Week Eight: Nonfiction

Disclaimer: This is the training week I created and developed (with Andrea Shore).


Assignment 1: Articles read.

Assignment 2: Video watched.

Assignment 3: Four Nonfiction Genres:

1) Food: Dewey areas for these food memoirs and other food-related titles can be in biography, the 640s or even 394 (food politics, activism).

Heat by Bill Buford (641.5945B) is a memoir of one man's journey from journalist to chef, passions for the kitchen and food developing along the way.

2) Sports: are located in the 796 call numbers and also in memoir.

The Outsider by Jimmy Connors (BIO Connors) tells the unconventional life story of the unlikely tennis pro.

3) Medical: These can be found in the 613-17 area as well as in memoir.

The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch (616.8588F) tells the story of an man who's failing marriage is saved by changes made thanks to the discovery and diagnosis that he has Asperger's.

4) Travel: Find travel in the 9teens and the 940s.

Don't Let's go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller (BIO Fuller) is the story of her childhood growhing up in South Africa. While not technically travel, it paints a vivid picture of South Africa then and now.

Assignment 4:

Don't read sports biographies? That's okay. Could care less about tennis? That's okay too. You like thrillers where an underdog comes from seemingly out of nowhere, an older working class kind of guy who kicks some major ass and ends up with a talented, attractive woman but then manages to f@&^ that up by gambling and sleeping around? Oh, and not to mention that he ends up with a Playboy model. This is the book for you. He's open, candid and spouts no BS. For guys who like Dennis Lehane, or any thriller starring a womanizer, or page-turners in general.

This one is for any wife who has ever been frustrated by her husband's communication style, or his lack of helpfulness around the house or his seeming insensitivity to her needs. Asperger's magnifies all of those testosterone-y tendencies, as evidenced in this approachable memoir, written with humor and even some suspense by the husband afflicted. Fiction readers who enjoy stories that focus on problems in the relationship will relish this book, which is ultimately a love story with challenges to overcome. (and a happy-ish ending, giving hope to us all)