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 2 is hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune.

• There are many topics to choose from when looking for a nonfiction book.  For example:  Biography, Autobiography, Memoir, Travel, Health, Politics, History, Religion and Spirituality, Science, Art, Medicine, Gardening, Food, Business, Education, Music. Maybe use this week to  challenge yourself to pick a genre you wouldn’t normally read? Or stick to what you usually like is also fine.
• If you are a nonfiction genre newbie, did your choice encourage you to read more?

We all know by now that I am a nature reader. I very rarely stray outside of this particular sub-genre, though it does happen occasionally! This is purely because non-fiction writing doesn’t make up the bulk of my reading, so when I do choose it, I prioritise the books I have on my shelf or ones that I am reading for professional reasons (I study ecology/botany). This week, I am firmly in my comfort zone purely because I have a few publisher copies to read. As a university student these days, I don’t get a huge amount of time, so they do need to come first.

This week I have been reading:

A Year With Gilbert White by Jenny Uglow. This was sent to me by Faber, and I have been dying to read it since I received it. It’s so beautifully put together, I spend as much time admiring it as I do actually reading the pages!

Gilbert White is regarded as the first ecologist in the UK, and pioneered a new way of studying nature, namely that things don’t need to be killed for science. I’m thrilled to be reading his words and seeing the world through his eyes.

In the spirit of this week’s topic, however, I thought I would share some books that I have on my digital TBR that are not from the nature writing (or adjacent) category. These are quite varied, and ones I hope I can get to next year (2026), when I want to focus a little more on reading non-fiction.

• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
• A Renaissance of Our Own by Rachel E. Cargle
• Magical Realism by Vanessa Angelica Villarreal
• All In Her Head by Elizabet Comen

• The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson
• In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet
• Cultish by Amanda Montell
• With Her Own Hands by Nicole Nehrig

There’s clearly a bias towards books about women here, but that is a topic I am particularly interested in reading more about, especially as a woman myself who has struggled through the UK medical system for the last 8 years. Perhaps next year, when I branch out (I’m manifesting), I’ll feel more inclined to be adventurous and go even further away from my lists!

You Tell Me: What sort of non-fiction do you want to read more of?