Week 2 (11/2 – 11/9) Choosing Nonfiction (Hosted by Frances at Volatile Reader): There are many topics to choose from when looking for a nonfiction book. For example, there are memoir, travel, politics, history, religion and spirituality, science, art, food, and more. Use this week to challenge yourself to pick a genre you wouldn’t normally read.
I managed to finish no nonfiction last week. None. Sigh. But I am reading a book, a diary really, which I never would have selected except for the StoryGraph Genre Challenge. As soon as I finish this book, Henry and June: The Unexpurgated Diary by Anais Nin (Erotica) I will have completed the challenge!
Here is how the challenge works: Select and read a book from all 58 genres categorized by StroyGraph. One can see how they are doing by checking out the Stats page and looking at the chart, then consulting the genre list to see which categories are still missing.
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| The StoryGraph Genre Chart found on my reading stats page. One book to go and I will have read a book for all 58 of their genres. |
I didn't decide to do this challenge until April when I had already read books for around 35-40 genres without trying or paying attention. How hard could it be to complete it? As it turned out, it was very difficult. First off many genres or categories I thought would be on their list, like "Westerns" and "Satire," aren't. While other genres I'm not interested in, like "Economics" and "Computer Science", seemed difficult to find a book I was willing to read. Oddly some books which were clearly about a topic, like "Race", weren't labeled as such. Fortunately StoryGraph does allow the public to make suggested corrections to a book's record, so I was able to check off books I read that fit, but needed a genre added to do so. All of the genres aren't necessarily for nonfiction titles. Some only work for fiction (Examples: "Speculative Fiction," being one! And then the confusing "Historical" [fiction] vs "History" [nonfiction].)
Here are a few books I really enjoyed that fulfilled a needed genre for my challenge:
Genre: Design
I was twirling around my little neighborhood library trying to find books to fit the challenge and wandered over to the 740s to see if I could find a design book (crafting, interior design, textile design, flower arranging) and this book jumped out at me. Literally. It is a large, heavy, oversized book with tons of color photographs. It didn't fit on the shelf properly. It is not the type of book one expects to find at a library but instead on someone's coffee table. I sat at a library table to leaf through it and was instantly charmed. Who doesn't love the designs at Disney theme parks? I checked it out and read through the book in a few days, enjoying every moment...though I am still not sure why someone would want their spare bedroom to look like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion. Ha!
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North American Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the Continent by Matthew Bucklan and Victor Cizek
Genre: Reference
When I think "reference" I think encyclopedias and almanacs but here is a fantastically fun book for both kids and adults -- interactive maps on topics of history, culture, and geography. For example one map shows where can you find the continent's tallest and steepest roller coasters. Another shows where can you visit the world’s largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island. Think about that. Mind-blowing stuff.
Just like the last book, I read through this book quickly, turning back pages to show my husband some of the mind-blowing things everytime he would wander into the room. I learned so much from this excellent reference book. As it turns out I got to check off another genre for this book, too: "technology." Not sure how it fits, though. Perhaps one has to use technology to figure out where there is a lake within an island within a lake.
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Genre: Computer Science
Two things happened almost simultaneously which brought me to this book. One, I was looking through a list of my Facebook friends and realized that many of them were no longer living, yet their Facebook page persisted. Perhaps I even got a notice on one of their birthdays. Secondly, my mother, who is 96, got tricked into giving a scammer some of her social media information and her whole email list got send SPAM from them. These two things got me thinking about what should happen to social media information after a person dies. This book, based on its title, seemed like a perfect place to go to find out what we should do when Mom dies and what others should do with their loved ones Facebook/Twitter[X]/Instagram/Tik-Tok accounts.
I didn't get a definitive answer to my questions but I did learn some fascinating information about after death practices throughout history and how social media sites can serve as a place for grieving family members to memorialize their loved one and hang onto their grief. Did you know in a few years (2035? I can't remember exact date) there will be more dead persons' accounts on Facebook than live persons? And businesses are attempting to monetize the relationship between social media and grief? Many have already attempted it and have failed because people only want to have these resources if they don't have to pay for them.
Unlike the above two books, I wouldn't say I liked this book. In fact, I found myself speed-reading through sections. But it has provided me with interesting thoughts to ponder. In fact, after reading The Afterlife of Data, my husband and I had a discussion of what he should do with this blog if I suddenly died. I'd like a few of my posts to still be available for the family to read through if they wanted, like my Sunday Salon posts which are more personal than other posts, and maybe a few of my favorite book reviews. I also instructed him to post a message that I had died. I hate it when bloggers I follow suddenly disappear. I wonder what happened to them. Did they die or just fade away, disinterested in continuing to blog about books?
I think StoryGraph should add a genre to this title: "philosophy." It certainly grapples with ethical questions that "computer science" can't adequately address.
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Genres: Psychology and Self Help
I purchased this book during 2020 and just couldn't settled into it during the whole COVID pandemic lockdown. I tried to read it again a few years ago and found I wasn't interested in learning little techniques to change my life. I was ready to toss the book which this genre challenge came along and I realized I owned a "psychology" genre title.
Finally I read the dang thing and actually liked it. Not only that but I was able to make a few changes to my health practices which have (or I hope they will have) an impact on both my dental and visual health. How about that? Everytime I floss my teeth and clap my hands afterwards in a sort of a cheer, I say a little word of praise in my head for this book that showed me the value of celebrations when it comes to changing habits.
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This week, Week Two of Nonfiction November, we are asked to choose a book from a new genre, Well, clearly, I have already done that this year and this post is a celebration of my 2025 year of reading genres up and down the board (woot-woot.) So today I claim two genres which I am especially interested in reading more about: "religion" and "politics." Here are some titles I hope to explore/read soon:
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| One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad Worth Fighting For by John Pavlovitz Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon (Links for Goodreads for book descriptions) |
