BOOKS: Nonfiction from March

Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure by Amy Kaufman (audiobook 7 h 47 min, read by the author)
I don't watch the Bachelor very much but I do like a lot of reality television so this behind the scenes look at 'a very special episode' tell all is right up my alley. Kaufman is  a fan/journalist who covers The Bachelor. 

If you are a fan of the show, or interested in behind the scenes of television shows, give this one a try. I couldn't tell you any specific juicy details, but they were there. Included are short essays by famous super fans who detail what it is about The Bachelor they like. Also, there is content relating to feminism - does The Bachelor series set back women, or are they empowered by making their decisions? Discuss.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (audiobook, 9 h 52 min, read by Gabra Zackman)

McNamara died in 2016 (Patton Oswalt's wife) and this book, her life's work of research, was partly written by McNamara and partly put together by the editor and her husband. McNamara was obsessed by a particular killer in California and spent years researching. The parts she wrote are very well done and it's too bad that she won't be able to write any more books. Fans of true crime books will want to read this one.

It was full of stories of break-ins and rapes and murders and I managed to freak myself out one night on the way to bed when I thought I heard someone at the door. I froze, did not answer the door, and didn't listen to it late at night any more. I don't usually get spooked like that; I grew up reading Stephen King! 

What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: A Midlife Misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago de Compostela by Jane Christmas  288 pages

While reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, I never felt the desire to walk a long trail, but this one in Spain almost intrigued me. Maybe it was because the author decided to walk it after she turned 50. Or because she (accidentally) organized a group of women to walk with her. Mostly because it is a huge tourist trail, with hostels and accommodations all along the trail and it sounds very relatively civilized.

Most of the story revolves around how a group of women followed Christmas to Spain thinking they were a group and that they were organized. They weren't; they all had different goals and expectations in going. I felt a little bad for them in that the author did not make them sound very good and mocked them a bit (with pseudonyms). So, when did she decide to write the book - before or after the two month hike?  However, the story was good and my book club, a group of 50 something ladies, all enjoyed the book.