#nonfiction recs

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

aro tumblr, academics and otherwise, arise!! i need your help with reading recs!

i'm studying up on aromanticism and amatonormativity (yeah for fiction related purposes, per my M.O.), and i'm on the hunt for nonfiction reading materials. essays or articles (academic or pop), or collections, or whole-ass books--literally anything i can read. i am also accepting links to your favorite tumblr posts on the subject!

i myself am also aro, so i've got the 101 stuff down. what i'm looking for is deeper dive material. i am not opposed to dense theory texts, i just don't know where to start lol. also accepting personal essay style reflections, though--literally the whole range of nonfiction would help!

i am looking SPECIFICALLY for aro, not aro and ace conflated (if you have recs that hit both, please do drop them, just specify that it's both!)

my (tiny) list currently consists of:

- Minimizing Marriage by Elizabeth Brake

- Refusing Compulsive Sexuality by Sherronda Brown (which, yeah, i know is ace, but it's on thin ice because she does mention aro in text too)

feel free to boost even if you have no new contributions! thanks for reading!!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🍉 Queer Palestinian Books for Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

🍉 Want to add a bit more diversity to your TBR? Consider reading one of these queer books by Palestinian authors for Pride Month!

🏳️‍🌈 Fiction 🍉 The Skin and Its Girl - Sarah Cypher 🍉 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 🍉 Belladonna - Anbara Salam 🍉 A Map of Home - Randa Jarrar 🍉 Muneera and the Moon - 🍉 Guapa - Saleem Haddad 🍉 The Ordeal of Being Known - Malia Rose 🍉 The Philistine - Leila Marshy 🍉 Hazardous Spirits - Anbara Salam 🍉 From Whole Cloth - Sonia Sulaiman

🏳️‍🌈 Graphic Novels 🍉 Mis(h)adra - Iasmin Omar Ata 🍉 Where Black Stars Rise - Nadia Shammas & Marie Enger 🍉 Confetti Realms - Nadia Shammas 🍉 Nayra and the Djinn - Iasmin Omar Ata 🍉 My Mama's Magic - Amina Awad 🍉 Squire - Nadia Shammas & Sara Alfageeh

🏳️‍🌈 Non-Fiction/Memoirs 🍉 Are You This? Or Are You This? - Madian Al Jazerah 🍉 Love is an Ex-Country - Randa Jarrar 🍉 This Arab is Queer - (ed) Elias Jahshan 🍉 Decolonial Queering in Palestine - Walaa Alqaisiya 🍉 Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique - Sa'ed Atshan 🍉 Between Banat - Mejdulene Bernard Shomali

🏳️‍🌈 Poetry 🍉 To All the Yellow Flowers - Raya Tuffaha 🍉 The Specimen's Apology - George Abraham & Leila Abdelrazaq 🍉 Birthright - George Abraham 🍉 The Twenty-Ninth Year - Hala Alyan 🍉 Blood Orange - Yaffa AS 🍉 Who is Owed Springtime - Rasha Abdulhadi 🍉 Shell Houses - Rasha Abdulhadi 🍉 Halal If You Hear Me - (ed) Fatimah Asghar & Safia Elhillo

🍉 None of us are free until all of us are free. 🏳️‍🌈

[prideprejudce]

The Ocean is terrifying!

Here are some book recommendations to prove it!

[lakecountylibrary]

Kate's Top 3 Adult Nonfiction Reads of 2024

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau

This book gives readers actionable steps to be an ally to the disabled community as well as how to act and what to say or not to say to disabled people. The author describes how to follow these steps in a nonjudgmental way. She realizes that everyone makes mistakes and she informs readers on terminology to use and to eliminate from your vocabulary when it comes to the disabled community.

This is a concise guide to help readers become more educated, empathetic and accepting. I highly recommend reading this book.

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This book focuses on life values that align with my way of thinking, therefore I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author explains how important it is to focus on gratitude, reciprocity and community. She uses nature based examples to explain how the natural world also lives by these values.

Other books by this author include Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Give this book a try if you enjoy nature and short reads.

The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff

This book urges readers to reclaim their lives from a work obsessed world. It suggests putting more emphasis on our lives outside of work and allowing ourselves to believe we are doing a good enough job in our work lives.

The author offers strategies for how to have a healthier relationship with work and how to have a better work-life balance. If you are struggling with burnout at your job, this book will hopefully help you realign the important things in your life and make you realize you are doing a 'good enough job' in your career.

I really enjoyed these two quotes from the book:

“You are not the work you do, you are the person you are.”

(Edited to add: This was originally said - or rather, written - by Toni Morrison in a 2017 New Yorker article titled The Work You Do, the Person You Are. It was quoted with the source in the book. Thanks to the reader who pointed out this additional context would be good to add!)

and

“A good enough job is a job that allows you to be the person you want to be.”

See more of Kate's recs

[emptyanddark]

The freedom to abandon one’s community, knowing one will be welcomed in faraway lands; the freedom to shift back and forth between social structures, depending on the time of year; the freedom to disobey authorities without consequence – all appear to have been simply assumed among our distant ancestors, even if most people find them barely conceivable today. Humans may not have begun their history in a state of primordial innocence, but they do appear to have begun it with a self-conscious aversion to being told what to do. If this is so, we can at least refine our initial question: the real puzzle is not when chiefs, or even kings and queens, first appeared, but rather when it was no longer possible simply to laugh them out of court.

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

[marzipanandminutiae]

oh, The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades 1860-1930 (Wendy Gamber, 1997), we're really in it now

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

The best books I read in 2024:

(in the order I read them)

-- The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and the Glory of Growing Up, by Evanna Lynch

-- He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why it Matters, by Schuyler Bailar

-- How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing, by K.C. Davis

-- You Should Be So Lucky, by Cat Sebastian

-- The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green

-- Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade, by Rickie Solinger

[beljar]

Israeli-Palestinian Discourse

click to download

When does a native become a settler? by Yuval Evri, Hagar Kotef

Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native by Patrick Wolfe

The Question of Palestine by Edward Said

Zionist Colonialism in Palestine (1965) by Fayez Sayegh

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe

Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky

Zionism and Colonialism by Gershon Shafir

Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race by Patrick Wolfe

The Palestinians’ Inalienable Right to Resist by Louis Allday

On Palestine By Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe and Frank Barat

Read About Palestine // Quotes

Artworks: Bethlehem Street Scene Photograph No.1 - Bethlehem, Palestine by Lantern Press // Approach to Caipha, Bay of Acre, Coast of Palestine by William Henry Bartlett // Fountain of the Virgin, Nazareth, Palestine, C1927-C1931 // Tower of the Forty Martyrs, Ramla, Palestine, C1930S by Ewing Galloway // Light Shining in Church of the Nativity Photograph No.2 - Bethlehem, Palestine by Lantern Press // The Market, Haifa, Palestine, C1920S-C1930S // Holyland Land Palestine - 1650

@liriostigre

[whilereadingandwalking]

Here are all the books you should read, buy, and borrow this 4th of July weekend to educate, inspire, and drive you to make a change.

Happy reading!

[rockislandadultreads]

October is... LGBTQIA+ History Month!

Check out this reading list in honor of LGBTQIA+ History Month!

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker & Jules Scheele

Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Jules Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this nonfiction graphic novel. From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, this book explores how we came to view sex, gender, and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology, and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged.

Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam

Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives. This volume illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories.

Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride

Sarah McBride is on a mission to fight for transgender rights around the world. But before she was a prominent activist, and before she became the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, she was a teenager struggling with her identity. With emotional depth and unparalleled honesty, Sarah shares her personal struggle with gender identity, coming out to her supportive but distraught parents, and finding her way as a woman. 

Be Gay, Do Comics! edited by Matt Bors

This title is filled with dozens of comics about LGBTQIA+ experiences, ranging from personal stories to queer history to cutting satire about pronoun panic and brands desperate to co-opt pride. Brimming with resilience, inspiration, and humor, an incredible lineup of top indie cartoonists takes you from the American Revolution through Stonewall to today's fights for equality and representation. 

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Read Palestine Week

🇵🇸 Good morning, my beautiful bookish bats. Can I start by saying a huge THANK YOU for sharing my Queer Palestinian Book post? Seriously, thank you so much. Let's keep that momentum by observing Read Palestine Week (Nov 29 - Dec 5). I've compiled a list of books to help you, along with a list of upcoming events and resources you can use this week and beyond.

🇵🇸 A collective of over 350 global publishers and individuals issued a public statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Publishers for Palestine have organized an international #ReadPalestine week, starting today (International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People).

🇵🇸 These publishers have made many resources and e-books available for free (with more to come). A few include award-winning fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors. You'll also find non-fiction books about Palestinian history, politics, arts, culture, and “books about organizing, resistance, and solidarity for a Free Palestine.” You can visit publishersforpalestine.org to download some of the books they have available.

POETRY 🌙 Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha 🌙 Affiliation by Mira Mattar 🌙 Enemy of the Sun by Samih al-Qasim 🌙 I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti 🌙 A Mountainous Journey by Fadwa Tuqan 🌙 So What by Taha Muhammad Ali 🌙 The Butterfly’s Burden by Mahmoud Darwish 🌙 To All the Yellow Flowers by Raya Tuffaha

FICTION 🌙 Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury 🌙 Speak, Bird, Speak Again: Palestinian Arab Folktales 🌙 Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani 🌙 Morning in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa 🌙 Gaze Writes Back by Young Writers in Gaze 🌙 Palestine +100:Stories from a Century after the Nakba 🌙 Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh 🌙 Out of Time by Samira Azzam

🌙 The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher 🌙 You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat 🌙 A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum 🌙 Salt Houses by Hala Alyan 🌙 A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar 🌙 Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa 🌙 Minor Detail by Adania Shibli 🌙 The Woman From Tantoura by Radwa Ashour

NON-FICTION 🌙 Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour 🌙 Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine by Raja Shehadeh 🌙 Palestinian Art, 1850–2005 by Kamal Boullata 🌙 Palestine by Joe Sacco 🌙 The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian’s Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker by Sami Al Jundi & Jen Marlowe 🌙 Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha 🌙 Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat 🌙 The Words of My Father: Love and Pain in Palestine by Yousef Khalil Bashir

🌙 Traditional Palestinian Costume: Origins and Evolution by Hanan Karaman Munayyer 🌙 Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture by Salim Tamari 🌙 This Is Not a Border: Reportage and Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature 🌙 We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir, by Raja Shehadeh 🌙 Les échos de la mémoire. Une enfance palestinienne à Jérusalem, by Issa J. Boullata 🌙 A Party For Thaera: Palestinian Women Write Life In Prison 🌙 Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, 🌙 Voices of the Nakba: A Living History of Palestine

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

this might be a bit niche of a request for tumblr but: does anyone have recs for nonfiction books about disability rights/history during World War 2? specifically in regards to Nazi Germany?

I wanna read more nonfiction in 2025 and this is an aspect of history I've always been interested in but haven't tracked anything down for yet

[a-typical]

The universe is not empty. We are very aware that we are bound to the Earth. The Earth is bound to the Sun and the Sun to the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is bound to the neighboring galaxy Andromeda, both residing in the Virgo supercluster of galaxies. And the Virgo supercluster senses all the other galaxies and all the accumulated energy in our observable universe. So we don’t live in a flat, empty spacetime.

Astronauts also don’t float in empty space. They can see the Earth spin and the Sun roll along. They are falling and weightless, but on a path we’ve been accustomed to calling an orbit, an orbit around the Earth in orbit around the Sun in a glacially long orbit around the galaxy. Their paths aren’t straight. Their paths are curved into a circle around the Earth sewn into the circle around the Sun sewn into the path around the galaxy, because free-fall paths are curved when the sky isn’t empty. Because space is curved by the presence of matter and energy.

Black Hole Survival Guide — Janna Levin

[kvothes]

How can I teach myself more about poetry? Beyond just reading a lot of it (which I already do).

genuinely: start reading theory. i feel like mary oliver’s a poetry handbook is a good place to start, and gregory orr has a few, and the poetry foundation posts essays (i’ve been meaning to read this one for ages). i’ve also been making my way through mary ruefle’s madness, rack, & honey—which is a book of entirely craft essays, and not the most straightforward, but deeply searching nonetheless

[salvadorbonaparte]

Broaden Your Horizons 2024

A Non-Fiction Rec List by Salvadorbonaparte

Books

Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and Culture - Jeffrey Shandler

A Good Man in Evil Times: The Heroic Story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes -- The Man Who Saved the Lives of Countless Refugess in World War II - Jose-Alain Fralon, Peter Graham (trans.)

Brief Answers to the Big Questions - Stephen Hawking

Erebus: The Story of a Ship - Michael Palin

Every Word Is A Bird We Teach To Sing: Encounters with the Mysteries and Meanings of Language - Daniel Tammet

Federico Garcia Lorca: A Life - Ian Gibson

Getting to Yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in - Roger Fisher, William Ury

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban - Malala Yousafzai

Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition - Paul Watson

Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny - Amartya Sen

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating - Alan Alda

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science

Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe - Gaston Dorren, Alison Edwards (trans.)

Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film - Harry M. Benshoff

One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest - Wade Davis

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour - Kate Fox

What's Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She - Dennis Baron

Documentaries

Bowling for Columbine

Break It All: The History of Rock in Latin America

ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black

She's Beautiful When She's Angry

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Podcasts

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Freaks and Psychos: The Disability in Horror Podcast

Lingthusiasm

Ologies with Alie Ward

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia

The Sewers of Paris