Nonfiction November Week 4: Nonfiction that Reads Like Fiction

Nonfiction November theme for this week is nonfiction that reads like fiction. You can see what others chose over at What's Nonfiction?

Week 4: (Nov. 19 to 23) – Reads Like Fiction (Rennie @ What’s Nonfiction): Nonfiction books often get praised for how they stack up to fiction. Does it matter to you whether nonfiction reads like a novel? If it does, what gives it that fiction-like feeling? Does it depend on the topic, the writing, the use of certain literary elements and techniques? What are your favorite nonfiction recommendations that read like fiction? And if your nonfiction picks could never be mistaken for novels, what do you love about the differences?

This was an interesting prompt. I love a well written nonfiction book that feels like fiction. This can be a tricky thing for authors to pull off though. I want it to be very fact based without a lot of assumptions from the author. A book that fits this prompt is one that I read just this month.

Our history book club pick, Never Caught: The Washington's Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, read very much like fiction. The author did a wonderful job of bringing the story to life. This was a difficult thing to do as so little was recorded about Ona.

Drawing from newspaper ads, interviews and customs of the time, Dunbar did a really good job of fleshing out Ona's world. This isn't a story that I had ever heard before. After reading this, my thoughts on the Washington's have definitely changed.