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.

Understanding the world

Most of my nonfiction reading is usually done in conjunction with my book group. In the past year, however, we made an effort to read more novels. These three are the nonfiction books that we read in the last year:

• Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
• The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria Smilios
• The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon (I will review this next week as a book that reflects a journey)

I read One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad on my own. It would have worked well in our book group, too.

Jane Austen’s 250th birthday

During and after last year’s Nonfiction November, I found ways to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th birthday on December 16.

• The Novel Life of Jane Austen: A Graphic Biography by Janine Barchas and Isabel Greenberg
• Jane Austen’s Christmas: The Festive Season in Georgian England by Maria Hubert
• Jane Austen at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley

A Calmer Cozier Life

Near the beginning of the year, I took on the 100-day project in The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad — a collection of journal prompts by a variety of creators through many walks of life.

After that inner journey, the memoir Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton arrived as a calm journey in nature.

Somewhere along the way, I wondered about creating calm in my home and used this book as my guide: Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff by Myquillyn Smith.

This is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan helped me consider my passions and how I pursue them.

Illustrated Books

I got myself on a kick of reading books with hand-drawn illustrations. The last two are travel journals and the first is what happens when a travel journalist looks closely at the place where she lives.

• When Wanderers Cease to Roam by Vivian Swift
• Le Road Trip: A Traveler’s Journal of Love and France by Vivian Swift
• A Fine Romance: Falling in love with the English Countryside by Susan Branch

Science and Technology

Black holes and AI are both worth a deeper look and these books provide that in a way that works well for readers who are more into books than science and technology.

• A Brief History of Black Holes by Dr. Becky Smethurst
• I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to do (Almost) Everything by Joanna Stern

I’ve read 16 nonfiction books since the first week of last year’s Nonfiction November. That’s two more than the previous year. I think Nonfiction November is having a positive impact on my reading.