Nonfiction November discussion

Just finished Twelve Mighty Orphans (join) and American Sniper (Shot)
Today I started My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Code) and will also be starting The Lost City of Z (Path). Halfway there

I ended up not finishing Book and Dagger. I'm now reading The Indian Card: Who Gets To Be Native in America.

Rebecca wrote: "I ended up not finishing Book and Dagger. I'm now reading The Indian Card: Who Gets To Be Native in America."

Oh nice, I'm reading The Indian Card too. I'm liking it so far.

I'm really liking it. Though part of me feels like it's several books worth of stuff crammed into one, and I want the other three books we could have gotten.

Linda wrote: "I just finished An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin. very informative"

She is one of my favorite historians.

Esto no es una historia del arte en Mexico (Bueno, si es)--First finish. I am almost finished with "The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Going to start with MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson , one of my go-to podcaster for the pop-culture tag.

So far I have had one OK reading experience -- for join, Speaking Out: Queer Youth in Focus, a book of photographic essays from 2014 -- and two really remarkable ones. For code, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob, a graphic non-novel about an interracial family, was hard-hitting and moving, inventive in presentation. Written before and after the first time Trump was elected, it couldn't be more timely. For path, Common Ground: Encounters with Nature at the Edges of Life by Rob Cowen was a revelation. His imagining the life of a fox in the "edge-land" is a tour de force. "Shot" is still ahead: a re-read of Notebook of an Agitator by James P. Cannon. It has really been a powerful Nonfiction November.

I didn't get to finish The Indian Card: Who Gets to be Native in America. It was on hold for someone else at the library. For path, I was able to read The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robij Wall Kimmerer.

I finished “The Bully Pulpit”. I picked up “The Salt Path” and I am listening to “Brothers on Three”.

I've finished Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon. This book was good but overpacked with "sciency feminism" and lots of wordy footnotes. May not be for everyone.

I'm a third of the way through Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton. It's interesting, but not quite what I thought it would be and organized rather strangely to my taste.

saiganesh wrote: "Going to start with MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson , one of my go-to podcaster for the pop-culture tag."

I've read this one. It's excellent!

For path I'm going to be reading The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why

A revised edition was just released in August. I've read this one before and love it, but now the updated edition has over 100 new pages of information so I look forward to discovering what new material has been added.

Using it for 'path' because what leads to the path of some people surviving disasters and others not so much?

I finished "The Salt Path" by Raynor Winn. I had some quibbles with it but overall found it interesting.

"Brothers on Three" by Abraham Streep was fantastic!

Up next: "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans" by Nechama Tec.

I only got to read 2 books this year.

Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

Recommend both of them.

I am currently reading another by Dan Jones
The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England
but I won't finish it by months end

I just finished Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me by Glory Edim. That book was amazing! I can't remember the last time I read a book that I wanted to tell everyone to go read. I'm not sure if I can explain why this book resonates with me so much, but it does. It overflows with her love.

So far I've finished:
The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family
Unlearning Shame: How We Can Reject Self-Blame Culture and Reclaim Our Power
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916
The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance
What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird
and I am almost done with Gravity: How the Weakest Force in the Universe Shaped Our Lives
I've also been keeping up with my fiction library holds, so those have taken the rest of my reading time.

I finished The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need for path. Though to be honest I started it before November but i've started Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick & Manifestation which also works for path for me, but i'm positive I won't finish it by December. So... shrugs.

I also (started and finished in November lol) The Red Market: On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers (for "shot" because I don't read True Crime generally)

So far i'm enjoying everything! Though The Red Market is True Crime and very disturbing.

So far, I have completed 2 nonfiction books this month:

PATH: Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist by Sherrie Flick

SHOT: A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

JOIN: I started Hillary Clinton's Something Lost, Something Gained but had to return it to the library before I completed it. I will finish it, but not in November.

Next up is a biography of President James Madison. I am not sure that it fits the CODE prompt.

I have finished my last book, for "Join" as it's an essay anthology. How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures

I enjoyed all of the books I read! The other 3

Path: The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need and Psychic Witch: A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick & Manifestation (though i'm still working on Psychic Witch)

Code: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

Shot: The Red Market: On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers

Nonfiction November for me is a success!

Today is Day 30 so here is my Wrap Up:

My NFN did not go as planned. I originally set everything up in October, but after the way things went with the election I could not bring myself to read any heavy topics. I could not bring myself to read books that would get me angry. So my October plan/my original NFN ideas were scrapped and I had to find books that wouldn't agitate me.

In the end, I finished off well with 13 books total: 10 nonfiction books and 3 fiction (as palate cleansers). It may have not been what I planned, but I made it work.

These are the nonfiction books (One not mentioned since was about UFOs in the local region where I'm from):

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum - 4 star. Loved this one. Found a lot I could relate to.

Girl of Steel: Essays on Television's Supergirl and Fourth-Wave Feminism- 4 star. My only 'heavy topic' book. Even feminism stuff I struggled with after the election. Still a good book though.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness - 4 star.

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why - 4 star.

Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel - 4 star. Anything related to Superman I gravitate toward.

The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America - 4 star. Lots to learn. Didn't realize how much red tape there was when it comes to identifying Indigenous identity.

Creative Nonfiction: How to Blend Reality with Imagination in Your Writing - 3 star. Good for beginning writer's, but I didn't gain much from it. Very basic.

Early Poems - 3 star. I like nature poems, but I think ultimately I'm a Mary Oliver fan.

*Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show - DNF. I love One Tree Hill so I got this book. What I wasn't aware of were the other trigger warnings. After page 2 I was done. I'll keep this book because I'm a OTH fan, but I don't see myself reading it any time in the near future. This has been my only DNF out of everything I've read this year which is unfortunate.

******

My plan may have gone off the rails, but I made it work. I had a great time with Nonfiction November this year, especially since I added my own little twist by creating daily videos.

Olive, thank you so much for doing this one final year. Don't know what my plans are for next year but I definitely plan to keep the spirit alive of Nonfiction November, whether I decide to do my own prompts or challenges, who knows. Everything is up in the air and I look forward to seeing where the leaves land.

I finished my last nonfiction book last night so that worked out well.
I completed 6 books. I had a great month & reached my goal.
1. Code: Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. I went with the genetic code interpretation.
2. Path: The Salt Path. I'm with Audrey on this book. I also had some quibbles with the book. I didn't like the book as much as I thought I would.
3. Shot: George V: Never a Dull Moment. I was thinking King George V was a shot in the dark but turned out to be a fine leader. There were assignations & WW l during his reign so there is the shot angle. It was very good. I enjoyed the history.
4. Join: An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s. The history was very good in this book too.

Other books I completed but didn't use for prompts.
5. Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife. This was a book club read. A lot of food for thought here.
6. Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit. I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. I do like ecology books.
I'm already looking for to next November.