Group Collaboration | Fact Or Non-Fiction?

Group Collaboration | Fact Or Non-Fiction?

• Saturday, 31 August 2013

The focus of today's group post is based on something we don't often discuss here at BB, non-fiction reads! As a mainly fiction focused review blog we thought it would be interesting to find out what non-fiction books our team have read and enjoyed. What we've ended up with is a real mixture of titles including books covering travel, biography, psychology, film and more!

Here's the details on the books our readers & writers would recommend...

A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering American on the Applachian Trail by Bill Bryson - chosen by Niina
'It's a really enjoyable and fun read about hiking, the Appalachian Trail and american wildlife. I recommend it to everyone who likes spending time in mother nature...'

Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson - chosen by Laura C
'Having lived in both the US and UK, I have a deep appreciation for Bill Bryson's travel writing. This book, written as he makes a farewell tour of the UK before returning to live in the US, is by far one of the most accurate and hilarious accounts of British culture.'

Walt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler - chosen by Laura C
'I love a good biography and they come no better than this portrait of the man behind the Mouse. Expansive and meticulously researched, this is a remarkable insight into the life of Walt Disney and by far the best biography I have read.'

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl - chosen by Anjali
'I don't read any non-fiction...at all, but I remember reading Boy, by Roald Dahl, when I was about 13, in high school. In it he says “An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details.” Except it's Roald Dahl - he's never boring. I remember enjoying it a lot, and though it never pushed me to read more non fiction, it did make me appreciate a fun, and well written, autobiography.'

Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops by Jen Campbell - chosen by Erin
'Made up of short but ridiculous real-life conversations between booksellers and customers, this coffee table read is full of laugh out loud moments.'

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran - chosen by Ali
'An autobiographical exploration of feminism in modern day Britain. Moran brings out the humour, the horror and the joy of womanhood with no subject treated as taboo. Read it and pass it on to your best friend.'

Wild Swans: Three Daughters Of China by Jung Chang - chosen by Laura C
'Tracing the existence of her family across three generations of women, Jung Chang offers an epic account of life in China before and during the rule of Mao Zedong. Beautiful, moving, and horrifying.'

Coraline: A Visual Companion by Stephen Jones - chosen by Erin
'Personally I find stop-motion animation fascinating and this book has lots of information and beautiful photographs detailing the long process of turning Coraline into a film. '

The Bible - chosen by Lulu
'My fav nonfiction is the Bible as that's the word of God and I'm a born again Christian ☺'

The Making Of Memento by James Mottram - chosen by Erin
'I really love reading books on film and this one in particular is an interesting read. Author James Mottram spent time on the set and takes the reader behind the scenes to share the experience.'

Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli - chosen by Ria
'This may be the post-LeakyCon blues speaking, but I really think 'Harry...' is a wonderful look at the book series' journey, the people who made it such a success and the dedicated fans who loved the story itself. It's also a great look at parts of the fandom that you may not even realised existed and captures a moment in history that may never happen again.'

Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson - chosen by Ria
'I was recommended this book by my former English Language teacher for class, I begrudgingly read it thinking that it would be good revision for my A Level exams and what I found was a great book on how the English language developed, infused with Bryson's original witty humour.'

What Type Am I? Discover Who You Really Are by Renee Baron - chosen by Niina
'This is a really informative, easy and fun introduction to anyone who's interested in learning more about personality types.'

Life Below Stairs: In the Victorian and Edwardian Country House by Sian Evans - chosen by Niina
'This is a must read for Downton Abbey fans. You get a whole new understanding for the different characters in the story. Easy to read and very informative! '



Don't forget BB is a place for reviews of books from all genres and we're always happy to feature non-fiction reviews alongside our vast collection of fiction ones. So, if factual books are more your thing and you'd like to share your favourites please drop us an email, we would love to hear from you!

Contributors: Laura C, Anjali, Lulu, Ali, Erin, Ria, Niina
Cover images: Goodreads
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Our next group post is all about those popular titles that we haven't read! We want to know which famous books you haven't gotten around to reading yet. Maybe they've been sitting on your shelf for years or perhaps just don't appeal to you - send us your opinions via Twitter (@blog_bookshelf) or email - bloggersbookshelf@gmail.com