Somewhere in the middle of my neverending nonfiction reading slump I gave a presentation (for the Outagamie Waupaca Library System continuing education program--thanks again for hiring me!) on nonfiction trends in 2012.
As I told the attendees, it was somewhat hilarious for me to be giving a talk on trends. Me and any kind of "trends" are rarely in the same room together. I've never particularly cared what the "it" books of each season are (I do, but more out of professional curiosity than out of a burning desire to read them myself) and I'm definitely not up on fashion trends. I put on a "work outfit" to give the presentation--it was given through web meeting software, and no one could see me, but I find it gives a little "oomph" to your presentation to be dressed professionally (or as "professionally" as I can manage)--and the sweater I was wearing was about fifteen years old. Pathetic. But I was happy to be speaking on a new topic--a topic about newness, if you will, so I read what I could and researched what I could to try and suss out some nonfiction trends of the coming year.
While researching the trends, I threw together a quick spreadsheet of nonfiction titles that will be coming out this year. I entered the authors and titles, the month they're coming out, and then assigned some quick-n-dirty genre headings. You can download that spreadsheet yourself; it can be sorted alphabetically by author or title, by genre (which is how it's sorted now), or by release month. All week I'll be talking about what I learned putting that spreadsheet together, so buckle your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy trends ride.
"Anniversaries"
1912 - The Titanic (both fiction and NF)
1812 - The War of
1862 - Battle of Shiloh
WWII - the gift that just keeps on giving to readers (if I may put it that way)
Citizen activism/uprising/revolution, both now and in the past
Posted by: Sarah | 06 February 2012 at 12:25 PM
Wow, what a fantastic spreadsheet! Thanks for sharing, I'm so excited to scroll through it and find even more books to read.
Posted by: Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness) | 06 February 2012 at 02:17 PM
Thanks, Sarah-
Excellent points, all. I think there's already 3 books out about the Titanic, and several on Queen Elizabeth (for her 60th jubilee).
Ah, WWII. Everyone's favorite subject...but not mine.
Thanks for adding those!
Kim:
Wow, I wish I felt that way about it. Mainly this list depresses me because I can find about two titles (out of 300+) that sound borderline interesting!
Hope you find something you like, though.
I should also note the spreadsheet only goes up through about August at this point. If I update it I'll re-post.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 06 February 2012 at 02:28 PM
My grandma has a house in Waupaca. So does Norman Bates.
Posted by: lesbrarian | 06 February 2012 at 04:45 PM
Hey Lesbrarian,
Yay Waupaca! Although, not yay for Norman Bates.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 06 February 2012 at 10:02 PM
Lots of memoirs - probably too many for library budgets. Many will be forgotten pretty fast. The problem is knowing which ones to buy. I often seem to guess wrongly.
Posted by: rick | 06 February 2012 at 10:17 PM
Also fiction about the Titanic - I've noticed that trend of both.
Somehow the War of 1812 doesn't seem to grab the popular imagination in quite the same way.
Posted by: Sarah | 07 February 2012 at 01:01 PM
This sounds fun - I look forward to your posts much more than glancing at the list.
I am already tired of hearing my husband say "The boat sank, people" when the Titanic comes up on a commercial or in conversation... ugh.
I did a huge paper in HS on the War of 1812 so I just might be curious to read anything 'new'.
Posted by: Care | 08 February 2012 at 07:18 AM