Nonfiction November

I figured I should do at least one post for Nonfiction November before November becomes December.

So, I am combining some of the prompts into one sort of comprehensive post.

Here's what I read or in the midst of reading:

History

1.  John Adams, by David McCullough - a reread about my favorite founding father
• Paired with The Ninth Daughter, by Barbara Hamilton - Abigail Adams solves a murder mystery in 1773
2. A Field Guide to Gettysburg: Experiencing the Battlefield through Its History, Places, and People, by Tom Vossler - really helped me get a handle on what I wanted to focus on during our October visit
3. The Battle of Gettysburg, by Bruce Catton - excellent review of this decisive battle
• Paired with Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, reread in Jan 2025
4. Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War, by Tony Horwitz - a reread, prepping for my stop at Harpers Ferry in October
5. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, by H.W. Brands - excellent bio of a complex man
6. Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England, by Thomas Penn - a reread but so interesting

Gardening/Nature

1. The Heirloom Gardener: Traditional Plants and Skills for the Modern World, by John Forti - so much wisdom and knowledge packed in this beautiful book
2. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer - Robin inspires me to be more grateful and more generous--there is enough for all of us!

Memoirs

1. Be Ready When the Luck Happens, by Ina Garten - I'm ready!
2. The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir, by Kelly Bishop - Emily is my favorite Gilmore Girl
3. What I Ate in One Year, by Stanley Tucci - always inspires me to eat more pasta
4. The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Jane Goodall - very calming
5. Making It So, by Patrick Stewart - inspired me to watch a few seasons of Star Trek: Next Generation
6. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff - so fun to visit London with Helene

Still Reading

1. The Art Thief, by Michael Finkel - what a selfish pair of twits!
2. The Caledonian Canal, by A.D. Cameron - planning a trip to Scotland in 2026 with a focus on hiking at least part of the way from Fort William to Inverness
3. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, by Bettany Hughes - I got stuck on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus but plan to finish it up by year's end. 

Picking Favorites 

• All the reading I did around the American Civil War was so interesting and helped make my October visit to Gettysburg as good as it turned out to be. This part of American history has been a strong interest since I was in high school.
• Both of the gardening/nature books were incredible and while not-exactly life-changing were definitely life-affirming. 

Looking Ahead to 2026

Scotland - we are planning a trip to Scotland and so I will be reading both fiction and nonfiction about this region of the world.

American Revolution - with the new Ken Burns documentary and my recent reread of John Adams, I will likely be reading up on this time period, again both fiction and nonfiction.

American Civil War - not done with this topic by a long shot 

Art and Music - I have a slew of books on art, and since resuming piano lessons in 2024, I am interested in reading up on composers, music theory, etc.

Memoirs - I like memoirs of people I have admired over the years and rely on fellow bloggers' post almost exclusively in this area. So, thanks in advance!

Nonfiction November: Book Pairings (Week 3)

It's hard to believe that we are already at week 3 of Nonfiction November, but here we are. 

This week is hosted by Liz at Adventures in reading, running, and working from home. 

Week 3 (11/11-11/15) Book Pairings: Pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. 

I have been reading Jeff Shaara's Civil War novels along with the nonfiction Civil War books that have seemingly consumed me. Shaara is an excellent historical fiction author and has series on not only the American Civil War but also WWI, WWI, and the American Revolution.

So I read Gods and Generals and A Blaze of Glory while I was reading Battle Cry of Freedom. Gods and Generals covers the opening of the war in the East, and A Blaze of Glory covers the same time period in the West (i.e., the Mississippi campaigns culminating in the Battle of Shiloh).  I also read the second book in the Western theatre (A Chain of Thunder, about the Battle of Vicksburg), and I plan to read The Killer Angels by Jeff's late father, Michael Shaara, which is about the Battle of Gettysburg as I continue my year of Civil War reading. If you are interested in more titles on the Civil War that I have read over the years, I've collected them onto their own page. 

Looking at some of my other nonfiction titles from this year...

Bruno's Cookbook, of course, pairs perfectly with any of the novels in the wonderful Bruno mystery series by Martin Walker. Bruno is a policeman in a village in the Dordogne in France, and he spends most of each book cooking, gardening, riding his horse, coaching tennis, and occasionally dealing with criminals. A thoroughly wonderful mystery series with a most endearing protagonist.

Another no-brainer is to read one of Austen's six masterpieces before, during, or after reading any of the three bios I read on Austen this year. I just finished rereading Persuasion--the annotated version with an intro by Robert Morrison--and it is as wonderful as the first time I read it, roughly 50 years ago!

BTW, 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth on December 16, 1775. There will be lots of reading challenges, book events, etc to mark this milestone. I have a whopping 42 posts on Austen, which I should really collect and organize onto their own page.

Another potential pairing is to read Prodigal Summer by one of my favorite contemporary authors, Barbara Kingsolver, along with Linda Vater's The Elegant and Edible Garden.  This reminds me--I need to reread Prodigal Summer as it has been way too long since I last read it.

As you can tell, I really do like to read related fiction along with nonfiction. I find that stories help me really remember and understand the history in particular that I am reading about. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of pairing others come up with for other genres.

Nonfiction November: Choosing What to Read (week 2)

 

I am really enjoying Nonfiction November--reading other bloggers' posts is opening new possibilities for adventures in nonfiction. Thanks to the hosts for putting this together! This week is hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune. 

Week 2 (11/4-11/8) Choosing Nonfiction: 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. 

I generally read around specific nonfiction areas--history, archeology, literary biography and lit crit, gardening, birding, and travel. And within these basic areas, I have favorite subjects--English history, Roman history, American Civil War, Shakespeare/Austen/Dickens as well as other favorite authors. I like to read up on places I like to visit (Maine, Italy, California) and places I hope to visit (Everglades, the Dordogne, Canadian Rockies, etc). 

I rarely if ever read self-help books, although I will read and collect cookbooks that are connected to favorite authors, locations, or cuisines. I rarely read celebrity memoirs, although I loved Yes, Please by Amy Poehler and Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. I sometimes read things like Educated by Tara Westover if the subject captures my interest, the writing is reputed to be good, and people I trust really like it.

I think I am immune to titles and covers because I mostly pick nonfiction based on liking the author (Erik Larson, for example), hearing about a book that is in my zone, or trusting a positive review from a fellow blogger. However, I do appreciate wonderful covers and titles, and they may push a book up on the TBR stack. I get frustrated by derivative titles and covers that seem to be clinging to the coattails of a successful book.

I absolutely love the cover of Around the World in 80 Plants, by Jonathan Drori. This book was a feast for the eyes, heart, and soul, and I think the cover invites a reader like me into the beautiful and exotic world revealed in the book.

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!

Nonfiction November: Be the Expert...Louisa May Alcott

For week 3 of Nonfiction November, the focus is Be The Expert/ Ask the Expert/ Become the Expert and is hosted by Veronica at The Thousand Book Project. 

First of all, I can in no way, shape, or form claim to be an expert on Louisa May Alcott. I never read Little Women until only a few years ago, and she is not even in my top 10 favorite authors. But, I find her life absolutely fascinating and I appreciate how she lived her life, her values, and her determination to succeed.

A couple of years ago, I read just about everything I could get my hands on about LMA and can recommend the following books - I've linked to the blog posts about each book and provided excerpts from those posts to spare you from actually plowing through them looking for nuggets.

Biography

 Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, by Harriet Reisen

I came away from this bio with a renewed admiration for LMA--her courage, her wit, her fortitude, and her talent.  She struggled with identity, but in the end, was able to accomplish what she set out for herself.  Truly a remarkable person.

Marmee and Louisa, by Eve LaPlante 

I really enjoyed the book and felt that LaPlante did a superb job in defending her premise that the relationship between LMA and her mother, Abigail May Alcott, was the most important in her life and was fundamental to her success as a writer. I also thought LaPlante did a good job of putting their lives into historical context, and I learned a lot of social history about the nineteenth century. 

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, by John Matteson

Coming into the book, I knew enough about A. Bronson Alcott to know that I thought he was a selfish crackpot who endangered his family's health and well-being to pursue his experiments in communal living. However, I had no idea what an innocent, well-meaning selfish crackpot he was until I read this book. Like his daughter, Louisa, I ended up forgiving him because his heart was so clearly in the right place, even if his ideas and capabilities fell fall short of the mark.

Civil War Hospital Sketches, by Louisa May Alcott 

LMA only served as a nurse for three weeks, but this brief service changed her life profoundly.  Of this time, she said that she was rarely ill before it and never truly well afterwards. She had contracted typhus at the hospital and was treated with a compound containing mercury, which wreaked havoc on her body and most probably shortened her life.  On the other hand, her time as a nurse on her own in a city far from her Concord home during the war broadened her vision and deepened her perspective.

Fiction

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Now that I've finally read Little Women, I was able to read the Little Women chapter in Erin Blakemore's The Heroine's Bookshelf, which explores the trait of ambition and the character Jo. I found Louisa May Alcott's story so sad as compared to the magical world she created in Little Women, but then that is par for the course when it comes to fictional worlds created by beloved authors.

Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan

It didn't occur to me to want to read John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress until last year when I finally read Little Women. The March sisters play-act Christian's pilgrimage from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, and they attempt to shoulder the burdens life deals them with Christian as their model. Only whilst reading Little Women did I fully realize what an impact The Pilgrim's Progress has had on western literature.

Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens

I first read Pickwick Papers roughly 40 years before I read Little Women and have read it several times since then so when the March sisters play Pickwick I actually knew what they were doing and thought it great fun. Reading what LMA clearly loved is another way to understand what made her tick.

March, by Geraldine Brooks 

March is a novel in which the main character is Mr. March, the father of Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth March and husband of Marmee, literature's archetypal mother, in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.  

I really think I would've enjoyed March much more if Brooks hadn't leveraged Little Women.  Her main character still could've hailed from Concord, MA, still could've rubbed shoulders with Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, still could've been an abolotionist, but needn't have been saddled to Marmee and the girls from Little Women.  There's just too much baggage and it weighs the story down with doubt and assumptions and inevitable dissappointment. 

The Other Alcott, by Elise Hooper 

For some reason I didn't blog about this novel about Mae Alcott, Louisa's youngest sister and the model for Amy in Little Women. I actually really liked it and want to reread it soon. I am one of the few people who actually like and sympathize with Amy and reading about Mae just intensified the belief that LMA really threw her sister under the bus with her Amy. It turns out that Mae was a very talented artist who died young and LMA raised her daughter. I loved reading about the art world in Paris in the latter part of the 19th century.

Other

Little Women - the March family 

Blog post on how the mother/daughters are the heart and soul of this family and how every character is actually part of the family.

Visiting Concord 

Travelogue which includes a visit to the Alcott home, Orchard House, in Concord, MA as well as the cemetary where LMA is buried.

From my 2012 visit to Orchard House

 

Nonfiction November: Fiction/Nonfiction Book Pairing

This week's topic is hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey, and it is a topic near and dear to my heart: books that go together. 

One of my favorite nonfiction books this year was A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, by Sonia Purnell, and one of my favorite novels of 2020 was Code Name Hélène, by Ariel Lawhon. Both books were about female spies during WWII who helped the French Resistance. Both were absolutely riveting. While Code Name Hélène was a novel, it was based on the life of a real person.

Here's what I wrote about A Woman of No Importance back in August: 

This is one of the best books of 2021. Could not put it down. Virginia Hall was incredible--brave, passionate, capable. She persisted. Despite a prosthetic leg. Despite the old boys network. Despite the Gestapo, betrayals, and red tape, she really, truly helped liberate France and end WWII. This is non-fiction at its finest. I started out listening to an audio version but switched to print because there are a lot of names and locations and organizations to keep track of, but a truly marvelous read. 

And here's my blurb about Code Name Helene:

I read a few reviews from other bloggers and felt this would be good. WWII, set in Marseille and the Dordogne region of France, French resistance - premise great! To be honest, during the first half I was not sure I would love it--the main character, Nancy, was a bit too perfect (beautiful, brilliant, brave, etc) but I was totally engrossed in the second half and couldn't put it down. Then, I read the afterword and learned that it was based on a real person who did all these extraordinary things.

Another nice matchup is the nonfiction book, Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II, by Liza Mundy and The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn. The nonfiction is about Americans and The Rose Code is about their English counterparts working at Bletchley Park, but these two books go very nicely together and help to put the role women played in winning the war into much sharper focus. 

Side note - I loved The Rose Code so much that I listened to it a second time on a road trip. And there's a TV series under development based on the book!

Here's what I wrote about The Rose Code last spring: 

I loved the characters of The Rose Code, from socialite Osla who dated the future Duke of Edinburgh and who was based on the real-life Osla Benning to working girl Mab from London's East End to mousey Beth, and how they grew and developed and matured. The Bletchley Park setting was fascinating (now on my must-visit list) as was the process of code breaking. I loved reading about how the various departments contributed to the whole, mostly without the cogs in the machinery having an understanding of what role their cog played. Final note--the best part of the book is the last third. Reads like a thriller!

I do tend to read about a subject, whether that be code breaking and spies during WWII, or War of the Roses and Tudor history, or Italy, or Northumberland, or whatever else strikes a chord, so the matchups are usually not hard for me to make!

Hope you are all enjoying Nonfiction November.

 

Nonfiction November Week #1: My Year of Reading Nonfiction

Wow, it's been a long time since I participated in a month-long reading blogfest, but Nonfiction November really appealed to me this year.

Week 1 is hosted by What's Nonfiction? and this week's prompt is to 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 read 19 nonfiction books so far this year, in two broad categories and one very specific one. I've highlighted in green my favorite in each category, although everything except the Charles Dickens' Pictures from Italy was either a 4 or a 5-star read.

Obviously, I love to read history and this was my year for WWII code breaking, in both fiction and non-fiction, and I have a couple more nonfictions in this category on my Nov/Dec short list.

Most recommended: The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson - this is history that I was never taught in grade school, junior high, high school, or college...and it is a shame it has taken me this long to learn what happened in the US during my own lifetime!

I love to read about books and find new titles and interests and rabbit holes that I can lose myself in over the next year. That's why I am participating, why I bother to blog, and why I love chatting with other bloggers.

History, Archeology

• The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern, by Robert Morrison
• The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss, Gabriel Stoian (Translator)
• The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At the Turn of the First Millennium, by Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger
• Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II, by Liza Mundy
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson
• Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England, by Thomas Penn
• Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson, by Paula Byrne
• The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction, by Eric Rauchway
• A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, by Sonia Purnell
• Digging for Richard III: The Search for the Lost King, by Mike Pitts

Italy

• Pictures from Italy, by Charles Dickens
• Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a Year, by Carlo Levi, Frances Frenaye (Translator)
• La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind, by Beppe Severgnini, Giles Watson (Translator)

Nature, Birding, Memoir

• Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder: A Memoir, by Julia Zarankin
• What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing—What Birds Are Doing, and Why, by David Allen Sibley
• Birds, Beasts and Relatives, by Gerald Durrell
• Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Iconic Poet, by Marta McDowell
• This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism, by Don Lemon
• My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris, by Alexander Lobrano

Nonfiction November

Sophisticated Dorkiness,  I'm Lost in Books, Regular Rumination, and Doing Dewey are hosting Nonfiction November.  

During November,  the co-hosts will be reading and writing about nonfiction, and encouraging other readers to join in through a series of post topics and a couple of readalongs.

The task for this first week is to consider Your Year in Nonfiction: Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on some questions:

What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? 
Twelve of my 58 books so far in 2014 (that's 21%) were non-fiction. I was actually surprised to see so many as I don't feel I read enough nonfiction, but I guess it's relative as I love fiction too!

So, my favorite?  I guess I would have to go with One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson.  I enjoy Bryson's style, I love reading about history, and this time period is absolutely fascinating with lots of larger than life people doing interesting things and the society struggling to catch up with technology, which is changing age-old conventions at breakneck speed.

What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? 

It has to be Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman.  I've recommended this to fellow bloggers, family and friends.  So many people have been watching the TV series, and I found it really interesting to compare the book with the series.  Not only in terms of what works best in each media, but how a memoir can become fictionalized.

What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet? 

I set out in 2014 intending to finally read up on WWI, since we're marking the 100-year anniversary of the start of the war.  I have a number of books on my shelf in this area, but haven't read any yet!  Must do in 2015.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

I see this as a great opportunity to find new nonfiction books for my groaning shelves and meet some new book bloggers.   It's also a good way to start thinking about my reading plans for 2015--what I want to accomplish as a reader, and what areas/topics I want to learn more about.