Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 2017

Sometime next week I'll share my top ten memoirs & biographies, so this list is for "other" nonfiction: cookbooks, photography, narrative nonfiction, etc. This was a hard list to whittle down because I had a similar feeling for much of the nonfiction I read this year.

 

This is the story of the 300-year-old Bellevue hospital in New York City. It's very well done, comprehensive, and never boring.

I loved this book. And I'm not even a gardener. This is the perfect book for gardeners, though, as it takes each flower, presents several variations, and gives you information on how to get the best blooms. It's complete, talking about every flower you can imagine, the pictures throughout are gorgeous, and it uses a friendly, easy tone.

 

There perhaps isn't much here that's new if you've had an English lit course in the past decade or two, but it was a nice refresher. It did remind me what to look for in my fiction reading.

 

I love everything by A.J. Jacobs (except for that book where he outsources his chores to India), and this one was much-anticipated. It's his quirky quest to put together the world's largest family reunion--under the pretext that we're all related.

The seventh book in the Killing... series, this is the story of the Revolutionary War including information on General George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and King George III, as well as famous battles. Since I haven't studied this war since grade school, this was a nice re-introduction. It really brought to light what I couldn't grasp as a child: just how much was at stake and how much each man risked for freedom from the crown. 

 

How I loved this book! Not only are the photos of Coonhound Maddie gorgeous, but they're fun and so charming. An odd feeling came over me when I looked through this book. I felt really connected and like happiness is always within reach. Since Maddie is part of what is healing her owner of his difficult past, that feeling made sense.

This was a wonderful collection of all-American recipes. None seemed particularly complicated, either. This would be a nice all-encompassing home cooking cookbook for someone starting out. Recipes are arranged by region of the USA.

I'm a sucker for statistics. And if I don't have to do the work myself, I love analysis. This book gives the stats of all kinds of things in our favorite classics and current fiction. I enjoyed this a great deal. It was not at all boring or clinical.

I don't think I've ever read a Pioneer Woman cookbook that hasn't ended up on my best of lists at the end of the year. This one is no different. I keep waiting for them to degrade in quality, but they just don't. This was another wonderful collection of recipes.

As you know, I love my presidential history, and this one had it in spades. This book looks at the relationships between the presidents from Hoover to Obama. It's a wealth of information, much of it I've read elsewhere, but it's the perfect book for those starting their study of the presidents.

This is my nonfiction honorable mention. I really enjoyed this book, and even though I'm of a different religious persuasion than the author, he brought a fresh light on what it means to shine as a child of God. It was very well done.