Nonfiction November

If you're up for a challenge, keep reading

In a typical year, a quarter or less of my overall reading is non-fiction. I like non-fiction. I love reading memoirs, and I love learning new things and reading about experiences other people have had.

But non-fiction is a slow process for me. I’m always taking notes or underlining or stopping the audiobook to write something down or letting the message seep into my brain.

A few of the MANY notes already in my copy of The Creative Act

None of that is bad. It’s how I retain information. I have to engage with the text in a tangible way, usually by underlining or annotating or recording a particularly meaningful line from the book. Where fiction often takes me a day or two to read, depending on pace, non-fiction can drag out for weeks.

So, it’s not often my first choice.

And I’m suspecting it may not be yours. We sell a fair amount of non-fiction here at the shop, but fiction (and children’s books) are by far are biggest sellers.

Thankfully, someone came up with the idea for #NonfictionNovember, a month-long reading initiative for book lovers to read as much nonfiction as possible.

Don’t worry, we’re not going to ask you to binge a bunch of non-fiction all by yourself. Collectively, as a Nooks community, we want to read some really great non-fiction next month. And, if you participate in our challenge, you’ll have the chance to win a prize.

Here’s what we’re planning:

Read a book of poetry (or two), a memoir, or another work of non-fiction that we have on our shelves. (Need a recommendation? Just ask!) These are mostly in our back room, although we do have a few featured in the front room of the shop.

When you finish the book, post a short review/commentary about it on socials and tag us (Instagram: @noooooks Facebook: Nooks Gallery & Bookstore) so we can see what you’ve read.

For every nonfiction book you finish and post about from November 1-30, you’ll be entered to win one of our new tote bags (which gets you 10 percent off of future purchases) and a $25 gift card to the shop. At the end of the month, we’ll tally the number of nonfiction books we’ve read as a community (staff included) and if we hit 50 books or more, we’ll throw a party in early December. (The usual disclaimers apply: Contest not open to immediate family of Nooks staff; no purchase necessary to enter, but you MUST read a book we carry; winner must be able to come to the shop and pick up prizes.)

Some recommendations

I already know I’ll be reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer in November for a book club I’m part of. Her newer book The Serviceberry is one of my favorite things I’ve read this year. (And it’s short, so if you, too, have trouble with non-fiction, maybe that’s one for you to try.)

And Kate Baer’s new book of poetry How About Now releases in the first week of November, so I’m sure that’ll be on my list for the month, too.

Beyond that, I don’t want to commit because I don’t know what my time will look like for reading, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to focus on my non-fiction TBR.

Besides Kimmerer’s books, if you’re looking for non-fiction by Indigenous writers, we have two by Kaitlin Curtice: her newest, Everything is a Story and Living Resistance.

If you’re a creative used to spending your November writing fiction, we’ve got The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, which has bite-sized nuggets of deep wisdom; Dear Writer by Maggie Smith; and The Mother Artist by Catherine Rickets, all of which take a realistic and encouraging slant on the tug-of-war creatives often feel between their art and the rest of their lives.

Some memoirs that have piqued my interest include: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton, I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell, and Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia Butler by Susana M. Morris.

If you identify as Christian (past or present), Drew I.G. Hart’s Making It Plain is a call to action rooted in the histories of anabaptism and the Black church. When Hart speaks, I listen. And The Myth of Good Christian Parenting by Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer Mcginnis offers an analysis of the messages delivered to Christian parents about how to raise their kids in a “godly” way and a way forward that frees them from unrealistic expectations.

So, there it is: Our Non-fiction November reading challenge. Are you in? I can’t wait to see what we read!