Best of 2013: Non-Fiction

2013 Non-Fiction Read:

Lauren Elkin and Scott Esposito, The End of Oulipo?

Justin Landon and Jared Shurin (eds.), Speculative Fiction 2012

Carolyn Dalgliesh, The Sensory Child Gets Organized

Martín Arias and Martín Hadis, Professor Borges:  A Course on English Literature

Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump

Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone

Wendy Lower, Hitler's Furies

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March: Book One

Al Gore, The Future

Denise Kiernan, The Girls of Atomic City

Gene Yuen Yang, Boxers/Saints

Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari 

Umberto Eco, Le Sette Meraviglie

George Packer, The Unwinding

I read more non-fiction in 2013 than in any of the previous four or five years.  There were popular histories, collections of essays (including one in which two 2012 pieces of mine appeared), autobiographies, graphic novel renderings of histories, art books in Italian, translations from Italian and Japanese, guides to help people understand special needs children, and a transcription of a college lecture series.  Even the one book on the above list that appears on my Most Disappointing Releases list will hold quite a bit of interest for the lay reader (alas, I cannot claim to be such when it comes to the Nazi era).  I learned a lot from reading these books (the Dalgliesh and Higashida in particular opened my eyes further when it came to sensory/children with autism and both provided insight that has helped me immensely at both of my current jobs) and hopefully in the years to come I will discover even more excellent non-fictions that will educate me as much or more as these did this year.  Now for the list of the three that have stuck with me the most:

3.  John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March:  Book One

I discussed my reasons for liking this graphic novel rendering of Rep. John Lewis's early life up to the 1960 Nashville sit-ins in my previous listing of graphic novels and anthologies read this year.  It is a book that I would love to use as a supplementary reading material if I ever choose to teach 11th grade US History again.

2.  Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari 

Excellent art/history of how people over the centuries have envisioned both real and legendary lands near and far.  See my earlier comments in my listing of the best foreign language works released this year.

1.  George Packer, The Unwinding 

Winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Non-Fiction.  Packer interviewed several Americans from all walks of life, from tech founders to those who lost their jobs when the physical economy began to shift toward a service economy in the late 1970s.  Each of these Americans' stories are fascinating and Packer does an excellent job in breaking these narrative threads into chronological years that show the various ways in which people even conceive of "America" has changed since 1980.  One of the best books I've read this year.

Best of 2013: Graphic Novels and Anthologies

2013 Graphic Novels Read:

Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe, Peanut

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March: Book One

Gene Yuen Yang, Boxers/Saints

2013 Anthologies Read: 

Nisi Shawl (ed.), Bloodchildren

João Barreiros (ed.), Lisboa no Ano 2000

John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen (eds.), Oz Reimagined

Mike Allen (ed.), Clockwork Phoenix 4

Fabio Fernandes and Djibril al-Ayad (eds.), We See a Different Frontier

Mariano Villarreal and Luis Pestarini (eds.), Terra Nova:  vol. 2 

 2013 was not a good year for me in terms of reading graphic novels or anthologies published that year.  Above is the list of the graphic novels and anthologies that I have read, either completely or in part, through the year to date.  Two of the three graphic novels, however, I loved, perhaps in part because of the historical content of the two (and meeting the writers in October in Nashville at the Southern Festival of Books), but certainly because the stories were compelling reads.  As for the anthologies, this is one of those years where nothing wowed me in terms of an extremely strong opening-to-close lineup of knockout stories, but each was mildly pleasing at least to read.  In the end, chose the one in which I had pledged money to in a 2012 Kickstarter, as I did feel like I got my money's worth there.

3.  Mike Allen (ed.), Clockwork Phoenix 4 

The Clockwork Phoenix series of original anthologies has been a personal fav for years and the current volume carries on the tradition of having good, solid, hard-to-classify stories.

2.  Gene Luen Yang, Boxers/Saints (boxed set) 

 See my November review for more on this 2013 National Book Award finalist for Young People's Literature book.

1.  John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March:  Book One 

This graphic novel rendering of Rep. John Lewis's life up to the immediate aftermath of the Nashville sit-ins is one of the most moving things I've read this year.  It certainly was the most memorable of any on these two lists and so it deserves this ranking.  Go out and read it, ASAP.