I say talk about your favorites often. I love enthusiasm and what brings out more enthusiasm and excitement than a personal favorite! Plus, not every subscriber or viewer has been here for all the videos or even since the last time you mentioned favorites, so the newbies may have not heard at all (and what a shame that would be).
That’s exactly why I’m doing a 30 favourites in under 30 minutes video on the channel soon, to celebrate all the books I’ve loved on this channel, and before, and shout about them again. They’ll all be fiction I think, so was good to get this list out.
I love nonfiction. Thanks for the recs! : ) Some of my favourites: Devil in the White City - Erik Larson The Professor and the Madman Journal of the Plague Year - Defoe The Sixth Extinction The Stranger Beside Me I loved In Cold Blood. So amazing how much detail he got without the digital world we now live in.
A pleasure, hope you enjoy some of the recommendations when you get to them. I will be looking up all of yours. I think I have the Larson on the shelves.
I’ve just finished listening to The Trauma Cleaner based on your recommendation and it blew me away. Compelling, honest and sometimes horrifying, and yet beautifully told and such an inspiring read. It’s a book I would never have stumbled upon otherwise, so thanks so much for recommending it!
I read the five this year and it was amazing!! I cant wait for her new book next year as her writing is sublime you forget you are reading non fiction. I have on the red hill and trauma cleaner to read so will be heading to those soon. Non fiction is something I’ve only just started to read so any recs is greatly appreciated and will be heading to more often hopefully. I do have a few on my shelves but tend to lean towards fiction more especially this time of year. 😊
That’s the exact sort of non fiction I want more of in my life, the sort you forget is non fiction. Ha! Definitely get to On The Red Hill and The Trauma Cleaner. They’re brill. Hopefully some of the others on this list will take your fancy at some point.
Definitely talk about the books you like as often as you like as new watchers won't know. Also love your non fiction faves are different things to mine. I love history books and auto/biographies, especially well-known people if they interest me.
I also often gravitate towards one of those 2 things - inhale gobble & then feel I didn’t savor the taste , or “save “ it for a treat & it rots on my shelves . 📚 🍽️
The Trauma Cleaner was my first ever audiobook many years ago. I still remember grinning and sobbing as I weeded my berry patch. The neighbours must have thought I was crazy 😂
Beautiful and diverse list. I’ve only read I’m an island and In cold blood of this list. Loved them both. The five is on my shelves. Now I have to buy some more. I’ve read five non fictions this month. Three about Dutch politics, one about Kamala Harris, one about the history of Texel (Dutch island). Now I’m reading The owl by Stephen Moss. Love how he writes about birds.
Thanks for the list! I added How to Say Babylon and In Cold Blood to my hold list at my library. I need to continue to read more non fiction. I have lots at home and checked out from the library and can’t wait to get to them.
Great video Simon. Around 75% of what I read is non-fiction, so if you need any recommendations let me know! Would love to see a non-fiction nature video. Your list of books, for those who don't have a pen and paper to hand, were: Life as a Unicorn by Amrou Al-Kadhi I Am An island by Tamsin Calidas In Cold Blood By Truman Capote The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson On The Red Hill by Mike Parker (Fantastic Book and he is a really lovely guy) My Mess Is A Bit Of A Life by Georgia Pritchett The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell The Five by Hallie Rubenhold How To Stay Sane in An Age of Divison by Elif Shafak How To Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair One recommendation for you is Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa, a travel book about a Nigerian in China
Thanks for doing the list, I wanted to keep it a secret from the description for a bit to keep people watching and not just reading it and zoning out. Hahaha. I’m shameless.
I read “The Five” after your suggestion by audio and it was fabulous. Not right word lol but I recommend the audiobook route. Because you’re right….we are not taught in school to even think about the women, we just focus on “Jack”. It doesn’t bother me when you talk about the same books. Maybe I had forgotten about one and hearing it again might remind me that I need to add it to my Goodreads or whatever. Maybe I wasn’t interested the first time you talked about it but you said something different the next time and I went “hmm. Maybe I should check that out”. Or there’s always the fast forward option when I’m just not interested at all 😅 but I wouldn’t stop watching the video or go to the extreme of unfollowing you for talking about the same books.
Glad you enjoyed The Five, again not really the right phrase is it, enjoyed. It’s an incredible book though. I like hearing about books more than once. I think it’s a great reminder, or gives a different insight possibly, as you said.
Simon, I wish to add two more books to my favorite non fiction list. A Problem From Hell by Samantha Powers which won the Pulitzer and How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The first an examination of genocide and how to define it, the second needs no explanation. Both are much more timely.
I would love a spring nature book video! On reading diverse nonfiction, I recently read Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H and Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller and I would highly recommend both, if you haven’t read them :)
Two non-fiction books I read this month were "Gather Me" by Glory Edim & "Chopped: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove" by Jeff Henderson - recommend both.
Thanks for the heads up. I am currently gathering a list of non fiction to read. I think as you said you need a breather between and after reading, to think about what you have read.
I don't get to non-fiction all that often but I have read and really enjoyed both The Five and My Mess is a Bit of Life. I also recently enjoyed The Troubles with Us and A Little Devil in America - both memoirs.
Immediately added the ones I haven’t read on this list to my tbr. Unfortunately, my list is also fairly white (and American) so apologies for that. Here are some faves I think you would like: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, books by Laura Hillenbrand, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Sapiens is probably my favorite nonfiction book right now. The March trilogy is so informative and unique in that it’s in graphic novel form. Any of Hanif Abduraquib’s nonfiction is stunning.
Oooh thank you for the recommendations. I can’t find my copy of Hanif’s A Little Devil in America as I had the pleasure of interviewing him a few years ago! I do have Animal, Vegetable, Mineral on the shelves. I shall look the others up.
I have to be in the right mood for big brain energy. When the mood is right it’s mind blowing in the best ways. If I’m not in the right mood I can feel super duper dim reading it and find it alienating AF.
Firstly I loved what you said about How to stay sane in a world of division and now I want to read it. Secondly, I am getting off my lazy ass and reading the women killed by Jack the ripped which I’ve had on my shelves for years. And third, I’ve just decided to get a copy of the Golden mole. Thank you for great recommendations, as always :)
Haven't read a lot of Non-Fiction in a while but a few I like, although older books, are Castaway by Lucy Irvine The Olive Route by Carol Drinkwater The Tiger by John Vaillant Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Out of Africa by Karen Blixen Read The Five a few years ago and loved it and glad it focused on the victims. Look forward to your next video, best wishes.
The Trauma Cleaner is fantastic. I read a lot of morbidly curious non-fiction (I have indulged this November!) and can HIGHLY RECOMMEND The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. Harrowing, heartbreaking, anger inducing, but so important. xx
I love Augustan Burroughs, especially the witch one. Anything by Mary Roach. Anything by Richard Fiedler. I have a collection of Rebecca Solnit I need to read, and I have a huge collection of Australian Indigenous non-fiction that I dip in and out of, another day in the colony is probably the best and most in your face one of those. It’s by Chelsea Watego and so worth the read!
Hi Simon, I really enjoyed Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. The author did a great job at making this serious subject approachable. This book really helped me get a better grasp of past and current events and an overall better understanding of what the caste system entails. If you want to read from more BIPOC authors, this might interest you. I read non-fiction all through the year and enjoy alternating between fiction and non-fiction so that's what I've done in November as well (I had a few fiction books on loan from the library that I could not renew, so I had to reprioritize what I was reading accordingly.) Looking at the year so far, about 30% of what I've read has been non-fiction. I've read four non-fiction this month so far, one of them being The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This was not light reading, but it did leave me a little more educated about the reality of the world we live in. I did this one in audiobook form.
Wonderful to see On the Red Hill, I absolutely love that book. Have you read Out of the Woods by Luke Turner? It came to mind when you mentioned queer nature books. I read it in 2020 so my view may be affected by the time I read it, but I really loved it.
Hello, dearest. The Five has been calling to me from my bookshelf for far too long and I really MUST read it. Still, what is the right mood for a non-fiction book about Jack the Ripper! [The book has now been moved from my bookshelf to my TBR cart.] I've also just ordered the Stay Sane book by Elif Shafak book because, yeah.
An Immense World by Ed Yong was a really enjoyable read. (There are even some good "If you know you know" literary quotes embedded that are a witty bonus for alert readers.) Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller was also pretty good.
A remarkable nonfiction read for me this year was Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo. Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. Excellent scholarship and brilliantly written. A civil war era story not very well known at all. Also a winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography is King: A Life by Jonathan Eig which was terrific. I highly recommend both of these. Dual Pulitzer biography winners for good reason.
Favorite non-fiction Dead Wake , the sinking of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, and I'm reading his bio of Winston Churchill during the blitz, The Splendid and the Vile, now. Too many other books as well, a bad habit I've developed. I read I Am An Island that I ordered from your land, thanks to Melanie and you. Yes, In Cold Blood was great and disturbing, as was Truman Capote, according to his bio, thou shalt not use your pals as writing fodder, but he was not the only one.
Oh I think a lot of writers use their friends for inspo… I’m not sure any used their friends, or swans as he called them, quite to the excess Truman did. So pleased Melanie and I got you to read I Am An Island.
Have you read Furious Hours by Casey Cep? It will give you some really interesting insight into In Cold Blood and is a brilliant book. And I thought Mike Parker’s All the Wide Border was really really good too. The Golden Mole has finally been published in the US with a different title (Vanishing Treasures) and it’s wonderful. You already know how much I love H Is for Hawk and I am also a big fan of Rachel Clarke’s nonfiction, especially Breathtaking.
I’ve not read Furious Hours but now I think I might have to. Did you spot a certain someone in the acknowledgements of All the Wide Border. Coughs lol. I might have to get Vanishing Treasures, I’ve heard there might be extra animals. H is for Hawk is brilliant isn’t it!
I read some of them and loved them, some are on my list and I am excited to get to them! Great selection you have there that has definitely inspired my TBR Some of my favourites are “Manifesto” by Bernadine Evaristo, “Hunger” by Roxane Gay, “Sluts” by Beth Ashley (a 2024 release!) and I also enjoyed “How was it for you?” by Eve Smith this year ☺️
My non fiction reading has fallen off a cliff this year 🙈 But one of my favorites from last year was Liquid Gold: Bees and the Pursuit of Midlife Honey by Roger Morgan-Grenville. Just a lovely read. Funny, sweet (pardon the pun), touching. 🐝 🍯
Oh! I meant to chime in on repeating books. I don’t mind in the least! Inevitably I may recall, “didn’t Simon talk about such and such book….???” And I’ll never find the video again. If something is noteworthy, definitely great to have a reminder!
If you like non-fiction books that explore human nature and nature nature, I highly recommend Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty. Such a beautiful story of a loving neurodivergent family, teenage problems, and nature conservation in Northern Ireland. Dara was only 14 (I believe) when he wrote it, he has such a poetic and mature voice.
Diary of a Young Naturalist is a book I’ll definitely talk about when I go my nature book recommendations. Loved it. It was another book club pick Melanie chose and we discussed… and got heckled by a parrot during filming. One of the funniest videos I’ve ever filmed.
@ oh I have to watch this 🤣 just shows that it's great that you re-recommend books, I sure haven't seen all your videos or I've seen something and wanted to put it on my TBR, then forgot. I'm sure a lot of viewers feel the same.
Not to put things off is a good thing to try to keep in mind, for sure - also for reading (follow the mood I guess, lol) ☃️ - Great recs, Simon! I’ve really enjoyed the ones of these I’ve read too! Have got a few on my tbr I’d love to share: Lucia Osbourne-Crowley, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Jay Bernard, Akala + Amelia Gentleman’s The Windrush Betrayal and Laurie Marhoefer’s Racism and the making of gay rights. (I know it doesn’t look like it, but I was limiting myself here, I promise) 🥰
Sure! Falling Back in Love with Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom Natives by Akala Complicit + Surge by Jay Bernard A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt The Lasting Harm + My Body Keeps Your Secrets by Lucia Osbourne-Crowley Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera
I haven't read In Cold Blood yet, but it's on my list. I have three recs based on my favorite non-fiction subject, the city of Chicago. My ultimate favorite is City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America, by Donald L. Miller. It is THE book to learn the history of the city. The second one is Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, by Karen Abbott. Last but not least is Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall, by St. Sukie De La Croix. It's a fascinating read. Met the author once, as he was the friend of a friend. Super nice guy.
Oooh I really liked the novel by Helen Garner I read, The Spare Room, and I’ve meant to head to more of her work. Maybe this would be a good next pick.
I'm looking forward to reading Lingo by Gaston Dorren, Zeinab Badawi's An African History of Africa, and I've just finished The Once and Future Sex by Eleanor Janega.
“How to Say Babylon” was one of the best books that I read this year. I can’t possibly squeeze in another book this month because I’m currently reading FOUR non-fiction books at the same time. Madness! 🤪Oh, and I’d enjoy a spring books episode if you can swing it.
I quite want to read Say Nothing, though the TV is tempting me even more. So I may throw my rule of reading a book before I watch the adaptation out the water.
I’m certain however and to what extent you mention specific books & how often will always work out - freestyle on the instincts & feelings I say no limit & no minimum 📕🪱💔🤍💙
Recent faves : four thousand weeks : time management for mortals, all the beauty in the world : a museum guards adventures in love loss and art, and haben : the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard law. Currently most of the way through braiding sweetgrass - incredibly good nature writing. I read The five after watching your video for it awhile back and enjoyed it.
I say talk about your favorites often. I love enthusiasm and what brings out more enthusiasm and excitement than a personal favorite! Plus, not every subscriber or viewer has been here for all the videos or even since the last time you mentioned favorites, so the newbies may have not heard at all (and what a shame that would be).
That’s exactly why I’m doing a 30 favourites in under 30 minutes video on the channel soon, to celebrate all the books I’ve loved on this channel, and before, and shout about them again. They’ll all be fiction I think, so was good to get this list out.
I’m never bored with anything you have to present! Repetition is expected, especially if it’s something great and is worth repeating…and reading!!❤
That’s very kind of you to say.
I love nonfiction. Thanks for the recs! : )
Some of my favourites:
Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
The Professor and the Madman
Journal of the Plague Year - Defoe
The Sixth Extinction
The Stranger Beside Me
I loved In Cold Blood. So amazing how much detail he got without the digital world we now live in.
A pleasure, hope you enjoy some of the recommendations when you get to them. I will be looking up all of yours. I think I have the Larson on the shelves.
I’ve just finished listening to The Trauma Cleaner based on your recommendation and it blew me away. Compelling, honest and sometimes horrifying, and yet beautifully told and such an inspiring read. It’s a book I would never have stumbled upon otherwise, so thanks so much for recommending it!
I’m soooooooooooooooooo pleased that you enjoyed it. I think it’s pretty blooming brilliant.
Also love your cardy!!
Thanks 🐆
I read the five this year and it was amazing!! I cant wait for her new book next year as her writing is sublime you forget you are reading non fiction. I have on the red hill and trauma cleaner to read so will be heading to those soon. Non fiction is something I’ve only just started to read so any recs is greatly appreciated and will be heading to more often hopefully. I do have a few on my shelves but tend to lean towards fiction more especially this time of year. 😊
That’s the exact sort of non fiction I want more of in my life, the sort you forget is non fiction. Ha! Definitely get to On The Red Hill and The Trauma Cleaner. They’re brill. Hopefully some of the others on this list will take your fancy at some point.
Definitely talk about the books you like as often as you like as new watchers won't know. Also love your non fiction faves are different things to mine. I love history books and auto/biographies, especially well-known people if they interest me.
I agree about the new folk on here and finding out about my favourite books… plus it’s nice to shout about things you love lots isn’t it!
I also often gravitate towards one of those 2 things - inhale gobble & then feel I didn’t savor the taste , or “save “ it for a treat & it rots on my shelves . 📚 🍽️
I think it’s all about balance, something I struggle to achieve. Hahaha.
The Trauma Cleaner was my first ever audiobook many years ago. I still remember grinning and sobbing as I weeded my berry patch. The neighbours must have thought I was crazy 😂
It’s just so brilliant. I need to shout about it more often.
I’d recommend any of James Baldwin’s nonfiction.
Oooh interesting. I’ve only read Giovanni’s Room and sadly it wasn’t my bag, maybe this could be a way in.
I just finished Dark Days and was going to mention it as a small but mighty book.
Beautiful and diverse list. I’ve only read I’m an island and In cold blood of this list. Loved them both. The five is on my shelves. Now I have to buy some more.
I’ve read five non fictions this month. Three about Dutch politics, one about Kamala Harris, one about the history of Texel (Dutch island). Now I’m reading The owl by Stephen Moss. Love how he writes about birds.
I am hoping by next year it is even more diverse, that is a new mini goal.
I read The Trauma Cleaner on your recommendation a while ago and it is one of my favourite books of all time. It’s so incredible.
Isn’t it just amazing. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Sarah too and she was a joy!
Thanks for the list! I added How to Say Babylon and In Cold Blood to my hold list at my library. I need to continue to read more non fiction. I have lots at home and checked out from the library and can’t wait to get to them.
I need to make sure I mingle more nonfiction in my reading diet.
Great video Simon. Around 75% of what I read is non-fiction, so if you need any recommendations let me know! Would love to see a non-fiction nature video.
Your list of books, for those who don't have a pen and paper to hand, were:
Life as a Unicorn by Amrou Al-Kadhi
I Am An island by Tamsin Calidas
In Cold Blood By Truman Capote
The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
On The Red Hill by Mike Parker (Fantastic Book and he is a really lovely guy)
My Mess Is A Bit Of A Life by Georgia Pritchett
The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
How To Stay Sane in An Age of Divison by Elif Shafak
How To Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
One recommendation for you is Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa, a travel book about a Nigerian in China
Thanks for doing the list, I wanted to keep it a secret from the description for a bit to keep people watching and not just reading it and zoning out. Hahaha. I’m shameless.
I am quite happy to delete them from the comment,@@SavidgeReads
@ oh no I didn’t mean it like that lol. I was roasting myself lol
Hahaha@@SavidgeReads! They have to click the comment to find them
I read “The Five” after your suggestion by audio and it was fabulous. Not right word lol but I recommend the audiobook route. Because you’re right….we are not taught in school to even think about the women, we just focus on “Jack”.
It doesn’t bother me when you talk about the same books. Maybe I had forgotten about one and hearing it again might remind me that I need to add it to my Goodreads or whatever. Maybe I wasn’t interested the first time you talked about it but you said something different the next time and I went “hmm. Maybe I should check that out”. Or there’s always the fast forward option when I’m just not interested at all 😅 but I wouldn’t stop watching the video or go to the extreme of unfollowing you for talking about the same books.
Glad you enjoyed The Five, again not really the right phrase is it, enjoyed. It’s an incredible book though. I like hearing about books more than once. I think it’s a great reminder, or gives a different insight possibly, as you said.
Im looking forward to How to say Babalon book, and In cold blood! (A bit scared) but i have ordered both...thanks
Don’t be scared of In Cold Blood, be ready to be moved though. It’s uncomfortable but worth it.
Simon, I wish to add two more books to my favorite non fiction list. A Problem From Hell by Samantha Powers which won the Pulitzer and How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The first an examination of genocide and how to define it, the second needs no explanation. Both are much more timely.
Ooh I haven't heard of either of those I will have to look them up.
Read I am an Island and The Five because you raved about them Loved them both Also enjoyed Wintering and The Storm Pegs, amongst others, this year
Oooh I’m so pleased you loved those recommendations. I’ll have to check those other two books you loved out.
I loved Wintering, The Storm Pegs looks up my street too 🙂
I would love a spring nature book video! On reading diverse nonfiction, I recently read Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H and Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller and I would highly recommend both, if you haven’t read them :)
Oooh I haven’t, I’ll look them both up!
Two non-fiction books I read this month were "Gather Me" by Glory Edim & "Chopped: My Journey from the Streets to the Stove" by Jeff Henderson - recommend both.
Oooh I’ve not heard of either of those, thank you.
Thanks for the heads up. I am currently gathering a list of non fiction to read. I think as you said you need a breather between and after reading, to think about what you have read.
Hope some of these end up being some non fiction favourites for you too!
I don't get to non-fiction all that often but I have read and really enjoyed both The Five and My Mess is a Bit of Life. I also recently enjoyed The Troubles with Us and A Little Devil in America - both memoirs.
I really liked A Little Devil in America, can’t find my copy of it anywhere or it might have been included. I’ll have to look up The Troubles with Us.
Just bought The Trauma Cleaner on your recommendation....can't wait to start it ❤
You’ll have to report back!
Do mention your fav books as often as you feel like, I love hearing about your favourites
I have bought Recognising the Stranger, want to try and get to it before the month is through.
@@SavidgeReads hope you'll love it!
Immediately added the ones I haven’t read on this list to my tbr. Unfortunately, my list is also fairly white (and American) so apologies for that. Here are some faves I think you would like: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, books by Laura Hillenbrand, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Sapiens is probably my favorite nonfiction book right now. The March trilogy is so informative and unique in that it’s in graphic novel form. Any of Hanif Abduraquib’s nonfiction is stunning.
Oooh thank you for the recommendations. I can’t find my copy of Hanif’s A Little Devil in America as I had the pleasure of interviewing him a few years ago! I do have Animal, Vegetable, Mineral on the shelves. I shall look the others up.
I loved Life as Unicorn!
I need "big brain energy" 🤣
Also adored my mess is a bit of a life and the five too
I have to be in the right mood for big brain energy. When the mood is right it’s mind blowing in the best ways. If I’m not in the right mood I can feel super duper dim reading it and find it alienating AF.
Firstly I loved what you said about How to stay sane in a world of division and now I want to read it. Secondly, I am getting off my lazy ass and reading the women killed by Jack the ripped which I’ve had on my shelves for years. And third, I’ve just decided to get a copy of the Golden mole. Thank you for great recommendations, as always :)
I hope you enjoy, well that’s it quite the right word in the case of The Five, all three of them, do let me know how you get on.
Haven't read a lot of Non-Fiction in a while but a few I like, although older books, are
Castaway by Lucy Irvine
The Olive Route by Carol Drinkwater
The Tiger by John Vaillant
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Read The Five a few years ago and loved it and glad it focused on the victims.
Look forward to your next video, best wishes.
Ooh thanks for all the suggestions. I shall be looking them all up!
The Trauma Cleaner is fantastic. I read a lot of morbidly curious non-fiction (I have indulged this November!) and can HIGHLY RECOMMEND The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. Harrowing, heartbreaking, anger inducing, but so important. xx
I have The Radium Girls on my shelves. I bought it after meeting the author at Booktopia years ago. Can’t believe I’ve still not read it.
@SavidgeReads Bump it up your non-fiction TBR - you won't regret it!
I love Augustan Burroughs, especially the witch one. Anything by Mary Roach. Anything by Richard Fiedler. I have a collection of Rebecca Solnit I need to read, and I have a huge collection of Australian Indigenous non-fiction that I dip in and out of, another day in the colony is probably the best and most in your face one of those. It’s by Chelsea Watego and so worth the read!
Ooh I didn’t know Augusten Burroughs had done a witchy book. I’ll look it up. I love Mary Roach!
@ it’s called Toil and Trouble, came out 2019.
Hi Simon,
I really enjoyed Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. The author did a great job at making this serious subject approachable. This book really helped me get a better grasp of past and current events and an overall better understanding of what the caste system entails. If you want to read from more BIPOC authors, this might interest you.
I read non-fiction all through the year and enjoy alternating between fiction and non-fiction so that's what I've done in November as well (I had a few fiction books on loan from the library that I could not renew, so I had to reprioritize what I was reading accordingly.) Looking at the year so far, about 30% of what I've read has been non-fiction. I've read four non-fiction this month so far, one of them being The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This was not light reading, but it did leave me a little more educated about the reality of the world we live in. I did this one in audiobook form.
I have Caste on the shelves so I will definitely get to that in due course. Thank you.
Wonderful to see On the Red Hill, I absolutely love that book.
Have you read Out of the Woods by Luke Turner? It came to mind when you mentioned queer nature books. I read it in 2020 so my view may be affected by the time I read it, but I really loved it.
I have read Out of the Woods. It almost made this list as I thought it was brilliant. You must go and stay on the red hill, it’s magical.
Hello, dearest. The Five has been calling to me from my bookshelf for far too long and I really MUST read it. Still, what is the right mood for a non-fiction book about Jack the Ripper! [The book has now been moved from my bookshelf to my TBR cart.] I've also just ordered the Stay Sane book by Elif Shafak book because, yeah.
I hope Elif’s book brings you as much calm ponderings as it did me. I think you’ll find The Five hard to put down once you start it.
An Immense World by Ed Yong was a really enjoyable read. (There are even some good "If you know you know" literary quotes embedded that are a witty bonus for alert readers.)
Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller was also pretty good.
Oooh I’ve not heard of either of these and will have to look them up, thank you.
@SavidgeReads You are very welcome!
The shame 😳 I still haven’t read I Am An Island, despite you recommending it to me on several occasions 😮❤❤❤😂😂😂
It’s soooooo good. Quite jealous you’ve still got it to read ahead.
A remarkable nonfiction read for me this year was Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by
Ilyon Woo. Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. Excellent scholarship and brilliantly written. A civil war era story not very well known at all. Also a winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography is King: A Life by Jonathan Eig which was terrific. I highly recommend both of these. Dual Pulitzer biography winners for good reason.
Thank you for the recommendations.
Have read In Cold Blood many times but two of my favorites are Walden Pond (terribly outdated I suspect) and One Man’s Meat by EB White.
I’ve not heard of either of those but I’ll look them up!
I would highly recommend you read Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness by Catherine Cho. It’s absolutely magnificent! Thanks for your recs ❤
I have read it, where oh where is my copy… cos I’ve now realised I don’t have it, hence it not being in this video.
Favorite non-fiction Dead Wake , the sinking of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, and I'm reading his bio of Winston Churchill during the blitz, The Splendid and the Vile, now. Too many other books as well, a bad habit I've developed. I read I Am An Island that I ordered from your land, thanks to Melanie and you. Yes, In Cold Blood was great and disturbing, as was Truman Capote, according to his bio, thou shalt not use your pals as writing fodder, but he was not the only one.
Oh I think a lot of writers use their friends for inspo… I’m not sure any used their friends, or swans as he called them, quite to the excess Truman did. So pleased Melanie and I got you to read I Am An Island.
Have you read Furious Hours by Casey Cep? It will give you some really interesting insight into In Cold Blood and is a brilliant book. And I thought Mike Parker’s All the Wide Border was really really good too. The Golden Mole has finally been published in the US with a different title (Vanishing Treasures) and it’s wonderful. You already know how much I love H Is for Hawk and I am also a big fan of Rachel Clarke’s nonfiction, especially Breathtaking.
I’ve not read Furious Hours but now I think I might have to. Did you spot a certain someone in the acknowledgements of All the Wide Border. Coughs lol. I might have to get Vanishing Treasures, I’ve heard there might be extra animals. H is for Hawk is brilliant isn’t it!
@ why yes, cough cough, I did see a familiar name in the All the Wide Border acknowledgements. Quite delightful!
I read some of them and loved them, some are on my list and I am excited to get to them! Great selection you have there that has definitely inspired my TBR
Some of my favourites are “Manifesto” by Bernadine Evaristo, “Hunger” by Roxane Gay, “Sluts” by Beth Ashley (a 2024 release!) and I also enjoyed “How was it for you?” by Eve Smith this year ☺️
Manifesto is great, I didn’t include any memoirs by my favourite authors but if I had then that would have been in there.
My non fiction reading has fallen off a cliff this year 🙈 But one of my favorites from last year was Liquid Gold: Bees and the Pursuit of Midlife Honey by Roger Morgan-Grenville. Just a lovely read. Funny, sweet (pardon the pun), touching. 🐝 🍯
Oh! I meant to chime in on repeating books. I don’t mind in the least! Inevitably I may recall, “didn’t Simon talk about such and such book….???” And I’ll never find the video again. If something is noteworthy, definitely great to have a reminder!
Oooh I’ll look it up. I do love a bee, I even have a 🐝 tattoo.
If you like non-fiction books that explore human nature and nature nature, I highly recommend Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty. Such a beautiful story of a loving neurodivergent family, teenage problems, and nature conservation in Northern Ireland. Dara was only 14 (I believe) when he wrote it, he has such a poetic and mature voice.
I utterly second that. It's a brilliant book.
Diary of a Young Naturalist is a book I’ll definitely talk about when I go my nature book recommendations. Loved it. It was another book club pick Melanie chose and we discussed… and got heckled by a parrot during filming. One of the funniest videos I’ve ever filmed.
@ oh I have to watch this 🤣 just shows that it's great that you re-recommend books, I sure haven't seen all your videos or I've seen something and wanted to put it on my TBR, then forgot. I'm sure a lot of viewers feel the same.
Not to put things off is a good thing to try to keep in mind, for sure - also for reading (follow the mood I guess, lol) ☃️
- Great recs, Simon! I’ve really enjoyed the ones of these I’ve read too! Have got a few on my tbr I’d love to share: Lucia Osbourne-Crowley, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Jay Bernard, Akala + Amelia Gentleman’s The Windrush Betrayal and Laurie Marhoefer’s Racism and the making of gay rights. (I know it doesn’t look like it, but I was limiting myself here, I promise) 🥰
Hahaha. You didn’t have to limit yourself. Do you have any particular titles by these authors.
Sure!
Falling Back in Love with Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom
Natives by Akala
Complicit + Surge by Jay Bernard
A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt
The Lasting Harm + My Body Keeps Your Secrets by Lucia Osbourne-Crowley
Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera
I haven't read In Cold Blood yet, but it's on my list. I have three recs based on my favorite non-fiction subject, the city of Chicago. My ultimate favorite is City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America, by Donald L. Miller. It is THE book to learn the history of the city. The second one is Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, by Karen Abbott. Last but not least is Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall, by St. Sukie De La Croix. It's a fascinating read. Met the author once, as he was the friend of a friend. Super nice guy.
Ooh thank you for the recommendations, much appreciated. I’ll look them up.
Just started today Helen Garner’s House of Grief, often compared to In Cold Blood and a real life Australian crime
Oooh I really liked the novel by Helen Garner I read, The Spare Room, and I’ve meant to head to more of her work. Maybe this would be a good next pick.
I'm looking forward to reading Lingo by Gaston Dorren, Zeinab Badawi's An African History of Africa, and I've just finished The Once and Future Sex by Eleanor Janega.
Ooh I’ve not heard of any of those, shall have to look them all up!
Read Truman Capote’s Christmas Story. It is one of my favorite books. Short, wonderful story.
It’s a Christmas cracker. I read it a few Christmases ago, I concur.
I miss you when you are not presenting as I enjoy listening to your stories about books and life around it. Ha 😅
When I’m not presenting? What do you mean? Or do you mean when videos come up?
Sorry yes miss you when you not presenting. Just like listening. Thanks again 😊
“How to Say Babylon” was one of the best books that I read this year. I can’t possibly squeeze in another book this month because I’m currently reading FOUR non-fiction books at the same time. Madness! 🤪Oh, and I’d enjoy a spring books episode if you can swing it.
p.s. Thanks for this non-fic episode. I read about 50% fiction and 50% non-fiction so I appreciate it.
I have already started planning the spring books list. So think that’ll be happening in the not too distant future.
My 5* Non-fiction pick for November was "Say Nothing " author Patrick Radden Keefe.
I've now purchased his back list.
Enjoying your reviews ❤❤
I quite want to read Say Nothing, though the TV is tempting me even more. So I may throw my rule of reading a book before I watch the adaptation out the water.
I’m certain however and to what extent you mention specific books & how often will always work out - freestyle on the instincts & feelings I say no limit & no minimum 📕🪱💔🤍💙
I agree!
@@SavidgeReads I do, too. I think it shows a great deal when a book has such lasting staying power, especially among those of us who are avid readers.
Recent faves : four thousand weeks : time management for mortals, all the beauty in the world : a museum guards adventures in love loss and art, and haben : the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard law. Currently most of the way through braiding sweetgrass - incredibly good nature writing. I read The five after watching your video for it awhile back and enjoyed it.