Non-Fiction Five Challenge Wrap-Up

One of my New Year's reading resolutions this year was to read more non-fiction. So, when Joy announced the start of a Non-fiction five challenge over at Thoughts of Joy, I enthusiastically jumped right in.

I managed to complete the challenge, but am still dismally behind in my goal of having 25% of my total books read in 2007 consist of non-fiction books. I'm currently at 18% with 11 books, a little bit better than last year.

A big thanks to Joy for hosting this challenge! It was great to see what other people were reading, and I have definitely added some more books to my TBR list through this challenge.

My finished challenge books are:

• Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
• Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi
• The Birth Partner - Penny Simkin
• Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin
• Human Cargo - Caroline Moorehead

All but one of these books were on my original challenge list. I substituted The Birth Partner in for Birthing from Within, which was proving difficult to obtain from the library.

The best book: I liked most of these books. The Birth Partner probably ranks as my favorite, because out of all the pregnancy books I have read or skimmed, this by far seems to be the most helpful to me in preparing for an unmedicated, midwife-assisted birth. I also really enjoyed Human Cargo.
What book could I have done without: Nickel and Dimed was so-so. I don't necessasrily regret reading it, but it definitely did not live up to its hype.

Any new authors? Each of these authors are new to me!

What did you learn -- about anything -- through this challenge? This challenge helped to cement my newly-found desire to read more non-fiction. I have added quite a few non-fic books, on many different subjects, to my TBR list. What's up next, you ask? After finishing with some breastfeeding and parenting books (this pregnancy is really eating into my non-fiction reading!), I hope to check out Climbing the Mango Trees by Madhur Jaffrey; Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser; Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz; or The Colony by John Tayman.