As you might imagine, I almost always have a good size stack of “to-read” nonfiction books. I’m a nonfiction hound, and also get a great ongoing stream of authors asking me to review their books and add them to the LiveTrue Collection. Here are just three making their way to the top of my stack in the coming year:
Sarah Susanka’s, The Not So Big Life: I learned of Susanka’s book in a recent article about “tiny houses.” By tiny, I mean literally. There is a growing “tiny house 
movement,” that as the website states, “Simply put it is a social movement where people are downsizing the space that they live in….Tiny Houses come in all shapes, sizes and forms but they focus on smaller spaces and simplified living.” There is also the “tiny living” concept that is spreading, which includes “micro apartments.”
Susanka is an architect who has also published the home design book, The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live, which has the premise that bigger is not better – when it comes to home design it is more about quality – comfort and beauty – than about size. The Not So Big Life takes the less is more idea to quality of life in general, and how to make room in life for what really matters.
Will Schwalbe’s, The End of Your Life Book Club: I recently ran across a wonderful review of this book by Claudia Burgoa. Here is an excerpt:
“This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to spiritual.
The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout, they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us, astonish us, teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn’t the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying.”
If this is not a LiveTrue book I don’t know what is…
Jody Day’s, Rocking the Life Unexpected: 12 Weeks to Your Plan B for a Meaningful and Fulfiling Life Without Children. Jody is the founder of Gateway Women, and as 
it is described on the Amazon book page, it’s a “global friendship and support network for childless-by-circumstance women.” Jody is childless by circumstance, and Rockin the Life Unexpected is the outgrowth of her own personal journey of what she “learned as she pulled herself from the pit of despair” and “how she found a way to make her life feel meaningful again.”
Jody knows the reality that many women are childfree by choice, yet “many others are childless-by-circumstance and are struggling in a life they didn’t expect and for which there are no roadmaps. Most people think that women without children either ‘couldn’t’ or ‘didn’t want’ to be mothers. The truth is much more complex.”
Indeed. I look forward to learning more about Jody’s journey and her approach to helping women arrive at their “rockin life unexpected.” She and I are acquaintances, I’m already a big fan, and one thing I do know is — this UK gal rocks!
What nonfiction books are on your 2014 list?