I’m taking part in Nonfiction November which starts today and is hosted by Heather of Based on a True Story, Frances of Volatile Rune, Liz of Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home, Rebekah of She Seeks Nonfiction and Deb of Readerbuzz.
This week, Heather has posted the following questions for us to answer:
Week 1 – Your Year in Nonfiction:
What books have you read?
What were your favorites?
Is there a topic you want to read about more?
What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
I’m not someone who reads a huge amount of nonfiction, but this year I’ve read more of it than usual – seven books so far and I am in the middle of an eighth. Here are the links to my reviews:
1. Britain’s Greatest Private Detective by Nell Darby
2. That Dark Spring by Susannah Stapleton
3. The Crying of the Wind: Ireland by Ithell Colquhoun
4. Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie
5. Masquerade Balls in Regency Britain by Anne Glover
6. The Living Stones: Cornwall by Ithell Colquhoun
7. A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke
These are all either history, true crime, memoirs or travel books, which isn’t very surprising as these are the topics I tend to always be drawn to when it comes to nonfiction. Of these seven books, my favourites are Christie’s Come, Tell Me How You Live, her account of accompanying her archaeologist husband on digs in Syria in the 1930s, and A History of England in 25 Poems, which I found fascinating (and much more of a history book than a poetry anthology).
I’m hoping that taking part in Nonfiction November will encourage me to read more nonfiction and find some new books and authors to add to my nonfiction TBR (which is much, much smaller than my fiction TBR).
Do you like to read nonfiction? Will you be joining in with Nonfiction November this year?
She Reads Novels 
Your favourite NF…are very interesting! Tell Me How You Live and A History of England in 25 Poems. I’d like to read both!
They are both fascinating books.
I may have to put a book by Ithell Colquhoun on my list just because of her name! (Also, they sound interesting.)
Her unusual name is what drew me to those books too.
I’ve read about 8 nonfiction books this year, too, and am hoping to read two more before the end of the year. 😀
I’m happy with this number as I don’t often manage to read this many!
I like the sound of Ithell Colquhoun too. I agree with whatmeread. In fadt pronouncing the name could sound like the crying of the wind i guess if you said it in a ghostly manner! Thanks Helen for taking part in the challenge.
It’s such an unusual name, isn’t it? That’s what attracted me to those two books in the first place!
As you are no doubt aware, non-fiction accounts for around 50% of my reading – so around 40-50 a year at this point. Its mostly History (mostly UK/European/US) but I’m trying to diversify a bit more into things like Science, Philosophy, Politics… Stuff like that.
Yes, I’m always impressed by how many non-fiction books you read as I struggle to read more than a handful a year!
My ‘butterfly mind’ helps – plus I try to pick subjects and authors that I know will interest me. I do hate dry topics but some authors can tell quite a tale even in non-fiction.
I don’t think I knew that Agatha Christie wrote nonfiction. Tell Me How You Live sounds fascinating.
It’s a really interesting book and surprisingly funny too.
I must look for A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke. I’m fascinated with both the history of England and poetry.
I’m not really a big fan of poetry, but I enjoyed that book because it focuses on the historical context behind each poem. I thought it was a really interesting approach.
The masquerade ball books looks interesting.
It was fascinating! I learned a lot from it.
Thanks for sharing your year of nonfiction, I’m interested in That Dark Spring.
Happy Nonfiction November
It’s an interesting book.
I added Come, Tell Me How You Live to my TBR list.
I really enjoyed that one!
Is the Agatha Christie book a memoir? I didn’t know she wrote one. What did you think of it?
https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/nonfiction-november-week-one.html
Yes, it’s her memoir about her time in Syria on archaeological digs with her husband. It’s really interesting and also very funny!
The Agatha Christie book sounds really cool. Enjoy Nonfiction November!
It’s a great book and surprisingly funny!
I also picked up both of Ithell Colquhoun’s books on NetGalley – good to know to read them a little bit at a time (they would have been perfect books for me to read in October actually!)
I hope you like them! They are both fascinating books but I found the writing style a bit hard to focus on, so reading them in small portions worked better for me.
Noted, thanks ☺️
I’m torn between Dame Agatha’s memoir and Britain’s Greatest Private Detective. That will be a hard choice, but I will pick one of them.
I loved Agatha’s memoir – it was fascinating and unexpectedly funny! Britain’s Greatest Private Detective was interesting too.
This is my first year participating in Nonfiction November. I love to read nonfiction, but I read it MUCH slower than fiction. So, I am always in at least one fiction book and one nonfiction book. I think once you find your niche with nonfiction, you want to read more of it. When I was younger I didn’t read much of it at all. Now, I have a greater appreciation for it.
Yes, I read nonfiction slower than fiction too. Like you, I always have a fiction book on the go at the same time otherwise I would probably get bored.
I’m a huge nonfiction fan as I’m sure you know by now – last year I was exactly 50/50 with fiction but I think this year I’ve read too much fiction for it to balance out even with this month being exclusively nonfiction. I hope you enjoy the Month and find some good stuff to read!
Thank you – I’m sure I will! It’s impressive that you reached an exact 50/50 balance last year. I doubt I would ever read that much nonfiction, but I’m gradually reading more and more of it.
I love Nonfiction November! I had not seen A History of England in 25 Poems. Thank you for mentioning it and linking to your review. That one sounds interesting.
I love Nonfiction November too. Yes, that was an interesting book and a fascinating way to combine history and poetry.