After a year of reading and talking about nonfiction, I have discovered that I am at a stage in my reading life where I am more drawn to nonfiction than fiction. I especially enjoy memoirs as my own storehouse of experiences and desire to make sense of them grow with each passing year.
Tell us about your nonfiction reading: What kind of nonfiction do you like to read? Why do you read it? Remember that nonfiction is anything that is not fiction, so you can tell us about your passion for poetry or car repair manuals or cookbooks or history . . . the possibilites are nearly limitless.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I enjoy reading about people's lives.. their own accounts, which is one reason memoirs have always been such a draw for me. But I also greatly appreciate immersion journalism, where writers such as Tracy Kidder delve very closely into the lives of their books' subjects, such as the physician Paul Farmer, offering the reader startling and close-up insights which make the person that much more real and alive on the pages.
ReplyDeleteI read a variety of nonfiction books. Sometimes I'll read a novel that will inspire me to learn more about the particular time in which it is set, such a Memoirs of a Geisha. Memoirs probably are my favorite. Perhaps it is the opportunity to experience life thru another's eyes. Some favorites: The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio: how my mother raised 10 kids on 25 words or less. The Glass Castle. Becky
ReplyDeleteMy undergraduate degree is in history, so I read a good bit of American history and biography. I also like reading letters and diaries because it gives me the feeling of spying on people (though I'm sure everything has been carefully edited before publication). I have Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History on my to-read list.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great book, Linda! I will have to add it to my list!
ReplyDeleteMy nonfiction reading is link to accounts that make a place, time, or event personal. Memoirs as well. I read a lot of fiction, but have recently read several nonfiction titles--Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Identical Strangers, How Starbucks Saved My Life. One of the best of my 2007 reading was The Worst Hard Time. Riveting and horrifying, yet fascinating. Cynthia
ReplyDeleteI like the non fiction novel the best of all non-fiction because it allows me to 'see' someone's life. Fiction is a joy to read, but still the characters are fiction, even if based on real-life. However, reading something like Slavomir Rawicz's The Long Walk, I leave feeling so amazed that someone could survive such hardships.
ReplyDelete