Nonfiction November Week 5: My Choices from the Blog Posts

Oh, what a delicious smorgasbord of books we have been served this month!  It has been really difficult to winnow the offerings for the ones that appeal the most to me.  I've already bought one.  It's on my Kindle, ready to read.  Which one?  Read on. 

The others are on my Amazon.com wish list.  Christmas is a-comin' and the geese are gettin' fat . . . 

Here is the list of the books that made it onto my TBR, TRQ, or whatever you may want to call it.  I have seen that most of the other participants in this challenge use TBR (to be read, I presume).  A bunch of aspiring writers, some of whom have since been published (including me) I hung around with in cyberspace for some 30 years use TRQ (to-read queue).  It's all the same.  (Should I confess my TRQ would make a stack oh, I guess . . . six feet high?  H'mm.  I have some reading to do.) 

 1.  Come, Tell Me How You Live, by Agatha Christie.  Recommended by Mary Elizabeth at She Reads Novels.  I read just about everything Agatha Christie wrote when I was just a kid, encouraged by the example of my mother reading them.  I became a fan of mysteries.  I'm curious to learn what she was willing to reveal about herself.

2.  Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History, by Lytton Strachey, recommended at What? Me Read?  I'm rather intrigued by Elizabeth, and have a copy of Elizabeth I: Collected Works, her own writings.  I've known about Elizabeth and Essex for a long time, and have decided to read it.

3.  The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede, recommended by Deb at Reader Buzz.  I never have been much for daytime TV, so my television was off that awful morning.  My younger daughter drew my attention to the horror occurring in New York City when she called me from her workplace.  Later, when I learned of the wonderful support and hospitality shown to passengers on those diverted U.S.-bound airliners by the people of Gander, Newfoundland, I was eminently proud of being part Canadian.

4.  Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights, edited by Ashley Hope Perez, recommended by Anne at Head Full of Books.  As a former librarian, I have no use for book-banning, censorship, fools who rail against books they have NOT read, and other nonsense.   

5.  The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, recommended by Mark at Mark Joseph Jochim.  As a historian and a genealogist (retired), I'm a note-taker supreme.  I'm looking forward to reading this book.  I hope it will have some good tips for me. 

6.  The Ship Beneath the Ice by Mensun Bound, recommended by Angela at Musings of a Literary Wanderer. Among the many jobs I've had, and this one the best by far, I served 15 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, active duty and reserve, enlisted and officer.  Therefore, things of a maritime nature intrigue me.  I'm adding this story of the discovery of the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic exploration ship, Endurance.     

7.  The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano that Darkened the World and Changed History by William K. Klingaman and Nicholas P. Klingaman, recommended by Harry at Unsolicited Feedback. I expected this book was about Krakatoa, but the 1816 date told me I was wrong.  Tambora, a volcano in the Indonesian archipelago, exploded with more force and volume than Krakatoa and affected the weather around the world.  This is another must-read for me.

8.  Who Owns this Sentence: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs by David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu, recommended by Nicky at The Bibliophibian (isn't that a wonderful blog title!).  This appeals to the word nerd and writer in me. 

9.  Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, recommended by Annabel at AnnaBookBel.  I do like Dame Judi, and am looking forward to reading this book!

10.  Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale, recommended by Lisa at Lisa Notes on Life &Love.  I've read a good deal on death and dying, as I was a registered nurse many years ago.  Also because I've had many losses over my lifetime, beginning with my father's passing in 1954, when I had just turned 7 years old. 

11. Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End by Atul Gawande recommended by Aj at Read All the Things. The author is an oncologist and surgeon; our younger daughter has cancer.  Rather than fear it, I choose to master it by learning all I can about it.  Our daughter has already mastered it, and I tell people she is not afraid of the cancer.  The cancer had better be afraid of her.

12.  And finally, the one I have already bought for my Kindle: You Went to Emergency for WHAT? by Tom Booth, recommended by Shellyrae at Book'd Out.  As a nurse, I worked for a while in a rather large city hospital's emergency room.  I hope this is as intriguing a read as it seems to be.

So there's the beginning of my nonfiction reading for next year.  See you in November, 2026.  And a good bit before, too, I hope.