2023: My Year in Nonfiction

Though doing these lists is a lot of work, I value the opportunity to look back and reflect on my year’s reading. Everything has a role to play, not just my favorites, and it’s interesting to see the patterns that evolve as I read my way along.

This year I made a conscious effort to read spiritual memoirs in several categories. I’m glad that some other readers (notably Lisa and Deb) joined in and found the Spiritual Memoir challenge valuable as well, but I’ve decided not to run it next year. I find that I’ve begun to see every memoir as a spiritual memoir, even if not deliberately presented as such, for every personal story is a story of the human spirit. In the future I’d like to do some kind of project focused on spirituality, especially reading sacred texts from various traditions, but I’m not sure yet what form that will take.

In the meantime, as you can see, I have read a lot of books on spirituality as well as a ton of memoirs! Some of these were assignments for my Spiritual Direction training, but even without that I’m sure I’d always continue to explore this field. Psychology is a related topic in my view, for soul and spirit are intimately connected (though not the same).

Moving in a more outward direction, I also enjoyed some excellent books of history and biography, and a few more medically-oriented ones. However, I feel as though my nonfiction reading is rather one-sided, so I’d like to make an effort to change that. In 2024 I’m going to join the Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae of Book’d Out. I hope this will help me to branch out into some new categories, such as Transportation, The Future, and Architecture.

I am not complaining; it’s been another amazing year of nonfiction reading! You can see my Nonfiction November posts for more details, too:

My Year in NonfictionChoosing NonfictionBook PairingNew to my TBR

I hope you’ll let me know what your outstanding nonfiction reads have been this year. I’ve highlighted one standout in each category, although there were many others that I enjoyed. See the links to my StoryGraph reviews or blog posts for more on each book.

Spiritual Memoir Challenge Autobiography of a Yogi Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior Pilgrimage to Eternity In the Land of Invisible Women My Broken Language The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Salt Path , plus The Wild Silence and Landlines Spare Faitheist I’ve Seen the End of You Devotion Other Memoirs Welcome To My Country The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me My Side of the River Nervous Run Towards the Danger The Crosswicks Journals Drinking: A Love Story Slow Motion Hourglass Inheritance How to Catch a Mole Everything Is Fine Spirituality The Gift of Being Yourself Life of the Beloved The Road Back to You The Return of the Prodigal Son Human Being and Becoming Daring Greatly Bio-Spirituality Discernment Sacred Conversation Psychology and Brain Science Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You Emotional Inheritance Grandchildren of Alcoholics Dopamine Nation Healing Your Family History Medicine After Life After Life Heart: A History History and Biography The Woman They Could Not Silence A Century of Wisdom Forget the Alamo The Black Count Killers of the Flower Moon Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes One Hundred Saturdays Reading the Theatre Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers Judi Dench: And Furthermore… Writing The Art of Creative Nonfiction