Here it is time for Nonfiction November again, hosted by different bloggers each week. Last year, I was determined to read more nonfiction books, especially because I read about such good ones during the month. Alas, I went from 14 last year to 8 this year! Oh dear! To be fair to myself, I have several in my pile. I just haven’t gotten to them yet. I see that I started out fairly well but things fell off in the summer and fall.

Here’s the prompt for Week 1:

Week 1 (November 2-8) – My Year in Nonfiction – Heather. What nonfiction books did you read this year?  What were your favorites?  Did you find yourself reading a particular category of nonfiction most often? Hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story.

So, let’s see what I did read. With only eight, I can certainly give each a run-down:

The Little Dinner by Christine Terhune: In 1892, apparently, Christine Terhune was equivalent to Martha Stewart. Her book assumes that people can no longer afford to host big, elaborate dinners, so she is helping with the details of a little one. The most fascinating thing about this book to me was what Terhune considered a little dinner. Apparently, you only need one or two maids and four or five courses. The book contains recipes and also tips about how to decorate for the event and so on.

Oscar Wilde by Sheridan Morley: This biography is not an exhaustive one but one that tells just enough about Wilde’s life to be interesting and includes some quips and quotes from Wilde himself. It also is easier on Lord Alfred Douglas than other biographies I have read.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan: I heard about this book over a year ago on public radio, in an interview with Amy Tan. She explained that she had a physical condition that didn’t allow her to drive anymore, so she started watching birds in her backyard. She had lots of questions about them, so she decided to draw them, figuring that might answer some of them. Her drawings are delightful, and she certainly has an inquiring mind. This book is a year of her observations.

Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish by Francesca Peacock

Margaret Cavendish is such a fascinating person, one of the first women to be paid for her writings. I was so fascinated by her that I read two biographies, one last year and one this year, as well as the novella Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton. Peacock’s biography is the more scholarly of the two I read, the other being Mad Madge by Katie Whitaker. Peacock also deplores the “Mad Madge” appellation, which was actually applied to her after the Victorian period (she is 17th century), and regrets that Whitaker used it for her book title.

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell is talking here sometimes about brushes with actual death and sometimes about more metaphorical issues. I found this one rivetting and deeply touching.

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter

This is a fascinating memoir by the first European woman to spend a year in Spitsbergen (Svalbard), joining her husband there. Her outlook changes from thinking the landscape is cold and forbidding to beautiful. The descriptions are wonderful. The book is translated from German by Jane Degras.

The Clothing of Books by Jhumpa Lahiri

This book is really an essay about how Lahiri regards the covers for her books. At once she says they aren’t hers anymore when they get to that stage, yet it’s clear that some of the covers chosen for her books really bother her. She would actually like her books to just have the title and her name on them. The details about publication were interesting.

Queens and Kings: An Unusually Personal History by Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley is always entertaining, and this history/memoir is not meant to be comprehensive. It presents information about most of the English reigns beginning with Henry VIII and ending with Elizabeth II and refutes some myths. The information is presented in terms of the palaces most associated with the particular reign, for example, Hampton Court for Henry VIII. It also tells some stories of Worsley’s own experiences working in the different palaces as Chief Curator and encountering royalty.

Which were my favorites? I would say I Am, I Am, I Am and A Woman in the Polar Night.

So, that’s all I have done, sad to say. Most of these books were read in the spring, and then I picked back up when I realized November was approaching, but I also got caught up in reading novellas for the same month!