Nonfiction November 2020

I've always loved memoirs which are my favorite form of nonfiction book. Abookolive introduced me to animal/nature/science nonfiction books and I've been so much more curious about nonfiction in general. She's hosting Nonfiction November which is a month of reading more nonfiction than you usually read. She has four prompts that you can follow if you want. I'm going to follow three of them.

Time

Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world--a charge she took very seriously, taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities. In Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl reveals the comic absurdity, artifice, and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives us--along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews--her remarkable reflections on how one's outer appearance can influence one's inner character, expectations, and appetites, not to mention the quality of service one receives.

I've had Garlic and Sapphires on my TBR shelf for the longest time. I've had it on my TBR since 2015. It's time I get a move on and read this. It combines two of my favorite things - memoirs and food descriptions. I just know that I am going to love it!

Movement

Fascinated by our pervasive fear of dead bodies, mortician Caitlin Doughty embarks on a global expedition to discover how other cultures care for the dead. From Zoroastrian sky burials to wish-granting Bolivian skulls, she investigates the world’s funerary customs and expands our sense of what it means to treat the dead with dignity. Her account questions the rituals of the American funeral industry—especially chemical embalming—and suggests that the most effective traditions are those that allow mourners to personally attend to the body of the deceased. Exquisitely illustrated by artist Landis Blair, From Here to Eternity is an adventure into the morbid unknown, a fascinating tour through the unique ways people everywhere confront mortality.

From Here to Eternity is about how one person travels or moves from one place to the other to gain knowledge on how people bury their dead. I heard of Caitlin Doughty from abookolive and I'm kind of into reading about a morbid adventure.

Discovery

A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements.

Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.

Never Home Alone is about the discovery of what creatures are always in your home. This is the type of book I am interested in now thanks to abookolive. I don't particularly like insects in my home but I find it fascinating to know what could be living in my home without my knowledge.

I missed out on the prompt Buzz but I don't think I've ever read three nonfiction books in a month and if I have it was maybe one rare moment in my life. I'm looking forward to all of these books. They are all unique and interesting in their own right.

Are you interested in any of these books?

What are some nonfiction books you are looking forward to reading soon?