff written on the topic.
• Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, by James M. McPherson - this had been on my TBR shelf for literally years, and I finally took the time to read it. Exhaustive and excellent.

• Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics, by Tom Keymer - I read all three bios with my JASNA Denver/Boulder book club. I'm a lifetime member of JASNA and always try to read something by or about her every year. This was a fairly good book--not a lot of new insight but well-presented.
• Jane Austen, by Margaret Kennedy - an outstanding bio of Austen from the mid-20th century. Read it if you can find it! I needed to interlibrary loan it to get it.
• Obstinate Heart: Jane Austen, A Biography, by Valerie Grosvenor Myer - 3 stars at best. There are other, better bios of Austen out there.

I'm looking forward to finding other bloggers with similar tastes and interests and to discover new books to put on my TBR and wish lists!