Tag: Nonfiction

Review: Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert

I read this book for the Gaia Nature Reading challenge, and it was both fascinating and timely. Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction, writes about how science is being used to address some of our biggest environmental concerns, such as invasive species, carbon emissions, and global warming (at the same time, recognizing…

Nonfiction November Book Pairings: Fiction and Nonfiction about Activism and Social Justice

This week’s Nonfiction November topic is book pairings, which can be nonfiction books on a particular topic paired with fiction, or with other types of media. Thanks to What’s Nonfiction for hosting this week’s topic. Unintentionally, one of the common themes in my 2022 nonfiction reading was activism. I’m not an activist myself. Though I vote…

Reading about the Environment: The Book of Hope and Diary of a Young Naturalist

This year I signed up for a challenge to read more books about the environment (hosted by Gum Trees and Galaxies).  I haven’t read too many yet this year, but I read these two in June and July and it made sense to write about them together. Both books are pretty impossible to “review” in…

Review: Laundry Love by Patric Richardson and Karin Miller

This will seem an odd choice to some readers – read about doing laundry? I’d heard rave reviews of this book, especially from Modern Mrs. Darcy, so I picked it up. Not only is this a surprisingly fun read but it’s incredibly practical. I found myself highlighting, bookmarking, and re-reading. Then I made a shopping list, went…

Review: Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer

There was a lot of interest in this book from my Nonfiction November post about books on habits and productivity, and since I’m finding this book quite useful, I thought I’d share a little more about it.  Brewer is a neuroscientist and psychiatrist who studies habit formation and mindfulness.  His website says he is “passionate…

Review: Garlic and Sapphires, the Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

I’m reading Reichl’s life backwards.  Last year I read the excellent Save Me the Plums, so this year I decided to go back to her previous book, about her work as the restaurant critic for the New York Times.  And while I enjoyed this one a bit less, Reichl is still an engaging and thoughtful…

Nonfiction November: My Year in Reading Nonfiction

It’s Nonfiction November, a five-week event of discussions on everything related to nonfiction. This week’s prompt, hosted by What’s Nonfiction, is about looking back at our year of reading nonfiction.  What was our favorite read, what did we recommend most often, and which topics were we drawn to?  I’ve read 15 nonfiction books so far this…

Review: Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come by Jessica Pan

This book is Pan’s memoir of a year when she decided to challenge herself to live like an extrovert.  She explains that there’s nothing wrong with being an introvert, only she’s an excessively shy one (a “shintrovert” as she calls herself), which means she’s probably missing out on friendships and career opportunities by not engaging…