Non-fiction November: choosing non-fiction

I just found out about #NonFictionNovember through Liz Dexter from Libro Full Time, hosted by Frances Spurrier at Volatile Rune. Each week has a theme to encourage you to read more non-fiction and this one is “choosing non-fiction”.

I realised that when I choose non-fiction to read (that is not for work), I usually tied it up to my fiction favourite readings. The picture above is a good example of this:

  • Books about books, libraries, booksellers, and the history of the book and reading;
  • Books about specific books or characters. Besides Aldridge’s Marple and Poirot, I could add Osborne’s The Life and Times of Agatha Christie, Poirot and Marple biographies of Anne Hart, companions, etc.;
  • Books about genres or subgenres, either as history or as a collection of essays. To Murder for Pleasure and The Golden Age of Murder, I could add HowDunnit, essays by The Detection Club members, Bloody Murder by Julian Symons, The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards, and others;
  • Autobiographies and biographies, to which I could add other authors like Austen, the Brontes, and Trollope;
  • More recently, I’ve been adding nature writing books to my TBR, of which The Wild Isles is a good example (it’s an anthology), but I could also add Angela Harding’s A Year Unfolding or A Nature Diary by Richard Adams.

This November, I’m reading Murder Will Out by T. J. Binyon. The book goes through several detectives, dividing its chapters through the different types of detectives: the professional amateur, the amateur amateur, the police, etc.. Binyon describes the differences between these characters when they belong to the same category and talks about the books and their creators so one can get an historical perspective or even see the evolution of the detective.

Now, back to you, do you read non-fiction by choice? And do you choose it?

#books #BooksAboutBooks #ClassicMystery #CrimeFiction #DetectiveFiction #livros #NatureWriting #NonFictionNovember #NonFictionNovember #readings

#MurderEveryMonday Cover with a bus

For today’s #MurderEveryMonday cover of a crime fiction book with a bus, I didn’t have many covers, but thought London would never disappoint and it didn’t!

Scarlettkarmel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Portuguese edition is At Betram’s Hotel, a Miss Marple book by Agatha Christie, which I love and have been re-reading over the years. The title is translated to Portuguese as “Mystery in Luxury Hotel” and in this one Miss Marple goes to Bertram’s, an hotel she stayed in when she was 14 years old with her aunt and uncle. Bertram’s seems to have stopped in time. Again, Miss Marple gathers her down to earth wisdom and acute observation to solve the mystery.

Janet Morgan, the official biographer of Christie, uses correspondence between Agatha Christie and her literary agent, Edmund Cork, to argue Bertram’s seems to have been modelled after the Flemings Mayfair Hotel.

I also loved Gilbert’s book, with its writing and its setting in a law firm and an original way of hiding a corpse, that would never have crossed my mind.

#MurderEveryMonday is an hashtag created by Kate Jackson from Cross Examining Crime and anyone can participate via their social networks. Kate in on Twitter and Instagram, and you can find the themes of each Monday in her blog here. She recently opened up a Patreon, so if you can support her, you can go here and see the extras you can get.

Besides Twitter and Instagram, I also have been participating on my Mastodon and Bluesky, but I find those types of social are more ephemerous, so I thought I would try using this blog.

#AgathaChristie #BookLook #books #ColecçãoVampiro #CrimeFiction #MichaelGilbert #MurderEveryMonday #Policiais #readings

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

USCCB

Halloween Reading at 10K Brewing

It is that time of year again for my Halloween Reading, and this year I’ll be at 10K Brewing in Anoka on Tuesday (today) October 28th at 7 pm. I will be hosting the event and reading some of my work. The event is free to attend and it is the perfect way to celebrate spooky season.

I’ll be joined by a host of other authors, who will be reading their stories and selling books as well. You can find that list right here. I implore you to check out all their material:

Catherine Lundoff

Troy Skoog 

Michael Merriam  

Joe Prosit

Adrienne Lee

Douglas Van Dyke JR

Each author will get about 10 minutes. After the event you’ll be able to ask them questions and buy their books. There will be beer and food to purchase. They have quite the pizza menu. To learn more about 10K Brewing you can hit it here. I’m very excited to be using their awesome establishment. I’m honored to have a new host for this event. Unfortunately, Alloy Brewing is no longer around. A big thank you to their kindness when they still existed.

I’ll be reading a variety of stuff, including some new poetry. Some of it is nonfiction, which is truly frightening. I love doing these events, and will be doing more of them in the future. Thank you for your continued support, and hope to see you there!

#author #authorEvent #blogging #bookEvents #books #fiction #halloween #halloweenReadings #horror #monsters #patrickWMarsh #reading #readingEvents #readings #theGreenlandDiaries #writing

The hidden architecture of debt: How private banks captured the global economy 👇💰💳

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hidden-architecture-debt-how-private-banks-captured-global-economy

#read #interestingread #readings

The Hidden Architecture Of Debt: How Private Banks Captured The Global Economy

How debt-based money quietly became the engine of global control — and what real reform could look like...

ZeroHedge

It’s Weekend, Let’s Read: Anthony Trollope’s Sci-Fi #Victober #ProjectGutenberg

Frederick Waddy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I’m reading through Anthony Trollope’s six volumes of the Chronicles of Barsetshire – you can check the links to the ebooks in my last year’s post here – and loving it, but for Victober I thought I would pick a more shorter, standalone book from the same author.

I came across The Fixed Period, which he wrote later in life and is considered a satirical dystopian novel. And this is so different from what he usually wrote that I got really curious and decided to pick it up. I’m still in the introduction, but I thought I would share the link to Project Gutenberg, where you can download the book. (No luck in finding it in a physical format, so thank you even more to Gutenberg volunteers!).

Also, although a satirical dystopian work, you may want to check your trigger content warnings.

The Fixed Period – Anthony Trollope can be downloaded here.

#AnthonyTrollope #books #Classics #Dystopian #OldBooks #ProjectGutenberg #publicDomain #reading #readings #satiricalBooks #SciFi #ScientificFiction #Victober #Victober2025