#NonFicNov25 week 1 Your Year in Nonfiction
Week one (10/27-11/2) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Our hosts this year are:
- Heather @Based OnA TrueStory
- Frances@volatilerune.blog
- Liz@librofulltime.wordpress.com
- Rebekah@She Seeks Nonfiction.
- Deb@Readerbuzz
QUICK SCAN:
- Timeline: my nonfiction year to run from Nov 2024 – Oct 2025.
- 2025 has NOT been a very good reading year.
- My percentage of nonfiction is WAY DOWN (20% vs an average of 54%)
- 2024: (63/115 books) 54% of total reading
- 2025: (24/125 books) 19% of total reading
Biography:
- Making It So – Patrick Stewart (NF) – REVIEW – BEST in category
- Arthur Miller – John Lahr (NF) – REVIEW
- Frans Hals – (2023) – National Gallery London (essays) – REVIEW
- The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh – Penguin Classics – REVIEW
French:
- Avec les Alcooliques Anonymes – J. Kessel – REVIEW
- Reportages en Israel – J. Kessel – REVIEW
- Silence dan les champs – Nicolas Legendre – REVIEW – BEST in category
History:
- Autocracy Inc. – Anne Applebaum –REVIEW
- Shielded – J. Schwartz – REVIEW
- The Dead Hand – D. Hoffman (NF) – REVIEW
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown – REVIEW
- If We Burn – V. Bevins – REVIEW
- Operation Mincemeat – B. Macintyre –REVIEW
- Money: A Story of Humanity – David McWilliams – REVIEW
- The Chairman’s Lounge – Joe Aston (Australian politics)
- Mean Streak – Rick Morton (Australian politics)
- Nuked – Andrew Fowler (Australian politics)
- Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil – Royce Kurmelovs (Australian politics)
- The Winter Road – K. Holden – REVIEW
- Meadow’s Law – Quentin McDermott – REVIEW
- The Holy and the Broken – I. Flescher – REVIEW
- The Great Game On– Geoff Raby –REVIEW
- A Bunker in Kyiv – J. Lyons – REVIEW
- I lost all interest in US politics and the news…everyday it is the same chaos.
- I fled to more fiction, historical fiction and crime fiction!
- I like to read books written by investigative journalists
- …they seem to expose so much that is wrong in our world!
- History books still remain my favourite NF.
- If I can find a good book about an artist or
- …art movement (Impressionism) or a good literary biography (Hesse, Kafka)
- …I’ll put it on my list TBR 2026.
- Best book of the year: Dutch The Burgundians: A Vanished Empire (B. te Loo)
- ….very good and is available in English for all you history buffs.
- Australian October Reading: 4 books Australian Political Book of the Year 2025
- … 5 books nominated for the Australian Walkley Awards.
- French: stopped reading in French since May
- …it takes up too much of my time.
- I read only 3 NF books in French …in 2024 I read 15!
- I am definitely returning to ‘La Douce France” in 2026
- ….reading some of the shortlisted fiction books for the French literary
- …awards of November-December 2025:
- Prix littéraire Le Monde 2025
- En lice pour le Prix Goncourt 2025
- En lice pour le Prix Femina 2025
- En lice pour le Prix Medicis 2025
- En lice pour le Prix Terre de France 2025
- En lice pour le Prix Jean Giono 2025
- Finaliste du Prix Landerneau 2025
- Prix Albert Londres du livre 2025 (Non-fiction)
- Conclusion:
- What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
- Find some reading recommendations from other readers.
- Evaluate my 2025 reading ….I’ve not read as broadly as I usually do.
- Make some changes…in my reading plans.
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NancyElin.blog 
Yikes I’m behind already! I was planning on posting this on the 1st or 2nd of Nov!
Love this time of the year…wrap-up posts, yearly stats and confronting yourself with thoughts of 2026 reading plans! Let’s see your “year in non-fiction” list!
Thanks for sharing Your Year in Nonfiction!
i think we feel so weighed down by the current state of things that we are generally gravitating to less confronting/ contentious themes.
I like to read books written by investigative journalists…they seem to expose so much that is wrong in our world! History books still remain my favourite NF. If I can find a good book about an artist or art movement (Impressionism) or a good literary biography (Hesse, Kafka)…then I’ll put it on my TBR 2026! Thanks for you comment!
I enjoyed Making it So last year. I enjoyed Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee many years ago when I used it to inform a paper that I wrote in high school.
The bio about Patrick Stewart was good…and shows th reader see how much work and effort goes into becoming a Shakespearian actor! Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee…was a difficult book to process because it exposed the very dark side of the USA vs the Indians. Really a must read for every high school student…and of course all Americans. Thanks for your comment, Joy!
I know nothing about Burgundians, but I now feel compelled to find this book and read it.
Those Dukes of Burgundy were real characters…starting with grandfather (the fearless…) the son (…the good) and grandson (…the bold). This is the scope of the book..these guys… with expansionism of Burgundy power, history of the dukedom, marriages, mistresses etc. It was really a fun read..but do make time for it…it is a long book!
I have added it to my wishlist.
The Burgundians does sound good – thank you!
I hope you enjoy it…but do look up the names in Wikipedia as you read. It helps to put a “face” on a name while reading…makes them feel like alive!
I am from Dijon, so this book on the Burgundians is tempting!
They will announce le prix Goncourt tomorrow!
And i see my library has it in audio!
La deuxième sélection du prix Goncourt 2025 : my prediction…Laurent Mauvignier.
Je me suis trompée, aujourd’hui, c’était la 3e liste – j’avais oublié qu’il y avait 3 listes avant le grand gagant.
Bravo, les 4 finalistes sont dans ta liste ! Tu les as tous lus ?
Je n’ai encore lu aucun de ces auteurs. J’ai La Classe de neige de Carrère dans ma PAL, ainsi que Histoires de la Nuit, de Mauvignier.
J’avoue qu’aucun titre de cette liste ne m’attire vraiment.
I want to read all 4 books but will never finish them before the prize announcement. I’ll start one in November and hope to finish the finalists in Spring 2026. Reading French takes me more time! Mauvignier (730 pg) – Appanah (288 pg) – Lamarche (229 pg) and Carrèree (530 pg).
I loved Making It So. We listened to the audiobook and it was narrated by Patrick Stewart. Perfect.
I hope that Patrick Stewart will be remembered as a great stage actor …instead of just a Star Trek character. He is such a talented actor!
I added The Burgundians to my TBR list. (I’ll be reading it in English though.)
If you are a history buff…this is such a good book! Bart van Loo makes a history book read like a novel! I often wonder how harrowing child birth must have been for the women of that era. They were under such pressure to produce an heir and the infants often died within a 1-2 years. Such sorrow and grief that is not often remembered.
I very impressed by your list and your organization. I am also impressed you read award books in French! I attempted to read a middle grade book in French this year and decided it was way too time consuming…it has been too long since my French classes.
Thank you for you kind words….. My French 10 years ago was very low high-school level…and I just sat down one day, with my book (Mme Bovary)and an online dictionary. It took me 3 months to read the book! Whew! So I always say “…if there is a will, there is a way!”
Enjoy Nonfiction November! History books are my favorite nonfiction too.
I hope to improve my percentage NF books in 2026! This year it was only 19% of all my books. So I’m trying to read 1 or 2 NF per month! Thanks for you comment.
That’s quite a selection! Thinking about your readings in French, I should try reading some books in my second language, Spanish. It would be nice to keep my skills up. I’m going to put The Chairman’s Lounge on my wishlist. I do enjoy investigative reporting, and this sounds like a corking good case. I agree with you about Sir Patrick Stewart’s Making it So: it’s the best autobiography I’ve read in a goodly while. Happy reading!
Thanks so much for visiting the blog and commenting on my NF list. I hope to read a wider selection of NF books in 2026 and am busy selecting titles. Sometime you really have to research to find some NF gems!
I’m impressed by your French reading – I have some Spanish chapter books I need to try … still!
Choice for short term is using reading time in English and read quickly as many books possible.
Choice for long term… offer up some of English reading time (…conséquence less books read)… invest some time to kick-start reading in a second language (… in my case French) and gradually as your language skills improve……a whole new library opens up for you! I’m reading many very good French books that will probably never be translated! Start with a children’s book…just to feel what it is like to read and complete a ‘mini book’ in Spanish! Thanks for your comment.
I am impressed that 20% of your reading is nonfiction and it is normally higher than that!! That’s awesome. 14% of mine is nonfiction…and I plan to finish at least 5 more books this year. Happy reading!
I’m making every effort to increase my non-fiction reading, but how? Every year I I fall into 2 categories: history and biography. So I’ve decided to make a list of 20, yes I said 20, sub-genres in NF and connect a book for each. There are so many other NF fields to discover but I have to start now….reading other people’s lists and cherry pick the ones I can use for my 2026 reading list! thanks for your commet!
I love all the data you collect and share. Our reading habits, when shown as numbers and trends, is always fascinating. I really enjoyed Autocracy, Inc. but see where you recommend her other two books over that. I’ll have to look them up. Thanks!
Thanks for visiting my blog! Yes, I think her earlier book “Iron Curtain ” (2013) gave an excellent look at how Russia became what it is today through history. I unfortunately did not read as broadly NF in 2025. I fall quickly for history and biography books. I am creating a NEW NF list with 20 sub-genres…for 2026. So when I discover a book on other blogs ( for example John Green’s book I found on Maphead’s blog) I immediately add it to my list so I’ll be ready to go on 01 January! I must see what you have been reading on your blog!