Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El
I guess I can state definitively that if it were not for blogging, I would not have attempted to explore the nonfiction genre. Isn't it interesting how your reading tastes can change just by talking or writing more about books and reading or listening to fellow readers' opinions on books?
For the most part, I stick to narrative nonfiction and graphic memoirs. Occasionally, a book of essays will find its way into my hands, but not too often. Narrative nonfiction still remains one of my favorite categories of books. I'm not very surprised by this - I spent a big part of my teenage years reading the many real-life stories in Reader's Digest. In fact, I often prefer narrative nonfiction to even fiction. Just the fact that something is real can change how I perceive certain things.
For instance, would I have loved Unbroken as much as I actually did if it were fiction? Probably not. I would have felt manipulated if Zamperini's war experience and torture was just a figment of an author's imagination. But as a piece of nonfiction, it feels surreal, impossible, hard to stomach, and powerful.
Still, despite how much I liked nonfiction, I didn't start reading enough of it until two years ago, when I discovered that nonfiction makes for great listening in the car. I still continue that convention - right now, I am listening to The Emperor of All Maladies during my daily commutes, and I have a couple of nonfiction books lined up next.
What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year?
This year, almost half of my nonfiction reads were audiobooks. The other half were graphic memoirs. I have had some really good listens this year - Missoula, Expecting Better, and Stuff. But the one book that I loved the most is the only non-audiobook non-graphic memoir nonfiction on my read list this year - Lean In.
What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet?
I keep wanting to read more history, as in more American Revolution or Balkan Wars or the Medieval period. I find myself fabulously entertained by such histories when I read about them in passing and always intend to read more about them, but then I find myself passing over them if I came across a book in that category. I could do audiobooks for these kind of books but I'm sure I'll miss a lot of the names and time periods mentioned in the book.
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
An exploding TBR pile, I believe. Maybe I can find the perfect book in the history category - one that I will pick up right away.
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