This week, Nonfiction November is hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune and it’s all about how we choose nonfiction.
It’s relatively straightforward for me – I have a few key categories that I’m always drawn to:
- Memoir
- Swimming/ water related
- Grief and other therapy books
Imagine my delight when I combined all of those categories this year with The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch and The Tidal Year by Freya Bromley! And combined grief, therapy and memoir with Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley; Splinters by Leslie Jamison; and Notes to John by Joan Didion.
Special mention to a memoir I finished this week – Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. This book has received much praise, and deservedly so. It’s beautifully written and Dalton manages to embed broader issues (about nature and how humans have irreversibly altered the land) in the telling of her very personal story about one hare and her garden.
And lastly, the other driving force in choosing nonfiction is the annual Nonfiction Reader Challenge, hosted by Book’d Out. Every year I look forward to the big reveal of the categories – some are really difficult but I enjoy combing through my TBR stack to find something that fits (for example, for this year’s Myth, Legend and Folklore category, I read Bachelor Nation by Amy Kaufman).
I’ll be on the lookout for other bloggers who gravitate to the same categories as me 🙂
I’ve been umm-ing and ahh-ing about Raising Hare, so I will keep an eye out for your review.
I may have been swayed slightly by hearing the author speak but it was gentle and unassuming, and certainly different to other memoirs I’ve read.
A few blogging friends have read and enjoyed Raising Hare, so I’ll add it to my list for 2026. My dance card is full for the rest of the year! I read mostly memoirs with the occasional historical work when it comes to nonfiction. Most of the memoirs I’m drawn to lean toward grief or aging. I also enjoy the occasional travel related book. My selections for this month’s challenge are here.
Interesting that you are drawn to those categories. Have you read Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther? I love it. It is from the 1940s when Gunther was a huge name in journalism–he wrote a series of books Inside_____ such as Inside Europe. There was a suprisingly good made-for-tv movie, too, with Robby Benson playing Johnny. It’s likely on youtube. I highly recommend it.