In September, my main focus was nonfiction, but I threw in some fun fiction genres outside my comfort zone as well. Last year, I was introduced to a new reading challenge, #sakprosaseptember, a nonfiction reading challenge hosted by Norwegian bookstagrammer readygoread during the month of September  (“sakprosa” means nonfiction in Norwegian). I didn’t used to read a lot of nonfiction, but in the last couple of years, I’ve noticed I’ve been drawn to it more and more and welcome the opportunity to read more of it. So once again I participated in #sakprosaseptember (running through October 15) with its various nonfiction reading prompts.

#sakprosaseptember pairs well with another reading challenge I’m already participating in, #DiversityAcrossGenres, which challenges me to read various genres by diverse authors. One of those genres is nonfiction. Therefore, September’s focus was nonfiction and anything of interest that remains unread this month will be options for #NonfictionNovember.

What have you been reading lately?

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, narrated by the author (2013) 🎧

This book had been on my radar for a while. Thanks to reading challenges with nonfiction prompts, I finally read it. Sweetgrass has come up in various recent North American Indigenous-authored books I’ve read, and I haven’t really known what it is nor its significance. Not only did this book educate me about sweetgrass and its significance to Native Americans, but the book also delved into the vast differences and disconnect between Indigenous and modern day beliefs and practices in regards to the natural world. I greatly appreciated and enjoyed that aspect, even though it was sad and discouraging. Kimmerer’s language was very poetic and beautiful, but over time, it did become too much for me and additionally, the book began to feel too repetitive and long. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (The audiobook, which she narrated herself, I had to speed up to 1.5x because it was a very slow listen otherwise so I recommend reading it over listening to it.)

• #DiversityAcrossGenres: Indigenous / Nonfiction
• #sakprosaseptember: About Nature, About a Minority, Written by a Woman

Min skyld: En historie om frigjøring (My Fault: A Story of Liberation) by Abid Raja (2021) 📖

This is a very honest and open memoir – he shares difficult things! – by a Norwegian lawyer, liberal party politician, and current Member of Parliament with a minority background. It’s about his “liberation from shame, guilt, and outsiderness” as the book jacket states. Born in Norway in 1975 to Pakistani immigrants and with a rare birth defect, he faced great challenges growing up. This is the story of how he overcame those challenges, which included a few years in the child welfare system, and went on to study law at the University of Oslo and found the love of his life, a fellow Norwegian Pakistani. I admired his honesty when revisiting his past and confronting his opposing cultures – the patriarchal Pakistani culture and Islamic religion in which he was born and the liberal Norwegian society in which he lived. It was an eye-opening look at a segment of Norwegian society which I am not familiar with and that I greatly appreciated. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The book won the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize in 2021. It went on to be the most sold nonfiction book in Norway in 2021 og 2022. It even sold more than all other books in Norway in 2021. Unfortunately, it is not available in English translation.

• #sakprosaseptember: A Biography or Memoir; Nonfiction by a Norwegian Author
• #DiversityAcrossGenres: Bonus representation – Immigrant
• Nordic Literature Reading Challenge 2023: Norway / By or about a marginalized group in the Nordic region AND Nonfiction
• Book Voyage: Read Around the World: Europe (Norway)

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córcova (2021) 🎧
(Narrated by Frankie Corzo)

This was a fun ride. Fantasy is not a genre I’m normally drawn to, but I’ve read some magical realism that I’ve enjoyed and this one sounded intriguing for the #DiversityAcrossGenres challenge. Orquídea Divina, the matriarch of the Montoya family, is dying and sends out a summons for family members — grown children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren from five marriages — to return home to collect their inheritance. But this is not a regular family, instead one with a mysterious history and unexplainable happenings. The story has a dual timeline jumping between contemporary times and Orquídea’s past. At one point the number of characters became a little overwhelming and the family tree was helpful, but that passed and the character focus became narrower and more manageable. I really enjoyed the characters and settings, especially the trip to Ecuador both in the past and present. Did the magical realism get a little too much for me at the end? Maybe, but overall a great story, and the audiobook was very well narrated. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• #DiversityAcrossGenres: Latine/x / SciFi/Fantasy

The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient, #1) by Helen Hoang (2018) 📖

This was another book that I wouldn’t necessarily have read if it hadn’t been for the #DiversityAcrossGenres challenge since I don’t generally pick up romance books. So glad I did because it was a very fun and heartwarming read. The story is about Stella, a 30-year-old woman with Asperger’s who’s most comfortable in front of her computer using math and statistics to predict economic outcomes. However, she decides she needs help in the dating and romance areas of her life and hires Michael, a Swedish and Vietnamese escort, to teach her. I was so surprised by his understanding and respect of her and really enjoyed watching their relationship take its turns. I also really enjoyed the focus on Michael’s Vietnamese family life.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• #DiversityAcrossGenres: Asian / Romance

What have you been reading lately?

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