178 upvotes, 5 direct replies (showing 5)
View submission: Best Books of 2024 MEGATHREAD
as someone who mostly reads nonfiction, it seems a bit strange that there's literally only one category for that when fiction has so many specific ones. even looking at what's been nominated already there's quite a bit of variety. obv this year is already set, but it'd be nice to see a bit more differentiation next year. at the very least, i'd strongly suggest splitting 'biographies & memoirs' into their own category.
Comment by [deleted] at 15/12/2024 at 18:42 UTC
53 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I agree! Memoirs should absolutely be a category beyond nonfiction!
Comment by speech-geek at 17/12/2024 at 17:32 UTC
10 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I was going through the replies and remembered that the best nonfiction book I read was a sports biography. Nonfiction definitely is getting shafted here, there’s just as many sub categories as fiction.
Comment by DantesValjean at 15/12/2024 at 17:53 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Seconded
Comment by Merle8888 at 05/01/2025 at 06:05 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’d say history, science, and memoirs, at least, should all be separate, with a catch-all for other nonfiction that doesn’t fit those categories.
I am inclined personally to separate biographies from memoirs because a biography is real nonfiction, based on research, whereas a memoir is based on memory and often tends to be more creative—certainly authors are meant to only include things they believe to be true, but it’s filtered through their own (limited) perspective and (fallible) memory, and we often accept things like dialogue in memoirs that we know can only be an approximation.
Comment by Jessrynn at 25/12/2024 at 04:04 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Agreed. I was just coming down here to say this.