Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Announcing Nonfiction November 2025: Save the Date

 




A chill wind blows. For most, fall is about soft sweaters, delectable candles, and pumpkin treats. Here in the book blogging community, it certainly is about all of those things, but there is one most special event in the forecast every autumn. For us, the fall breeze brings Nonfiction November!

Throughout the month of November, bloggers Liz, Frances, Heather,  Rebekah, and Deb invite you to celebrate Nonfiction November with us.



Meet your hosts!

Liz is an ex-librarian, a freelance editor and transcriber, a runner and a volunteer. She blogs about everything from social justice and geology nonfiction to YA romance and literary fiction at Adventures in reading, running and working from home.

Frances Spurrier is a poet, essayist and reviewer.  Her novel The Winchester Codex was published in 2024.  She lives in London with her husband and Suki the Golden Doodle.  Her blog can be found at Volatile Rune.  It covers books she happens to be reading – both fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She especially enjoys biographies of writers and artists.

Heather is a veterinarian living in Ohio who blogs at Based on a True Story. She reads all genres but really loves nonfiction and fantasy.

Rebekah is a designer, crafter, and cat parent living in Pittsburgh, where she writes book reviews and other leftist musings at She Seeks Nonfiction.

Deb is a Texas librarian-for-life who loves to read nonfiction-that-reads-like-fiction, literary fiction, classics, and children’s picture books. Deb plays guitar, swims, draws, writes, thinks about happiness, and blogs at Readerbuzz,


How it works

Each Monday, our weekly host will post our topic prompt and include a linkup where you can link your posts, connect with other bloggers, and dive deeper by reading and sharing nonfiction book reviews. Feel free to use our official Nonfiction November graphics, too! 


Here are the topic prompts for each week:


Week 1 (10/27-11/2) Your Year in Nonfiction: Celebrate your year of nonfiction. What books have you read? What were your favorites? Have you had a favorite topic? Is there a topic you want to read about more?  What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (Heather)


Week 2 (11/3-11/9) Choosing Nonfiction: There are many topics to choose from when looking for a nonfiction book.  For example:  Biography, Autobiography, Memoire, Travel, Health, Politics, History, Religion and Spirituality, Science, Art, Medicine, Gardening, Food, Business, Education, Music.  Maybe use this week to  challenge yourself to pick a genre you wouldn’t normally read?  Or stick to what you usually like is also fine.  If you are a nonfiction genre newbie, did your choice encourage you to read more? (Frances)


Week 3 (11/10-11/16) Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. Maybe it's a historical novel and the real history in a nonfiction version, or a memoir and a novel, or a fiction book you’ve read and you would like recommendations for background reading. Or maybe it’s just two books you feel have a link, whatever they might be. You can be as creative as you like! (Liz)


Week 4 (11/17-11/23) Mind Openers: Nonfiction books are one of the best tools for seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. They allow us to get an idea of the experiences of people of all different ages, races, genders, abilities, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, or even just people with different opinions than ours. Is there a book you read this year from a diverse author, or a book that opened your eyes to a perspective that you hadn’t considered? How did it challenge you to think differently? (Rebekah)


Week 5 (11/24-11/30) New To My TBR:  It's been a month full of amazing nonfiction books! Which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! (Deb)



Are you planning to join us for Nonfiction November?
What is in your stack of possibilities?


Books that Feel Fall-ish

I never get to celebrate fall here along the Texas Gulf Coast. No pumpkins. No cool breezes. Apples? Nope. No pretty fall leaves. Sigh.

Ah, but I can always lose myself in a wonderful fall book.

Some with a fall-ish vibe I've read...





Some I have thought about reading...but haven't read yet...and probably will never read...



Some I have thought about reading, and I will probably read one day...



Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.    

Saturday, September 27, 2025

The Sunday Salon: Hummingbirds, Hummingbirds, Hummingbirds Everywhere!

 

 



I am glad that you joined us here at the 
Sunday SalonWelcome! 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 






Three photos I've taken at my house in the past
as hummingbirds migrated through our area.










What I Read Last Week:

The Book Censor's Library by Bothanya Al-Essa 



The Imagined Life by Andrew Porter



What I'm Reading Now:

Hum by Helen Phillips (fiction)

Endling by Maria Reva (fiction)





What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:








Ah, Benny & Joon. I remember watching this lovely romance way back when. Two quirky people who find each other. I'm not even going to question the ending; let's just hope for the best, right?

This was a fun first selection of Erin (Still Life, with Cracker Crumbs) and Lisa's (Boondock Ramblings) Cozy Comfy Cinema.




Action for Happiness Optimistic October 2025 Calendar







I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:



Good Thing #1:

My friend Karen and I
volunteered as greeters at last weekend's



Good Thing #2:

One of my Texas Master Naturalist
chapter members recorded
these hummingbirds at her feeders
this week.





Good Thing #3:

A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
in my own backyard this week!



Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.


Friday, September 26, 2025

Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

 




Today's Featured Book: 

Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy

by Mary Roach

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: September 16, 2025

Page Count: 288 pages

Summary: 

In Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings. When and how does a person decide they’d be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? 

Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit. Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a “superclean” xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell “hair nursery” in the San Diego tech hub. She talks with researchers and surgeons, amputees and ostomates, printers of kidneys and designers of wearable organs. She spends time in a working iron lung from the 1950s, stays up all night with recovery techs as they disassemble and reassemble a tissue donor, and travels across Mongolia with the cataract surgeons of Orbis International.




 


BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City ReaderWhat book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.


Tycho Brahe's nose came off in 1566...An argument at a gathering at a professor's house...led to a late-night duel of honor....A rapier swipe removed the better part of Brahe's nose, leaving the nasal cavity open to view. For the rest of his life, Brahe used a metal nosepiece, likely brass, painted to patch his complexion and glued in place. Though not very well.






THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 


A healthy disconnected heart will often keep beating on its own for ten or more minutes.







My thoughts:

Mary Roach knows what is fascinating to her, and she's pretty sure what she finds fascinating will be fascinating to us. In Replaceable You, her eighth book of nonfiction, Roach looks at ways humans have replaced, or tried to replace, body parts in the past, and at ways humans are replacing, or attempting to replace, body parts now. 

If you are curious to know more, I will let you that Roach takes a deep dive into replacement of the nose, skin, heart, reproductive parts, legs, breathing apparatus, colon, and hair. She also looks at redistribution of fat and printing out human body parts.


Other Mary Roach books I've read and reviewed:

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War (2016)

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (2021)


Other Mary Roach books that I have not yet read and reviewed:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Spook: Life Tackles the Afterlife

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal





The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer   

September 26th - October 2nd - Do you ever get strange looks from strangers while browsing the book aisle in department stores? What do you think is going through their minds? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

I have never gotten strange looks from strangers while browsing the book aisle in department stores. One would hope that the joy I find in browsing the book aisle would be both apparent and contagious. One would hope. 




Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Books on My Fall 2025 to-Read List


Here are the books I hope arrive for me from the library this fall:

Wreck by Catherine Newman (fiction)
The Imaginary Life by Andrew Porter (fiction)
Endling by Maria Reva (fiction)
Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford (fiction)
We Do Not Part by Han Kang (fiction)

Waco Rising by Kevin Cook (nonfiction)
Replaceable You by Mary Roach (nonfiction)
Dinner with King Tut by Sam Kean (nonfiction)
The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke (nonfiction)
Waste Wars by Alexander Clark (nonfiction)



Here are some I have on hand to read:

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (nonfiction)
The Art of Mindful Baking (nonfiction)
A Season in the Wind by Kenn Kaufman (nonfiction)
The Way It Is by William Stafford (poetry)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (fiction; prep for a play outing this month)
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (fiction; book club)
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (fiction; book club)
Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum (fiction)
A Baker's Year by Tara Jensen (nonfiction0



Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.    

Saturday, September 20, 2025

The Sunday Salon: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, Village School and a Spinybacked Orbweaver

  





Welcome! I am happy that you joined us here at the 
Sunday Salon

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 








I swam almost every day, learned to play Maggie May and Changes on guitar, went to the Galveston Art Walk, and ate lunch with friends at Landry's right on the water in Kemah this week. Even though it was in the 90s all week, I nevertheless made my first pot of soup of autumn, and I baked some Blue Cornbread Muffins.






What I Read Last Week:

Village School by Miss Read (fiction)


The Caretaker by Ron Rash (fiction)




What I'm Reading Now:

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:


Good Thing #1:

My friend Karen contemplates
joining a band of pirates
during the Galveston Art Walk this week.


Good Thing #2:

Madison, the person who cuts both my hair 
and my dad's hair, sent this photo
of her oldest customer (my dad, 98)
and her youngest customer (her baby girl, 5 months old).


Good Thing #3:

Spinybacked Orbweaver,
at my house



Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.