The Curious Reader's Field Guide to Nonfiction

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.

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.

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.

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/

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.