"The Curious Reader's Field Guide to Nonfiction" by Anne Janzer" is an insightful and engaging guide designed for nonfiction enthusiasts, life myself! The book serves as an interactive companion, helping readers navigate the rich world of nonfiction literature and potential books they have never read.

Janzer's guide is structured to help readers identify and appreciate the techniques used by their favorite nonfiction authors. I absolutely loved the section - **Field Notes**, where readers can jot down writing techniques they spot while reading, and **Field Observations**, which encourages readers to track their preferences and favorite books. ⠀
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The guide also offers **Book Club Reflections** with discussion questions to spark lively conversations

One of the standout features of the book is its practical advice on how to choose books that resonate with readers and how to recognize when it's time to abandon a book without guilt. Janzer also delves into the importance of tone and structure in nonfiction, providing readers with a deeper understanding of what makes great nonfiction truly memorable

I found "The Curious Reader's Field Guide to Nonfiction" a valuable resource for anyone looking to enhance their reading experience and gain a greater appreciation for the craft of nonfiction writing. It's a must-read for nonfiction lovers, lifelong learners, and book club enthusiasts alike.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. The book has some good points and questions that make you think. It asks why you read what you read and what stuck with you among other questions. I usually have several books going at once, so this was a great book to make me pause and think about what I’m reading and why.

This is an absolutely perfect little book. I am a voracious reader, and usually have several fiction and non-ficion books on the go at once and this is a fascinating way to look at the whole genre of non-fiction. The activities and idea presented were new to me, even though I feel like I have a general idea of how non-fiction operates. Highly recommended.

This is a book I really needed. What an engaging, interactive, non-intimidating way to enhance your and your book club’s reading experience. I got so much more out of it than I expected. I’d highly recommend to any reader. Especially as a co-companion for readers who want to figure out the types of books they might enjoy and tend to gravitate toward, those wanting a deeper engagement with the books they read, for added personal interest, and for leaders to gauge preferences amongst a group to increase participation, connection, and depth.

Would be great to introduce in starting of a book club, to enhance conversation and member’s personal experiences with a book in a way that involves everyone, and reinvigorate interest for book clubs and revive a waning book club interest, since it contains exercises for self-assessment and connection to other members. Notably it includes book club specific prompts. Would also be great for librarians in regard to book appraisals, categorization, and to learn additional intricacies when trying to connect reader preferences to a book in a multi-dimensional way, that is beyond general subject matter interest.

I would like to thank Cuesta Park Consulting | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles for providing me with an advance readers copy via access to the galley for free through the NetGalley program.

The Story
I really enjoyed the approach to becoming more observant with what I am reading in ways I haven’t always consistently embraced before, especially with non-fiction reading, also in my review and personal writing skillset.

Understanding your own curiosity.

Categorizing your tastes.

There is a lot contained in this book.

It spans a generous domain of interest appealing to the reading experience, from exploring and refining your personal tastes, to surveying books, studying works that connect you to the author, what is resonating, understanding context and your personal attention, sorting out complexities, story telling structures, enhancing your understanding of writer’s tone and voice, your own emotional engagement, the unexpected beauty, and shifting perspective.

The Writing
The narrative portion is easy to follow and solid in credibly as it is also presented alongside a field guide and interactive field notes, and I was pleased with the way that it is organized.

Lots of great questions to ask yourself with accompanying bullet lists, which can also serve as a checklist to maximize your personal growth in how you might be able to categorize thoughts around technique and certain subject matter, understand flow, comparisons, expanding perspective, and various ways to engage and commit reading impact and specific passages to memory.

There is an additional supplemental journal component that can be downloaded, which was lovely to try.

Overall, this was a great exercise for me and I took a lot of notes that I am looking forward to transferring into my own physical copy.

I’ll be rereading and referencing this one quite a bit.

I will also utilize the writing components for my own personal writing endeavor.

I will look forward to more from this author, particularly if there is a similar guide in the future for fiction as well.

Blog post: https://ericarobbin.com/the-curious-readers-field-guide-to-nonfiction-by-anne-janzer/
https://ericarobbin.com/

I liked the chapter concepts, but felt they were rather rushed and the examples were limited. I wanted more exploration of each topic to deepen my experience as a reader of nonfiction in the future. Also, the formatting of the "journal prompts" was awkward in spots, but that could just be the Kindle version I saw.

Could The Curious Reader's Field Guide to Nonfiction by Anne Janzer have been written with me in mind? Sure feels that way. This interactive companion guide is pure gold, every word has its impactful place. Not only did it entertain, satiate (and pique) my curiosity and educate but gave words to my reading experiences such as narrative transportation. I began highlighting revelations which soon filled the pages. Thankfully, this guide is a true field guide with thoughtful questions and space for tracking answers.

Reasons we read Nonfiction are varied. The author asks us to consider whether our attention is earned or required, why it is important to learn more about our reading from the writer and ourselves, discusses biliterate brains, guilt-free abandonment, introductions and chapter endings. But there is so much more such as the value of resonating content, the importance of reward and satisfying curiosity, the joy of discovery, trusting the writer, humour, writing style, and being moved by beautiful prose.

As the author explains, when writing connects and clicks, the next step is often further research into the writer and other works, sharing with others we know would appreciate it and subscribing to newsletters to learn more, which is precisely what I did moments ago.

Oh, how I loved this book! As a note taker, I will happily return to it again and again to observe any reading revelations in my reading life and to learn more about my preferred Nonfiction sub-genres.

My sincere thank you to Cuesta Park Consulting and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this astounding book chock full of light bulb moments.

I was fascinated by this book which invites one to think about reading more (some) non fiction. Janzer notes that when she was an English major, the scholastic focus was mainly of varied forms of fiction. She notes, however, that non fiction offers much to readers and encourages exploring.

This book is organized as a field guide, taking cues from other types of field guides with which readers may be familiar. This leads to chapters that are interactive. For example, the first section invites assessing one’s reading patterns. Following through on the prompts will help readers to discover the books with which they would most like to spend time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Cuesta Park Consulting for this title. All opinions are my own.

As a voracious reader, life long learner, and lover of nonfiction books, I was eager to read this title. Truly a guide, or workbook, to help one better understand their nonfiction reading habits. Each section begins with a reading, followed by fillable exercises, and it wraps with a section of book club discussion prompts. Very helpful and a good resource to have.

What an interesting way to get intrigued by non-fiction and I beg to differ, in a way what Anne shares here can also be applied to fiction, helping a reader understand context, genre, and even note down things they can relate to.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

This is both informed and surprisingly interesting. I read a lot of non fiction across a wide range of subjects. I feel a bit like a magpie gathering ‘stuff’ and non fiction titles over many decades have encouraged new to take up new interests and learn more about subjects I enjoy. This is a methodical examination about non fiction; what attracts a potential reader, how to engage with the reader and how to flit from subject to subject. It’s a little treasure trove and certainly of interest to authors in helping them understand what makes a great non fiction title. Truly fans from start to finish and much to think about.

New to nonfiction, or true stories and information all the way? This book is for you! A great guide to what makes a good nonfiction book and how to read one!

What a great little book. It’s practical, sensible and inspiring. It’s changed the way I think about non-fiction. I feel like I am closer to knowing what I like and how to find it.

This is an absolutely brilliant book on the topic of nonfiction reading and writing. It discusses the purpose or nonfiction, what causes a reader to be interested, different writing methods and their effect on the reader, and the importance of tone and structure. Anyone who has an interest in reading nonfiction, building a reference library, or writing any type of book, should give this one a go.

This was an interesting field guide for those looking to get into reading more non-fiction. There are questions after each section where you reflect on aspects of reading habits/writing which will help you think more critically about how you read. I personally didn't get much out of this, but I could see it working for others! I think it would also be good for those who write non-fiction so they can see their writing from the perspective of a potential reader. For the holidays, I think this would make a great gift for those people in your life who always make a new year's resolution to read more non-fiction.