Week 1: (Oct 31-Nov 4) – Your Year in Nonfiction : Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (Doing Dewey)

Hooray, it’s Nonfiction November and I am going to work with all the prompts and read *mostly* nonfiction (as I’m also doing Novellas in November and have a review copy of a novel plus my Larry McMurtry, only mostly; AusReading Month is at least all nonfiction) and here are my answers to this one.

What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?

This is quite a hard one as I read a lot of nonfiction through the year: in fact, I’ve read 83 nonfiction books since the start of last November! Highlights have included Nimsdai Purja’s “Beyond Possible“, Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason’s “Saga Land“, Richard King’s “Brittle with Relics“, Ruth Pavey’s “A Wood of One’s Own“, Jeffrey Boakye’s “Black, Listed“, Sue Anstiss’ “Game On“, Diya Abdo’s “American Refuge“, Francesca Wade’s “Square Haunting“.

Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year?

I’ve continued to read around social justice, history, women’s issues, sport and people’s movements from country to country. I don’t think I’ve added in any new topics but I’ve profited from the continued interest from publishers in Global Majority People’s titles and have picked up quite a lot for the TBR as well as reading widely.

What nonfiction book have you recommended the most?

Possibly Shon Faye’s “The Transgender Issue” and definitely David Olusoga’s “Black and British“, both read last year, and Richard King’s “Brittle with Relics” I’ve recommended to Welsh people, people living in Wales and people interested in Left history.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

I love seeing nonfiction celebrated and usually pick up some new blogs to follow whose authors read more nonfiction than fiction. I like seeing my friends who read mainly fiction picking up nonfiction to try, I love finding more titles to add to my wishlist or TBR and comparing notes on what we’ve read. I also like seeing how people are working other challenges into the mix!