[Official Blurb] Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme created by The Broke & the Bookish. The meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke & the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your Top 10 Lists! In January, 2018 this meme is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
[Topic inspired by: Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read – I decided to re-write this topic to reflect the #NonFiction Stories I have been Itching to Read and simply haven’t had the joy of consuming (yet)] – whilst going OT for today’s prompt!
NOTE: I am preparing a post which coincides with today’s actual topic “Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2020” – however, as I was caught up in the tides of the current events for the past week of the New Year, I found myself without the focus on reading, blogging or actively tweeting. I made a few appearances but I had planned to release quite a few posts and even a few reviews – all of which I have pushed forward to begin this week instead. Thereby, I am giving myself more leeway and time to write the post which befits today’s topic and have opted instead to run a topic I loved from last year.
Today’s entry was inspiring to me for the following reasons:
I’ve been wanting to be more proactive in blogging about which works of Non-Fiction spark my readery interest to read whilst at the same time, I’ve been struggling for several years now to get into the heart of the Non-Fiction narratives I’ve been receiving for review.
My backlogue has a predominate slant towards Non-Fiction over Fiction because it took me nearly too long to realise what was wrong – my chronic migraines were making it impossible to shift out of the clustered attacks & the supernova migraines (those really horridly intense ones!) to lay thought and notion on ANY thing outside of a fictional story – and more likely than not, I was reading larger print Harlequin Heartwarming stories post-migraine than I was reading hard-hitting Historical Fiction or re-attempting to read select topics of interest in Creative Non-Fiction, Narrative Non-Fiction, Biography, Autobiography or Memoir; or areas of topical interest in the fields of Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics.
I suppose you could say the main reason all of these started to backlogue on me is because I kept thinking *each month!* – I’d find my way back into resettling into reading Non-Fiction and that I could start to eliminate the backlogue right then and there. I just hadn’t realised the connection between my disconnected focus with Non-Fiction and the issues I had with my migraines overall until somewhere in the midst of [2019]. It was in September of 2019 I started to read Non-Fiction again (releasing a review for “Angels Among Us”) before I was struck down in October with thirty days of unwellness which led into a December fighting off a Winter cold.
This January marks my first month of being restored in health – both from the cold & of being migraine-free to where I can once again re-focus my energies on reading Non-Fiction and re-finding the joys I had in requesting each of the titles I am going to be reading this January and each month of the New Year.
This Top Ten Tuesday, I wanted to highlight the 10x works of Non-Fiction I have found challenging to begin reading inasmuch as I am challenging myself to read them *first!* rather than pushing them far, far afield into [2020]! Sometimes it is best to give ourselves a proper nudge of encouragement than to continuously feel we’ll never get into a book at all for whichever reason which first led us away from it.
I’d love to hear from you if you’ve struggled to focus on reading a particular story (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Classical, etc) or subject you’ve wanted to chase after but have felt yourself pushing back or thinking the obstacle to read what interested you couldn’t be conquered for whichever roadblocks and obstacles you found in your readerly life where leading you away from them.
My goal with these works of Non-Fiction is to approach reading them throughout the coming year and hopefully within the first quarter or half of 2020.
*NOTE: all of these works of Non-Fiction were sent to me in exchange for honest reviews
I am the first to admit that there are some books I receive for review consideration which INSPIRE me even before I read their content. There are others which actually INTIMIDATE me to read – “The Light of the World” falls under both categories – as there was a moment after I received it where I realised the heaviness of the author’s story and the timing in which it was received might not have aligned well for me as a reader. I’ve been actively attempting to read this narrative since [2016] each time, stepping a bit more inside its pages and each time, finding myself pulling back, waiting for better focus and a release from personal strife and/or health afflictions to resolve themselves. On that note, this was definitely one of those stories where my chronic migraines & my father’s recovery from stroke played against my attempts to settle into the rhythm of a Memoir. It is also the first work of Non-Fiction I am reading this January – as I was determined to spend a year actively working on reducing my backlogue of reviews and gainfully gaining a foothold back into reading Non-Fiction on a regular basis now that I have a full reduction in my migraines. Beginning the New Year migraine-free was the best blessing I could receive.
I am truly excited to be stepping back into “The Light of the World” this week – as the author herself is narrating the audiobook and although I received the trade paperback edition of this memoir, it was my regional library who had the audiobook in their OverDrive Collection. This week happens to be the re-publication of the book itself (which is a bit of a Godwink, if you ask me!) and I am enjoying how the author approached creating the ambiance of the audiobook itself as there is a musical overlay when you first begin it and her voice has a calming presence as you begin to take this emotional journey she is about to impart to you.
→ Sidenote: this is being re-released Friday, 10th of January, 2020!
One thing which has both IMPLORED me to read this Memoir and has had me RUNNING from it is the fact it is rooted in one of my *personal!* fears which is either a) wildfires or b) house fires. Of all the natural disasters we constantly are bombarded with FIRE is the one that touches the very core of my soul is a different way than all the OTHERS. I think because with FIRE there is a level of unpredictability and a measure of respect for the element itself for how it consumes everything in its path without mercy and without prejudice. It simply devours everything. I have been pushing reading this book forward ever since I received it in [2015] and thus it has languished on my backlogue for a year before I really had a backlogue to speak of – this New Year, 2020 – the topic of FIRE SEASONS is especially wretching to consider given our global focus on Australia and the bushfires which are consuming the country. My own heart has bled for Australians – for the humans, for the wildlife and for the trees. Ecologically speaking it is catastrophic and it is without words; the only thing left truly are our prayers and the hope of containment. I have had personal friends in Australia over the years inasmuch as I have had a fond affection for the Australia Zoo (and the Irwin family, long acquainted through their series of shows before Steve passed). It is unthinkable finding out this week (this morning to be truthful) a series of arsonists and lightning strikes could effectively be to blame for the increased bushfires. I have no words to say on that either – because it is as unthinkable to me as what happened to Tennessee and California. My soul was continuously crushed and churning with emotion; even from afar.
Each new year a FIRE SEASON erupts through our newsfeeds and is a primary focus of our thoughtful concerns for those who are caught in the cross-hairs of a FIRE’s wrath, I have felt less inclined to read about this FIRE SEASON; knowing I should remain objective and separate the two and yet, finding that I didn’t have the strength to entreat back into this memoir despite already knowing I was enjoying the candor, frankness and honesty of how Dexter chose to tell her STORY.
2020 marks my 7th Year of being a Book Blogger and this is definitely the year where I re-focus on the stories I have on hand to be read. It is a personal journey back into the books I’ve received for review consideration and back inside the stories which challenge me to continue to read outside what is comfortable and to dig harder into topics, subjects and narratives which will be an enriching journey at the end but a soulful reminder of how life is meant to challenge us, make us uncomfortable and then build us back up again for what we’ve gained through what was experienced. This is definitely one of the Non-Fiction books I’ve desired to read but never could give myself a chance to feel comfortable reading until now.
→ Sidenote: this was released 14th April, 2015.
I am uncertain what made me feel this was an impossible TEXT to read and appreciate – I think the enormity of digging into CLASSICAL studies at the time I received this book to read was complicated by what I was experiencing IRL. The beauty of this text now is how I feel MOTIVATED to read it and how, as I was picking it up to read between September and December of 2019 – there were passages which left me SPELLBOUND for their musings and ruminatively awakened. I love how you can find hidden niches of HISTORY within narratives of NON-FICTION and this particular entry appeals to my sense of wonderment and curiosity about the Middle Ages themselves.
I’ve always had a fingermark of interest to research the Renaissance and to sort out the origins of what came ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ – not just in the progress of our societies and the fundamental ways our lives changed as we emerged with better enlightenment towards religious freedoms but rather, in the classical sense, the arc of achievements made in how through the WISDOM of what was learnt how did we proceed AFTER? What sparked our PROGRESSES and what was the motivating ways in which we stopped thinking in one direction and opted to start anew in another?
→ Sidenote: this was released 13th December, 2016.
Just by the TITLE alone you might be able to realise what happened to me a reader! When I first selected this Non-Fiction title I was encouraged by how it was approached to be written and how the knowledge of the original materials was going to be re-addressed and re-examined by this author.
It was an incredible feat by far – to re-instill the components of Newton’s masterpiece but for a contemporary audience who may or may not have read the original?
I, for one, never attempted to read the original because of how hard it seemed to process without having it broken down into layman’s terms. It is by far one of the heady tomes of knowledge to tackle reading and as a reader of Science Topics & Subjects from a discerning reader’s POV who has a healthy curiosity for Science, Mathematics, Engineering & Technology. (this pre-dates when those areas were given the acronym STEM – I am GenX after all and we didn’t grow up with that terminology) what allured me to this edition was how it seeks to give the lay reader enough fodder to consider whilst endearing them to embrace a full understanding of what Newton left behind for us all to understand.
Case in point: this work of artful re-visitation of Newton’s opus of explaining Science as it still applies today is prefaced twice – to better establish the importance of Newton’s text and the important reason why we should all remain intellectually ‘curious’ about Science. Pask also breaks down his own work into different categories of absorption – based primarily on the reader’s mindset about reading a book about Science History and foundational principles in which Science still exists today – he gives you the shortcuts and the long-cut versions of reading his work which I felt was quite lovely of him as each reader who approaches this text is going to enter it from different points of perspective and different educational backgrounds. I, for one, am going to go from the beginning to the end for the best benefit of what he’s given us to read.
→ Sidenote: this was released 16th April, 2019.
Even though I KNOW how this ENDS, it is still a STORY which affects me on a heart-level. I even have seen the teasers, trailers and featurettes for the motion picture (which is on hold at my library – I’ve progressed down the list from 45+ to 4) but it was the IRL interviews with the mother and son this story is about which affected me personally. There are some stories out there which get you @ “Hallo” – they make you SIT UP and take STOCK of what is being said, what was experienced and how their stories are a reflection of not only their FAITH but all our potential experiences of the divine. There are no coincidences in life – that is a fundamental truth we can all accept (or not, in case you’d rather consider it fate, karma or random acts) – but this is a story rooted in how ordinary people became extraordinary heroes in the lives of the young boys who fell through the ice and in particular, how they rescued Joyce Smith’s son from THE IMPOSSIBLE point of no return. That in of itself is a lot to take-in and I have slowly been absorbing this story and finding a way to honour it as I put my thoughts down into a review. It isn’t a story you can rush although I do wish it hadn’t taken me this long to finish.
I am hopeful the timing of my re-reading and the time it takes for the film adaption to reach me as a patron will be rather kismet in the end to where I can move from the Non-Fiction testament of Smith’s son’s life and then watch the adaptive version of their lives unfold through the dvd. Time will reveal, of course, what shall come of my readings and the hour in which the film is ready to borrow.
→ Sidenote: this was re-released as “Breakthrough” 12th March, 2019.
I have been fascinated by COGNITIVE SCIENCE for a long time – however, I started to get more curious about reading about it just ahead of my father’s bilateral moderate stroke in November, 2016. Yet, when this work first arrived I nearly felt I had chewed off more than I could handle because whenever you start to dig into researching and reading about the BRAIN let me be the first to tell you its easy to DIVE off the platform with a wicked thirst of curiosity and its another to understand the complexities of the science behind how it is studied, examined and understood.
Post-stroke and the first year of my father’s recovery I started to gather more topics in COGNITIVE SCIENCE to read – as I was propelled by what we had experienced as a family and through the emergency room moments where my father went in and out of TIA strokes for a solid hour. It affects you on a different layer of experience and awareness. However, after he came home in time for the Christmas season in 2016 – my focus to read these lovelies started to wan and as I became my father’s caregiver whilst Mum worked long shifts (12+) – I had enough on my plate to consider in regards to after-stroke deficits and stroke recovery, etc.
The initial reasons I was bent on reading these books grew a bit distant and then, after such a long absence in trying to read them, I sort of gave up how to begin them anew. Until now. I somehow have recaptured my curiosity about what these books might yield to reveal and I couldn’t be giddier if you pinched and told me the ARC just arrived by post! I am thankful I have a small clustering of topics relating to Cognition and Brain Science as I feel that although my father had some new obstacles this year as he observed his 3rd Anniversary post-stroke in November [2019] – it is a better year for me to address the concerns I had in [2016] about how strokes can become the earthquakes of the mind and how through recognising what a stroke can cause in the brain, how recovery and healing are a very fluid endeavour for the stroke survivor.
→ Sidenote: this was released 8th November, 2016.
The month my father had his stroke – only weeks ahead of the day everything changed.
I grew up in a multi-cultural, multi-diverse metropolis – wherein, I had a healthy amount of diversity from cultural and/or religious backgrounds to inspire my childhood interactions with those in my community. I also had a Native American art gallery and bookstore run by a lovely man who loved to talk about his own heritage whilst encouraging you to see the art and artisanal products he sold. There were Native American craft fairs as well wherein I had the chance to learn a great deal about Native American spirituality. I also grew up in a family who appreciated different cultural heritages and world music – which made me thankful and grateful for getting a chance to see a wider expanse of the world, even outside the classroom. I was surrounded by immigrants and visiting students on a regular basis and it always felt as organic as interacting with people of different business backgrounds and industries or non-conventional families and people who were living LGBTQ+ lives. When you’re living in a city you see every slice of life there is in the world and it opens your eyes to the world itself if you see everyone without prejudice and embrace the differences which beautify our world.
Therefore, I was definitely curious about a book relating to the current immigration crisis in America and how the tides have changed from embracing immigrants to why we have a re-boot for “Party of Five” focused on deportation and the situation at our Southern border which still saddens my soul to see headlining the news. I just have #nowords truly about why that is happening… why families are being separated, etc. I learnt quite a bit about illegal aliens and non-resident status immigration from reading “My Undergound American Dream” and this narrative felt like a compliment to what Arce was describing about her own life, upbringing and trials towards living in America as an immigrant.
→ Sidenote: this was released 4th April, 2017.
When it comes to prisons and prison reform, you don’t have to go very far in the newsfeeds to hear something ‘else’ that is wrong with the system. When I first learnt of this book, I thought for sure I could read it and post my review within the release week. Like most of my plans these past years – that one flew out the proverbial window and I am still just as eager to dive into this as I was when I joyfully opened my #bookpost to find it had arrived! I had no idea it was an audiobook either – nor that the author herself narrated it.
I liked how this was from the stand-point of a teacher on the front-lines – someone who was putting herself in the lives of the youth who were affected by the prisons directly but also from the heart of an educator who wanted to reach her students. The text I am sure is going to move me emotionally as I have the tendency to gravitate towards biographies and autobiographies of teachers – moreso than anything else, especially when it comes to Biographical Motion Pictures (on the big or small screen alike); however, this is one of my first attempts at *reading!* one of these Memoirs! And, I couldn’t be more delighted because of what I gathered through my initial readings.
→ Sidenote: this was released 18th April, 2017.
This is an audiobook Memoir narrated by the wonderfully talented Heather Henderson (of whom I have previously heard narrate the Betty MacDonald biographies) and is published by the Indie Audiobook Publisher Post Hypnotic Press. I was approached to review for them directly a few years ago – which didn’t seem like something I would fall behind on doing as I *loved!* their dedication and their approach to honouring the original source materials their audiobooks are based upon. However, as outlined numerous times on this post – life has a way of taking us away from our reading queues and must be lived forward even if we regret the lost hours from the stories which implored a certain layer of curiosity to be read or heard. I had only just begun listening to this story when I fell out of step with it. What was most interesting though is how Henderson approached narrating Blanchet’s life in a similar fashion as she had approached narrating MacDonald’s!
She truly fused herself into her lead character’s life and lifestyle – in such a compelling transformation you can truly see the undercurrent of this woman’s life come together through your headphones as you’re listening to Henderson narrate her story. The overall context of the premise is similar to MacDonald as well – especially how both women elected to live a life outside conventional times and re-wrote what was plausible for women to accomplish. Rather than being rooted to land and farm like MacDonald, this family is living aboard a boat in the Pacific Northwest.
I dearly want to get re-invested back into this audiobook and see where it takes me – as I had such a connection to this story and I want to re-attach myself into what I was feeling at the time I first heard it.
→ Sidenote: this was released 17th June, 2014.
*however, I didn’t receive this until 2017.
If I were to speculate the singular book which has worked against me to read is most likely the one book I have needed to read the most over the past three years since my father’s stroke. You see, from the title to the content of the story itself, I shied away from reading this one because of the differences in this person’s stroke story and my father’s.
Sometimes you find yourself drawn into other people’s lives on the onset of going through your own medical emergency and other times, such as I found, once the most immediate dangers are reconciled and transitioned through – you simply want to *distance yourself!* from the subject of what afflicted your father who recently recovered from his own series of stroke.
Except to say that is looking at life in the rear-view mirror with the full merit of the knowledge you have post-experiences of the contrary emotions you first had when you discovered the book was available for review consideration! Life is nothing but ironic at times. This year, as three years have passed now from that long extension of days (there were eight) of nearly residing at the hospital and awaiting any news of what was going to happen next – I can honestly say, I am ready and I am prepared for what awaits me inside this Autobiography.
In fact, I need to read it because some doors you leave slightly ajar need to be walked through and dealt with eventually. This New Year, I’m leaving the guilt at the door and reading my way into a new path of conquering the stories I was dearly curious to read but never could pick up until 2020.
→ Sidenote: this was released 25th April, 2017.
SOME of the books mentioned on this Top Ten Tuesday are part of my #HappyNewCLEAR ARC readings for January (hosted by @foxesfairytale) and the ARC reading challenge Destiny @howlinglibrary devised during her #ARCapocalypse 2020 wherein more of us whom fell behind on reading ARCs are uniting together to encourage reading, reviewing and letting go of the ‘guilt’ for falling behind in our reading queues.
Those ARCs are as follows: Fire Season by Hollye Dexter, The Wisdom of the Middle Ages by Michael K. Kellogg, Magnificent Principia by Colin Pask, The New Science of Consciousness by Paul L. Nunez and There Goes the Neighbourhood by Ali Noorani.
I’m itching to know – did you participate in this week’s topic? If so, kindly leave a link to your #TopTenTuesday so I can happily visit your list & see what grabs your literary eye! Likewise, what is on my List that either leaves you curious to explore or is a literary style we share in common within our readerly adventures!?
{SOURCE: Top Ten Tuesday banner created by Jorie via Canva. All individual book covers were given to me by either the publicists/publishers/authors/or blog touring companies who encourage me to talk about the books after I’ve reviewed them and thus, all are being used with permission. In particular, the covers for “The Light of the World”, “The Impossible”, “All Day” and “A Stroke of Faith” were all provided by the publisher Hachette Book Group Inc. via their Bloggers Portal and used with permission. Whereas the covers for “The Wisdom of the Middle Ages”, “Magnificent Principia”, “The New Science of Consciousness” and “There Goes the Neighbourhood” were provided by the publisher Prometheus Books and are used with permission. Likewise, the cover “Fire Season” was provided by BookSparks Publicity and “The Curve of Time” was provided by Post Hypnotic Press and both are used with permission.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
My #TuesdayThoughts are consumed with #NonFiction I've Yet to Read via #TopTenTuesday?1st post via #JLASblog for NY: 2020?Thanks #TheWriteReads for giving us a way to cheer each other on as we #bookbloggers start to return to our #bookblogs!?#nextreads https://t.co/2KLypuwBTt
— Jorie, the Joyful Tweeter says "hallo!" 2020 ?? (@joriestory) January 7, 2020
I’m so pleased that you’re feeling better now. Chronic migraines are dreadful to deal with! There are some awesome sounding titles here and some swoon-worthy covers for sure. I hope you enjoy them.
Hallo, Hallo Lindsey,
Aren’t they beastly? You never feel like you can get a proper break from them and I am thankful (knock on wood) throughout January I’ve been spared! I am slowly getting back into my NonFic Reads; especially the titles I earmarked to be read on this List! I appreciate your thoughts & comments; I was curious which covers stood out to you the most!? I was wondering which ones you were tempted to read as I never saw NonFic make someone as excited as you were about the covers?! Such a happy reaction!! I’m glad you’ve shared it with me. I really just couldn’t get into reading this month – too many IRL distractions and the world’s events, etc were equally daunting I felt to find my personal focus on the stories. Sorry to hear you also struggle with migraines; no one wants that kind of misery to be shared!
I appreciate the visit!
Hey Jorie!! Glad you’re feeling better. I love the look of The Light of the World and The Wisdom of the Middle Ages.
Best of luck to your father too- my uncle had a stroke and it changed his life in so many ways, and for the caregivers as well (his wife and kids)- so many adjustments. I think in a lot of ways stroke is one of the worst things that can happen t a human- so devastating.
Hallo, Hallo Greg,
Very few people have acknowledged what you have about my Dad’s stroke recovery and the life post-stroke. I can tell you understand what our lives have been like these past three years and how this year, especially things have been more complicated and unique than the previous three in total. You are quite right – it is one of the most devasting things that can happen because just when you think you have gone through the worst of the after effects or moments of recovery, you get something ‘new’ to transition through and it does take a toll on the caregivers; something Mum and I both share equally. I am happy my Dad has come this far and was able to re-transition back into his life as well as he can but there are unexpected obstacles now arriving in our lives this New Year and that is where #stroke is never really fully a ‘recovered’ condition because it can withhold hidden surprises for the survivor and their family.
Thanks for the encouraging note and for the praise on my selections. I hope you’ll come back once I’ve had the chance to review those two stories – I’m hoping to get through The Light of the World this week as it is the re-release week after all! Glad you swung by for a visit today.
I am terrible at picking up nonfiction books, but there are definitely a couple I want to tackle this year (In the Dream House is one). I wish you lots of luck with all of these!
Hallo, Hallo Alicia,
I, admit, I had to search for what In the Dream House is about as that is a title I haven’t yet come across myself,.. ooh dear! What an intense subject to read! I give you credit. That is not one I could handle myself – I had enough issues just trying to get through L&O: SVU! I have a lovely mixture of NonFic on my shelves to be read – these were the top picks for right now which I knew I was in the right mood to read; you’ll be seeing a lot of NonFic represented throughout the coming months on Jorie Loves A Story; perhaps one will be a happy surprise discovery? Whatever you’re reading, enjoy the process of discovery – that’s my favourite part, too!
Thanks for the encouraging words… I am hoping to dive straight into these this week. I already began The Light of the World which is progress!
I’m glad your health has improved! I love nonfiction, so I’m going to be seeing if my local library has all of these books.
My TTT .
Hallo, Hallo Lydia,
*This!* by far is one of the best comments I’ve received!! Especially considering I didn’t even know which books I was going to see populate this post when I first sat down to compose my thoughts this week, as I had a variety of options on my shelf but these books in particular spoke to me and the post organically knitted itself together from there. I truly hope your library will have even a handful of these stories – if not, remember you can always request them (for purchase, or ILL). I look forward to hearing which ones you’ve read and gathered – what a happy week you’ve given me! Many blessings back to you!
I don’t read much Non-Fic at all but I keep meaning to put the effort in. These look like interesting choices you’ve made.
Hallo, Hallo Louise!
When I seek out Non-Fiction to read I have the tendency to lean-hard into the Sciences and the other ‘ologies’ I have adored since I was a young girl. Getting to read these as ARCs as an adult reader now who is a book blogger is one of those moments you want to *pinch!* yourself over,… plus I love the quality of the content Prometheus as a publisher continues to release each year. I know I’ll be gathering loads more from their catalogue of backlist / frontlist titles as they leave me with such imploring thoughts!
Meanwhile, Hachette’s imprints keeps me anchoured in Biographies, Memoirs and Autobiographies as much as other topics of interest throughout the year…
I never even used to read Non-Fiction until I became a book blogger and realised there is this beautiful thing called: Creative Non-Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction which is the more emotionally centred core of the genre itself. A bit like why I have always adored reading war dramas & Historical Fiction narratives… re-shifting into NF has been a unique journey and I wanted to continue to be transparent with my adventures towards erasing my backlogue.
Plus, you’re hosting #HappyNewCLEAR and with Destiny hosting #ARCApocalypse how could I fail this year?!
I’m thankful a few gave you a nod of interest, too! :)