November Preview

 Hello Interwebs!

This is one of my favorite reading months of the year. As much as I love my spooky season reading through September and October, Nonfiction November is such fun. I participated in this last year for the first time and it was really great for getting me out of my comfort zone when it comes to reading and I have a lot of unread nonfiction both in hard copy and on my kindle. In addition to my Nonfiction November books I have a couple other books that I'll be either reading or finishing for some book club content. We'll do the normal stuff first and then I'll get into the Nonfiction November prompts and selections and alternates. 

• Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge (2006). This was the last novella I was reading for Camp Weekend Ween and I've actually since finished this and enjoyed it. 
  
  
  
• The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling (2021). This is the horror/thriller pick for Books and Lala's book club for November. 
  
  
  
• False Witness by Karin Slaughter (2021). This is the thriller book club pick for GabbyReads The Book Troop. 
  
  
  
• Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food by Gina Rae La Cerva (2020). This is the food memoir book picked by the Atlas Obscura Literati book club. 
  
  
  
• The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl (2021). This is an audible version of Dave Grohl's memoir that I plan to listen to on my way to and from work. 
  
  
  

So those are my "normal" books on my TBR this month. I don't know how many of these plus my Nonfiction November books on my TBR this month as well. Now on to the nonfiction. 

So Nonfiction November is a readathon that takes place every year and focuses on nonfiction books. There are four single word prompts that can be followed as you wish and can be interpreted in any way you see fit. So I have a book for each of the prompts and I'm kind of excited for my stock TBR. In addition to that I have a number of alternates for each prompt as well, in case something really falls flats. The four prompts are: 

1. Industry
2. Style
3. Collection 
4. Treatment

My set TBR for Nonfiction November is four books that I've worked to fit into my prompts: treatment and collection were actually the easiest for me to choose as I have a lot of essay format kind of nonfiction and a lot of medical related nonfiction. Style and Industry were a little harder since those topics aren't really my jam.

1. Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe (2021). This is my pick for Industry and is a biography of the Vanderbilt family which made its fortune in the railway/shipping industry. 
   
   
   
2. Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson (2021). This is my pick for style and is a memoir written by Elvira herself, with all the style and flair she lent to her iconic role as Elvira in TV and film. 
   
   
   
3. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (2021). This is my pick for Collection and is a collection of essays by novelist John Green where he rates a variety of human topics from Diet Dr. Pepper to Plague. 
   
   
   
4. Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen (2005). This is my pick for treatment and is a true crime novel which is about two women who ran a sanitorium touting a fasting cure that ended with theft and death. 
   
   
   

In addition to those books I have a couple alternates per prompt as well in case any of them are unreadable or I want more. 

• Industry
• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (2005). This is an anthropology collection about aspects of human societies and how they got to where they are and where they're going. I read selections from this one for an anthropology course in college and the story of humans is the story of industry.
  
  
  
• Dr. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz (2014). This is a book about Dr. Mutter of the Mutter Museum and the contributions its made and chronicled through the history of the medical industry. 
  
  
  
• Style
• Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson (2015). This is a biography of Rosemary Kennedy and her life, the Kennedy's were known for their political aspirations and their remarkable style.
  
  
  
• The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren (2021). This is about The Barbizon a hotel for women only where they were able to live on their own safely in Manhattan and give them the lifestyle they chose. 
  
  
  
• Collection
• On This Day in History Shit Went Down by James Fell (2021). This is a collection of James Fell's foul-mouthed history blog posts. 
  
  
  
• Cursed Objects: Strange But True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Objects by JW Ocker (2020). This is a collection of stories about cursed and haunted objects around the world that inspired legends and ghost stories. 
  
  
  
• Treatment
• The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper (2020). This is a memoir written by an African American female ER doctor. 
  
  
  
• American Witches: A Broomstick Tour Through Four Centuries by Susan Fair (2016).This is a history of witchcraft in America and the treatment of women through the lens of witchcraft. 
  
  
  

So that's all the books I'm hoping to read or that I could potentially read in November. I'm very excited for Nonfiction November and I'm pretty excited for my book club books as well.

Happy Reading!

Richelle