Nonfiction November, Week 3

Nonfiction November

Nonfiction November:
Nontraditional Nonfiction: This week we will be focusing on the nontraditional side of reading nonfiction. Nonfiction comes in many forms. There are the traditional hardcover or paperback print books, of course, but then you also have e-books, audiobooks, illustrated and graphic nonfiction, oversized folios, miniatures, internet publishing, and enhanced books complete with artifacts. So many choices! Do you find yourself drawn to or away from nontraditional nonfiction? Do you enjoy some nontraditional formats, but not others? Perhaps you have recommendations for readers who want to dive into nontraditional formats.  We want to hear all about it this week!  

Nonfiction Audiobooks.
If you are a reader of my blog, you know I prefer to consume books in the audio format. Here are a few nonfiction audiobooks I've listened to lately which I can highly recommend:

• Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin, read by Ray Porter, who did an excellent job reading the story and helping build the tension with his voice. He even did a good Nixon voice. (YA)
• Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege on Leningrad by M.T.Anderson, read by the author. Complicated Russian names and words were handled with ease and tiny little musical interludes of Shostakvich's music were additional benefits. (YA)
• Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer, read by Mozhan Marno and Scott Brick. This is a tough topic. My husband and I listened to it together which helped me digest the uncomfortable information through talking to him about it.
• The Wright Brothers by David McCullough, read by the author. I would listen to a grocery list if David McCullough reads it. I love his voice and what a good book, too.
• Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices by Walter Dean Myers. Poetry is meant to spoken aloud, so it is lovely to hear good poems recited by talented voice actors.

Graphic Biographies or Memoirs

I haven't read too many of these but have enjoyed the ones I have

• Stitches by David Small---when David was fourteen he had a vocal cord removed without being told he had cancer. He learns later that the cancer was caused by all the x-rays given him by his father over the years. Gut wrenching.
• Persepolis I and II by Marjane Satrapi---growing up in pre-revolution Iran and then following the author/artists and her experiences being female in Iran during the revolution.
• Blankets by Craig Thompson---a coming-of-age story about a boy growing up in a religiously repressive home.
• March and March II by John Lewis---about the civil rights activist and American hero, John Lewis.

Enhanced books with samples of artifacts (all are part of my library collection):

It's an architectural pop-up book. How clever.

Samples of documents and maps used by Washington and his army in 1776.

Samples of manuscripts in Zora Neale Hurston's handwriting

A CD set of poets reading their own poetry including Walt Whitman!

John Lithgow and other actors read favorite poems

Nonfiction books completed this week:

• Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin

 

• I Remember Beirut by Zeina Abirached