Your November Printable is here!

Nonfiction I never stop thinking about

I very much enjoy putting together these themed printables for you. I hope to create a new one each month to send out to paid subscribers. If there’s a specific subgenre or seasonal vibe you’re looking for, let me know!

On a recent road trip, my husband and I listened to John Mulaney’s latest stand-up special, Baby J, and I thought, “I should really watch more comedy specials!” When I do watch them, which is rare, I LOVE figuring out the comic’s unique storytelling pattern and picking up threads they might bring up in a later story or joke. Of course, I love to laugh, too—but it’s the storytelling that sucks me in.

Y’all. This is the same reason I love humorous memoirs! And essay collections! I follow the same brain exercises when reading personal nonfiction as I do when “reading” a stand-up special. And yet, I only read three to five memoirs a year.

I also enjoy documentaries, although I almost never watch them (I think the last one I watched was Shania Twain: Not Just A Girl on Neflix in 2022). Documentaries are biographies, memoirs, or investigative journalism! Why am I not reading and watching more of these genres when I know how much I like them?

I don’t have an answer, but I do have a collection of nonfiction books ranging from hardcore investigations to light-hearted essay collections to share with you today. Each book on this list has stuck with me, and while some of these reads hit it big and made the awards lists or celebrity book clubs, there are a few hidden gems here, too. I hope you find something to read for Nonfiction November or a holiday gift for the nonfiction lover in your life (we all have one!).