Nonfiction November 2022: Your Year in Nonfiction

 

Week 1: (Oct 31-Nov 4) – Your Year in Nonfiction : Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (Katie at Doing Dewey)

What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? 

Who can choose one favorite book? Here are my top ten, in alphabetical order:

Absurd Words: A Kids' Fun and Hilarious Vocabulary Builder for Future Word Nerds by Tara Lazar (Words)

Another Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day by Clemency Burton-Hill (Music)

Around the World in 80 Books by David Demrosch (Books-about-Books)

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Nature)

Dear Paris: The Paris Letters Collection by Janice MacLeod (Paris)

Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide by Cecily Wong (Food)

How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith (Social Issues)

How to Live: What the Rule of St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning and Community by Judith Valente (Happiness)

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

Solito by Javier Zamora (Memoir)

Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? 

I've been reading all over the place this year. You can see that from my list of favorites.

What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? 

I've probably recommended Braiding Sweetgrass the most, especially to my naturalist club friends.

What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? 

As always, I'm on the lookout for more good nonfiction books. Please share yours with me!

Birthdays!

 

We are headed up to East Texas to celebrate the seventh birthday of our granddaughter, Annie. 

What I Read Last Week:

Lone Stars by Justin Deabler 🐝🐝🐝🐝

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Pixels of You by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota 🐝🐝🐝🐝

Freedom! The Story of the Black Panther Party by Jetta Grace Martin 🐝🐝🐝🐝

The link will take you to my review.

What I Am Reading Now:

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Classics Club)

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (Classics Club)

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (Classics Club)

Demon Copperhead: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver (Current Fiction)

Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: My First 26 Cybils Fiction Picture Books and Board Books for 2022

398.2: Favorite Picture Book Fairy Tales

Wondrous Words: Spooky Words I Don't Even Like to Say Aloud

It's my birthday, too! 

I was born the day after Halloween, on November 1.

I've got my fingers crossed that I will get a book for my birthday...

We spent last Saturday at KBR Kids Day in inner-city Houston with our naturalist group. My husband and I worked in the Butterfly Encounter Tent where we helped kids hold monarch butterflies. So much fun!

Good Thing #1

Our friend, Herb, in the naturalist group,

shares alligators at KBR Kids Day.

Good Thing #2

Our friends, Karen and Jo, measure kids to 

compare them to the wingspread of various birds at KBR Kids Day.

Good Thing #3

Our naturalist group, Texas Master Naturalists, Cradle of Texas Chapter,

at KBR Kids Day.

I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

• What was your week like?
• Read any good books? Tell us about them.
• What other bookish things did you do? 
• What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. 

Spooky Words I Don't Even Like to Say Aloud

You have been warned.

Okay. So now you know what a big baby I am about scary things...

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.

398.2: Favorite Picture Book Fairy Tales

Some people think of Halloween as scary.

I think of Halloween as magical.

Here are my favorite magical fairy tales:

Jack and the Beanstalk by E. Nesbit illustrated by Matt Tavares

Little Red Riding Hood written and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton

Hansel and Gretel written by Erika Lesser and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

The Ugly Duckling adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Beauty and the Beast written and illustrated by Jan Brett

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs written by the Brothers Grimm and illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert

Cinderella translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown

Rumpelstiltskin retold and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson and illustrated by Rachel Isadora

Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault and illustrated by Fred Marcellino

The Goose Girl retold by Eric Kimmel and illustrated by Robert Sauber

The Wild Swans retold by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Susan Jeffers

The Twelve Dancing Princesses retold and illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

My two most favorites of my favorites are

The Little Match Girl and Little Red Riding Hood.

Which are your favorite fairy tales?

Other Halloween-ish posts I've published in the past:

My Favorite Spooky Stories

Scary Books I'll Never Read

Vile Villains: The Worst of Fairy Tale Characters

The Scariest Book Covers I've Ever Had in My School Library

Ten Edgy Picture Books

My Favorite Scary Books for Young Kids

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.    

My First 26 Cybils Fiction Picture Books and Board Books for 2022

 

It's October and that means it's Cybils time. As a first round judge for the Cybils Fiction Picture Books and Board Books Awards, I have a huge job: by January 1st, I must read over 200 picture books and board books and decide with a group of others which are the best. This week I read a bunch that I got in from the library. Busy times!

title	author
Ear Worm!	Knowles, Jo
Dancing with Daddy	Schulte, Anitra Rowe
Love in the Library	Tokuda-Hall, Maggie
You Are My Special Narwhal	Wan, Joyce
Cat's First Baby	Nelson, Natalie
Lizzy and the Cloud	Fan, Terry
This Is Music: Drums	Rajan, Rekha S.
Nigel and the Moon	Eady, Antwan
First Notes of Spring	Kulekjian, Jessica
Climb On!	Paul, Baptiste
Old Friends	Aitken, Margaret
All That Is You	Capucilli, Alyssa Satin
Moonlight	Savage, Stephen
Redlocks and the Three Bears	Rueda, Claudia
Midnight and Moon	Cooper, Kelly
Noodles, Please!	Chepusova, Cheryl Yau
Why, Daddy? Why?	Girardi, Tamara
A Family Looks Like Love	Wells, Kaitlyn
Hello, World! Garden Time	McDonald, Jill
Don't Eat Bees: Life Lessons from Chip the Dog	Petty, Dev
Odd Birds: Meet Nature's Weirdest Flock	Gehl, Laura
A Spoonful of Frogs	Lyall, Casey
The Legend of Iron Purl	Nyeu, Tao
Everything in Its Place: A Story of Books and Belonging	David-Sax, Pauline
The Big Scream	Call, Kirsti

And guess what I'm reading now? Right...more Cybils nominees!

Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz: 

The Sunday Salon: Just One Book Read, But It Was a Good One: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

Words I Love

Book-ish Tombstones

Nonfiction November 2022 is Coming!

It’s almost time for Nonfiction November! Nonfiction is one of my favorite genres, so you can be sure I'll be joining in.

Throughout the month of November, bloggers Jaymi (The OC Book Girl), Rennie (What’s Nonfiction), Christopher (Plucked from the Stacks), Rebekah (She Seeks Nonfiction) and Katie (Doing Dewey) invite you to celebrate Nonfiction November.

Here’s how it will work: Each Monday, a weekly host will post a topic prompt and include a “linky” where you can link your posts and connect with other bloggers. 

Will you be joining in?

My sister and I finally got a chance to celebrate her birthday by having a Paris at Home Day. If you know me, you know how much I love Paris...well, my sister is my Francophile twin. We ate food from Paris and drank French wine and watched Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. Delightful!

Good Thing #1

My dad was recognized at the Astros playoff game this week

for his service as during World War II. 

The crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Good Thing #2

We saw more butterflies and bees and wasps this week

as we continued to do the Pollinator Bioblitz.

Good Thing #3

We heard an author speak at our local library friends group's annual luncheon.

The author was a chef for the governor and the president

when Bush Jr. held these offices.

The author's a local fellow and it was fun to hear his stories and to taste his recipes.

I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

• What was your week like?
• Read any good books? Tell us about them.
• What other bookish things did you do? 
• What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below.