Nonfiction November discussion

Hey everyone,

So it's another year for Nonfiction November. Gotta love it.

Given that these are the words this year:

-Record

-Element

-Border

-Secret

Do you all know what you're planning to read or what ideas you're playing with (hence the topic of 'toy box' here).

Looking forward to having fun with you guys on this subject.

The things I have on hand right now for Border are
Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario (story of a 15 or 16 year old Guatemalan boy's attempt to get to the US to reunite with his mother, who has been working in the US, since he was a small child)
and
Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris (about a journey taken by the other down the Silk Road on bicycle--Borders is in the title, so it must count, right? LOL)
I hope to be able to read both in November.

I have SO MANY books that would count for Record, it will be difficult to choose among them.

I think for element I may choose Songteller by Dolly Parton, which I believe discusses the elements of her songs and songwriting process.

The one I have for 'record' so far is:

The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series

This one is basically a history of the show.

*****

Working on the other topics.

for record, i'll be reading A Night To Remember--about the sinking of the Titanic.
for element: The Great Mortality. (history is out of my element.)
border: Ma and Me, a memoir written by a refugee from Cambodia.
and for secret, All That Is Wicked; about the hidden evil in the human mind.
i'm super excited to dive into these books!

These are just some books that I currently own. Am not locking my TBR into place just yet...

Record - music - Carly simon - Boys in their trees - OR - prison - Prisoners of geography

Element - periodic table - The Disappearing Spoon - OR - The Elements of Style - William strunk - english - or elements on a stove - food/cooking genre maybe?

Border - edge - Caught in the revolution (Russian) by Helen Rapaport - OR - underground railroad into Canada OR any travel books that crosses a border.

Secret - The Presidents book of secrets - OR - Knights Templar (Holy grail in North America) - OR - Hidden - The hidden gardens of Paris - OR - American Hidden History - OR- One Drop

For 'border' I found this one. I found this to be a perfect read since it coincides with November being Native American History month as well.

Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History

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Still taking time to think of 'element' and 'secret'.

*****
[update:]

Okay found one for 'element'.

Scorched Earth: How the Fires of Yellowstone Changed America

The element theme being: Earth, Wind, Fire , and Water

Angela wrote: "The things I have on hand right now for Border are - Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris (about a journey taken by the other down the Silk Road on bicycle--Borders is in the title, so it must count, right?

I absolute adore the Silk Road for its history and culture. I MUST purchase this books to add to my TBR.

I've heard of the Silk Road book. It certainly sounds interesting. Definitely out of my wheelhouse to be sure since my main focus is on United States history.

Here are my interpretations of the reading prompts and the books I may choose:

Record- going on the record, investigative reporting A Massacre in Mexico

Element- chemical element, drugs, pharmaceutical industry Empire of Pain

Border- Mexican border, immigration, travel (crossing borders), at the end of something The Nineties (Since the 90's were the end of the 1900's.)

Secret- keeping things from someone/some group of people, silence, not acknowledging an issue or concern Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I am thinking about the following:

Record: (thinking crime, "having a record") Target on My Back: A Prosecutor's Terrifying Tale of Life on a Hit List.
(thinking to Record something) Tokyo Rose: The History and Legacy of Iva Toguri

Element: Fragments from the Fire; The Intersectional Environmentalist

Border: (on the border of change) How Not to Die; The Fat Triathlete (crossing an actual border) Little Princes: On Man's Promise to Bring Him the Lost Children of Nepal

Secret: Confidence Man; I'm Glad My Mom Died; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I'm playing around with the term 'secret' and one of the synonyms that came up was the word 'unknown' so that can be interpreted in a lot of different ways.

That being said, I'm going the route of anything history related because what may be known to others may not be known to me.

Fianna wrote: I'm Glad My Mom Died

I was considering this one. I have it and have read up to ch. 9 but it got too intense for me so I've had to slow, stop, and read it.

I’m toying around with a few ideas so far:

Secret > Taboo
The Ethical Stripper by Stacey Clare
(What’s more taboo than sex work?)

Secret > Hidden > Destroyed
Femina by Janina Ramirez
(A new history of the Middle Ages, through the women written out of it)

Element > Four Elements > Nature
Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez
(Healing Indigenous landscapes through Indigenous science)

Element > Science > Physics
The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
(A journey into dark matter, spacetime and dreams deferred)

Border > Boundaries > Healing
Reclaiming Body Trust by Hilary Kinavey, Dana Sturtevant
(A path to healing and liberation)

Border > Invasion > Exploitation
Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano
(Five centuries of the pillage of a continent)

Border > Adding a decorative edge > Hemming > Sewing
Threads of Life by Clare Hunter
(A History of the world through the eye of a needle)

Record > Music
Just Kids by Patti Smith
(A memoir about two musicians, their relationship, and career)

Record > Writing > Language
Deaf Utopia by Nyle DiMarco
(A memoir celebrating Deaf culture and a love letter to Sign Language)

This is what I've got so far:

Record: The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series

Element: 'Scorched Earth: How the Fires in Yellowstone Changed America

Border:Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History

Secret: -There's so much here so I'm going with superheroes, secret identities and all of that. These are on my list:

Arrow and Superhero Television: Essays on Themes and Characters of the Series

The Secret History of Wonder Woman

Superman on Film, Television, Radio and Broadway
(this one is going to be released Nov. 1st)

Ron wrote: "I'm playing around with the term 'secret' and one of the synonyms that came up was the word 'unknown' so that can be interpreted in a lot of different ways.

That being said, I'm going the route of..."

I like this take on Secret.

Thanks.

*****

So for element, I'm thinking about including these as well:

The Complete Poems (John Keats)

Anne Kingsmill Finch - Miscellany Poems on Several Occasions: "Alas! a woman that attempts the pen, Such an intruder on the rights of men''

I'm reading these for my British Lit. class and I figure since they're poems, there would be a lot of poetry elements to it.

I haven't locked in my TBR. Ideas that have popped into my head include,

Record - someone above the thought of this as "having a record" ie, crime. I really like that Idea
- Trejo: My life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood

Element- The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

Secret - Hidden Figures

Still thinking about Border

@ Lindsey -Border by Kapka kassabova may interest you.

I will not be reading all of these in November. This is a list of books from my TBR, of options that fit the prompts, I will pick whichever I'm in the mood for when the time comes.

Record:
The Order of Time

Nature's Clocks: How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything

Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline

The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory


Element:
The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison

Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History


Border:
The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World

A Restricted Country

When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love and Revolution


Secret:
What We Cannot Know: Explorations at the Edge of Knowledge

Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science

My list to start:
Record - Why Not Me?

Element - If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran

Border - Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman's Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim

Secret - Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

I will probably add a couple others I have here after I get through these. I'm normally a voracious reader but, I plan to heavily annotate several of these, so that will slow me down deliberately.

Hope wrote: I will probably add a couple others I have here after I get through these. I'm normally a voracious reader but, I plan to heavily annotate several of these, so that will slow me down deliberately

Same. I like to annotate my books so that slows things down which is why I'm only sticking to 4 books (6 if I include the two poetry books which I'm using for 'Element' and 'Secret'). Plus I have my school reading and that's fiction so that will take up time too.

If I can at least get in my 4/6 then I'll be more than satisfied.

For record I’m going to do unchecked on why America failed to impeach Trump and Civil War by other means oh yes in American resistance that’s if I can wait till November lol! I have so many great nonfiction books it’s hard to pick for element I’m going to do a draft a story about a girl whose family had a boating accident and she was the only one to survive another one about a Mountain climber whose name I forget… I have so many good books on my TBR that’s what I have so far.

I’m a big big nonfiction reader. If there’s a nonfiction book out there that sparks my interest, I have to read it. Here’s my tbr for the prompts plus others I plan on reading.

Record - Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch by Ruth Cowen - Queen Elizabeth had the longest reign in the British monarch of 70 years until her death this year so I thought it would be fitting for this prompt.

Element - The Wisdom of Wolves by Jim and Jamie Dutcher - I was thinking of environmental element and this was the first audiobook that I had that came into mind.

Secret - American Radical by Tamar Elnoury - this is about a Muslim American FBI agent that shares his story of how he joined the counterterrorism of the FBI after 9/11 and how in infiltrated a terror cell in North America. The author’s name is a pseudonym.

Border - A River of Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa - The author’s harrowing tale of his life in North Korea and how he escaped the country.






Other books I’m adding are:

Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman
Unmasked by Paul Holes
Untamed by Glennon Dole
Small Fry by Lisa Brennan Jobs

I'm all set with my 4.

______

Record:


-Behind the scenes details

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-Records of animal history

_____

Element:


-Element of Fire

_____

Border:


-This could fit because the borders around the text boxes are colorful

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-Border of US and Canada and indigenous history

*****


-The borderline that the cops, etc., held to stop the insurectionists.
_____

Secret:


-This theme has the whole secret identity thing with superheroes

Here is my current toy box:
secret > cover-up
 • Catch and Kill - Rinan Farrow
secret > hiding
 • User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play - Cliff Kuang


border > walls
 • If Walls Could Talk - Lucy Worsley
border > line > quarantine
 • Inhabiting the Negative Space - Jenny Odell
border > boundaries > health
 • How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy - Jenny Odell
border > country borders
 • The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - Helene Hanff


element > heating element > boiled water > tea
 • Infused: Adventures in Tea
 • The Book of Tea

record > music > Seattle grunge
 • Everybody Loves Our Town

The list so far:

Borders: Sovietistan: A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland

Secrets: User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the Way We Live, Work & Play

Hi Everyone. This is what I'm leaning towards reading in November. I haven't checked availability at the library or put anything on hold yet so all of this could change. I feel like I have struggled a bit this year but like what I have picked for the prompts right now. You will see a couple of the titles repeated because I will decide the best fit after I read it.
1. Record - All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. This is the one book I will definitely read because I own it.
Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe. I always try & use a nonfiction Native American book for this challenge.
2. Element - When Breath Becomes Air. Seems like a perfect fit.
3. Border - All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
4. Secret - The Man Who Could Move Clouds. If anyone has read this book please let me think what you thought.
Why Didn't You Tell Me?

My list of possibilities for Nonfiction November 2022:

1. RECORD
- record of past events, true crime: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

- music records: Rock Stars on the Record: The Albums That Changed Their Lives

2. ELEMENT
- science: Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin

- elements of language: The Elements of Eloquence

3. BORDER
- translated book (Spanish to Croatian), setting boundaries: Klasične priče da se bolje spoznaš

- Borderline Personality Disorder: Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About Has Borderline Personality Disorder

4. SECRET
- famous person reveals their secrets: Voli me više od svega na svijetu
Mira Furlan is a famous ex-Yugoslavian actress, perhaps familiar to English speaking world if you watched TV series Lost and Babylon 5.

- secret in the title: The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes

- secrets of Victorian womenhood: Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
I might start this one sooner in October for Vicober.

Sherri wrote: "Hi Everyone. This is what I'm leaning towards reading in November. I haven't checked availability at the library or put anything on hold yet so all of this could change. I feel like I have struggle..."

When Breath Becomes Air was such a devastating but amazing book.

Well, my book list is set. I specifically decided to go with brand new books which meant book shopping!

While I may not get to all of them as I have my school work on top of it and I'm taking 3 literature courses that are mostly fiction, unless you count the poetry as nonfiction which I do.

That aside, at least I have my list. These books have gone on my TBR. Hoping to read some of them anyways, at least one from each group.

Anyways, here's my list:

Border:

Indians in the United States and Canada: A Comparative History

Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

Secret:

Arrow and Superhero Television: Essays on Themes and Characters of the Series

Element:

Scorched Earth: How the Fires of Yellowstone Changed America

Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus

Record:

The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series

This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America

Yay! So excited! This is my first year participating in Non Fiction November.

Border: I'll be picking up The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. It's his story of traveling the well known spiritual road Camino Santiago.

Element: Daughter Drink this Water by Jaya John which is a collection of empowering feminist essays. Really looking forward to this one. The person who reccommended it to me said it changed their life.

Record: Humankind by Rutger Bregnan. I think this is a book all about the beautiful and terrible things that people do and how they intertwine to make us uniquely human. It has many examples from the "records" of history.

Secret:
The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with ;Nature by Drew Lanham. This one falls under 'secret' for me because I listened to a podcast interview of the author and he spoke extensively about how he felt his whole life that loving nature and even building his life around its study was a shameful thing or something to be kept secret from others in his community because of his racial background.
So yes! Those are my four picks. I'm so ready to get started and I've loved seeing everyone else's plans as well.

Robynne wrote: "These are just some books that I currently own. Am not locking my TBR into place just yet...

Record - music - Carly simon - Boys in their trees - OR - prison - Prisoners of geography

Element - pe..."

Boys in the Trees is a great pick!

Here is my thoughts for the prompt

1. Record

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life

The Witches: Salem, 1692

2. Element

The World Without Us

Why Your World Is about to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization

3. Border

Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call

Me Tomorrow: Indigenous Views on the Future

4. Secret

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

Older Autistic Adults In Their Own Words: The Lost Generation

Added this other one to my list.

It fits Border because it can deal with the border between men and women.

It works for Element because women have always been told to stay in their own elements.

And it works for Record since it's a recorded history of women from the 17th century until the present.


Woman: The American History of an Idea

Here's what I'm thinking.

For "Record": October, by China Mieville, a history of the Russian Revolution. I love his novels -- The City and the City is my favorite -- and am interested in his telling, as a longtime English socialist, of this epic real story.

For "Element": The End of Nature, by Bill McKibben -- I read his book Eaarth (not a typo) and recommend it.

For "Border": War and Me by Faleeha Hassan or Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano, a classic I have yet to read.

For "Secret": The God Equation, by Michio Kaku.

Hi Andrea,
I'm very interested in seeing you review of "October". I am reading Antony Beevor's new book "Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921". The comparison should be interesting.
I think Beever's book is too limited in that it begins in 1917. I think a better starting point would be 1905.

Hi Buzz,

Yes, I agree, the comparison should be fun. What else are you planning to read?

Don’t have November planned out, though there’s probably some nonfiction involved. In October I finished (or will finish) The Divider, Starry Messenger, Existential Physics, Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens, Confidence Man, and a reread of Underland. November might be a good time for Churchill’s History of the English Speaking Peoples.

Andrea wrote: "Hi Buzz,

Yes, I agree, the comparison should be fun. What else are you planning to read?"

Well, I have definitely decided on only one other book, "Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years". It is over 1,400 pages long, so that will not be a quick read.
As soon as I determine which other books I will read, I will post.

Added a few UFO books to the mix.

Record:


Witness to Roswell, 75th Anniversary Edition: Unmasking the Government's Biggest Cover-up


Roswell: The Ultimate Cold Case: Eyewitness Testimony and Evidence of Contact and the Cover-Up

*****

Secret:


UFO Secrets Inside Wright-Patterson: Eyewitness Accounts from the Real Area 51


Somewhere in the Skies: A Human Approach to the UFO Phenomenon


They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers

So far, I'm thinking something along these lines...

Record: The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 or Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII

Element: Braiding Sweetgrass or Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

Border: Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War or Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism

Secret: Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France or Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales or Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II or Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

Gonna try and tie into Native/Indigenous Heritage Month as much as I can!

Ashley Marie wrote: Gonna try and tie into Native/Indigenous Heritage Month as much as I can!

Love that! I have a couple of Indigenous books that I'm trying to tie in as well.

I have a lot of descent books but I want to see if I can add others from my home library to it.

Ashley Marie wrote: "So far, I'm thinking something along these lines...

Ashley, I give The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 my vote, for you to read. Absolutely brilliant!

For Record, I am going to read Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

For Element :Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire

Joanne wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "So far, I'm thinking something along these lines...

Ashley, I give The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 my vote, for you to read. Absolutely bril..."

Thanks Joanne! Several of my Libby libraries have the audio available, but I'm nervous about that. I may start on audio and then shift to print/ebook later in the read, we'll see.

I've managed to borrow from my library:

How to be a victorian

which I guess can fall into "Record" category. I have already started reading it and it is absolutely delightful!

Joanne wrote: Ashley, I give The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 my vote, for you to read. Absolutely brilliant!

Ashley, I'm with Joanne on this! This book is amazing. I've tried to read it several times and while I've gotten through over half of it, it's such a hard read. You'd think I'd be able to since I got through Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 but the Oral History one is a lot different. Certainly recommend though.

Joanne wrote: For Element :Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire

Oh nice. I have this one on my tbr and really want to get to it. Currently though I've got another wildfire book on my list so I'm not sure if I want to add in another quite yet.

Some options I have:
A few are very on point when it comes to the prompts but others are a bit more tangential.

Record
1. Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop by Marc Myers
2. Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the 80s Hard Rock Explosion by Tom Beaujour and RICHARD BIENSTOCK (audio)

Element
1. Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements by Paul Strathern
2. Guilty but Insane by Poppy Z Brite

Border
1. Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland
2. Africans and their history
3. The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism by Katherine Stewart
4. Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder by John Waters (audio)

Secret
1. A Secret History of Brands: The Dark and Twisted Beginnings of the Brand Names We Know and Love by Matt MacNabb
2. What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World Jon Young

Ashley Marie wrote: "Joanne wrote: "Ashley Marie wrote: "So far, I'm thinking something along these lines...

Ashley, I give The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 my vote, for you to read. ..."

Here is what I wrote on my review: This is book is not for everyone. It is descriptive and horrifying. I cannot imagine listening to the audio version, which I understand is voiced by the 45 different people, those that lived it.....so I won't be recommending the audio😣