I’m delighted with the response to the inaugural Nonfiction Reader Challenge so far, and since sign-ups are open until December 1st, a few more may decide to join us during the year.

If you hadn’t yet noticed, I’ve created a permanent page for the challenge, you can CLICK HERE, or select the menu link at top left.

The Linky to add your review to can be found there. This new link will remain active for the rest for the year’s submissions. Look for the text in orange.

On the first Saturday of each month, I will be highlighting a handful of Linky submissions, but I encourage you to support all participants who have shared what they have been reading for the challenge. Give them a like, leave them a comment, share their posts on twitter, Facebook or instagram #2020ReadNonFic

JULY

In a single post at The Cue Card, Susan reviews three nonfiction books. The first is a short memoir, that she found so fascinating she listened to twice, A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman’s Harrowing Escape From the Nazis by Francoise Frenkel. The second is She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. The third, The Hidden Life of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature’s Most Elusive Birds by Leigh Calvez gave Susan a new appreciation for them.

xxxxxxxxxx

Jo at BookloverBookReviews recommends Joanna Cannon’s Breaking & Mending unreservedly. She writes, “The striking honesty and authenticity with which she interrogates her own thinking and responses to situations, and how that changed, during her journey from aspiring student of medicine to fully-fledged doctor, will move even the most hardened of souls. The tears rolled for me.”

xxxxxxxxxx

At Book’d Out I posted a review of The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands by Jon Billman this month. I counted it towards the Nature category though it could also work for True Crime. “With a well organised, well researched, and accessible narrative, Billman effectively communicates the facts, but also ensures the humanity of his subjects is never forgotten.”

xxxxxxxxxx

At Journey and Destination, Carol reviewed Queen Victoria by Lucy Worsley. She wrote, “This was a good introduction to the life of Queen Victoria and I liked the ‘twenty-four day’ approach as it helped to give an overview of her life in general. The author presents Queen Victoria as a complex person with faults and eccentricities but also as a person who was affectionate and sympathetic.”

xxxxxxxxxx

Maphead Book Blog has reviewed several nonfiction titles in the past month, but it’s of The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia that he calls, “…an outstanding book, and a must read for anyone wanting to understand Putin’s Russia.” He writes, “Not only will it make my 2020 list of favorite nonfiction it’s also one of the best books I’ve read this year.”

xxxxxxxxxx

Do any of these interest you? What will you be reading in August?

Click here to see what else other participants have been reading!