Although I’m a little late out of the gate for this event (if you need an introduction to Nonfiction November, please visit the original post on Julie Merilatt’s blog JulzReads; Julz is also hosting this first week) I hope to keep up as the month progresses.

Here’s the list of nonfiction books I’ve read since last November, from my highest rating to my lowest. I’ve included an asterisk next to those that I read at the urging of my fellow event participants.

1. *Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
2. My Wedding Dress: True-Life Tales of Lace, Laughter, Tears and Tulle edited by Susan Whelan and Anne Laurel Carter
3. *Micro Living: 40 Innovative Tiny Houses Equipped for Full-Time Living by Derek “Deek” Diedriksen
4. The Golden Age of Murder: the Mystery Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story by Martin Edwards
5. The Clever Gut Diet: How to Revolutionize Your Body from the Inside Out by Dr. Michael Mosley
6. *The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders
7. *Year of Clutter by Eve Schaub
8. *Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World by Benny Lewis
9. Marty Mann Answers Your Questions about Drinking and Alcoholism by Marty Mann
10. *Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles in the Air by Philip Jodidio
11. *A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives by Lisa Congdon
12. The Blue Satin Nightgown: My French Makeover at Age 78 by Karin Crilly
13. *Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates

And two I did not finish:
* The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delaney Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 by Molly Peacock
All Things Consoled by Elizabeth Hay

 
Favourite and Most Recommended

The title of ‘favourite’ is a close race between My Wedding Dress and Micro Living, but, honestly, the book I recommended most was Dr. Suess’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. It probably seems flighty of me but I found some profound life advice in this book. You know: life is wonderful. Until it’s not. But pick yourself up, work hard, have patience, and life will be wonderful again, although perhaps in a different way. This book is so much fun to read that I think everyone should!

 
While many participants seem to have been reading memoirs, my nonfiction treats this past year have been, in large part, books recommended to me during last year’s event. I asked for advice on downsizing, simplifying, and major life changes after age 60. I received many suggestions, and have had some fine reading experiences this year because of them.

This year, I hope to broaden my nonfiction reading and beef up my TBR list with titles about a wider variety of topics. I feel a good month coming on!

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.

On a cloudy afternoon, following a morning of drizzle, I can still see some autumn colour. It’s amazing that, after the winds of Hurricane Dorian, the remnants of Tropical Storm Melissa, and the mini-tropical depression that pelted us with heavy rain and high winds yesterday, so many of the trees are still holding onto their leaves.

It’s been a gorgeous fall here on the North Shore of Nova Scotia. And today, despite the rain and cloud, was another beautiful day: sweater-mild and glowing.

You might notice some differences in the landscape since, say September three years ago. We’ve chopped down that scraggly pear tree in the foreground, trimmed up the alder in the “rock” garden, and the spruce tree has grown up past the power lines again. But the biggest change is a result of Hurricane Dorian in late August. We lost the hard maple tree at the very end of the driveway, and half of one of the tamaracks. Friends helped us clean it up the very next day.

We also lost a pine tree at the parking end of the drive, a small willow by the barn and what amounted to a large limb (in bits and pieces) from the big poplar tree by the house. We (and the house) came through unscathed.

I hope you enjoy this little piece of nature. I’m not looking forward to the winter but, oh my, I do love the fall!

I wish I lived in Crosby, Maine! Perhaps then I’d personally know Olive Kitteridge. In, fact, I probably would – it’s that kind of small town. I think I’d like Olive. I hope she’d like me. We’re two older women who speak our minds; we’d probably be like stone on stone, flashing and sparking – and sharpening each other.

 
Olive, Again—which by now you know is a follow-up to Elizabeth Strout’s phenomenally successful Olive Kitteridge and is similar in structure to that first book—is a series of connected short stories about the people of one small town in Maine. Also, as in the first book, not all of the stories focus on Olive, although the very best are the ones that do.
 

I was particularly moved by Motherless Child, in which Olive’s son and his family pay her a visit at what is (at least as implied to the reader) her invitation, to try to mend relationships. But Olive goes about things awkwardly, as you would expect from Olive. Although both Olive and her daughter-in-law attempt to be pleasant, there are uncomfortable moments; the connection between Olive and her son has its up and downs, and is a decidedly bumpy ride; her relationship with her grandchildren is uncomfortable from both sides. Strout draws all of these people so adroitly that my heart cried for all of them.

As Olive ages in this new book, the years pass far too quickly, and Olive shows her vulnerability more than she did in her first outing with us. In so doing, she makes it far easier to like her –even to love her. Anyway I know that—by the time I finished Olive, Again—I loved Olive and was sorry to know that I won’t be visiting her again.

I received my ecopy of Olive, Again by request through NetGalley. This did not affect my review. Olive, Again was published October 12th and if you live on either American coast, or in Illinois, Missouri or Michigan, you may be able to catch the author on tour up until December 3rd. You can find a list of upcoming events at https://www.elizabethstrout.com/appearances

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.