More of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, Plus a Look Into the Troubles in Northern Ireland
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A few years ago, I found myself enraptured by Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing, a look into The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Much of the book focuses around I.R.A. terrorist Delours Price, who was one of the major figures in a London bombing. The adaptation centers around her story. In reviews for the show, critics have said it’s “All the more powerful for its moral and political ambiguity, Say Nothing is a haunting depiction of The Troubles.”
Continuing the “best of” book list season, The New Yorker named its essential reads for 2024. The list includes 12 nonfiction titles on a range of different books, including common favorites like Challenger and Knife. Some of the other titles included are The Achilles Trap by Steve Coll, The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith, and LatinoLand by Marie Arana.
Earlier this year, Costco announced that it was getting rid of its book table. Like a lot of book lovers, I was so disappointed. Where would I find affordable box sets of kids’ books for my nieces and nephews? But Costco recently announced that it’s keeping its book table at 100 of its locations. According to Publishers Weekly, many publishers are relieved because “Not only do they have the capability of selling tens-of-thousand copies of a title, but they serve as important places for consumers to discover new titles not typically sold in other stores and which can be difficult to find online.”
The yearly popularity contest that is the Goodreads Choice Awards has been announced. Like Book Riot mentioned in their article earlier this month, the results were…disappointing. The books highlighted were overwhelmingly books by white authors who received large marketing budgets. But in addition to that, I’m disappointed that there are only three nonfiction categories now, Nonfiction, Memoir, and History & Biography. What about science writing? Why are history and biography in the same category? Maybe next year, we’ll see more nonfiction categories, but this year, we’re left a little wanting.
You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, on TikTok @kendrawinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
