Nonfiction November – Week 3: Become the Expert

On November 15, 2021 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn nonfiction november15 Comments

Expert Week! This week participants can choose to 1) Be the Expert and recommend books on a topic that they have enjoyed 2) Ask the Expert and request books on a topic you want to learn more about or 3) Become the Expert and create your own list of books on a topic. This year, I opted for number three, become the expert! And I think I have a “whaley” good topic!

So if you couldn’t figure it out by my really bad dad joke, the topic I chose was whales! I have seen the book Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs around for a whole year now, and I know that I want to read it. Because I love whales. Who doesn’t love a whale tale, for that matter? As a teen I was a total Greenpeacer and wanted to save the whales – I mean, I still do. My heart broke for orca Tahlequah, who grieved for her dead calf for 17 days in 2018. (good news, she is a mother again) They are gentle giants of the sea, mysterious, adorable. They have inspired so many legends and stories, good and bad. I dream of going on a whale watch in the next five years. I just really love whales. But I could know more about them.

So, I have created a list of books I want to read to learn more about these magnificent beasts of the deep.

Starting with this one:

Then I have done some looking and reading and made a list of a few more.

And now I will ask you – have you read any of these? What do you think? Do you have any to recommend? I can be very sensitive to animal cruelty so I skipped the Sea World books. But I would love your thoughts on any others!

Nonfiction Nov – Week 5 – New to TBR

On November 25, 2019November 26, 2019 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn books and reading, Uncategorized27 Comments

I made it to Week 5, the final week! This has been a wonderful month of finding not just new reads but whole new blogs and people! My only regret is that I didn’t have enough time to visit everyone and reply all the time. My blogging hours are limited to when my son is in school three mornings a week, which is usually an acceptable amount of time, but this challenge needed a little more than that. I do plan on trying to go back and comment, and finish visiting those I missed though over the next week or so.

Also, because I am a person who takes notes on the backs of envelopes and random bits of paper, I lost one of my lists of reads and also a list with the names of the blogs I got books from. So… if you are reading this and see a book here that I have said I added but didn’t add the blogger and it is you, let me know so I can link back! I feel awful about it. Next year I will be more organized and better prepared. This was my first year, and I learned a lot and really enjoyed myself! Thanks to everyone who hosted and set this challenge up!

Which leads us to this last week, all of our new books added to our TBR, hosted by Rennie at What’s Nonfiction:

Week 5: (Nov. 25 to 30) – New to My TBR – Rennie @ What’s Nonfiction : It’s been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book!

Memoir/Essays

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone : Books Are My Favorite and Best

Pancakes in Paris – Musings of a Literary Wanderer

Kitchen Yarns – Unruly Reader

Apple Island Wife – Secret Library Site

Where the Hornbeam Grows – What Cathy Read Next

Out East – Novel Visits

The Reluctant Hotelkeeper – Superfluous Reading

An Elephant in My Kitchen – Superfluous Reading

Educated – Cozy Reading Nook

The Man Who Climbs Trees – Booksplease

The Stranger in the Woods – Book Lovers Pizza

As You Wish – Sincerely Stacie

The Salt Path – Booker Talk

My Wedding Dress – Ex Urbanis

North of Normal – Kristin Kraves Books

Home Cooking – Cozy Reading Nook

Letters from Iceland – Liz D.

Iceland Defrosted – Liz D.

The Solace of Wide Open Spaces – What’s Nonfiction

Spirituality/Self Help

Welcoming the Unwelcome – Lovely Book Shelf

Tiny Beautiful Things – Book Lovers Pizza

Thriving as an Empath – Lisa Notes

The Road Back to You – Lisa Notes

If at Birth You Don’t Succeed – Based on a True Story

History

Expeditions Unpacked – Julz Reads

The Witches: Salem, 1692

A Bite-Sized History of France – Deb @ Readerbuzz

The Evolution of Useful Things

Poe: A Life Cut Short : Katenread

The Five – Doing Dewey Decimal

Letters of a Woman Homesteader – Hopewells Library of Life

Dead Wake – The Paperback Princess

I also think Bryan’s post for expert week was pretty important – so I just added the whole list. One More Page as well

The Road to Jonestown – Scifantastor

Nature

The Hidden Life of Trees – Deb @ Readerbuzz

The Wild Remedy – Jade @ Reading with Jade

Last Child in the Woods

The Big Year – Deb @ Readerbuzz

North on the Wing – Deb @ Readerbuzz

Weird and Wild Beauty – Deb @ Readerbuzz

H is for Hawk – Deb @ Readerbuzz

Wilderness Essays John Muir – Deb @ Readerbuzz

The Soul of an Octopus – Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out

21st-Century Yokel – Secret Library Site (which I already bought and read!)

Gathering Moss – An Adventure in Reading – (pretty sure this is next on my list)

Under Land – Doing Dewey Decimal

Around the World in 80 Trees – Superfluous Reading

Braving It – Musings of a Literary Wanderer

Forest Bathing – Readerbuzz

Birders – Tale of a Tribe – Liz D.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – W hat’s Nonfiction

Humor

#IMOMSOHARD – Never Enough Novels

True Crime

The Crimes of Paris – What’s Nonfiction

The Poisoner’s Handbook

The Family Next Door

After the Eclipse – Rather Too Fond of Books

Then Shelleyrae had a crazy good list of women serial killers (does that sound weird? lol)

Decor

Cozy White Cottage – Unruly Reader

Cozy Minimalist Home – Unruly Reader

Travel

The Stopping Places

50 Great American Places

Don’t Make Me Pull Over

Science

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? – Maphead’s Book Blog

Tamed – Kate Vane

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife – What’s Nonfiction

Bad Science – What’s Nonfiction

Quiet – Booksplease

Gender

The Gender Agenda – Rather Too Fond of Books

Books about Books

The Novel Cure – Books are my favorite and best

Fiction

Split Tooth – Lovely Bookshelf

Cape May – Novel Visits

Podcasts

Redhanded – What’s Nonfiction

Nonfiction November – Ask the Experts!

On November 11, 2019November 11, 2019 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized39 Comments

Wow, week 3 already! I have been finding so many great books – I am so glad that I participated this year. This week’s prompt is:

Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (Hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey)
Three ways to join in this week! You can either share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).

This is the week I was really nervous about. In the past few years I haven’t read much nonfiction. Not enough to consider myself an expert at anything. Maybe years ago, when I was reading more. But now, not so much. So, I am opting for a blend of the remaining two options! I am asking for recommendations as well as sharing a list of the books I had already started. If you have a suggestion on my topic, I would love to hear it! If you have an opinion on any of the books I am sharing, I would love to hear that too! And finally, if you don’t have one on this particular topic exactly, I would love your suggestions for nature reading!

Rewilding/Wilding our Family

For much of my adult life, I have suffered from anxiety. When things began to pile up, I would find a walk in the woods always made me feel so much better. Years later, I have learned that this is something that has been studied and scientists are finding that nature and a connection to nature is so important to our health, mental and physical. My son has cerebral palsy, so sometimes finding the accessibility is tough, so I have joined a million groups online and read all sorts of different philosophies to find different ideas that I can adapt. I really believe that some of his progress is due to the way we are trying to raise him, with a closeness to nature. Yes, he has multiple therapy appointments a week, and monthly doctors appointments, but I believe this nature connection is providing a healthy balance to that world, and they are working in tandem. So,with all that being said, I need your suggestions! I have read a few already, like The Nature Fix and There is No Such Thing as Bad Weather, but I am looking for more!

These are the few I have found but I would love to hear your recommendations or suggestions! If you don’t have a rewilding/widling specific book suggestion, I would love to hear your nature book suggestions!