The end of the year is so great. After two months of spooky Perilous reading, it’s time for another one of my favorite blogging events: Nonfiction November! There’s a new prompt each week. (All the details!)
Week 1: (Oct. 28 to Nov. 1) – 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 is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
As usual, the largest topic of my nonfiction reading (4 of seventeen books) has been magic. Also, not shockingly, two of my favorite reads—ones that I would absolutely recommend are of this subject:
- The Spectacle of Illusion by Matthew Tompkins (my review)
- Conjure Times: The History of Black Magicians in America by James Haskins & Kathleen Benson (my review)
A couple of true crime books also captured my attention this year. Both focused on the length and complexity of serial killer investigations.
- The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill James & Rachel McCarthy James (my review)
- I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (my review)
And lastly, a book I’d certainly recommend (and it was recommended to me!):
So, here we go. I’m sorry, books I added to my TBR last year that I haven’t gotten to yet. You’re about to have so many new friends…
Simple Tricks & Nonsense 
The Poe book sounds so interesting! I love the concept of a short biography, sometimes I shy away from them because they’re so lengthy, even if you’re interested in a subject. I loved I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and The Man From the Train was really interesting.
The short biography is nice. I was more interested in the events of Poe’s life (with some context) rather than the any interpretations of work, etc, so it worked well.
I’m glad you enjoyed the two books on magic so much. It is a fascinating subject.
I would love to read the Poe book! I listened to a really interesting podcast that discussed his mysterious death a while back and they had such a neat theory. I will have to pick that book up!
Oh, what podcast? I’m always up for a good Poe theory.
Oo, I will try and remember which one I heard it on!! I have to think about it and let you know!
I found it!! It is the Unsolved Murders True Crime Stories Podcast, episodes 17 and 18. 🙂 It’s a cool podcast, in the style of old time radio.
Good deal! I’ll try it out.
I need to get busy and write my first post!
Hi Katherine,
I think I’m going to try NFN this year. Maybe I can use it as a jump start to get back into blogging more regularly again since I’ve read several really good NF books in 2019.
I was a big fan of the Poe bio as well (maybe we’ve talked about it before or maybe even I recommended it to you – I can’t remember)
We don’t overlap much on the Magic/True Crime reading tastes, but I have recently become interest in Tarot (for the cards, not for the fortune telling) and am trying to think of a “Tarot Option” for the 2020 Deal Me In Challenge.
-Jay
I think it was you that recommended the Poe bio. A good call, Jay!
I’v been on the fence about whether to read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. It sounds so interesting, but I’m afraid it will scare me to death…
I’ll Be Gone… is a pretty rough ride. I read the two books nearly back to back (Man from the Train is about an axe-murderer) and I had second thoughts about being alone in the dark for a while,
Haha! I love the ending of this post – I feel the exact same way! Happy reading this November!
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark was my favorite NF book of last year. Happy reading!
The Man From the Train is not a book I’ve run across before..I’ll be adding it to my wishlist
Please stop by to see my Introduction to NonFicNov
One word of caution about Man from the Train: It’s meticulous. Almost to the point of being boring on occasion.
Thanks for joining in! The Man From the Train is one that, like shellyrae, I’ve not heard of before, but which I’d love to read. And I also really enjoyed I’ll Be Gone in the Dark 🙂