Week 2 of Nonfiction November 2023 is hosted by Frances @ Volatile Rune. The topic is:
What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
I read nonfiction because I want to learn. Either something new or something that deepens my understanding.
These days I’m mainly interested in books about the climate crisis, nature or the environment. General science and mathematics come next, followed by politics, law and social issues. After that it’s whatever catches my fancy. Quite often I read books that help me understand current events better.
Of course that still leaves a huge number of books, so how to choose? I rely on recommendations from fellow nonfiction bloggers (thank you all!), from the Sunday New York Times Book Review, and from podcasts like The Ezra Klein Show. Klein always asks his guests to recommend three books to the audience related to the topic they’re discussing.
I find I’m getting pickier about book length these days. Since I tend to invest a fair amount of time reading a book and then writing a blog post, I’m reluctant to tackle extremely long books. Four hundred pages, not counting notes and references, is about my limit. Anything longer and I either have to really like the author or the topic has to be very compelling. I know that eliminates some very good books, but, frankly, there are lots of very good shorter books too.
A clever title or a beautiful cover will sometimes catch my eye.
I liked the geometric design on Richard Fidler’s The Book of Roads and Kingdoms about the Islamic Golden Age. I also appreciate beautiful art like on Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and photography such as the cover of Life on the Rocks by Juli Berwald about the future of the world’s coral reefs.
But I’ve also read some great books with abysmal cover designs, so in the end, it’s the content I’m really interested in.
Thanks for reading.
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Agree about being a bit wary of longer books. Because I mostly read on my e-reader now (easier to get books in English), I also find some nonfiction with lots of footnotes, charts, visuals etc. to be challenging. I need paper for those but have to limit my budget.
Those are beautiful covers! A good cover enhances my enjoyment, and a great book deserves one. But I hope I can look past it if it doesn’t have one.
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I prefer paper copies for nonfiction too. But shelf space is also a limiting factor! 🙂
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My current read which is a biography of Monet is around 500 pages including all the notes and references. I agree with you about length of the tomes we read. There’s always more books and always not enough time. There’s some great covers here – especially Mozart’s Starling. Thank you so much for taking part in nonfiction November.
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Thanks for hosting!
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I agree about being wary of longer works. There’s some great covers here – especially Mozart’s Starling. Thank you so much for taking part in nonfiction November.
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I really like the cover of Life on the Rocks. I still read longer books but I find myself looking at the page count more often than I used to before I commit to downloading a book (I mostly read on my Kindle due to space constraints). I just get bogged down if it’s too long sometimes, then I refuse to give up and move on, then I find myself in a reading slump.
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I refuse to give up too, and then I’m doubly frustrated with myself for spending so much time if the book wasn’t worth it. Less risk of that with shorter ones.
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Ugh, I’m only now making it to the Nonfiction November party! I won’t catch up in posting, but I will try to catch up in reading posts. Your posts are always some of my favorites for adding to my TBR list. 🙂 I definitely look at page numbers too. But even then it can be deceiving. I’m currently reading a book that is “only” around 400 pages (that’s about my max too unless I’m really committed) but the font is tiny and the pages are large, so there are a LOT of words. It’s not a book I’m enjoying either, so I’ve skimmed more than read. Oh well.
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Thanks, Lisa! And welcome to the party.
You’re right — page count isn’t the only indicator of length. It would be nice if online booksellers included info about the font size too. 🙂
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I have a similar limit but it is for audiobooks. I just cannot stick with one past 10 hours. Well, and the library will also want it back.
I also love reading to learn. Nonfiction is such a great way to expand my world and I am so thankful for all the wonderful books that just keep coming out every year.
Enjoy your NFN!
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Thanks! You too.
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