Nonfiction November – My Year in NF

Nonfiction November runs for 5 weeks from today! As always, week 1 is ‘My Year in NF’, and is hosted by Heather. I’ve participated since 2017! My best ever NF year was 2019 when I read 33 books, making up 25% of my total.

This year, I’ve read the fewest non-fiction books for ages, 11 books so far this year, making up 11% of my 2024 total. (plus another 4/20 in Nov/Dec 2023 if you make it the full year). Those 2024 books are:

  • The Swedish Art of Ageing Well by Margareta Magnusson – RC (8/10) Review
  • Eat to Your Heart’s Content by Sat Bains – RC (7.5/10) Review
  • The Future of Trust by Ros Taylor – RC NF (8/10) Shiny Review
  • Lost and Found by Helen Chandler-Wilde – RC (9/10) Review
  • All You Need Is Love by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines – RC (10/10) Review
  • The Blues Brothers by Daniel de Visé – O (9/10) Shiny Review
  • The Future of Energy by Richard Black – RC NF (8.5/10) Shiny Review
  • Rememberings by Sinéad O’Connor – O* (10/10) Review
  • Portrait of the Art Dealer as a Young Man by Michael Findlay – RC (7.5/10) – Shiny Review
  • Red Dwarf – Discovering the TV Series Volume 1: 1988-1993 by Tom Salinski – RC (7/10) Review
  • Sirieixly Seriously British by Fred Sirieix – O (8.5/10) Review

For once, there are no medical books – although since the Wellcome Book Prize stopped which I always supported, that is to be expected. There are two excellent short books from Melville House’s ‘The Futures’ series. The three standouts though are these:

In particular, the Beatles book will be my NF book of the year, but O’Connor’s memoir was so brilliant, and the Blues Brothers book a must for the die-hard fan I am, they both give the Beatles a close run for the money. However, the All You Need is Love is truly amazing in its scope…

All You Need is Love is compiled from never-before released interviews recorded by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. Brown was there; he was former COO of Apple Corps and had been with the band all the way from Liverpool starting out as Epstein’s assistant. His biog tells how he was custodian of their passports, was John & Yoko’s best man and introduced Paul to Linda. Gaines is an American journalist with a long list of credentials and a great interviewer. The pair conducted these interviews in 1980-81, and had extracted from them for a previous book which caused an uproar when published. They locked the rest in a vault until now! NB: Little would they know then but these interviews, except for Yoko’s, took place in the weeks before John was murdered in late 1980. They managed to talk to nearly all the key characters who were still alive: Beatles roadie Mal Evans died in 1976, Linda McCartney is particularly notable by her absence though, and I was slightly surprised given that their experiences with the Maharishi are covered here that Jane Asher wasn’t included (nor her brother Peter), and of course, they never got to John.

The good news is that I have a couple of short NF books lined up for the month coinciding with #NovNov, and hope to up that percentage by the end of the year a little!

33 thoughts on “Nonfiction November – My Year in NF

  1. Calmgrove says:

    Good luck with your NF reading, Annabel! I shall only be participating in a small way with a couple of titles, one short and one reread. The Beatles book sounds interesting, but since I only relatively recently watched the remastered ‘Let It Be’ documentary on Disney+ I’m a bit Beatled out for now!

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I know what you mean by being Beatled out! This book has done the same for me – but in showing all the other points of view of those around them, plus the remaining guys themselves was eye-opening.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Did you read her ‘Death Cleaning’ book (I haven’t) – this is very much more of the same I gather.

  2. joyweesemoll says:

    Great list! I also have years that are more nonfiction and years that are less. It’s kind of fun to have the variety.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I was disappointed it was so few though this year though, as I do really enjoy a wide range of NF.

  3. Anokatony says:

    I don’t often read nonfiction from cover to cover like I usually read fiction. I tend to skip around in non-fiction and only read as much as I want to read about something.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      You’re missing some wonderful books esp in narrative nf which is so much bigger and better now. Bt as it works for you… 😀

  4. Jinjer says:

    I remember seeing The Blues Brothers when it came out, in the theater because we loved the SNL skits so much. I also had the Briefcase Full of Blues album. I will add that book to my TBR, along with the Sinead and Beatles book! It’s funny because I’m not really a Beatles MUSIC fan, but I love reading about them and seeing documentaries and stuff.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I saw it the day it was released in the UK. I’d not seen the SNL skits or album before – but did afterwards. The film is only the second half of the book really – it’s mostly SNL on its way to the movie before – fascinating though! That Beatles book blew my mind – so good to hear others’ PoV, and it warmed me a little more to Yoko who was quite gracious I felt.

  5. Kate W says:

    O’Connor’s memoir was extraordinary. I actually read it, and then immediately ‘read’ it again as an audio because I had discovered that she recorded the audio. I appreciated the tinge of irony and humour in her voice in certain parts that hadn’t been as obvious when I was reading. Anyway, it made such a deep impression that I listened to it again six months later. I was devastated when almost a year later she died. Loss of an amazing person and advocate.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I may just have to get the audio. I read the book on the anniversary of her death, and shed a tear for her. Sadly missed.

  6. Lisbeth @The Content Reader says:

    Interesting variety of topics for this year nonfiction reading. I see you have a Swedish author. I think she is the one who wrote a book about “Death cleaning”. I have not read any books by her. Good reading for the rest of the month. Looking forward to see what you will be reading.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Thanks Lisbeth. Yes, she’s the ‘death cleaning’ woman. This one touches on that, but is more about learning to live well as you age, with plenty of stories from her own life. A sweet life-affirming book.

  7. gulfsidemusing says:

    I tend to enjoy medical books, too, but didn’t read any this year. Is the Wellcome Prize just on hiatus or has is been permanently cancelled? All You Need is Love sounds like an interesting read!

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      It’s just indefinitely suspended … no news. Such a shame, as I always enjoyed reading their shortlist – with their permission we did an unofficial shadow panel for several years. The Beatles book was so interesting, getting all the other PoVs.

  8. Liz Dexter says:

    A good variety there and well done for the combining – I’ve found 11 short nonfiction books to read during the month that are also on the TBR Challenge part of my TBR, for the win!

  9. BookerTalk says:

    Now you have created such a dilemma for me. My husband is a Beatles devotee so has amassed a large number of books about the band, so do I buy him yet another one or will he say that he already knows this stuff???

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I would wager that he’ll find the behind the scenes goings on from all the other PoVs fascinating. I have tons of Beatles books, but reading these in depth interviews gave a whole new context. If you look at my full review, you’ll get a better picture.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      So they are! Alongside medical themed nf, my top books do usually rock’n’roll, so not surprising really.

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