Tuesday - Nonfiction

Ahhh, nonfiction, where to begin? I think that my true love for nonfiction began when we were living in Salt Lake City during our undergrad I was a frequent patron of the Downtown Salt Lake City library. This vast library had two huge floors of nonfiction books. I could have spent days and days touring the stacks of book shelves. Anytime I had a question about any subject I would literally drive myself downtown to the library and search out the section on these two floors. By this time my baby would be fussy and I would not be allowed to leisurely browse each book, so I would just check out as many as I could grab and head home to devour my treasures.

Nonfiction sounds boring to most people. Not to me. I love cook books, decorating books, parenting books, self help books, exercise books, health books, craft books, computer books, church, world and American history books, and organization books. Books that teach me how to take pictures, sell things on eBay, create an awesome blog, write well, be a patient mom, be a better wife, scrapbook, teach my kid to read.

I’ve also noticed a pattern that my nonfiction loves change over time. They are always evolving and changing to suite the needs of my life. We went on a vacation to Washington DC last summer. You can bet that I was a frequent visitor to the travel and American history section in the library. Since becoming a parent I have always loved reading new parenting books. I love reading different theories and strategies. I’ve recently started doing many at home school projects with my preschool child. I have never searched the education section of the library until the past month. Why have I lot looked there before?

For this post I have attempted to narrow it down to 5 of my current favorite nonfiction titles and a short quote from inside.

Raising Your Spirited Child
"Spirited – it feels good, sounds good, communicates the exciting potential of these children, and yet honestly captures the challenges faced by their parents. When we choose to see our children as spirited we give them and ourselves hope."
The Read Aloud/How to get your child to love reading
“Neither books nor people have Velcro sides –we don’t’ naturally attach to each other. In the beginning there must be a bonding agent – parent, relative, neighbor, teacher, or librarian – someone who attaches child to book.”
The Encyclopedia of Scrapbooking
Rise to the Divinity Within You, talks from the 2006 BYU Women’s Conference
“May we take time to build our testimonies and our faith, to love and serve, to learn something new, to build family relationships, and to find contentment and joy in who we are and our circumstances. When we spend our time well each day, the sun will shine, we will cast the gospel light into the dark places of this world, and we will make a difference.”
The Writer’s Idea Workshop
“Prompt: You’ve probably had many ideas for writing that you’ve never written down. Here’s your chance to do it. Brainstorm as many as you can recall. You might even want to write “Ideas” in a circle and create a “web” or “cluster” of thoughts around it”
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So do you share my love for nonfiction or do you prefer fiction? What subjects are interesting to you? Do your interests change over time or stay the same?

Up tomorrow: Series