Choosing Nonfiction – Nonfiction November 2025week 2

Week two is hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune. The subject is how you choose the NF books you read. I could almost just copy and paste my post from last year as I don’t think much has changed in the way I do this.

My favourite genres remain the same:

Memoirs from actors, musicians, artists, writers, journalists and others working in the arts or media that I like or are interested in their work. More often alive rather than dead too.
Medical books, be they memoirs, history or health-related.
Popular Science – virtually any topic – from astronomy to quantum physics, botany to the ocean deeps, Marie Curie to fireworks, plus the environment and ecology.
The 1960s and 1970s – the decades I grew up in. Anything relating to social history, rock’n’roll, TV and movies etc. esp if relating to South London.
Books about books – any kind!

However, is it me, or are medical and popular science titles less in vogue, or less visible, now than they were? A few years ago, I was devouring many medical memoirs – this year, just Gabriel Weston’s latest, Alive, and only The Future of Gardens by Mark Lane ticks the popular science box. Whereas the market for self-help books of all varieties has exploded – not a genre I venture into often if at all.

So it seems I’ll stick with arts and media memoirs for now – and I’m very happy with that. And next on my list is Vagabond by Tim Curry which has an amazing cover photo.

More memoirs on the pile: