Oh nonfiction, how I love you! I wish I could pinpoint the day I fell in love with your wise and wonderful ways. Alas, I cannot. But I want to thank you for making me feel like a know-it-all!
Now, in no particular order, my favorite nonfiction books and/or memoirs of 2013:
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
The World’s Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne
Pilgrim’s Wilderness by Tom Kizzia
Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Which nonfiction books are on your list of favorites?
The Relentless Reader 
YAY I love non-fiction. I don't know how you can even pick favorites with 200+ books read this year! 🙂
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Enjoyed reading your list.
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I read so few nonfiction books this year. It was definitely a year for pleasure reading for me. I hope to read more nonfiction this coming year though–one of my unofficial goals. 🙂 These titles sound really good.
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Love the Kelly GIF. 🙂 One of my favorite job duties is ordering all the adult nonfiction books for the library. But then I see so many come in and I don't have time to read them all which makes me sad! The only one I've read from your list is The World's Strongest Librarian. I also really enjoyed My Year with Eleanor, One Summer: America 1927, and How to Be a Woman.
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There's nothing quite like a good nonfiction book. The World's Strongest Librarian made my top ten for 2013!
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Some of my favorites here, too! I still really need to read The World's Strongest Librarian, too.
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Yay, love seeing Pastrix on here! 😀 I just want to read all the books you read. And Shannon. And…
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I'm jealous! You read a lot of great nonfiction. I'm going to write down the titles; I've seen them on many end of the year lists. I spent the year investigating a new genre–drama. While I'm glad I did, I would rather be reading nonfiction!
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I really don't read enough Nonfiction – which is weird since I have an MFA in Creative Nonfiction! You reminded me of some I want to read!
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I just love that this post exists! Yay for non-fic.I think my favorite non-fics this year were My Beloved Brontosaurus, Fabricated, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, Space Chronicles….. okay really, too many to list like this! Lol.
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I'm the worst at non-fiction. The only one of these I read was Josh Hanagarne, but it was delicious.
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I think I'm slowly getting better at reading non-fiction. Your enthusiasm for it always makes me want to read more! I've had The World's Strongest Librarian on my list for ages so I think it's time to get to that next year. Pilgrim's Wilderness sounds really interesting too.
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I loved The Boys in the Boat too!!
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It isn't easy, I can tell you that! 😀
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Thanks so much!
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Gasp! Nonfiction IS pleasure reading! 😉 Well, it is for me anyway, lol.
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I don't know what I would do if I had that job. I would never come out from under ALL OF THE BOOKS I WANT TO READ. It's bad enough now, lol.Thanks for mentioning your favorite nonfic titles, I'll be looking them up!
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The World's Strongest is just a gem of a book isn't it?? Loooove it 😀
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Yes, yes you really do 😀
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Thank you SO much for introducing me to that book! LOL, I know just what you mean!
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Drama! You'll have to tell me more about that! I really did read a lot of nonfiction this year. I'm so glad!
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Maybe you nonfictioned yourself out? 😉
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Hooray for nonfic! It's the BEST :DAck, I haven't read any of those! I'll be looking them up!
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Guess it's just not your jam! I'm glad you read The World's Strongest though, that one is fab!
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I'm glad to be an influence! Oh yes, definitely read that one. It's delightful!
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Brown writes some of the world's best nonfic, in my humble opinion 😉 If you haven't read his other books I heartily recommend them!
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I meant comfort reading. The non thinking kind. I read nonfiction for pleasure too, of course. I don't know where my brain was when I wrote that. Haha!
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LOL, glad you cleared it up! 😉
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I just love these lists! Five Days at Memorial is a must read for me in 2014.
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Three of these are already on my TBR but I feel more coming!
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I've been enjoying nonfiction more ever since I started listening to them in the car. You got a great list here and I added a few more to THE list.
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Pastrix is already on my tbr list thanks to you! Now I see a few more to add.
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Great list! Pastrix and The World's Strongest Librarian are both ones I'd like to get to 🙂
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I read very little non-fiction, which is something I should change for the next year!
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I enjoy reading favorite lists at the end of the year. I don't read fast enough to read so many great books. The only non-fiction I read this year was \”Wild\” and loved it.
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AND I forgot to mention the best part — we are now officially allowed to read on the desk if it's a slow day and all our work is completed. Most libraries have a policy of not allowing you to read on the desk, but our admins decided it was important for us to show that we use the collection ourselves and also we can have recommendations ready to hand to patrons. LOVE THIS POLICY.
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YAY NONFICTION! I didn't read as much this year as usual. I am working on my stats now – such fun. LOVE this time of year…
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Oh yeah, wasn't it a glorious thing to discover that not all nonfiction is textbooks or financial dreariness!
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