Happy Nonfiction November! For many of us, nonfiction can end up on the bottom of our TBR piles. It can be intimidating, especially if you’re in the habit of just reading fiction. Nonfiction November is a great excuse to put those titles back on the top of the pile. Whenever I prioritize nonfiction in my reading, I’m reminded how many beautifully written, thoughtful, and yes, educational books I’ve been putting off.

Today, I’ve put together a list of nonfiction book recommendations that also check off 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks. I went with five of the tasks that could be completed with either nonfiction or fiction, to tempt you to add a few more nonfiction books to your reading plans.

1) Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author.

These are both recommendations from our resident nonfiction expert, Kendra Winchester, on the buzziest nonfiction of 2025:

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy is known for her immersive novels The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Now she’s back with a memoir delving into her complicated relationship with her mother. The memoir is already a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and has been named as one of The New York Times’ Best Book of the Year (So Far). Her mother, Mary, passed away in 2022, and Roy was startled by the depth of her grief. She began to write about her mother “to be able to continue to love her.”

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

From his perspective as an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad argues that while America claims to be the land of the free, its funding of violence in Palestine is one of many examples of America treating others as less than human. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This became a New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the 2025 Palestine Books Awards, and was longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction.

All Access members, read on for nonfiction book recommendations for four more 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks.

4) Read a book about obsession.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Someone can love books too much? It’s not possible, you say! But when it leads to a life of crime, it is true. John Charles Gilkey felt such a need to own rare books, he became one of the most prolific book burglars in the country. It took an equally driven detective to hunt him down and put an end to (sorry not sorry) that chapter in his life. —Liberty Hardy

9) Read a book based solely on its setting.

By necessity, I can’t tell you about these books, so here are some recommendations of nonfiction books based on their settings!

On a tiny rubber raft, adrift on the ocean: A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

Mars (hypothetically): Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

At a women’s prison, through several decades: The Women’s House of Detention by Hugh Ryan

In the deep ocean: How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler

In graveyards around the world: Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell

14) Read a comic in translation.

Us by Sara Soler, translated by Silvia Perea Labayen, letters by Joamette Gill

This graphic memoir follows Sara Soler’s relationship with her partner, Diana, and Diana’s coming out process as a trans woman. Sara originally published this work as a zine (in Spanish), but its popularity brought it more life, even to English translation. The memoir beautifully shows queer love and celebrates finding your true self. —Julia Rittenberg

16) Read a genre-blending book.

Falling Back in Love With Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom

This wise and tender book feels like the sort of thing only Kai Cheng Thom could write. She draws on her experiences as an artist, healer, mediator, and community activist to offer an expansive blueprint for living and loving in a broken world. In letters to old friends, ex-lovers, famous transphobes, and past versions of herself, she explores grief, forgiveness, and grace. Interspersed between the letters are short prompts and exercises intended for the reader. It’s a book that can be read in nearly infinite ways: as self-help, as poetry, as memoir, as spiritual teacher, as all of the above. —Laura Sackton

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