I’m so excited to take part in the Non-Fiction November blog event this year! Running for five weeks from Monday, October 27th to Sunday, November 30th, each week participants will discuss different prompts relating to their non-fiction reading.

Week 1 is hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story.

• 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?

So far this year, 15 out of 83 books read have been non-fiction, and I am just about to finish a 16th. This is pretty good for me — more than one per month. I don’t usually read that many, despite it being one of my favourite genres. Next year, I am planning to focus on non-fiction a lot more, so hopefully that number will be higher, and I want to read at least 3 more before the end of 2025.

Nature is Never Silent by Madlen Ziege, Local by Alistair Humphreys, Footprints in the Woods by John Lister-Kaye, The Great Auk by Tim Birkhead.

A Barrister for the Earth by Monica Feria-Tinta, The Draw of the Sea by Wyl Menmuir, Pathfinding by Kerri Andrews, The Lost Folk by Lally MacBeth, Nature Needs You by Hannah Bourne-Taylor.

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton, To Have Or To Hold by Sophie Pavelle, A Training School for Elephants by Sophy Roberts, The Possibility of Tenderness by Jason Allen-Paisant, We Will Not Be Saved Nemonte Nenquimo.

My current read that I will be finishing imminently is Endemic by James Harding-Morris.

If I had to pick favourites they would be:

• We Will Not be Saved by Nemonte Nenquimo
• A Barrister for the Earth by Monica Feria-Tinta
• The Possibility of Tenderness by Jason Allen-Paisant

A topic I would like to read about more is probably the ocean. I read Blue Machine last year, and it was fantastic, and as a plant scientist, I don’t really know that much about the ocean. I don’t really stray outside of nature non-fiction that often, so maybe it would be good to try one or two books from elsewhere in the genre, but I’m not sure I’ll have time for that this year.

As for my non-fiction November wishes? I’d mostly just like to check a few more books off my physical tbr, and read a couple more of the Wainwright books while I’m at it! I’m trying to keep it low pressure this time as I am at university now and have a fair amount of work to do!

You Tell Me: What’s been your favourite non-fiction read of the year so far?