ROASTING MYSELF Popular Nonfiction Books I Shouldnt Have Slept On

hi guys Olive here here today to admit that waited far too long to read some popular nonfiction books I've spoken about this in the past but can get little weird about things that are really popular it's like when everyone is doing something everyone is talking about something my inner rebellious teenager comes out and want absolutely nothing to do with it and this applies to the book world as well if don't read book before it gets really popular before everyone is reading it everyone is talking about it then will read anything but that book it's an Impulse that know that have I'm trying to work against it because don't like it it's not productive it keeps me from joining in on conversations as they're happening and most importantly it keeps me from reading these really good books sooner so in today's video want to tell you about 10 great non-fiction books that for one reason or another put off reading for far too long want to do this video in the hopes that giving myself good roasting will keep me from doing this going forward but also wanted to encourage you if you want to read any of the books on this list and you haven't gotten to them yet please learn from my mistakes and consider picking these up sooner rather than later I'll start off by giving myself little bit of grace before fully go into roasting myself because had somewhat legitimate reason to put off reading Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff bought this book when was in college was home from college think either on Thanksgiving break or on holiday recess and wanted to go to our local borders this was back when borders was still in business wanted to get my own copy of this book because wanted to read it so badly let's just say that kept myself very busy in college took as many classes as they would allow me one time took one credit over the credit limit so owed more tuition that semester and studied really hard it was was my entire Focus for those four years so as much as wanted to be reading for pleasure it just wasn't realistic for my schedule or my energy level so actually didn't get to this one until was few years out of college think actually picked this one up just few months before started this channel even though know had decent reason for putting this one off as long as did am sad didn't get to it sooner because it's just as good as thought it was going to be it is fantastic biography of Egypt's most famous female ruler it gives lot of insight into who she was as person even though it's very challenging to know for certain Stacy Schiff has to make lot of educated guesses based on the sources but then she also has to point out why some of those sources are more credible than others because some of them were written by Cleopatra's enemies and they were trying to push specific narrative about her this one is totally worth read actually wouldn't mind giving in reread here in the near future all the rest of the books on this list have less of an excuse for not picking up sooner like honestly have no idea why waited so long to read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain actually read this book for the first time right after he died was already planning to read this book it was already on that month's TBR before it even happened so it was very sad timing Kitchen Confidential is Anthony Bourdain's Memoir of finding the food world but it is also an unflinchingly honest portrait of what it's like working in kitchen and what it's like running restaurant he is extremely candid about what those things are like he has so much passion but he also could be ruthless and he could be full of himself very typical of chef have always been very interested in the food world so immediately after finished this one couldn't believe that had waited so long to read it it felt like it belonged in my hands still think about his thoughts about garlic every single time I'm in my kitchen know definitely have no excuse for waiting to read in order to live by yonmi park for as long as did this is another Memoir it's about the author's early life in and eventual escape from North Korea it is gripping and heartbreaking story and pretty much everyone was reading this during the very first non-fiction November we had here on booktube all the way back in 2015 because this book had been released not long before that but did read it that year or even the next year of course didn't waited until 2021 to pick up this book and when did could immediately see what everyone saw in her incredible story guess the only Silver Lining of me waiting so long to pick this book up is that since just read it last year it is still fairly fresh in my brain and that may serve me well because her next book comes out in early 2023 but another non-fiction book that remember lot of people talking about on booktube at that time was brain on on fire by Susanna cahalin this is the author's story of developing very rare very difficult to diagnose autoimmune disease in her mid-20s and the symptoms of that disease very closely mimicked losing her mind gripping is word that would also use to describe this book terrifying is another was so fascinated by so many parts of this book especially right toward the end when she's discussing perception versus reality it's really hard for her now that she's well to reconcile what she felt was true during this time in her life with what she knows is true now she was having lot of hallucinations and they felt so real to her so it's really hard to wrap her brain around the fact that those things didn't actually happen this was great I'm really mad at myself that put off reading this for so long but now that have I'm definitely intrigued by her newest book called The Great Pretender if anyone's read that please let me know if you think it's worth worth reading if it is promise will get to it sooner rather than later my friend Jill from the booktube channel the book bully spent really long time longer than she should have had to trying to convince me to read say nothing by Patrick raden Keith this is her favorite non-fiction book so she really wanted me to read it it's the story of missing mother in Ireland and what her disappearance may have had to do with the IRA during the troubles had really high hopes for this one because Jill loves it so intensely and our book tastes normally line up rather nicely and loved Empire of pain it was one of my favorite non-fiction books of last year yes read Empire of pain before read say nothing know don't make any sense but will admit say nothing took little while to win me over wasn't even convinced liked it until really the final third of the book when everything came together could see what he was doing through the entire book and could see why it gets the praise that it does so I'm going to take this as lesson learned if Jill is trying to convince me to read something I'm going to pick it up and in hurry also had people reaching out to me personally like viewers of this channel getting in contact with me trying to convince me to read Know My Name by Chanel Miller and still put off reading it don't know why do this this is the author's story of going through highly publicized court case stemming from her assault on college campus what she had to go through was unimaginable not just the initial attack but then everything she had to deal with from the media from the public and then of course this trial as you're reading through this Memoir it's hard to know what to be the most impressed by because there's her gorgeous writing that just heartbreakingly encapsulates this entire experience but then there's also the immense strength that she displayed during the entire ordeal this is an extraordinary book wish had read it sooner but have no one to blame for that but myself do think know why waited so long to read the radium Girls by Kate Moore though had read this story the story of women who worked as dial painters who painted luminous radioactive paint onto watch faces and then later on faced Health consequences because of their regular exposure to that paint had read that story in two previous books abbreviated versions of that story so guess thought knew the story well enough that didn't need to read an entire book about it as it turned out that was definitely not true because knew pieces of this story from Reading those two previous books but there was so much didn't know including the inspiring stories of how these women thought those companies trying to get their health care costs covered and trying to prevent these companies from being able to do this to women in the future trying to prevent women women in the future from suffering the same fate as them as learned this is worth reading even if you know the story and think also had similar thought about catch and kill by Ronan Farrow which is the journalist's account of investigating the many allegations made against movie producer Harvey Weinstein and all the different tactics that were used to try to kill Ronan farrow's story thought knew this story already because had read she said written by the journalist who broke the story at the New York Times but Pharaoh provides whole new perspective his is fascinating scary and downright infuriating story about abuses of power and how cover-ups can be built into the fabric of Institutions the extent of the corruption is jaw-dropping and while found the book she said was lot more about the stories of the women who were coming forward and think that book is very important because it does that found that this book was lot more about how those women were kept quiet the mechanisms by which they were kept quiet for such long time if could go back and do it all over again would read this book immediately after reading she said because think they would work really well as pair have no idea why took my sweet time getting to this next one in fact my own mother was on my case to finally read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca skloot feel like this is one of those rare non-fiction books that even people who normally dislike nonfiction feel compelled to pick up because just everyone is talking about it of course didn't pick it up when everyone was talking about it didn't pick it up until well after decade after its publication and I'm here to admit it was mistake this is the multi-faceted story of what are known as he lost cells cells that have been used for medical research for decades but they originally belong to woman named Henrietta Lacks in this book we learn about her we learn about her cells we learn about her family we get to see the bond that forms between the author and henrietta's daughter during the process of researching this book it's very complex topic but the author makes it so human and so understandable after finally read it got why it spoke to so many people and then finally the last book on this list is the one that I'm probably the maddest put off reading for so long it's tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed remember hearing about this book on the book Riot podcast nearly decade ago was just getting back into reading after college and remember them speaking about this book remember Rebecca raving about it and it sounded really good just wasn't really in rush to read it but then on whim earlier this year it was during the Spring just felt this desire for some wisdom so finally decided to pick up this book and was absolutely blown away this is collection of advice columns written by Cheryl Strayed playing the character of sugar all the stories that she tells are her own all the advice she gives is genuine it's not as though she's putting on mask but she just takes on the name sugar to give out advice and as she's replying to these people writing into her asking for advice because they're in tough spot in their life she responds with such kindness and such Insight just absolutely loved it know I'm going to return to it again and again and again it's going to be one of my favorites of the year if not of all time and to think could have read this one years ago and had all of these feelings back then I'm really hoping that by assembling this list shaming myself in this way and that by having that realization that tiny beautiful things gave me that new favorite book could be lingering amongst all those books that I'm putting off for no good reason that hopefully can just stop doing this us but would love to hear from you do you find yourself putting off books do you have reason for doing that do you think are they similar to my reasons do you have your own reasons would love to hear all about it in the comment section below all the books that discussed in today's video will be linked for you in the description box below for your clicking convenience if you're on mobile device just tap the title of this video and that will expand for you and at the bottom of that exact same description box you'll see links to everywhere you can find me around the internet like Goodreads and Instagram the two places where I'm the most active in case you would like to keep up with what am reading and writing about right now thank you so much for watching hope you're having wonderful day I'll see you in the next video bye