Calling all non-fiction leisure readers! Want to find new reads but not sure what to ask for? Check this non-fiction genre map out for new ways to think about non-fiction.
This area of the non-fiction map is sometimes referred to as “utilitarian non-fiction”…the kind of book you go to for answers to a specific question. How do I fix my car? How do I sew curtains? What’s the recipe for beurre blanc? How do I improve my finances, find inner peace, travel to Bolivia, build a deck, practice calculus, write a resume, start a garden, train for a marathon, inter alia, ad nauseam, ad infinitum. But many readers enjoy these books as recreational reading as well. Cooking enthusiasts (of which This Librarian is one) may enjoy curling up with a good cookbook; collectors may pore over the latest catalog of their favorite collectible; Car Guys may leaf nostalgically through repair manuals; fitness buffs will snatch up (or clean and jerk) the latest exercises guides. These books are generally not narrative in pacing or tone (although there is the occasional narrative-reference hybrid). Readers of other information-heavy subgenres like Facts or History may crossover into this subgenre in subjects that interest them, but mostly, this is a subgenre to which readers are drawn by content more than form or tone.
Here are some examples of new books in the How-To/Reference sub-genres…click on each sub-genre for a link to our catalog
