Tag: book lists

Nonfiction November 2025! Week One: My Year in Nonfiction

~ whatmeread ~ 35 Comments

Hi, all, it’s November, so it’s time for Nonfiction November, which I participated in the last two years. This year, it is hosted by the following bloggers:

Each week, the host posts a prompt for discussion and a linkup where you can link your posts. For this first week, the host is Heather at Based on a True Story, and the prompt is Your Year in Nonfiction. For more information about the prompt, see Heather’s blog. And here we go for mine.

What Did I Read?

Since November 2024, I read 16 books. I think this means that I have increased my nonfiction reading in number by one each year that I participated until now, when I went up by four (but I am not sure if I included the two books I read in November 2024 in my count last year—probably not). Last year I didn’t list them all, just totaled them by category, but sixteen isn’t so many, so I may as well, in the order that I read them. If I have reviewed them yet (I am behind posting), there’s a link to the review.

As far as categorizing them, here goes:

  • Biography/Memoir: 10
  • Art and Language: 3
  • History: 4
  • Sociology: 1
  • Sports: 1
  • Food: 1
  • Science: 1
  • True Crime: 1
  • Maps: 1

Clearly, some of these fit into more than one category. The hardest to categorize are Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I have put under memoir but is as much about the importance of good food, and Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, which I have not put under memoir, even though it includes lots of anecdotes, but under art and language, because it’s mostly about interpreting Shakespeare’s plays (which sounds dull, but it is not).

Just as a side note, when I look at my record of nonfiction reading from the past year, I see that I seriously went into it in the spring, reading half a dozen books between February and April, then sort of fell off for the summer, and picked up the pace a bit in the fall.

What Were My Favorites?

If I go by my ratings, my favorites were Life Among the Qallunaat, The Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands, and Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. However, hands down, the one that made the most impression on me was Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands. I’m sorry, therefore, that I haven’t reviewed it yet. (It’s going to be a Best of Ten, which I tend to save up so as not to have too many in a given period, so I may not get to my review this year, because there are a bunch ahead of it.) I believe I read about it during last year’s Nonfiction November. Other books I read about last year were Cultish and Mad Madge (I think).

What Were My Favorite Topics?

Well, obviously and always, I like reading about people and history. I didn’t read anything this year that I wanted to follow up on, although I like to read about indigenous people, so probably will.

What Am I Hoping to Get Out of Nonfiction November?

Since I’m not a big nonfiction reader and don’t tend to read many blogs that focus on it, I hope to add a few more interesting books to my To Read list.

Classics Club Spin #42

~ whatmeread ~ 10 Comments

It’s time for another Classics Club Spin. To participate, post a numbered list of 20 books from your Classics Club list (here’s mine) before Sunday, October 19. Classics Club will announce a number on that day, and that determines the book to read before the 21st of December.

I no longer have 20 books left on my list, although I have neglected it shamefully, so I have to repeat titles. In fact, I have exactly 10 books left to read. Here’s my list for this spin:

  1. The Tavern Knight by Raphael Sabatini
  2. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare
  3. The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
  4. Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford
  5. The Methods of Lady Walderhurst by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  6. The Princess of Cleves by Madame de la Fayette
  7. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  8. Cecilia, Memoirs of an Heiress by Frances Burney
  9. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
  10. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
  11. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
  12. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
  13. Cecilia, Memoirs of an Heiress by Frances Burney
  14. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  15. The Princess of Cleves by Madame de la Fayette
  16. The Methods of Lady Walderhurst by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  17. Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford
  18. The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
  19. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare
  20. The Tavern Knight by Raphael Sabatini

Good luck to everyone! I hope you get a book you enjoy.

Novellas in November: Planning Post

~ whatmeread ~ 31 Comments

In a month, Novellas in November is starting up again, hosted by Cathy of 746 Books and Beck of Bookish Beck. Last year, I think I just plunged into Novellas in November by reading a bunch of novellas, but this year, I see Beck has already launched a Linky for planning posts. (Maybe they did this last year, too, and I just didn’t notice.) So, here I am throwing together a planning post.

I tend to read well before I publish unless something unexpected comes up, so I have already started reading for this event. Aside from a general post about what novellas I’ve read through the year, I have so far read two novellas that I will review in November, and I plan to read five more.

Here are the ones I have finished with a brief description:

  • The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym: a woman of a certain age becomes a little too close with a much younger man.
  • Seascraper by Benjamin Wood: a young man is the only person left carrying on a traditional way of shrimping when he meets a film maker.

The novellas I haven’t read yet but plan to review in November are

  • The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka: in the early 19th century, a group of women are brought from Japan as “picture brides.”
  • For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria Mackenzie: two women meet in 1413 Norwich, one of whom has visions considered heretical.
  • Hex by Jenni Fagan: In 1591, Geillis Duncan, a convicted witch, receives a visit from a mysterious woman.
  • A Pale View of the Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro: a Japanese woman relives the events at the end of World War II.
  • Why Did I Ever by Mary Robinson: a woman is barely keeping it under control in this dark comedy.

WWW Wednesday!

~ whatmeread ~ 12 Comments

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so it’s time for WWW Wednesday, an idea I borrowed from David Chazan, The Chocolate Lady, who borrowed it from someone else. For this feature, I report

  • What I am reading now
  • What I just finished reading
  • What I intend to read next

This is something you can participate in, too, if you want, by leaving comments about what you’ve been reading or plan to read.

What I am reading now

I got on to Henryk Sienkiewicz quite a few years ago now, when I read his gripping novel With Fire and Sword, the first of a trilogy. When I was reading it, I learned from a friend who is first-generation British/American of Polish descent that his were the books Polish children grew up with, but these aren’t just books for children. He is a late 19th century/early 20th century writer of historical fiction, a Nobel Prize for Literature winner. His best-known book is Quo Vadis, my least favorite of his so far. Sometime back, I noticed that someone was selling a used copy of The Teutonic Knights by him, and it finally made it to the top of my pile. I have since read that he considered it his best book, and I’d say it’s a real page-turner. It’s also very long. All of his books that I’ve read so far are quite long except Quo Vadis. But somehow the time goes quickly. Almost finished!

What I just finished reading

I just finished a book sent to me by NYRB, The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym. It’s about an attractive woman of a certain age, a “fragile” woman, who becomes friends with a much younger man and his uncle. Although friendship with the uncle is more suitable, she prefers the young man and slowly begins drawing him in so that he is dependent on her. At 207 pages, this one squeaks in for Novellas in November.

What I will read next

I usually have written quite a few reviews ahead of time, and I see that I should be reading things I will be reviewing in November, which means two things: Novellas in November and Nonfiction November. Since Nonfiction November tends to be more about the nonfiction people have read during the year, I have a pile of novellas on my bed table that it’s about time to start reading. And Seascraper by Benjamin Wood serves both the purpose of being a novella and of being a book that I’ve read about lately (and also a Booker Prize longlister). So, I’ll start reading my pile with it.

What about you? What have you been reading?

WWW Wednesday

~ whatmeread ~ 4 Comments

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so it’s time for WWW Wednesday, an idea I borrowed from David Chazan, The Chocolate Lady, who borrowed it from someone else. For this feature, I report

  • What I am reading now
  • What I just finished reading
  • What I intend to read next

This is something you can participate in, too, if you want, by leaving comments about what you’ve been reading or plan to read.

What I am reading now

I just started Long Island, Colm Tóibín’s sequel to Brooklyn, which picks up 20 years later. It’s been a year or so since I read Brooklyn, and I find myself struggling to remember where it left off, but so far I am enjoying it. I just started it yesterday. Eilis is now a mother of two, living on Long Island in the same street as her husband’s Italian family, and right away she finds out something disturbing.

What I just finished reading

I just finished the fourth book in Ellis Peters’ Cadfael series, Saint Peter’s Fair. I am enjoying this series, particularly because of the characters and the time setting, as I have read about this period before. The series is definitely getting more political, but we’ll just see where it goes.

What I will read next

Sometimes I change my mind at the last minute, and this time, when I was looking through my pile of books to read, I picked out The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey, only to realize that I read it some time ago for my Walter Scott project and somehow picked up a copy of it later. So, I went back to the shelf and picked out Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judy Dench. I was in Ashland, Oregon, two years ago for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and picked up this book at the town’s excellent bookstore. It has finally worked its way to the top of the pile, and it’s about time I read it.

So, what about you? What’s going on with your reading?

If I Gave the Award

~ whatmeread ~ 14 Comments

With my review of English Magic, I have completed reading the shortlist of the 2022 James Tait Black Fiction Prize. That means it’s time for my feature, where I decide whether the judges got it right. This year is particularly difficult for me, because none of the books really clicked with me.

I’ll start with the winner, A Shock by Keith Ridgway. In my review, I quoted its pretentious back cover: “a rondel of interlocking stories . . . both deracinated and potent with place, druggy but shot through with a terrifying penetration of reality.” I reviewed this book two years ago, and frankly, I can’t remember a thing about it. It is a collection of short stories that I did not find engaging, centered around a pub.

English Magic by Uschi Gatward is another collection of short stories. I found it a mixed bag, although all of its details are minutely observed. Again, I didn’t connect with many of the stories, several of which were about political activism. Unlike A Shock, they didn’t seem to have any common themes or settings.

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge would seem to be more my style, about a black young woman in pre-Civil War Brooklyn whose mother wants her to become a doctor. However, Libertie behaves like a spoiled modern young woman, and one of my pet peeves is a historical novel that has its characters behave out of their time. Libertie makes one bad decision after another, wasting her opportunities.

That leaves Memorial by Bryan Washington, about the relationship between two gay young men, one a black American and one Japanese, and their relationships to their families. Although its humor went over my head and I don’t like explicit sex, I found it perceptive and sometimes touching.

I am winding up this project, and I think I only have three books to read for the 2021 shortlist. My library hasn’t had any of them.