2025 in Books: Nonfiction

I have read 46 nonfiction and 41 fiction books this year. I also read 15 youth fiction, ranging from early chapter books to later teen books, at least in part to determine if I could recommend them to others. I also read 74 picture books to the homeschool room kids (and a few more to other kids that didn't get recorded). It was a good year for reading. I think that next year I will try for more nonfiction. The challenge there is that they are deeper books and take more time to read and process, while fiction are easier and usually faster to read.

My favourite nonfiction books read in 2025 are:

Biography/Memoir/Autobiography:

• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson 
• Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose (if you only read one memoir on this list, read this one)
• The Watchmaker's Daughter by Larry Loftis (about Corrie Ten Boom)
• 84 Charing Cross Road and The Dutchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff 
• Gifted Hands by Ben Carson 
• Slow Noodles by Chantha Nguan
• Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar with Derick Dillard and Craig Vorlase
• Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou
• How to Feed a Dictator by Witold Szablowski, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (the lives of several dictators as seen primarily through their cooks)
• Reading the OED by Ammon Shea (seriously: he ready the entire many-volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary)
• From Jerusalem to Irain Jaya by Ruth A. Tucker (this is a history of missions with many short biographies)

Theology:

• Growing Your Faith by Jerry Bridges (I've read it before, but Jerry Bridges is always worth a re-read)
• Isaiah's Great Light by Kyle Swanson
• None Else by Joel Beeke and Brian Cosby (about God's character and attributes; I should pull it out as I start working on Sunday School lessons about God the Father)
• The Good Portion: Scripture by Keri Folmar
• Dear Titus edited by Nate Pickowicz (Pastor James wrote one of the chapters)
• Unmet Expectations by Lisa Hughes
• An Ark for All God's Noahs by Thomas Brooks (full title: "An Ark for All God's Noahs: In a Gloomy, Stormy Day, or, The Best Wine Reserved Till Last: or, The Transcendent Excellency of a Believer's Portion Above All Earthly Portions Whatsoever")
• Personal Declension by Octavius Winslow
• The Blessing of Humility by Jerry Bridges (I hadn't read this one before and I'm glad I did)

Spies (Technically this could be a subset of Biography/Memoir/Autobiography, but I like them as their own category.):

• Book and Dagger by Elyse Graham (WWII librarian and scholar spies)
• A Man Called Intrepid by William Stevenson (WWII spies)
• Spy Dust by Antonio and Jonna Mendez (Cold War spies)
• The Princess Spy by Larry Loftis (WWII and a bit into the Cold War)

Other:

• Do More Better by Tim Challies (I probably could have put it under theology, but it's also productivity for the glory of God and the good of others, and I found it helpful for organizing my responsibilities)
• Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Victorian Writers Then and Now by Thomas Finch