I think for sure. Especially when it comes to nonfiction. Sometimes with novels a cover can trick me, but not so much in nonfiction. I do read books with great covers in my wheelhouse in nonfiction that end up being not good, but never have I read a great nonfiction book that had a cover that didn’t also speak to me.
I love these deep dive explorations into nonfiction! You've shared such great tips here. Another entry point I often suggest is to see if your favorite *fiction* authors have also written *nonfiction,* and begin there. I've done this with several novelists - Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, and so many more - and it always adds to my all-around reading experience! Thanks so much for sharing!
I love that this works for you. Usually, for me, it is hit or miss when fiction writers go into nonfiction. However, when a poet writes a memoir, that is usually something I will read and enjoy.
Oh yes, agree - I tend to enjoy nearly anything a poet writes! I'm currently experiencing that with Hanif Abdurraqib's work - I started with his poetry last month, then read an essay collection, and am now eagerly awaiting my library hold of his newest release. I appreciate the thought-provoking topics/conversations you start here, Traci - thank you!
I find your deep dives on non-fiction SO interesting. Having it all spelled out so eloquently and robustly is just *chef's kiss* my kind of nerdy! Generally I have a hard time getting into non-fiction unless it is 1) narrative in it's storytelling AND something along the lines of mystery/crime (such as The Fact of a Body), or 2) some kind of niche within the science/medicine fields (I absolutely eat up books from Mary Roach and Caitlin Doughty).
It absolutely did! It gave me more to think about, and some different ways to approach NF. I'm excited to try your points of following the recs, weighing how the cover grabs me (or doesn't), and using those buzzwords to get a sense of the style. All great points indeed!
I studied history in college, and so it's natural that I lean towards historical non-fiction as well as biography. In high school I was reading epic fantasy fiction, so since I started my non-fiction journey as a college student I'm definitely looking at the credentials of the author. First, I was looking for degrees and scholarship. Then, I began to appreciate the skills of an accomplished and awarded newspaper reporter. Lastly, (and it's about time!) I've come to appreciate authors writing about their own, non-Western, non-White culture.
I've also been reading Pulitzer winners since college, only because they're Pulitzer winners, with no other recommendation. I've been learning about other prizes and I look forward to checking them out, but didn't know enough about any others to rely on them like I rely on the Pulitzer.
University of Chicago has THE History department in the country, so I'm definitely paying attention if the author has a professorship there! But really, I know I like academic writing, so I'm looking for academic credentials in general. 😁
I love non-fiction so much and I always think the last good one I read is the last good one that was written. I'm so happy you're doing this! I also loved your unabridged episode last year on book covers. I love looking at and considering them - I do it so much more deeply now/since your ep. This year, I'm really looking forward to The Last Supper. Last year I went back and discovered some NF from past years and that was fun, too. I'm torn on the Graf one. I'm so interested in the subject matter, but I am not an oral history format fan. Thanks so much for doing this!
There are so many great ones out there. Have you ever read one of Garrett’s oral histories? They are really really well done. If you don’t like the form you won’t like them, but if you’ve never tried his I would suggest it.
I didn't think I had read anything by him, but I looked him up and I definitely know his books! I read some of The Only Plane in the Sky and I was very interested in the Watergate one, but forgot about it (before I started keeping a TBR). I am definitely going to be checking him out at my library!
Thanks so much! I am finishing Keith O’Brien’s book Charlie Hustle, about Pete Rose. Excellent and such a combination of admiration yet no holds barred.
Love the terminology breakdown here - something I have frankly never considered to pay close attention too in regard to non-fiction, but I will be now!! I am going to pull some non-fic off my shelves and see what we've got. This is such an accessible second installment of the non fic files!
I'm curious what your stance is on the new womens non-fic prize as someone who reads so much non fiction?
(side note - I feel like searing and meditation are used SO MUCH with books. sometimes i when I write my own reviews the words slip in by osmosis. I feel like if you read enough book blurbs, you end up talking like a book blurb)
I haven’t been that into the Women’s prize list for nonfiction. Their selections have included a few books I am interested in here and there but also a bunch of books I have DNF’d or didn’t like at all. I am paying attention though, because I want to see how it evolves for sure.
I love how you broke down the key words and phrases that signal what kind of nonfiction it is. I’m with you 1000% on cover judgment. I generally reach for micro histories and weird niche subjects like the upcoming “Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets” and “Whiskerology: The Culture of Hair in Nineteenth-Century America” and “Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange”. Also I’d love to get your take on why oh why do nonfiction titles have to be soooooo long?!
Love this! I’m a middle school English teacher, so I do a lot of work teaching kids how to pick books like they like, but mostly only fiction. (By the way, I totally teach them that using a cover to help pick a book is useful, but not the only way to pick. The way you’re thinking about cover makes a lot of sense!) I teach an NF reading unit and do a lot of work to try to convince them that not all nonfiction is crusty and that they’re lucky to live in a time when children’s publishers are putting out some really fascinating nonfiction. Thanks for making me think about how to combine some of my teaching around picking books with this nonfiction work specifically!
Yes! More nonfiction talk in schools. I would love to see nonfiction presented more to kids as equal to fiction, not as its own thing. And yes to covers as tools.
Is there any type of NF that you are always drawn to? Medical history/public health is my cat nip. Just finished The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who Cured TB and next up is A History of the World in 6 Plagues. The author is Edna Bonhomme. Isn’t that an excellent last name?
Thanks for this breakdown. I’ve put some of the upcoming releases you suggested on hold. I think what I’ve finally landed on is not rushing through a NF. I remember reading The Emperor of All Maladies; Warmth of Other Suns; and most recently The Barn and giving myself as long as it took to absorb the book. Usually for these dense texts-maybe a month or more. Much to learn, much to think about. It is sometimes hard to do this with how many books are out there!Of course, I can still bomb thru a tell-all memoir pretty quick!😊
I just want to thank you for "belaboring the point" with the style examples. I'm here for it. They're helpful to me when applying the different tiers of the taxonomy to actual books. Also, Gary Younge's book is one of the best books I've read about gun violence because of its use of storytelling to put a human face on a very terrible and deadly problem in America.
When picking nonfiction, I tend to go for narrative nonfiction, personal narrative either in a memoir or essays, or something in the broader journalism category. I'm less interested in linear biography unless I know very little about the person. I do take endorsements into consideration from friends, some family members, people I've met on the bookish internet, and various book-related newsletters and publications. If a journalist wrote the book, I like to have a sense of their news beat and prior reporting on the topic. I'll look at the staff recommended shelves at my local bookstores.
Traci, something I love about The Nonfiction Files is how it reminds us how expansive nonfiction really is. I don't know if this is a topic to dig into but... I've been reflecting on my early encounters with nonfiction and how that shaped my reading of nonfiction as an adult. I'm drawn to memories of middle and high school projects that required us to read some kind of biography or memoir. I remember reading Ryan White: My Own Story for one project, the autobiography of Disney animator Bill Peet for another.
For a very long time as a young adult in my 20s, non-fiction reading for pleasure (as opposed to reading for school) to me meant mostly biographies about public figures, historical leaders, and elected officials. I would often gravitate toward presidential biographies and political memoirs, something I've tried to be more selective about in my current choosing of NF books. Biographies are just one small sliver of the larger NF pie, but they were clearly my preferred entry point. I eventually did a hard pivot to fiction and now I'm coming back to NF with a broader view. Maybe we all have our NF origin story and grow from there.
This is so helpful! Also, despite the adage, I think books might be some of the only things we SHOULD judge by their covers.
I think for sure. Especially when it comes to nonfiction. Sometimes with novels a cover can trick me, but not so much in nonfiction. I do read books with great covers in my wheelhouse in nonfiction that end up being not good, but never have I read a great nonfiction book that had a cover that didn’t also speak to me.
Loving this series, Traci! Appreciate the forthcoming nonfiction as well. I had somehow missed that Garrett Graff has a summer release. How exciting!
Yes. It coincides with the anniversaries of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I love these deep dive explorations into nonfiction! You've shared such great tips here. Another entry point I often suggest is to see if your favorite *fiction* authors have also written *nonfiction,* and begin there. I've done this with several novelists - Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, and so many more - and it always adds to my all-around reading experience! Thanks so much for sharing!
I love that this works for you. Usually, for me, it is hit or miss when fiction writers go into nonfiction. However, when a poet writes a memoir, that is usually something I will read and enjoy.
Oh yes, agree - I tend to enjoy nearly anything a poet writes! I'm currently experiencing that with Hanif Abdurraqib's work - I started with his poetry last month, then read an essay collection, and am now eagerly awaiting my library hold of his newest release. I appreciate the thought-provoking topics/conversations you start here, Traci - thank you!
I find your deep dives on non-fiction SO interesting. Having it all spelled out so eloquently and robustly is just *chef's kiss* my kind of nerdy! Generally I have a hard time getting into non-fiction unless it is 1) narrative in it's storytelling AND something along the lines of mystery/crime (such as The Fact of a Body), or 2) some kind of niche within the science/medicine fields (I absolutely eat up books from Mary Roach and Caitlin Doughty).
Yes I think a lot of folks struggle to find the right NF for themselves. I hope this helped a little.
It absolutely did! It gave me more to think about, and some different ways to approach NF. I'm excited to try your points of following the recs, weighing how the cover grabs me (or doesn't), and using those buzzwords to get a sense of the style. All great points indeed!
This is so helpful!! You are my number one source when it comes to non fiction recs. We Were Once a Family was my most f’d-up/ best reads last year.
That book is so so so good!
Endorsement from Traci = high likelihood it’s going to be my bag ✔️
I’m honored to be in your endorsement ring!
I studied history in college, and so it's natural that I lean towards historical non-fiction as well as biography. In high school I was reading epic fantasy fiction, so since I started my non-fiction journey as a college student I'm definitely looking at the credentials of the author. First, I was looking for degrees and scholarship. Then, I began to appreciate the skills of an accomplished and awarded newspaper reporter. Lastly, (and it's about time!) I've come to appreciate authors writing about their own, non-Western, non-White culture.
I've also been reading Pulitzer winners since college, only because they're Pulitzer winners, with no other recommendation. I've been learning about other prizes and I look forward to checking them out, but didn't know enough about any others to rely on them like I rely on the Pulitzer.
I love that credentials are a factor you look at. That is really smart. Is there a particular institution that produces writers you like?
University of Chicago has THE History department in the country, so I'm definitely paying attention if the author has a professorship there! But really, I know I like academic writing, so I'm looking for academic credentials in general. 😁
I love non-fiction so much and I always think the last good one I read is the last good one that was written. I'm so happy you're doing this! I also loved your unabridged episode last year on book covers. I love looking at and considering them - I do it so much more deeply now/since your ep. This year, I'm really looking forward to The Last Supper. Last year I went back and discovered some NF from past years and that was fun, too. I'm torn on the Graf one. I'm so interested in the subject matter, but I am not an oral history format fan. Thanks so much for doing this!
There are so many great ones out there. Have you ever read one of Garrett’s oral histories? They are really really well done. If you don’t like the form you won’t like them, but if you’ve never tried his I would suggest it.
I didn't think I had read anything by him, but I looked him up and I definitely know his books! I read some of The Only Plane in the Sky and I was very interested in the Watergate one, but forgot about it (before I started keeping a TBR). I am definitely going to be checking him out at my library!
WATERGATE is not an oral history, just so you know, but that might be even better for you!
On my list!
Thanks so much! I am finishing Keith O’Brien’s book Charlie Hustle, about Pete Rose. Excellent and such a combination of admiration yet no holds barred.
I would throw in “deep dive” too!
Love the terminology breakdown here - something I have frankly never considered to pay close attention too in regard to non-fiction, but I will be now!! I am going to pull some non-fic off my shelves and see what we've got. This is such an accessible second installment of the non fic files!
I'm curious what your stance is on the new womens non-fic prize as someone who reads so much non fiction?
(side note - I feel like searing and meditation are used SO MUCH with books. sometimes i when I write my own reviews the words slip in by osmosis. I feel like if you read enough book blurbs, you end up talking like a book blurb)
I haven’t been that into the Women’s prize list for nonfiction. Their selections have included a few books I am interested in here and there but also a bunch of books I have DNF’d or didn’t like at all. I am paying attention though, because I want to see how it evolves for sure.
I love how you broke down the key words and phrases that signal what kind of nonfiction it is. I’m with you 1000% on cover judgment. I generally reach for micro histories and weird niche subjects like the upcoming “Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets” and “Whiskerology: The Culture of Hair in Nineteenth-Century America” and “Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange”. Also I’d love to get your take on why oh why do nonfiction titles have to be soooooo long?!
The titles or the subtitles? Does it bother you? Do you use the full titles a lot? I rarely think about it, but you’re not wrong.
Love this! I’m a middle school English teacher, so I do a lot of work teaching kids how to pick books like they like, but mostly only fiction. (By the way, I totally teach them that using a cover to help pick a book is useful, but not the only way to pick. The way you’re thinking about cover makes a lot of sense!) I teach an NF reading unit and do a lot of work to try to convince them that not all nonfiction is crusty and that they’re lucky to live in a time when children’s publishers are putting out some really fascinating nonfiction. Thanks for making me think about how to combine some of my teaching around picking books with this nonfiction work specifically!
Yes! More nonfiction talk in schools. I would love to see nonfiction presented more to kids as equal to fiction, not as its own thing. And yes to covers as tools.
Is there any type of NF that you are always drawn to? Medical history/public health is my cat nip. Just finished The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who Cured TB and next up is A History of the World in 6 Plagues. The author is Edna Bonhomme. Isn’t that an excellent last name?
Thanks for this breakdown. I’ve put some of the upcoming releases you suggested on hold. I think what I’ve finally landed on is not rushing through a NF. I remember reading The Emperor of All Maladies; Warmth of Other Suns; and most recently The Barn and giving myself as long as it took to absorb the book. Usually for these dense texts-maybe a month or more. Much to learn, much to think about. It is sometimes hard to do this with how many books are out there!Of course, I can still bomb thru a tell-all memoir pretty quick!😊
I just want to thank you for "belaboring the point" with the style examples. I'm here for it. They're helpful to me when applying the different tiers of the taxonomy to actual books. Also, Gary Younge's book is one of the best books I've read about gun violence because of its use of storytelling to put a human face on a very terrible and deadly problem in America.
When picking nonfiction, I tend to go for narrative nonfiction, personal narrative either in a memoir or essays, or something in the broader journalism category. I'm less interested in linear biography unless I know very little about the person. I do take endorsements into consideration from friends, some family members, people I've met on the bookish internet, and various book-related newsletters and publications. If a journalist wrote the book, I like to have a sense of their news beat and prior reporting on the topic. I'll look at the staff recommended shelves at my local bookstores.
Traci, something I love about The Nonfiction Files is how it reminds us how expansive nonfiction really is. I don't know if this is a topic to dig into but... I've been reflecting on my early encounters with nonfiction and how that shaped my reading of nonfiction as an adult. I'm drawn to memories of middle and high school projects that required us to read some kind of biography or memoir. I remember reading Ryan White: My Own Story for one project, the autobiography of Disney animator Bill Peet for another.
For a very long time as a young adult in my 20s, non-fiction reading for pleasure (as opposed to reading for school) to me meant mostly biographies about public figures, historical leaders, and elected officials. I would often gravitate toward presidential biographies and political memoirs, something I've tried to be more selective about in my current choosing of NF books. Biographies are just one small sliver of the larger NF pie, but they were clearly my preferred entry point. I eventually did a hard pivot to fiction and now I'm coming back to NF with a broader view. Maybe we all have our NF origin story and grow from there.