Sunday, November 01, 2015

My Year in Nonfiction - 2015

Woo-Hoo – it’s nonfiction November!

I’ve been reading nonfiction almost exclusively for several years now, so I am excited Kim, Becca, Lu, and Katie are hosting Nonfiction November - a month dedicated to reading and celebrating nonfiction - again this year.


This week Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness asks about our year in reading. I’ve read 17 nonfiction books to-date in 2015. Here they are in chronological order along with my opinions:

French Women Don't Get Facelifts: The Secret of Aging with Style & Attitudeby Mireille Guiliano
Intrigued by the title, I picked this one up from the library on a whim. I had read Guiliano's previous book French Women Don't Get Fatseveral years earlier and was looking for a book dedicated to appearance. Unfortunately, this book was mostly a recap of her previous work and was disappointing.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Businessby Charles Duhigg
I enjoyed this one while reading, but no longer remember much of it - except for the horrible story of casinos taking advantage of a woman with a gambling addiction.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch--Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foodsby Jennifer Reese 
I read this one for my live healthy on a budget challenge. Despite being entertaining and informative, I never made a single recipe from the book.

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A. J. Jacobs
This is another book that wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted practical, researched health tips, instead this book read like a gimmick.

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gainby Portia de Rossi
A must read for anyone wanting to learn what it is like to have an eating disorder. De Rossi provides an honest account of what was going on inside her head while suffering from anorexia and bulimia.

Ride of Your Life: A Coast-to-Coast Guide to Finding Inner Peaceby Ran Zilca
This one offered good advice, but I was left wanting more.

Buying In: What We Buy and Who We Are by Rob Walker
A bit dated, but still informative.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler
I know many of you loved this book, but it didn’t work for me and I now find Amy Poehler annoying. I was looking for more of a feminist manifesto. It seemed to me Amy didn’t really want to write this book and only did so because she couldn’t find a way to get out of it. I preferred Tina Fey’s Bossypants.

The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Doby Clotaire Rapaille
I don’t have any comments on this one because I can’t remember anything of substance from this book.

Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change and What to Do about Itby Vivian Diller Ph.D.
I read this one after spotting it on a list of recommended reading for a female mid-life crisis. It was a decent book written by a psychologist that deals with understanding the emotions women experience as we age. (To be honest, so far I'm not too concerned about my aging looks).

The Power of No: Because One Little Word Can Bring Health, Abundance, and Happiness by James Altucher
I read this over the summer when I was feeling overwhelmed at work. I wasn’t expecting it to offer anything new and didn’t plan on finishing it, so I was surprised by how helpful it actually was.

Triumph of the Heart: Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World by Megan Feldman Bettencourt
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a great study of forgiveness.

Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life by Jane Pauley
This book was a light and somewhat informative book on reinvention.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
This is the best book I've read all year and have been recommending it to everyone. In addition to teaching me about racial history and the great migration, it provided an eye-opening lesson on living in the moment. This is the book I think about most often.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Areby Brene Brown
This book taught me that comparison is the cause for much of our unhappiness and that creativity is the key to meaning. It is a good self-help book.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
I read this one to learn more about living in the moment, it was helpful, but I started losing interest towards the end.

Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyevaby Rosemary Sullivan:
I loved this book. It provided insight into Stalin, his family and life in Russia during and immediately after his regime. Life for Svetlana doesn’t necessarily get better when she defects to the US. She was looking for freedom, but wasn't prepared for our freedom of the press. The chapters she writes about Ogilvanna Wright (the wife of Frank Lloyd Wright) and Taliesin are highly entertaining and not favorable.

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwideby Nicholas D. Kristof:
I have 20 pages left to read in this book, but want to mention it because I am sure it will go down as one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.

This process of listing my year of books has been an enlightening experience. I see a pattern of trying to come to terms with my age, searching for help in dealing with work stress and attempting to figure out what to do next. I also realized I don’t want to write about health and have abandoned my life healthy challenge. I am hoping reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is the beginning of a new direction for me.

Books from this list I’ve recommended the most:
The Warmth of Other Suns and Stalin’s Daughter.

What nonfiction topic do you not read enough of?
I am always reading to learn something new or to fulfill a book challenge I've set for myself or to write a review I’ve committed to. I’d like to spend more time reading nonfiction - that reads like fiction  - with the sole purpose being to read a really good book.

My reading picks for nonfiction November are:

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreamsby Alfred Lubrano

What are you reading for Nonfiction November? What was your favorite nonfiction read this year?

Please Note, I am an Amazon Affiliate

26 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading The Power of Habit, too, and that story about the lady in the casino was so interesting.

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    1. It certainly was. I wish I remembered more from the book though.

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  2. I am borrowing a couple of "children's" books on Ancient Rome about how cities and such were built. Lots of drawing but also a lot of information, one of those books that blurs the lines of so-called written-for-children books. I'm currently reading _The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up_ by Marie Kondo. And tomorrow my daughter and my daughter-in-law and I are going to discuss possibly having our own little reading group which I'm thinking will focus on nonfiction. We'll see.

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    1. I would love to be part of an in-person reading group. It is hard to find others that have the same reading tastes as me though. I'm all for expanding my horizons, but can only take so much of Jodi Picoult. The Life Changing Magic is on my TBR list. That would be a fun one to discuss with others.

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  3. Half the Sky is a great book. I like their next one, A Path Appears, too.

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    1. I didn't know about A Path Appears; signing up for it now.

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  4. I am so impressed by people who read nonfiction. I just read crappy escapist mysteries and chest-heavers! Hats off to you.

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    1. Thanks Webb. Sometimes I wish I could read just for the joy of reading, but then that I'm wasting time feeling starts creeping in. I can't just watch television for enjoyment either.

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  5. I like the sound of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter...I love cooking and try to eat as healthy and clean as possible, but am so busy with 2 little ones at home, it would be nice to know what corner cutting is the best!

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    1. You should definitely look into this one. She also does a good job of letting you know what items making at home isn't worth it.

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  6. I struggled with Yes Please too but put it down to the lack of cultural reference points. Other than a few of her more famous SNL skits, that have gone viral, Poehler was unknown to me.

    Make the Bread, Buy the Butter also sound interesting to me.

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    1. Glad I'm not the only one who struggled with Yes Please. If you read the Bread book be sure to let me know.

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  7. Oooh love this! Definitely adding several of these to my library list... pinning it so I don't forget! I think Brene Brown was the person who wrote the forward to Art of Asking... reviewing it and Bossypants tomorrow myself! ;P

    I enjoyed French Women Don't Get Fat when I read it a while back... my main takeaway was that I should drink more champagne. Ahaha just kidding... but seriously... ;P

    Thanks for the fun reviews!

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    1. Thanks Sarah. Happy to learn you are a Tina Fey fan too. I'm adding the Art of Asking to my TRB.

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  8. I thought French Women Don't Get Facelifts sounded interesting too, but based on your experience, I'm glad I didn't pick it up! I'm excited you'll be joining us for Nonfiction November :)

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    1. Thanks. I'm loving Nonfiction November.

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  9. I read The Warmth of Other Suns several years ago and agree, really great! I'm curious about reading Brene Brown as well, although I'm not sure if I should start with her first, or just jump into the most recent.

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    1. I read somewhere that we should start with Brene Brown's The Gift of Imperfection and also that it was her best. I wasn't disappointed.

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  10. I will be reading I am Malala too as soon as I get through this review book. I really want to read The French Girls, Habit and Make the Bread, Buy the Better book. Thanks for this great list and for sharing with Small Victories Sunday Linkup last week. Pinning to our linkup board and hope you join us again this weekend.

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    1. Thanks Tanya. How did you like I am Malala?

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  11. I've had The Warmth of Other Suns on my list for quite awhile. Stalin's Daughter sounds interesting, too! I just added it to my list!

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    1. If you read either please stop back in and let me know your thoughts.

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  12. Anything by Joel Salatin! I love his books and consider them to be little golden nuggets of wisdom in this cold, cruel agricultural climate. Also I've kinda moved from reading to watching documentaries - which might be good or bad, not sure yet. I have access to Netflix and it's taking over my life. Love your book lists, Savvy! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I am making it a goal to read Joel Salatin in 2016. I'll let you know my thoughts.

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  13. Leslie8:13 AM

    I loved "An African in Greenland". It objectively shares the author's African culture then shows his interactions & own culture shock when he lived in Greenland.

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    1. "An African in Greenland" sounds excellent. I am adding it to my reading list.

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