#author: merete mazzarella

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Non-fiction books i read in 2024

i don't write about non-fiction on this blog, for several reasons really, but simply put i don't feel the need to do so. i rarely score them on goodreads since there's no need to judge the things i typically evaluate in fiction. but the purpose of this blog is to document and shortly describe things i've read, for myself so i'd remember their contents better, so here's a simplified list of non-fiction books i have read this year.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy [ audiobook, listened in finnish ] the life story of an ex child actress who only started acting because her narcissist mother made her. she eventually broke through in a popular kids' show and suffered from bulimia and other illnesses throughout the experience. i didn't know jennette from before, i don't know if icarly was ever a thing in my country at all (or then i'm just too old to know it), but by the end of the book i felt like i thoroughly knew her. read in january.

Pienin yhteinen jaettava ("The smallest common dividend") by Pirkko Saisio [ physical book, read in finnish ] the author's memoirs about her childhood. a collection of small moments from her life. i don't recall liking anything about this much but it was a fast read. read in january/february.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote [ physical book, read in finnish ] a work of true crime about a murder case from 1959 when two men murdered a 4-member family in kansas. i had no idea this was true crime when i went in, i thought i was reading fiction. only realised the truth at the end lol. read in february.

Luonto pakastimessa ("Nature in a freezer") by Anu Silfverberg [ physical book, read in finnish ] a collection of the author's columns. i think she's an activist and has a provocative tone on purpose and i'm not really into that. some articles i agreed with (mostly criticism of religions), some i didn't. there was an especially dumb text about how all zoos are evil when in reality they do nature reservation work in my country. read in february/march.

Afghanerne ("The Afghans") by Åsne Seierstad [ audiobook, listened in finnish ] a deep dive into the contemporary history of afghanistan, including the birth of taliban and the events of 9/11 from the other side, through the lives of a selection of afghan people. this was very story-like, sometimes i wasn't even sure if we're still going non-fiction. i learned a lot about afghans and the history of afghanistan. read in march.

Solkattens år ("A sun cat's year") by Merete Mazzarella [ physical book, read in finnish ] a collection of the author's thoughts on aging and finding a new romantic partner in her later years. most of the book is short memoirs about things that have happened to the author, or her thoughts on books she's read, or other such things. it was pretty mundane, a fast little read, but just a bit bleak for someone in their 30s like me. read in june/july.

Ruumiin ylittävä ääni ("A voice that surpasses the body") by Tuomas Aitonurmi [ audiobook, listened in finnish ] a collection of essays about different topics: bullying and self-esteem, masculinity, music, writing, horses. the only thing they all had in common, apart from the author himself, was that there's a ton of references to other people's works. another fast little book, but all the vague referencing of the randomest things seemingly for the joy of referencing kinda reminded me of house of leaves tbh which made it unintentionally comical. but this made me realise i rather enjoy non-fiction where you just get to learn the author and their thoughts and life. kinda feels like getting a new friend. read in september.

Ulkopuolisuudesta ("About being an outsider") by Elina Kujala [ audiobook, listened in finnish ] several different angles to the experience of feeling like an outsider, mostly through examples from the author's own life, but she has also interviewed other people for variety. the topics vary from social anxiety and general introversion to being LGBT, being disabled, being a woman, being neurodivergent and such. i relate to a lot in here but it was also just a decently interesting, short listen that i picked up from a magazine article. the interview parts feel very brief, and sometimes she goes a bit off-topic with her diary entries. also this is a storytel original i.e. made for the subscribers of an audiobook app, probably as a direct commission from the app to the author, so… well, i don't know if that means anything really, but yeah. read in september.

Sex substanser som förändrar ditt liv / High on Life by David JP Phillips [ audiobook, listened in finnish ] a swedish cishet family man tells me i can get more oxytocin by stopping at the door when returning from work every day and listening to a nice song before i go home so i can feel the hugs of my children and hear the loving words of my wife better. it's a self-help book about how to have more dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and all the other good stuff in your life. though the majority of the examples are unrelatable to me, this was quite informative for being a short little self help, to be fair. this also made me realise i'm actually doing pretty great and don't need to deliberately cook up "angel cocktails" to feel good. read in november.

Kaksipäinen koira ja muita eläimiä Neuvostoliiton tieteessä ("A two-headed dog and other animals in Soviet science") by Iina Kohonen [ audiobook, listened in finnish ] the title is misleading, there are no other animals. just dogs. about 2/3 of this was about the russian surgeon who experimented with dogs, the rest was about soviet space dogs. morbidly fascinating in a way and i'm always here for more reasons to hate russia, but i wanted more animals and less trivia about old russian scientists or meta about the writing process and the author talking about her own thoughts. read in november/december.