Nonfiction | Readers Be Advised

This week

I love the week between Christmas and New Year not only because I have it off since I work in education, but because I get to read because it’s vacation. Plenty of audiobook listening when cleaning and organizing plus plenty of tea sipping print book time. So when I saw a blogger @epiblogue’s Instagram post:

I felt seen. It’s a fun series of ladies lounging and reading their books. This one was my favorite and yes, this is exactly what “that week between Christmas & NYE” looks like for me minus the extra thick frock and fan, however I do have a chaise and a book. Endless books. This week has included Duel by the Bagleys, Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of the Lie Detector by Katwala, Ruptured by Rossmassler Fritz, Mascot by Waters and Sorrel, Crazy Food Truck by Ogaki, All the Fighting Parts by Sawyerr, Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up- and What We Make When We Make Dinner by Hauck, New Year’s Kiss by Matthews, The Shadow Prince by Durham, and 100 Unforgettable Dresses by Rubenstein.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 30, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Fiction, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Verse, Young Adult

Best of 2023: YA nonfiction

23 Dec

Nothing that replace the feeling of learning about a new topic while reading. The special way that an author meticulously researches, bears their soul, and creates fluidity with factual information. It’s why nonfiction is my jam.

There is always overlap on lists– of course there are several graphic novels on this list that could have easily knocked off others on the YA graphic novel list but again, there are too many amazing books this year to limit ourselves. You’ll see iconic YA nonfiction authors like Steve Sheinkin and Don Brown, but you also have vivid memoirs and American history.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 23, 2023 in Authors, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Nonfiction, Reflections, Young Adult

Best of 2023: Picture books

18 Dec

It’s that time of year again! I’ll have a week’s worth of posts about best books of 2023, minus books for adults because they’ve had to be secret this year because of the committee work I’m doing.

As always, my books are always based on the publication year. So these are truly my favorites of the year published IN the calendar year, not what I read this year which could include oldies or even galleys of future books.

Tonight I’ll be sharing picture books.

What do they all have in common? A beauty in their storytelling and a powerful message be it nonfiction or imaginary. Either way I could spend my time staring at each page or going back to pour over the words.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on December 18, 2023 in Childrens, Fiction, Illustrators, Nonfiction, Reflections

Animals

25 Nov

One of my favorite booktalks each year is for the AP Language classes because it’s all nonfiction and each student has to have a different book than every other student across the multiple classes. And my opening lines to start the booktalk each year always have to do with curiosity; essentially, permission to love what you love without fear of judgement by others.

Serial killers? Sure!

Psychology? Done!

Mongol Empire? We’ll make it work!

Animals? I’m your woman!

I use the example quite frequently that little kids love to read about animals and you don’t have to grow out of it. I haven’t. I’m more into animal books as an adult than I ever was as a kid. I recently read a 2023 book that got me thinking about my love of these types of stories. Here are my recommendations.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 25, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Childrens, Illustrators, Nonfiction

Over this next year

24 Nov

The day before Thanksgiving I turned the page to chapter 40 (a bookish pun I couldn’t resist). Coming up on the day, I thought about the fun little things I could do to make it special because I was excited about moving to another age bracket. So I came up with a list of 40 books that I would reread this year– generally books I own because books I own are books that I had previously read and knew I needed to own.

But I admit that I rarely reread books. It’s either a committee assignment that forces a book reread, an upcoming author visit, or in the case of Saga, a comfort read during the pandemic. It’s still rare. Yet, I wanted to recapture the feelings I had years or decades ago with this retrospective over the course of this upcoming year.

These books have changed my thinking, warmed my soul, or hearken back to another time in my life. I’ll be updating my journey periodically on Instagram. Here were the books I settled on.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 24, 2023 in Adult, Authors, Childrens, Comics, Cover Love, Fiction, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Manga, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Poetry, Reflections, Style, Verse, Young Adult

Fueled by audiobooks

20 Nov

Last year I was training for a 15K in the summer which would lead to running my first half marathon in the fall. Eight years ago I would have laughed at you if you told me I was going to be a runner. And seven years ago, I would have laughed (as I did my friends and colleagues) if you told me you listened to audiobooks while running. Because I was decidedly *not* a runner, I could only imagine getting pumped up to run with music.

Fast forward to last year’s training and I couldn’t imagine running WITHOUT an audiobook. I’m sure there were mornings where I ran farther because I didn’t want to stop reading. And even now, now that we’re also dog owners again, the daily walks also include audiobooks if I’m not walking with another family member in addition to any running I do. Here are a few of the memorable audiobook runs and walks.

This was my first ever audiobook run. You can never go wrong with Steve Sheinkin’s nonfiction.

My first Colleen Hoover book was this audiobook while running. Spicy!

Nugent’s Little Cruelties was so complicated, deliciously messy, and screwed up (in all the best ways) that I remember my eyes bugging out a little while I was running. What was I listening to?!?!

Beautiful storytelling and a vivid setting combined to immerse me in a mystery that absolutely took me to another time and place. I definitely ran longer than I had planned to keep reading.

This poetry collection includes nature sounds while the the multiple narrators share the poetry and while you’re actually walking in nature, it was captivating.

When books are memoirs, you need to have an audiobook narrated by the author. This one was not only perfectly executed as an audiobook, but it also spoke to me on a deeper level that I ended up buying the book to own in addition to listening to it a second time.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 20, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Fiction, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Young Adult

Forecasting

16 Nov

I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t have visions, but I do have my friend and co-presenter Stacey, dozens of books read, and lists to forecast for the upcoming Youth Media Awards.

Last night I spent several hours with librarians, reading teachers, and other specialists talking about the Youth Media Awards and putting together predictions. It included a Kahoot to open, a break for dinner, then a K-12 discussion of books to put on our radars or preliminary thoughts of titles that have been read from the group. It was a good, bookish night that even after a day of work is uplifting and enriching.

We’ll follow up virtually in January to discuss the winners, honors, and losers.

What’s on your list?

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 16, 2023 in Audiobooks, Authors, Childrens, Events, Fiction, Graphic novels, Illustrators, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Young Adult

Six from Sunday

13 Nov

Sunday is for housework, so there’s always an audiobook playing whether a new one, middle of one, or finishing one up. So first was finishing up the audiobook If You Still Recognize Me by Cynthia So, a YA featuring GLTBQ characters, friendship estrangement, and Cantonese culture.

The second was finishing a short story collection I recently borrowed from the public library called Night of the Living Queers edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown, a few weeks past spooky season, however it was still a smart read featuring GLBTQ characters and all sorts of creepiness.

Third was finishing a nonfiction title recommended by a colleague in a recent professional development session called Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley. Inspiring and thought-provoking.

Fourth was Deb Caletti’s newest Plan A which I wanted to get through ahead of professional development session I’m going to be running in the next few days as it’s a timely read on abortion for a teen audience.

In between halves for my son’s indoor soccer team, I threw in a short read, my fifth– a WhoHQ title that was just delivered– What Do We Know About the Winchester House? by Emma Carlson Berne to which I could safely answer before I read it… nothing! But now I know something.

And I started a sixth before bed: Kate Pearsall’s Bittersweet in the Hollow with the gorgeous cover and intimidating quote “beware the forest”.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 13, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Cover Love, Fiction, Nonfiction, Short Story, Upcoming Releases, Young Adult

Veterans Day

11 Nov

A visual booklist of nonfiction books to read on a day like Veterans Day.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 11, 2023 in Adult, Audiobooks, Authors, Events, Nonfiction, Young Adult

Three searches, four days

10 Nov

We had a four day week this week with Veteran’s Day being observed today and while the shorter weeks always feel like the longest, they’re not when you’re pushing books.

This week, I’ve helped students with three specific searches:

Cooking

Dreaming

and psychology.

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Posted by Alicia Abdul on November 10, 2023 in Nonfiction