Nonfiction November 2025 Results

 

What I Read in November!

Original Selections for 2025

I am very pleased with my results for this year's Nonfiction November reading challenge. I chose nothing but memoirs, and managed to read seven of the ten selections. I gave up on one and ran out of time for the last two, but overall it was a great month of reading. Click on the links for my reviews.

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (4/5)

Safekeeping: Some True Stories From a Life by Abigail Thomas (3.5/5)

Altitude Adjustment: A Quest for Love, Home, and Meaning in the Tetons by Mary Beth Baptiste (3.5/5)

The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French Gates (4.5/5)

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (4.5/5)

I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell (4.5/5)

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett (3/5)

One of the nice things about this challenge is that I get to discover a lot of nonfiction books that appeal to me. Here are a few that I've added to my TBR list:

Discovered on Musings of a Literary Wanderer 

(Angela)

Discovered on Books are My Favorite and Best

(Kate)

Discovered on Books Are My Favorite and Best

(Kate)

Discovered on Musings of a Literary Wanderer 

(Angela)

Discovered on Turn the Page

(Tina)

Discovered on Readerbuzz

(Deb)

Nonfiction November 2025: My Year in Nonfiction

 

Week 1 (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? (Hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story.)

I haven't read very many works of nonfiction this year* since I usually like to save them for this reading challenge. Of the six that I've read thus far, my favorites are The Backyard Bird Chronicles and Keep Moving. My favorite topic is memoir/biography, which is my focus for the month. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts/reviews, and adding more titles to my TBR list.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (4/5)

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (3.5/5)

Keep Moving by Maggie Smith (4/5)

There Was an Old Woman by Andrea Carlisle (3/5)

I've Tried Being Nice by Ann Leary (3.5/5)

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten (4/5)

*I've noticed in other bloggers posts that they are sharing all the nonfiction titles they read since last year's Nonfiction November challenge. My books from that challenge are below:

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain (2/5)

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (5/5)

The Brave In-Between: Notes From the Last Room by Amy Low (4/5)

Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron (5/5)

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston (3.5/5)

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (2/5) 

All links take you to my reviews.

Nonfiction November 2025

 

Nonfiction November is one of my favorite blogging challenges. While I rarely participate in the weekly prompts, I love spending an entire month reading nothing but nonfiction. For me, this year looks to be the year of memoirs. You can learn more about this challenge here. 

I've been saving these books for the better part of a year and I'm excited to finally get to them. Have you read any of them? Which should I start with?

Click here for my previous Nonfiction November posts.