My Favorite Bookish Books!

Nonfiction November starts soon, so let’s chat about some of my favorite nonfiction books about books, writers and reading.
#nonfictionnovembers #nonfiction #booktubenewbietag

00:00: Intro
01:30: Spinster
04:15: Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz
06:40: Bite of the Apple
08:49: Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to Your Life
11:04: My Life in Middlemarch
13:03: Reading Lolita in Tehran
14:43: Tolstoy and the Purple Chair
19:58: Outro

Books mentioned (in alphabetical order)
#memoir #reading

#sylviaplath #annesexton

#ViragoPress #publishing

#memoir #poc

#memoir #middlemarch

#memoir #poc

#griefmemoir

Read along with me!
1. Three classics I want to read in the second half of 2024

2. Sandy’s 1001 Books Bookclub
January – No book
February - The Princess of Cleves by Madame Lafayette (192 pages)
March - The Well Of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (448 pages)
April - Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud (192 pages)
May - The Waves by Virginia Woolf (304 pages)
June – Love’s Work by Gillian Rose (170 pages)
July - The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (383 pages)
September - The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (320 pages)
October - The Real Charlotte by Edith Somerville and Martin Ross (415 pages)
November - Anagrams by Lorrie Moore (240 Pages)
December - Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair (86 pages)

The name of my YouTube channel:

Find me elsewhere:

I also wrote some books:
Fiction:
available in Dutch

also available in Dutch, French, Italian, Greek, Danish, Hebrew and Turkish

Non-fiction (available only in Dutch):

Crime novels under the pen name Britta Bolt (together with writer Rodney Bolt)
The Posthumus Mysteries:
- Lonely Graves (2014)
- Lives Lost (2015)
- Deadly Secrets (June 2016)

and for German readers:
- Das Büro der einsamen Toten (2015)
- Das Haus der verlorenen Seelen (2016)
- Der Tote im fremden Mantel (February 2017)

[heathereads]

Applauding - I hope you cause more people to choose to read nonfiction. I add my recommendation for Reading Lolita in Tehran because it was insightful to see how another cultural viewpoint appreciated English language classics like Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby

[elfieausten]

I read lots of non-fiction, and I'm always on the lookout for books about books, but I haven't read ANY of your list! Which makes me very happy – I hardly know where to start first. Thank you for all the time you put into this.

[neilturner]

This is great. Thank you! I have been running a book club all year exploring books by writers on writing - Natalie Goldberg, George Saunders, Vivian Gornick, Murakami and currently Margret Atwood. Next one is Jeff Vandermeer. Murakami has been the most popular so far - partly because he’s not attempting to teach or lecture. You’ve inspired me to shift the focus more broadly beyond how to tell stories etc. Will probably add the Nina Sankovitch and Yiyun Li to the list

[readingbytheriver]

Britta - great list Thank you. Reading Lolita in Tehran is very interesting. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair another good choice. Is on my pile of possibilities. My Life in Middlemarch will make it to my list. Reading Hemingway in Kosovo is next on my list — I plan to start reading it this evening. I’m still reading “Britta’s Classics” but may not finish all by 31 Dec. I hope you do this again in 2025. Thank you for many interesting and thought provoking books.

[pattorelli]

What a great list! I look forward to reading several of them. 😊

[saintdonoghue]

What a great idea to soften the fear of nonfiction!

[melaniereed]

Thank you Britta for this great list! I have read several of the books on your list, including My Life in Middlemarch a number of years ago. Feels like the perfect book to re-read and so I started reading again this morning. What struck me reading the first few pages is what a great writer Rebecca Mead is. Rebecca Mead's writing appears often in The New Yorker, including recent articles about writers, visual artists, Maggie Smith, Queen Elizabeth, etc.

[deblawrence]

Britta, I love your book recommendations! I've read two off this list: "My Life in Middlemarch" and "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair" and enjoyed them very much. I haven't read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" but it sounds so very good and interesting! Next time I see it in the book store, I'll be sure and get it. Thanks so much for your very interesting, insightful and educational videos!

[juliequick]

I love this theme for reading! I’ll definitely pick some of these up and I wanted to suggest one of my own, if I may. I read Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink. It explores grief too after the loss of the author’s brother and how books helped in the process. I’m reading a similar book too at the moment called The Reading Cure by Laura Freeman which explores how books helped the author face and overcome her severe eating disorder. Books are in inexpensive way see the world with new eyes!

[WildHeartsandWildflowers]

Very interesting recommendations, Britta! I've read a few of them, but now I want to read Bolick's 'Spinster' as well as Mead's 'My Life in Middlemarch' and the Nina Sankovitch book. And I might pick up Crowther's 'Three Martini Afternoons...' for my daughter as she is a Sylvia Plath fan. Thanks so much for sharing these! ~ Kim

[dbernasc]

This is a great video on bookish books, loved it! Thank you for sharing with us such great recommendations.

[reflectiverambling]

I love this and so happy to see you have Nafisi on here. One of my personal reading goals this year was to read or reread all the titles she mentioned in her "Read Dangerously" book and reread it with fresh context. thank you so much for the reminder of this event!

[NicoleACottageWitch]

I love Azar Nafisi. Reading Lolita in Tehran was fascinating and strangely inspiring.

[emmavd]

Thanks, Britta!🌷All these books sound fantastic! I have Reading Lolita in Tehran still unread on my shelf (she said, blushing😉) and I find also Tolstoy and the Purple Chair irresistible. You may know of it already, but I found The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman very good and also totally hilarious.

[jillschroeder]

I don't know if I'll get to these this month but I have added Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz and I know I have had
Reading Lolita in Tehran for a couple years so thanks for the nudge!

[Sunshinysky]

I loved discovering “My Life in Middlemarch” after I had read
“Middlemarch”It is excellent!
Great recommendations. Thank~you

[myreadinglife]

I have read 4/7 so that means I have three to look forward to! 🎉

[margaretroffel]

I've read "Tolstoy and several times and will reread again. Wonderful book. You may also like "So many books, so little time" by Sara Nelson and "Howards End is on the Landing" by Susan Hill.
Enjoy NFN.

[Nina_DP]

I loved Reading Lolita in Tehran. Such a powerful, thoughtful book. I might be due for a reread, since it has been a while. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair sounds really good. I love a grief memoir. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Thanks for the recommendation.

[penelopegough]

Lots of good thoughts for NFNov. I really loved Tolstoy and the Purple Chair and I too have read it a couple of times. Funnily enough was thinking about it recently trying to remember the title to order it from the library or bookshop! My NFN reading I hope will finally include the Farm in the Green Mountains by Alice Herman-Zuckmayer. It’s translated from the German so will fit into German Lit month as well. The writing is miniscule and it’s defeated me for the last two years. This year I will prevail! 🤗