Nonfiction November

Despite the fact that I'm a little late to the party to participate in NonFiction November - heck, I almost missed the party entirely, I still wanted to post at least once for the month and focus on some great non-fiction books.

As I've gotten older my non-fiction reading has really started to take off. Sometimes I'm noticing that I might have three non-fiction books I'm reading at once.   Like right now.

Today I've been reading One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment by Mei Fong, a non-fiction look at the one child policy in China that will be published in February 2016.  I'm also reading Wide Open World by John Marshall, a memoir of the Marshall family's year they spent volunteering around the world.  And, I'm working my way through Evicted by Matthew Desmond, another book that won't be out until 2016.  

I am loving every single one of them.

But truly, if I were asked to recommend some amazing non-fiction books to friends, these are some of my top picks of the year.  (That is pretty incredible that I'm only recommending books from this year . I really should go back further since there are non-fiction books I read long ago that I still think about).

The Smarest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley

A look at education in America, Ripley follows the paths of three American teenagers who go overseas for a year in their education.  I'm an educator and loved this book, but I've had non-educator friends read it and also exclaim how this is a must read.

More Than Happy: The Widsom of Amish Parenting by Serena B Miller and Paul Stutzman

I love good parenting books and this look at parenting from the Amish perspective provides some great common sense advice on raising happy children who are good workers and have a strong sense of family.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Stevenson works as a lawyer working to overturn wrongful death row convictions.  He is able to share stories of many people wrongly convicted and gives evidence showing the many flaws in our legal justice system, especially for African Americans and people in poverty.  I think this is a must read.

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy

This book looks at the many young men in Los Angeles who are killed every year without the killers ever being found.  This story focuses on one murder and the detectives assigned to solve the killing. In this case, they will not be satisfied until the killer is brought to justice.

Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV by Brian Stelter

I loved this look at morning television, especially reading a little bit more about the Ann Curry/Matt Lauer debacle at NBC.  This was a great book to read while on the treadmill.

In writing this post, I've thought of so many more non-fiction books that I'd like to share, that this is probably not the last I'll be sharing of non-fiction books this month.