Non-Fiction November

I have loved non-fiction reads across the years and I have a shelf jam-packed with non-fiction books which I desperately want to read but some how I always end up reading fiction. I really need to make it my mission to read more non-fiction. This idea of a month to read non-fiction is a great idea, I'm going to try and squeeze in one non-fiction text around two fictional books I need to read for book clubs, a looming MA essay which I have done no reading for and marking which is stacked up higher than the ceiling!

But I thought I would share three non-fiction books I have read in the past and loved.
 A Human Being Died That Night: Forgivng Apartheid's Cheif Killer by Pumla Gogooo-Madikizela this book was very popular with the book blogging community a few years ago. The author is a psychologist who interviews one of the leaders of South Africa's apartheid, someone who worked on the ground abusing and organising the abuse of black South Africans. I still have really vivid pictures of the scenes from this book and the emotions that it caused in me.  My copy os this book travelled across the world through bookcrossing and then was returned to me to pass on, one of my friends hated it but on the whole many people were angered and very touched by this book. My review can be found here.




A Year in Green Tea and Tuk Tuks by Rory Spowers. This is the type of non-fiction which I prefer, one persons account of their life in another country, culture or community.

I really want to visit Sri Lanka so this book was a great way to find out about the country without reading a dry factual book. Spowers writes about his first year trying to set up a tea-farm in Sri Lanka. I love families, individual successes and failures. My review can be found here.










Normal by Amy Bloom each chapter of this book looks at a different community, transexuals, hemaphrodites, gay men, cross dressing etc. The accounts are touching, shocking and in places humorous. Very insightful and a great step into a world which is normally hidden from view. My review can be found here.http://katrinasreads.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/two-non-fiction-books.html

The Road - McCarthy

And another 1001 book tackled! I also read this for the Dystopia Challenge so two hits in one :) I've been meaning to read The Road since all of the hype years ago but somehow I failed to get around to it, but I'm glad I kept it so long.
The Road is a post-apocalyptic novel, set in a grey, cold and very bleak America which fitted perfectly with the weather over the few days I was reading, which was wet and windy. The majority of the novel was read when I was woken by a huge storm at 4 in the morning, so I was curled up on the sofa with a book watching the mad dog walkers battling against winds and rains to ensure their pets had been taken out!
I would guess that the majority of books I read have a female protagonist and the view of family life and relationships is from a female perspective so it was interesting to read about a father-son relationship. The two nameless characters rely on each other for everything, they battle the world and their fears together. Other people present figures of danger, with some very grim scenes occurring when the father and son encounter gangs travelling on the road.
This book is bleak, but the relationship between the two characters brings a light to the whole book, regardless of the situation love still shines through. The novel is written in short fragments so is quick to read and highly recommended.

In the Forest by Edna O'Brien

Another 1001 list book for me. I'd not heard of Edna O'Brien before so it was great to discover a new author who has a big backlist.

In the Forest is a novel based on a real life crime in Ireland in the 1990s. Michen is a young man who has been in and out of Irish correction centres - largely run by the church since the age of 10 when he first started committing crimes. Michen spends his teenage years breaking out and making his way back to his home town, where the locals leave bread and milk outside for him, too scared to invite him into their family home.

The novel is written in fragments each chapter skips from focusing on one character to the next. Whilst I quite enjoy this style at the beginning I felt lost sometimes knowin g which character we were now with, especially as many people from the village are suddenly introduced as the focus of a chapter and then not seen again. Once I got 50 pages into the novel it flitted around less and less, and I became steadier reading this novel.

The novel is a good read and tells a great story but I never became emotionally involved with any of the characters - probably due to the flitting around from character to character.

2014 Reading Challenges

One thing I loved about book blogging was the reading challenges. And I'm already keeping an eye out for reading challenges in 2014. I will keep a list of the challenges, my progress and links on this post here.


  A New Author Challenge I'm going to aim to read 25 new-to-me authors next year and they will all be discovered on my large TBR stck which really needs tackling. I'm not going to create a list for this one as I have stacks and stacks of choices on my shelves.

2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge

This one is a no brainer for me, I generally try to read from my TBR pile but as it is in the 400s I clearly am not to good at sticking to it.I'm going for the maximum level 50+ Married with Children as mount TBR needs some serious slimming.

Long-Awaited Reads Month - January
Over at Things Mean A Lot I spotted a month long challenge (perfect for me as my commitment is useless)for January. You just need to read books which you have been meaning to read for ages. Mine will all be off of my TBR pile. Here are a few potentials which I can think of without having to even get out of my seat.

Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset I've had this on my shelf for two years when I brought it to read as part of a read-a-long and never kept up.

The Peacock Throne - Sujit Sarif This is one of the books which has been on mount TBR the longest

Tsotsi - Athol Fugard A 1001 book I've been meaning to read for years

Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy I've owned various copies of this since I was 16 and first read and loved Tess of the d'Urbervilles

TBR Triple Dog Dare is on again, this has became a tradition for me (although I don't think I have ever made it to the end). Spend Jan 1st to April 1st reading only from your book shelf. As I have a TBR pile of over 400 and the last few years have been slow reading years for me (promotion + tackling my masters) I'm hoping to tackle more reads in 2014, especially as I am taking a year study break.

No list, just attacking the shelves and using TBR books for reading challenges.



Southern Literature in January
I know that Brooke is running this in January but I don't think there has been as official post. I'm just using this space to jot down some potentials:
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
The Sound and the Fury - Willam Faulkner
Meridian - Alice Walker
Everything That Rises Must Converge - Flannery O'Connor


Seasoned Traveller 2014
The Seasoned Traveller doesn’t do anything by half-measures: they go the whole hog and the more obscure the better!
- Read 12 books over the course of the year, each set in a DIFFERENT country
- Books selected should include ones set in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia+New Zealand, North America and South America. The Middle East is a bonus
- You do not need to plan ahead but it might help you keep on track
- No re-reads
- Any genre is okay (including non-fiction) BUT books MUST be set in a specific country or region with a noticeable attention to the location or environment; some genre books won’t be much use for this challenge

I have loads of books for this challenge on my TBR pile, here are some I would like to tackle:
Kristin Lavransdattar - Norway, Europe
The Polish House - Poland, Europe
The Master and Margarita - Russia, Eurasia
The True History of the Kelly Gang, Australia
The Lotus Eaters, Vietnam
Tsotoi, South Africa
The Edible Woman, Canada
Something by Isabel Allende - I have lots to choose from, Peru


2014 Women Challenge This challenge is nice and simple, read books by female authors. I'm going for Wonder Women level which is 20+ books. No lists, I'll read as I please from my stacks.

The Shining - Stephen King

A few years ago I popped The Shining by Stephen King on my kindle because it was on the 1001 books to read before you die, and like every other book I buy it stayed there every now it'd give me a nod as I passed it by but it never called out my name so it was missed in the crowd. Then my housemate started reading it and we decided to have a little paired reading (plus I love a competition, she was on 20% so I needed to catch up!)

From page one the novel screams out to you that bad things will happen: the son who 'sees things' and reads emotions, the mother desperately trying to save her marriage, the violent ex-alcoholic husband with his heart set on a writing career moving up to the mountains to stay in a hotel which will be cut off from the world by heavy snow for the whole of winter - hell, even a normal family would have problems in a nice hotel. And, the hotel itself, whilst it sells itself as grand has many hidden tales to tell.

I haven't read horror since I was a teenager when I loved Point Horror but never moved on to adult horror, and I also very rarely watch horror movies, but I do like to be scared. I assumed that this novel would be quick paced but lack any real depth and detail to the description. Also, have picked up and very quickly put down again King's novel Cell I didn't have high hopes. But I was completely wrong King's writing was excellent, the pace was quick but allowed the characters to develop, and the hotel itself became a character.

I plan to read the new Shining book next week - it'll be the holidays, halloween will be fast approaching and I will have a replacement kindle (I stepped on mine this week - but don't tell as it was a present!)
I'm also planning on having a horror movie night for halloween and The Shining is on the top of the pile.

I will never look at topiary in the same way again!

Top Ten Books I was Forced to Read

With a literature degree, postgraduate diploma and masters in the process, plus 8 years of teaching English Language and Literature there are many, many books I have been forced to read. Here is my top ten.

1. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck At 16 I had to read this for my own GCSEs and I fell in love with Georde and Lennie, now 16 years later I teach this book year after year to pupils studying for their GCSEs, and I've yet to find a pupil who hates it. In fact this year I don't have to teach it, but I think I will read it to my top set who will read a 'more difficult' book for their GCSEs.
2. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje I read this back when I was 21 the first time I attempted my literature Masters degree, and then I read it again as part of the additional reading for my current Masters. I love the romance, poetry and setting of this book. Ondaatje is a god!
3. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie One year I applied to do a degree module which only had 10 places, I wasn't one of the first to apply so I got stuck doing my second choice module. In the space of one week I had to read 5 books before the module started. One of these books was Midnight's Children. Boy did I struggle to read this, and I hated every damn page as I read it. Then when it came the week with all the lectures on this book I read back key scenes, read about it, talked about it and fell in love with it.
4. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens The fist book I read for my A Levels. I loved all the characters but most of all Estella, at 16 I admired that fierceness she had with men (I was 'madly in love' with my bf boyfriend at the time so quite bitter about love), I desired that cold hearted attitude. And for a while I was nicknamed Estella at school, then I fell in love properly and Estella became both a figure of admirationa and pity.
5. A Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood Read for the best module I ever studied in school or university, protest literature was an amazing module that the exam board (the fools!) pulled two years later because they didn't A Level student should have to study 6 (amazing) books for just one module. The book which changed my life path from becoming a legal secretary and studying law to going to university to study and then teach English Literature. At 17 this was the most powerful and shocking book I had read, I quickly read a lot of other Atwood novels and that veered me off in search of other great female writers.
6. Antigone (various authors) Last year for my masters I had to read different versions of Antigone for my first assignment, from Sophocles, to Brecht, to Anouilh and all the others in between I loved this play and its various retelling and recreations. Every time I go up to London for a lecture (I study online mainly) some body says that they wish they could return and study Antigone again.
7. Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo A book I teach to my year 7s (11-12yr olds) about two brothers in the war. Every time I have to take a deep breath and read the final pages without shedding a tear. But there is always a few tears from the class.
8. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Another book from my A Levels, read a just the right age 16/17. I quickly devoured all of Jane Austen.
9. Skellig, David Almond Another book I read to year 7s, they are still at that perfect age for the magical creature discovered in the garage. My older pupils who I taught in year 7 often ask if we can reread it - damn not having enough time on the curriculum to feed this whim!
10. A Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness Two years ago I took a course in Children's literature, some of it I hated but much of it I loved. It 'forced' me to reread A Knife of Never Letting Go and the other books in the series. And my assignment was to write 5000 words about why this book was good enough to win a children's literature prize - no surprise that this was my best mark.

Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro

Alice Munro was an author I had heard of but knew nothing about - other than she was Canadian - until last week when she won the Nobel. Despite knowing nothing about her last year I had grabbed one of her books in the local second hand bookshop because I knew she was on the 1001 BTRBYD list, a list I'm gradually working my way through. The book sat on the highest shelf unread until I saw all over twitter her win. Now I'm really glad that I made that random purchase and that I've started on Munro's backlist.

Lives of Girls and Women was first published in 1971, and whilst the setting has aged the concerns of the central character have not. We start the book with Del as a young girl living on a rural farm with little to do other than hang out with her brother and read sensational stories in a neighbour's newspaper. Each chapter in the novel focuses on a different point in Del's life, the arrival of a new women from out of town who refuses to fit the constrains of a wife and mother, her mother's life as an Encyclopoedia saleswoman, dating, friendship issues and changes in her body etc. Whilst it is the story of a fairly average childhood and maturity towards womanhood Munro's style and narrative lifted the character and setting right off of the page.

There is one more Munro on the 1001 list that I'll be searching out, but I will definitely keep an eye out for more of her books in the future.