Nonfiction November discussion

Welcome nonfiction lovers! It's time again to get ready for Nonfiction November. While we do that, let's get acquainted! Tell us where you're joining us from, if you're new to nonfiction or if you're already a nonfiction lover, and where else we can find you online.

If you don't know me, I'm Olive! I'm a booktuber and I've been hosting Nonfiction November since 2015. I'm a longtime lover of nonfiction and it's been a pleasure share my passion for the genre with you all over the years.

I'm obviously on YouTube (my channel name is abookolive) and on Twitter and Instagram @abookolive. I also run the TikTok for the event @NonfictionNovember.

I'm looking forward to talking nonfiction with all of you!

Hi, I’m a nonfiction and fiction reader. I live in rural Minnesota, USA. I’m going to be perusing my nonfiction TBR list to plan my November reading and picking up new book ideas from all of you.📚

Hi, Joanne here and this is my second year joining you. Reside in SE Michigan. Non-fiction is my one of go-to genres, love learning and exploring. I also love HF and Fantasy.

Hi, I´m Ally/Alenka from the Czech Republic!

I tend to read about 4-5 nonfiction books a month, most of those are books about history (which is really my greatest hobby). I am looking forward to the challenges and pairing them up with the books on my TBR.

I can be found on Twitter @AlenkaofBohemia and tumblr as manuscripts-dontburn.tumblr.com .

Also looking forward to all of your recommendations!

Hi! My name is Ashleigh and I’m from Canada. This is my third or fourth time taking part in Nonfiction November and I’m excited to see what books I have to fit the themes.

Hi, I'm Stephanie coming from Las Vegas. I'm going to read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann for Fraud and Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich for Display. If I have time, I'll add Strange Defeat by Marc Bloch for Web (human nature how the French fell so fast in WWII) and The Capital Order by Clara E. Mattei (Austerity and Fascism). Most likely the top two. Looking forward to everyone's picks!

Hello! I’m Jessie and I’m from Canada. I absolutely love reading nonfiction, especially anything related to studying humans, psychology or criminology. I am looking forward to expanding my (ever-growing) TBR with everybody’s recommendations and can’t wait to dig into some great books this November. Happy reading, everyone!

Hi book lovers! I’m Denise and I’m from Pittsburgh Pa. I’m super excited for nonfiction November! I just watched Olive’s video and am getting my TBR ready. I already know I plan on reading Misty Copeland’s latest book. So excited to connect with everyone!

Hello! I'm Rebecca. I love nonfiction, and will probably only get to one or two this month beyond textbooks. I'm crunched for time on account of grad school. I look forward to seeing what everyone reads!

Hello, fellow nonfiction lovers! I'm Ashley - I grew up in the Midwest but currently live on the East Coast. Nonfiction is one of my favorite genres, love a good micro-history book, and I'm also a fan of cozy, British murder/mysteries. I enjoy the recommendations from Olive on her YouTube Channel as well and look forward to hearing everyone else's recommendations too!

Hey ya’ll! This will be my second year participating :) and I actually want to read all 4 picks this year. Last year I got through 1.5 lol! Cheers everyone!

Hello! I am Andrea from Seattle, a socialist feminist journalist and organizer. Looking forward to this immensely! Usually most of what I read is nonfiction, but have had an intense sprint of reading sci fi lately, so I'm looking forward to mixing it up again. Currently reading Ukraine: Voices of Solidarity and Resistance.

Hello! I am Marylou from the Boston area. I read Christian nonfiction, books on art journaling, and books on books, among other things. I always think I don't read much nonfiction till I check out my reading list. Looking forward to Nonfiction November 2023!

Hello! I'm Melinda from Oregon (also on Booktube at A Web of Stories). This is my second year participating in Nonfiction November, but my first year doing the prompts. I have books for 3 prompts, and I need to think more on the 4th. I am also sure that I will read more than 4 nonfiction books next month!

Hello! I'm Katherine from Hilo, Hawaii. I love to read nonfiction, especially history and anthropology. Recently I've been incorporating some science fiction & dystopian works into my reading plans too. Looking forward to seeing what others are reading for Nonfiction November 2023.

Hello everyone :) My name is Raffaella and I'm from Munich (Germany). I'm looking forward to the non-fiction November challenge all year! Since I have a parallel tbr challenge planned for this fall I will try to combine both... Maybe "Entangled life" by Merlin Sheldrake for "web" and "Von Raben und Krähen" by Britta Teckentrup or "Bitch" by Lucy Cook for "display (one's power)" will come into play ;) I'm already very excited about your inspiring ideas! :))

Hi! I’m Nancy, live in Queens NY, am a dedicated reader of nonfiction, and look forward so eagerly to #NonFictionNovember each year that I scarcely sleep the night before the prompts are announced. I’ve already got my TBR of four books—one to match each prompt—and an beginning to gather the books for my B list. This year, I don’t want to leave any of the books unread and, as one of the books I’m considering for my B list is over 1000 pages, I may have to extend this project well into the winter.

Hi everyone — I’m Melissa from Minnesota. I’m planning to dedicate the entire month to non-fiction and plan to read 10-12 books. Hoping to get a solid plan in the next week or so with a combination of books from my TBR and a few new ones based on recommendations. I really enjoy reading books about Russia, Central Asia, and the other post-Soviet states. Travelogues and history are my favorite, followed closely by anything related to food. I’m looking forward to a great month of reading.

Hi I’m Chris I’m living in balmy Minnesota.
I believe one book I will read will be The Dead Duke his Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse by Piu Marie Eatwell. It sounds very detailed.

Hello, I'm Christine from Zaventem (Belgium) and this is the second year I will participate in NF November.

Since as long as I can remember I always loved non-fiction more than fiction but to have some variety in my reading I sprinkle some fantasy and SF here and there. What non-fiction concerns, my favourite topic is Nature but I do read about other topics too.

Hi I am Amber from Omaha, Nebraska. I want to read three or four book during Nonfiction November.

Hi, I'm Kelly. I enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction. I live in the Columbus, Ohio area.

For about a decade, I mainly read non-fiction in the realm of self-help/motivational books, spiritual/new age books, etc. But this year, I discovered and joined the online book community. I've only read fiction books this year, but I want to explore other areas of non-fiction.

So in November, there are some highly anticipated fiction books I want to read before the year is over, but I also want to participate in Non-Fiction November. So, I'm planning on listening to only non-fiction audiobooks via my library app, Libby. Right now, I'm collecting ideas on what I can listen to next month to make my audio TBR list and what's available to me. I'm hoping to get four or five non-fiction audiobooks in next month.

Hi, I’m Katherine aka Kat from Hammond, Louisiana. This will be my first Nonfiction November, and I’m excited to be a part of this community and to participate in the readathon.

Even though I tend to read more fiction, I enjoy reading nonfiction. I’d love to read nonfiction on a more regular basis. The nonfiction books I gravitate towards the most are inspirational, personal development, memoirs, biographies, improv/acting, and writing.

You can find me on YouTube (my channel is Kat’s Novel Adventures), Instagram @katherineloyacano, and Facebook @Katherine Walters Loyacano.

hello! my name is Melissa from Canada. this will be my second nonfiction November :) since joining last year I have found myself reading more non-fiction in general :) looking forward to another non-fiction November!

Hello Everyone! I'm Linda from Virginia. This is my first time participating. I love nonfiction books of all sorts. Right now, I have around 60 nonfiction books in my TBR pile, so I have plenty of books to choose from for Nonfiction November! I'll have fun going through the books and seeing which ones could qualify for this year's challenge words. If you'd like to contact me, I'm on YouTube : @booktalkingwithlibrarylin1924 and I'm on Facebook at LibraryLin.

Hi there, I'm Ron, from Texas.

I am participating for my 4th year. I always look forward to doing these. While I'm a nonfiction reader, my average is around 80% NF for the year. This year out of the 75 books I've read, 62 of them have been in the NF genre.

I read a variety of NF sub-genres, but I especially love Indigenous/Native American nonfiction whether it's history or current issues and current experiences. So I'm really hoping to incorporate some Indigenous themed books for the prompts this year.

I've started planning out my books for the prompts and I'm excited for them. They are certainly a bit more challenging compared to years past, but that's what I'm enjoying about it so far.

Going through the prompts, the one I'm already having a difficult time with is finding books about Fraud or anything related to it.

Most likely I'll end up getting new books for these prompts since going through my personal collection, I don't have much that will fit in terms of them (and I am not a library person at all for a couple of reasons, the main one is that I annotate my NF books). Getting new ones also adds to the fun of it.

I look forward to chatting with you all and hopefully finding new book recs in the process.

Thanks again for doing this, Olive. It's always one of my favorite times of the year.

You can find me either here or on TikTok @ronros4_7 .

Hi, I am Lynette from Hobart, Tasmania (Australia).

About 25% of what I read a year is non-fiction and I mainly read history or science related books.

At the beginning of this year I created a challenge for myself which included to read books about art and also biographies of women written by women so I am trying the combine those topics with November

So far I have pencilled in the following books for next month.


WEB - Broad Band: The Untold History of the Women Who Made the Internet by Claire L Evans

FRAUD - Con/Artist by Tony Tetro. He was an art forger.

DISPLAY - Stealing the Show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts by John Barelli.

A hope to read six non-fiction books in November which is about double what I usually read a month.

Hi everyone, I’m Shannon. This is my first year participating in Nonfiction November. After becoming a big fan of Olive’s You-Tube channel, I’ve been reading more nonfiction and really finding that I love it. Another genre I truly enjoy is Mystery. I hope to read one book a week for Nonfiction November.

hi, I'm kallie from Wisconsin. this is the second year participating on Goodreads but I've been informally participating for years.
I'm not sure what I'll read yet, but I look forward to seeing everyone else's picks.

I’m Penny and back again for another Nonfiction November. I recently gathered my non fiction in preparation and looking forward to working some of them into the four challenge words.

I realized that out of my over 700+ books, I don't have many books that will fit the prompts. I'm trying to improvise, but if not then that's going to mean new books so I'm stoked for that!

Hi! Lyndee here from Minnesota! I'm new to Non-Fiction November. I love to read non-fiction and looking forward to looking through my TBR to see what I should pick.

Hello, I'm Imalah from Pakistan. I have been mostly reading Nonfiction for the past few years, I love Olive's channel and recommendations. My favourites are memoirs, medicine related, investigative journalism and narrative nonfiction.
I plan to read Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family for Capital because the title on the cover is all Capital fonts.
For Display I am thinking of picking up Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage because I really like the Display/cover of the book.
For Fraud I might end up reading some investigative journalism.
I haven't figured out Web yet, lol
Happy reading everyone!

Hello! Another Ashley here, from Ohio USA. I'm back for my second year of Nonfiction November reading and I'm stoked. I've already managed to track down at least one owned-backlog nonfic book for each prompt, and I'm sure I'll find a handful of audiobooks through the library. I also have a few newer finds that I'll probably read without meeting prompts :) Excited, even if the subject matter (or the book itself) is heavy!

I’m Wendy, I’ve been following Olive on YouTube for about a year. I was a bookworm as a child and young adult, but family and internet availability diminished my reading time to the point where I am ashamed of how few books I finish in a year. I love history and memoir, culture and cooking. So this is a good challenge to get off my newsfeed and read books again.

Hi Everyone, Sherri from Virginia. This is my sixth year of participating in Non Fiction November. My favorite month of the year.

Hi! Theresa here from Illinois. Have done this for years, maybe since the beginning. I usually don't do the prompts because it is too much work for me to think that much and, more so, is because I kind of have decided since last November what I needed to get to this year and now is the time.

Hi, I am Ana and this is my first year participating in Non Fiction November. Very much looking forward to reading some good books.

Hi I am Mary from coastal Maine, I like most genres and look forward to nonfiction November.

mary wrote: "Hi I am Mary from coastal Maine, I like most genres and look forward to nonfiction November."

Mary, that is one of my dream destinations.

Hi I'm Rebecca from Western New York. I read mostly murder mysteries and fantasy with the occasional non-fiction thrown in for a throwback to my grad school days. This is my first time participating and I'm planning to start slow with one non-fiction book, hopefully "Ace" by Angela Chen.

Theresa wrote: "mary wrote: "Hi I am Mary from coastal Maine, I like most genres and look forward to nonfiction November."

Mary, that is one of my dream destinations."Acadia national park is beautiful and the rugged coast of Maine is waiting for you

This is my 2nd year joining the challenge. I’m from the Chicago suburbs and am looking forward to picking my books. Gotta get through spooky season first 😀

Hello! My name is Jennifer and I am from Kansas. I read more fiction than nonfiction but I have been really good about reading more nonfiction through out the year this year. I don't have any specific plans so we'll see what I get to.

Hi there! My name is Clancy and I am from Massachusetts- I have participated in Nonfiction November since 2020 and am thrilled to be jumping in this year. Going to have to figure out what I am reading and have them fit the prompts!

Bonjour, je suis Joseph. I live in Eugene, Oregon. Look forward to Nonfiction November. Winter reading is always the best. 🙂🔥🥶📚

I am Bonnie from Texas.

Fall inspires my non-fiction appetite. Maybe I associate the genre with school & learning. Biography & Memoirs are my favorite. TBR’s are not my preference. I am a solid mood reader. Today I started Lucky Man by Michael J Fox.

I am yet another Melissa, and I reside in the greater Wichita, Kansas area but I hail from NJ. Currently I am a very moody mood reader, but I have at least one book off my personal shelves for each of the prompts. This is my second time officially participating in the challenge, but I read a lot of nonfiction all year long.

Hello, my name is Jennie and I'm from Canada. I've been doing my best to participate in Non-fiction November for the past few years. Things get busy at work so I don't usually make it through a fraction of the books I want.

I like a variety of non-fiction genres, but especially history and the occasional celebrity biography. I'm really excited for NFN the year (as always.)

Jennine, what kind of history do you like to read? That's usually my focus too.