Let The Reading Begin!

[Ron]

Happy November 1st everyone!

I opened the toy box thread as a way to get things started as to our potential TBR's. Now that we are at the official start of November I figured here we could share what it is we are currently reading either as a nonfiction book in general or a book(s) for the prompts.

So let the games begin :^D

*****

I started NFN a couple of days earlier out of excitement but these books have spilled over into the November month. Here are my current reads that I'm close to finishing along with my reasons as to why they fit:

Secret: Fandom Culture from how it used to be hidden and is now mainstream.


Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse

Record: Roswell UFO Crash of 1947 which people have gone on the record that it happened


Roswell: The Ultimate Cold Case: Eyewitness Testimony and Evidence of Contact and the Cover-Up

Element: Elements that go into writing poetry


An American Sunrise

[Dee]

Hey all!!

I’m kicking off NFN by listening to 1861: The Civil War Awakening - I’m about halfway through as of today

Im also nearly done withThe Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II

[Joanne]

I have added 1861: The Civil War Awakening (it looks really good!) to my tumbling tower...something tells me this group will make that tower teeter and fall over😁

[Joanne]

I am reading Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

[Dee]

Joanne wrote: "I have added 1861: The Civil War Awakening (it looks really good!) to my tumbling tower...something tells me this group will make that tower teeter and fall over😁"

yes this group totally will! apparently I bought 1861 back in like 2015 during an audiobook sale and never listened to it...so one of my goals for this year was to dig into my audiobook stack

[Deja]

Started off today with “Mama Bear Apologetics” !

[Hope]

I started off with secrets of divine love

[Nancy]

I read and finished Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Rogues: True stories of grifters, killers, rebels, and crooks” (for RECORD) early because it was a Libby loan that went back to the library yesterday.

I am now reading “Auntie’s War: The BBC during the Second World War” by Edward Stourton for RECORD.

I’ve also started “Paradise Falls: The true story of an environmental catastrophe” by Keith O’Brien for ELEMENT.

[Ashley Marie]

Good morning! Beginning The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 now.

[Ron]

Ashley Marie wrote: "Good morning! Beginning The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 now."

Nice. Good luck with that one. I had a hard time with it.

[Ashley Marie]

Ron wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "Good morning! Beginning The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 now."

Nice. Good luck with that one. I had a hard time with it."

I've paired it with a new fiction release, NK Jemisin's The World We Make, which is also set in NYC, so I can toss back and forth when I need a break.

[Dee]

Ashley Marie wrote: "Good morning! Beginning The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 now."

i enjoyed this but i have a feeling it would be better as an audiobook with different voices recalling experiences - since its pretty much straight description of events vs. a narrative

[Ashley Marie]

Dee wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "Good morning! Beginning The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 now."

i enjoyed this but i have a feeling it would be better as an audiobook with di..."

The audiobook is well done and features a 45-person cast reading 500+ excerpts from interviews and records Graff pulled together. I'm at the beginning now and they just played the actual audio of Betty Ong's call to air traffic control + audio of the hijackers on American Airlines 11, which I (somehow) wasn't expecting.

[Mary]

I tried reading The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks. It was over my head.
I tried reading The Quiet Power: the Secret Strength of Introverts. Maybe if I was younger I would finish this but I'm 61 and fully cooked.
I tried reading Freakonomics and hated the first chapter.
Now I'm reading Last Change Texaco by Rickie Lee Jones. Loving it but wish I also had the audio version.
I am reading and listening to Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive. It has my attention.
I haven't picked any of the 4 prompts because I figure if I can read these books it's a win.

[Olive]

Bless you Ron for being such a wonderful source of conversation here on the Goodreads page! The enthusiasm warms my heart and the help is greatly appreciated.

I'm all over the place with my nonfiction reading at the moment, having gotten an idea for a video (a secret, for now) that I'm currently chasing down the rabbit hole. Reading for that video will consume a chunk of my attention until it's posted later this month.

But from my TBR, I think the first one I'll be taking on is Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life.

Happy Nonfiction November everyone!

[Darya Silman]

I started Tom Felton's memoir 'Beyond the Wand'

[Ron]

Not a problem, Olive, happy to help. Anything else, feel free to reach out. I've got nothing but loads of time.

*****

I've got 3 books done so far, since a few were spill-over from Oct. As a result, I'm on book 4. I'm really trying hard not to compete with myself but it's fun when I do, sometimes anyway.

My goal for the whole year is to read at least 90% of nonfiction and I'm at 81. That's one of the reasons I'm grateful for this initiative. It gives me a stronger reason to keep reading a genre that I already love.

*****

Don't sure where I'll place this one, probably in a general category that doesn't fit the prompts so I'll have to add a new section to my excel sheet.


Catching the Light

[Émilie]

Hi there! I'm currently reading Quand les atomes racontent l'histoire du monde which is the french version of The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, recommended by our lovely Olive. I don't try to do the prompt but I'm pretty sure that one could be Element hihi

[Andrea]

Hi - I've started with Bill McKibben's 1989 book The End of Nature, for "element." Having read his more recent book Eaarth (not a typo) and gotten a LOT out of it, I was interested to see where he started from in his writing about global warming -- or, as I saw a climate scientist describe it this week, global heating.

[Read by Fred]

Hello everyone. I've just started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

I'm only on Chapter 3, but quite a good read so far.

[Martha]

I'm beginning with The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis. I've only read 22 pages so it's too early to tell which prompt this book will fit.

[Ron]

Martha wrote: "I'm beginning with The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis. I've only read 22 pages so it's too early to tell which prompt this book will fit."

Martha, it could fit in element. Since it's talking about a Pandemic that can lead into the science/i.e. periodic table structure of elements (the building blocks of the strands to create the virus and such). Just a thought.

[Ron]

This book is is 592 pages. I don't finish books of this magnitude in time, especially since I annotate history books, but I plan to count it for my NFN reads as it is a book I'm reading during the month.

Placing this one for border.



******

Now trying to think of my next read. I'll probably wait until tomorrow when I get Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years which is a poetry book (element).

[Joanne]

I am a "mulitple-books-at-a time" reader so I started # 2 last night The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

[Ashley Marie]

Joanne wrote: "I am a "mulitple-books-at-a time" reader so I started # 2 last night The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams"

Oh, this one looks very good! I hope you like it, Joanne!

[Robyn]

Hi everyone! I've started reading the graphic memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands. I'm going to put this in the 'secret' prompt for now.

[Lindsey]

I am starting with Element

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

It is longer than I imagined it would be. I was able to find the print and audio copy through my library so I will be getting through it that way.

[Sherri]

Hi Everyone. My goal is to finish two nonfiction books this week.
1. Record - All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
2. Border - The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
I'm very excited to read nonfiction all month long. I finally got settled with my list for the prompts and am now looking forward to reading all of them.

[Ron]

Sherri wrote: I'm very excited to read nonfiction all month long. I finally got settled with my list for the prompts and am now looking forward to reading all of them.

Me too. I'm a nonfiction reader in general but it's going to be exciting to devote even more time to it.

My prompts list is pretty much set. I have a few books that I ordered which are coming arriving in a few days which I've added to my lists as well.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer]

I am reading rescued below zero about nine men trap in Greenland and unchecked I finished yesterday about the January 6 insurrection I am also reading peculiar by Brian May about weird attractions in London but I have so many great books to get through and the awesome nonfiction November. I love it!

[Rebecca]

I'm working on finishing Worn: A people's history of textiles and Madly, Deeply the Journals of Alan Rickman.

[Adrienne]

I just finished How to Think by Alan Jacobs and now I’m starting Reading Jane Austen by Jenny Davidson.

[Suzanne]

OK. Book 1 is finished (I admit I slightly cheated and started it before November began!). The Unseen Body is the book. I would put this in the category of Record. The author chooses one body system or organ and speaks about its function in the body and also speaks about events in his life that relate to that concept; I am using this category because he is recounting parts of his life as well as describing the various body systems for the record.

[Theresa]

Janalyn wrote: "I am reading rescued below zero about nine men trap in Greenland and unchecked I finished yesterday about the January 6 insurrection I am also reading peculiar by Brian May about weird attractions ..."
Was Rescue below zero good?

[Theresa]

When I get to the library tomorrow, I will be starting with a graphic novel called, A Fire Story by Brian Fies. I will also continue with some Thomas Hardy poetry that I started for Victober last month.

[Taleisin (Tales of a Bookwyrm)]

I just finished the audiobook for Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. It was AMAZING! Heartbreaking and infuriating, but amazing.

Currently, I'm listening to Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen which is really good.

My current reads are Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green and The Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne

[Ashley Marie]

Taleisin (Tales of a Bookwyrm) wrote: "I just finished the audiobook for Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. It was AMAZING! Heartbreaking and infuriating, but amazing."

Yes!! I loved this book so much.

[Darya Silman]

I started listening to Tom Felton's memoir 'Beyond the Wand'

[Adrienne]

Because I can't just read one book, I'm starting Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius by Nick Hornby. It comes out in a couple of weeks. I got the sweet, sweet ARC.

[Carissa]

I am starting Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson I am going to use it for element due to the racial elements of the book.

[Angela]

I admit it I started early. I have finished my first read which was Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario. It will be for the Border prompt, as it is about a teenage boy from Honduras, who is trying to cross into the US to be reunited with his mother.
I have also started How We Learn by Benedict Carey, which will either be considered to be about the "secret" to learning more effectively OR a book about the "elements" of learning.
I also started The Scratch of a Pen, which is a history book about the effects of the Treaty of Paris on North America.
So far so good!

[Robynne]

I'm reading Chasing History by Carl Bernstein.
He was one half of the journalist team that broke the Watergate scandal in the Washington Post back in the 1970s. His work eventually caused President Nixon to resign from the White House because he wanted to avoid being impeached.
Chasing History is Carl's memoir of his beginnings as a journalist between the ages of 16 and 21, from 1960 to 1965 when he was working as a copy boy for the now defunct Washington Star Newspaper.
And of course we all know the BIGGEST story that happened in the early 1960s. A certain Assassination in Dallas, Texas.
This is Carl's RECORD of life in that time.

[Ron]

I have a new book arriving today which I'm excited to start.


Mental Illness in Young Adult Literature: Exploring Real Struggles through Fictional Characters

I've been looking forward to this one for a while. I'm placing this one in the theme of 'Record'.

[Melissa]

I'm reading "Boldly Go, reflections of a life of awe and wonder" by William Shatner :)

[Darya Silman]

Ron, where did you purchase your copy? the book about mental illness in YA literature sounds interesting (I read a book about movie villains from a psychologist), but the price on Amazon is €36 for me.

[Robynne]

Melissa wrote: "I'm reading "Boldly Go, reflections of a life of awe and wonder" by William Shatner :)"


I had no idea!! I am such a Trekkie!! Adding this book to my wishlist!!!

[Melissa]

@Robynne, this book literally just came out!! I am listening to the audiobook read by the author. sooo good so far!

[Ron]

Darya Silman wrote: "Ron, where did you purchase your copy? the book about mental illness in YA literature sounds interesting (I read a book about movie villains from a psychologist), but the price on Amazon is €36 for..."

I got it from Amazon. It was kind of pricey for me too, $45.

[Ron]

Started reading:

They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency

I'm using this one for Record.

[Milena]

I finished Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. I guess I can use it for Border, since Matthew Perry is from across the border in Canada (across the border from me, anyway).