2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

 

                                                                                   

                                                                            

This is the signup post for Shelleyrae's 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. Check out the announcement post on her blog, Book'd Out, for details.  You do not need a blog to participate. Official hashtag: #ReadNonFicChal

The aim of the Nonfiction Reader challenge is to encourage you to make nonfiction part of your reading experience during the year. 

The challenge has various goal levels.  I'm opting for Nonfiction grazer.  This goal lets you set your own goal. I will be reading and reviewing nonfiction throughout the year.  

I'm super excited about this challenge,  I haven't read as much nonfiction in  2025 as I like. Plus,  this will give the opportunity to start writing and posting more reviews on my blog again.  As stated  at the beginning of this post you don't have to have a blog to join.  But I would love to hear if anyone else  is joining and what books are you thinking about reading? 

Book Review: The Royal Art of Poison by Eleanor Herman

 

 

I would first like to thank  Clare and Netgalley  for letting me apart of the ” The Royal Art of Poison”  blog tour.  The title of this book in just a few words sets the tone perfectly about what this book is going to about.  Not only do we get a good dose of history about Royals,  but we also get deadly medical practices,  murderous intrigues, and deadly poisons as well.  think this book more than anything gave me a major wake up call.  After reading this I was grateful  that I lived in this time period and not back in the past.  One of the things I found interesting about this book,  was when Herman was talking about Castles. Unlike today,  most of the palaces back then didn’t have proper sewage running through them. So most of the time courtiers would find a secluded spot and urinate and defecate in different parts of the castle (i.e. palace staircase).  It was just not people,  but animal feces could be seen around the castle and grounds as well. It had gotten so bad in the court of Henry VIII that he had to crack down and put up a sign banning people from urinating and defecating in the Palace and on Palace grounds.

 

 

 

Another intriguing topic that was discussed in this book was cosmetics.  Women were literally killing themselves all in the name of beauty.  Well known historical figures like,  Queen Elizabeth I is well known for the cosmetics she wore. After suffering a bout of smallpox,  she started to apply deadly toxins to her skin in order to cover the pox marks.  Some of these toxins consisted of mercury and human fat that they got from prisoner that they just executed. It was said that Elizabeth suffered from depressions and dark moods towards the end of her life.  Could these toxins have contributed to her mood swings and her ultimate death?  Another interesting fact is that Elizabeth I didn’t want to be embalmed,  due to how the embalmers treated the body.  She wanted her body to be washed,  dressed, and covered with sweet smelling spices.  Elizabeth  really enjoyed this book. These orders were ignored because they were late in burying because they were waiting on James I.

 

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was very well written. I thought this book was very informative, and it made me want to study more on certain historical figures. Eleanor Herman has a way of making history fun.  I was not bored at all with this story.  I would highly recommend this book who is interested in royalty, history,  poisons,  and murder/mystery sort of thing. Please pick this book at your library or bookstores today !!!





Book Review : The Road to Camelot by Thomas Oliphant & Curtis Wilkie

 

My Review

 

 

The Road to Camelot  gives an in-depth account of JFK’s  five year campaign. I first found out about this book through Amazon. I was looking at the new releases and upcoming releases and then I spied.

 

I was super excited because this is not the first book I have read on Kennedy’s campaign. The last book that I read was the “Irish Brotherhood by Helen O’Donnell, which I enjoyed a lot.

 

I think that I was being unfair to this books because I was having expectations for it that it couldn’t possibly meet.  I wanted this book to be more like the  Irish Brotherhood.  But after thinking about it I am glad that it’s not.

 

The Road to Camelot  was well written and very detailed, which I liked. I have to admit that it took me longer to get through this and absorb the information. I do recommend that if you get this book plan on trying to re-read it again.

 

The book gives a fair account of JFK. This book covers the five years of his campaign.

 

 I get the sense that they admired him and his accomplishments but they were not afraid to point out some of his faults either.  Like his  extramarital affairs that could  and sometimes did put his campaign at risk.

 

The writers wanted to debunk the myth that the only reason JFK ran for President was due to his father. Which was not totally true,  it sounds like that JFK would listen to his father,  but if he disagreed with him then he would go and do his own thing regardless if Joe approved or not.

 

The main thing I liked about this book was that we got more detailed account on certain events.

Like the events that took place during the 1956 Democratic convention.  Which Kennedy was setting his sites on the VP position,  but things fell through with that and it was during this time that Kennedy decided that he was going to run for President himself.

 

I can’t help but wonder how things would be different had Kennedy had gotten the VP Position with Adlai Stevenson.

I also liked how they covered Johnson in this as well.  We see him from the perspective of the Kennedy Camp and then we see the Kennedy camp from Johnson and his  supporters viewpoints.

 

Which I loved,  because it gives a broader view. Plus it don’t make it seem like the writers are bias to one side.

 

I highly recommend this book if you’re interested in reading about the Kennedy campaign.  I also recommend the Irish Brotherhood by Helen O’Donnell as well.

 



Book Review: Diana: In Search for herself by Sally Bedell Smith

 

 

My thoughts

 

I have been wanting to read a good book on Princess Diana as of late. I have been hearing a lot of good things from other people about Sally Bedell Smith. Apparently, quote on quote, she is the go to when it comes to the Windsor’s.

 

I been wanting to her books on Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth. So I decided to read her book on Diana and work my down to her other books. I was very disappointed in this book.

This book is very pro-Royalist. This book was more vilifying Diana rather than trying to psychoanalyze her.

 

Diana comes off as so mentally ill and conniving that it’s over the top. I’m not one of these people that think that Diana can do no wrong, but this portrayal of her was disgusting. Charles of course comes out smelling like roses.

 

You can’t tell me that a man who was cheating both emotionally and physically throughout their marriage was fighting hard to stay together.

 

The moment that Charles told Diana on the day of their marriage that he didn’t love her, and basically that he was doing it out of duty, the marriage was over. Bedell Smith wonders why Diana was so resentful to him? What woman in her right mind wouldn’t be. Bedell Smith of course blames the ending of the marriage on Diana’s “ mental illness”.

 

Meanwhile excusing Charles of his behavior. Stating that he didn’t start having a physical relationship with Camilla until he and Diana started to lead separate lives from each other, which I don’t believe at all. But he was clearly having an emotional affair with her.

Which is just as bad.

 

Bedell smith touches briefly on Charles/Camilla, but takes time to go through in great detail of all Diana’s affairs. By the end of this Diana comes out looking like she is not only  crazy,  but she is sleeping with everyone and his brother.

 

The constant contradictions in this book was driving me up the wall. And to self-diagnose Diana as having Borderline personality based on interviews from unnamed sources, tabloid articles, and interviews with friends that Bedell smith admitted that one time or another Diana had fallings out with is ridiculous.

 

She did use interviews with Diana herself, it’s presumptuous of Bedell Smith to give diagnose to Diana when she herself is not a medical professional. And from what I understand Bedell Smith met

 

Diana once and she barely spoke two words to her.

I’m guessing that Diana was getting bad vibes off her. And from this book she was right.

 

The irony of this is that this portrait was not based on any evidence. Just hearsay and gossip. Relying on people who had their own agenda. 

 As I pointed out earlier,  she did use interviews from Diana,   but it doesn’t take much to twist someone’s words in order to fit your own agenda.

 

If you’re looking for an unbiased account on Princess Diana this is not the book for you. I'm not counting Bedell-Smith out totally, I get that authors have hit and misses when it comes to books. So I'm going to continue with her other books on Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth.