A list of nonfiction read in 2021.
JANUARY
America on the Rerun: TV Shows that Never Die, by David Story (1993)
This look at 1960s sitcoms was very well researched, but horribly written. If it came about 15 years later it would have made good BuzzFeed content, but as a book it's almost unreadable.
This look at 1960s sitcoms was very well researched, but horribly written. If it came about 15 years later it would have made good BuzzFeed content, but as a book it's almost unreadable.
Walt Disney: An American Original, by Bob Thomas (1976)
This was a fascinating look at Walt Disney, though so soon after his death that it's a bit overwhelmingly positive.
Means of Transit: A Slightly Embellished Memoir, by Teresa Miller (2008)
This author hosted the OETA show Writing Out Loud, and taught English at NSU and RSU after growing up in Tahlequah. It was a decent memoir, though all the local connections made it more worthwhile.
Total read this month: 3.
FEBRUARY
Writing to Learn, by William Zinsser (198)
A guide to how to write nonfiction as a way of educating yourself about different topics.
A guide to how to write nonfiction as a way of educating yourself about different topics.
One More Croissant for the Road, by Felicity Cloake (2019)
A London food writer takes a work trip/vacation biking around France. Since I don't know French, it was a bit tedious, but not bad as a travel book.
Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 5.
MARCH
Comedy Writing Secrets: How to Think Funny, Write Funny, Act Funny and Get Paid for It, by Melvin Helitzer (1987)
A decent primer at writing comedy, first a look at styles of humor and then some markets and styles. A lot of humor has changed in thirty years.
Total read this month: 1, bringing total to 6.
APRIL
Google Analytics, written by Mary Tyler and Jerri Ledford (2006)
A primer for understanding Google Analytics, written shortly after it was introduced to the public.
French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Happy, Healthy Eaters, by Karen Le Bilion (2012)
A Canadian professor moves with her family to her husband's childhood hometown in France, where she encounters massive culture shock. An interesting memoir/food history/social history.
The Book of Eleven, by Amy Krause Rosenthal (1997)
An entertaining book of lists about city living in the mid-1990s.
Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 11.
MAY
Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow (2004)
A punishingly intricate though incredible biography of a rather obscure founding father, and deep dive into colonial America and the messy early years of the United States.
What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food and Fame, by Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob (2010)
Kind of scattershot round-up of mildly-interesting food-related facts through history.
Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory, by Mickey Rapkin (2008)
Follows three a cappella groups throughout the 2006-07 season; a dorky, wonderful world that would have been great to be part of. This is a fantastic work of creative nonfiction.
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, by Franklin Foer (2004)
This was an interesting look at the ways soccer illustrates and magnifies social issues around the world. As an ignorant American, most of these countries I was somewhat unaware of, and the issues I was wholly unaware of. Also, the author is the brother of vegan author and novelist Jonathan Safron Foer.
Total read this month: 4, bringing total to 15.
JUNE
Has the Mail Run Yet? 12 Years as a Rural Oklahoma Mail Carrier, by L.A. Corey (1976)
A collection of columns from the Nowata newspaper about the life of a mailman in the 1960s/1970s. Mildly interesting, but not that well-written.
Bowled Over: A Roll Down Memory Lane, by Gideon Bosker and Bianca Bosker (2002)
An interesting art book about the knickknacks and accessories of bowling through the years.
The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth, by Beth Allison Barr (2021)
An well-researched look at the alarming and disgusting treatment of how the church has discarded women throughout history, especially the 20th century.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez (2020)
A fantastic, though anger-inducing, read at how Christianity and "America is awesome!!!" nationalism became almost indistinguishable.
Open, by Andre Agassi and J.R. Moehringer (2009)
A fantastic biography of a very complicated public figure of the sports landscape.
Total read this month: 5, bringing total to 20.
JULY
The Boys of Winter: The Unlikely Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, by Wayne Coffey (2005)
A slightly tedious history of the Miracle on Ice, with snapshots of players' lives ever since.
Ice Time: A Tale of Fathers, Sons and Hometown Heroes, by Jay Atkinson (2001)
Sort of a wannabe Friday Night Lights for hockey, a novelist volunteers as an assistant coach during the 1999-2000 high school hockey season in Methuen, Massachusetts. It was a bit egocentric and distant.
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels, by Scott McCloud (2006)
A breakdown of what goes into the writing process of comic books.
Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 22.
AUGUST
When Thoughts and Prayers Aren't Enough: A Shooting Survivor's Journey into the Realities of Gun Violence, by Taylor Schumann (2021)
A shooting survivor's plea for gun reform. Very much worth reading.
Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over, by Geraldine Brooks (1998)
An interesting travel book about an Australian girl who became a foreign correspondent as an adult who decides to track down her pen pals from the 1960s/1970s.
Total read this month: 2, bringing total to 24.
SEPTEMBER
Those Wonderful Old Automobiles, by Floyd Clymer (1952)
A coffee table book on the earliest automobiles.
How to Divorce a Narcissist and Win, by Marie Sarantakis (2021)
A how-to book Mom was reading. Extremely helpful.
Now I Remember: Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist, by Thornton Burgess (1962)
The children's author and naturalist reflects on his life in a rambling way.
Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 27.
OCTOBER
Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale, by Dan Dye, Mark Beckloff and Richard Simon (2000)
A memoir about the founding of Three Dog Bakery, and the deaf Great Dane who was the chief taste tester. Reviewed for Dog O'Day.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der Kolk (2014)
A very dense but interesting look at the neuroscience of how trauma affects our daily life on a cellual level.
The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American's Church's Complicity in Racism, by Jemar Tisby (2019)
.This book was very helpful in understanding how the church has been purposely blind to racism.
Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 30.
NOVEMBER
Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien (2012)
A little oversimplification of some of its topics, but a solid reminder that the world of the Bible was very, very different from 21st century America.
Two Guys Read the Obituaries, by Steve Chandler and Terrence N. Hill (2006)
Two friends who have been friends for fifty years share emails throughout a year, commenting on the lives of famous and ordinary people's obituaries that they've read. More than death, this is a book about friendship.
Poppy in the Wild: A Lost Dog, Fifteen Hundred Acres of Wilderness, and the Dogged Determination that Brought Her Home, by Theresa J. Rhyne (2020)
A memoir of how a foster Beagle was found after getting lost in a wilderness area in her new Southern California home. Reviewed for Dog O'Day.
Total read this month: 3, bringing total to 33.
DECEMBER
Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George, by James Lapine (2021)
This was a Christmas present for my friend Susan, an oral history of how the modern classic Broadway musical came together.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy, written and illustrated by Alison Bechdel (2006)
A graphic novel memoir of a girl growing up queer in in an abusive household in rural Pennsylvania in the 1960s/1970s.
Total read this month: 2, bringing total for year to 35. When added to 64 fiction books read, that makes 99 books in total read for 2021.
