Non-Fiction Friday

Today is the second Non-Fiction Friday and I’ve decided to add a section where I share some non-fiction news from around the internet. I won’t be adding links from other bloggers, but I will be asking bloggers I know to add some of their great non-fiction reviews and round-ups to the link-up at the end of this post 🙂

What Are You Waiting For?

Title: What Are You Waiting For?
Author: Kristen Moeller
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: I like the author’s story a lot and would have loved this as a memoir, but the attempt at being a self-help book really didn’t work for me.

I find this book difficult to describe because I disagree with the book cover description. Purportedly, this is a book about how to change your life instead of waiting for your life to change. In reality, it largely focuses on the author’s own challenges throughout her life, from early drug addiction and bulimia to her recent loss of her house in a wildfire. She reframes many of these challenges as ways in which she was waiting for something. She also includes thought-provoking questions that challenge the reader to apply the lessons she’s learned to their own life.

Non-fiction Friday

Hello all and welcome to the first Non-Fiction Friday! During the discussion about memes it sounded as though other people also enjoy genre specific link-ups and I’ve been thinking for a while that non-fiction needs one of these. Although I’ve connected with some great non-fiction bloggers, I do think those of us who blog about non-fiction are in the minority. A link-up like this seems like a great way for us to find each other. I’ve also been inspired by Anya at On Starship and Dragon Wings similar feature for Fantasy and Sci-fi books which is getting lots of great links every week.

Goodwill Tour

Title: Goodwill Tour: Paying It Forward
Author: Keith Maginn
Source: from author for review
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: This book was a ton of fun with its well-written story of adventure and compassion. I found it both very moving and very relatable.

While many of us dream of taking an unscheduled road trip and many of us dream of making the world a better place, author Keith Maginn did both. With his friend Emily, he traveled through the Southeastern US with stops to volunteer and give away money to deserving strangers. In Goodwill Tour, Keith tells their story and the stories of those they helped.

Precarious Japan

Title: Precarious Japan
Author: Anne Allison
Source: from publisher for review
Fun Fact: Until the 1980’s when this was made illegal, many Japanese companies required that women leave work when they married or had children. 80% of women still follow this custom.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: Parts of this book read like narrative non-fiction and gave fascinating insight into the state of Japan, but other bits were full of sociology-speak and very hard to follow.

Currently in Japan regular employment is becoming scarcer, the population is aging, and recovery from the nuclear disaster of 3/11 is still underway. All of these factors have made life more uncertain in Japan. Many people feel a lack of belonging and connection to other people. The author, Anne Allison, addresses these issues both through social theories about Japan and her extensive interviews with Japanese citizens.

Orange Is the New Black

Title: Orange Is the New Black
Author: Piper Kerman
Source: bought on Amazon
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: Although this book certainly satisfied my desire to learn about different aspects of the human experience, I felt less connected to the author than I have when reading my favorite memoirs.

When Piper Kerman was young and stupid, she let an older girlfriend talk her into delivering a case of drug money. Although she was smart enough to get out of that relationship and went on to build a good life with a husband and a job, her past eventually caught up to her. This memoir describes the year she spent in a women’s prison as a result.