Nonfiction To Be Read List 2023

My reading goal is a little different for this year. In 2023 I made myself a list of books on my to be read list that I want to read in 2023.

I like to occasionally set reading goals, but I do not like super strict reading challenges. I am a mood reader so I like to allow my self room to pick and choose books when I want.

In 2018 and 2019 my reading goal was to read a nonfiction book from every state. In 2021 my goal was to not read any new release books. I only read backlist books.

I loved both those challenges but in 2022 I was ready for a break from reading challenges. In 2022 I just read what I wanted and what I was in the mood for. Which honestly did not make for the best reading year for me.

As I was thinking about my 2023 reading I knew I wanted a reading goal or challenge, but I wanted to allow room for my mood reading. I also wanted to tackle my massive to be read stack. Or let’s be honest. I have to be read shelves to just stacks.

In 2022 I felt decision fatigue when it came to books. At times I was overwhelmed with the books on my shelf and on my Kindle. I would stand there for a long time just trying to find a book to read. I wasted so much time trying to decide what to read.

So for 2023 I went through my bookshelves and prioritized my to be read list. I am came up with seventeen nonfiction books and seventeen fiction books that I really wanted to read. I also came up with a stack of Christian books that I wanted to read this year.

Over all, I came up with about fifty books that I want to read. I usually read about one hundred books a year, so a list of fifty books should be easy to tackle.

By having fifty books in my to be read stack to choose from I can focus on that stack when I want something to read. But it also allows me plenty of space for picking up books that are not in my to be read stack, but that I really want to read.

I think doing it this way will give me a challenge without being too structured.

Normally we only share lists of books that we have read, but we are changing it up a little bit wth this list.

I thought it would be good to share a list of my priority to be read list for 2023 with you and I thought it would be helpful to have a list here for me to easily keep track of.

I made notes next to some of the books on my list if there was a specific reason it is on the list or if someone recommended it to me.

Today I am sharing my nonfiction list. Later this week I will share my fiction list as well and later this month I will share my stack of Christian books that I hope to read.

I hope that you enjoy seeing what is on my to be read list for 2023.

Nonfiction To Be Read List 2023

Update: I did a terrible job of actually making my nonfiction reading goals for 2023. I got so easily distracted this year. I read a lot of great nonfiction, but only three of them where on this list. The titles that I read are bolded. Click on them and it will take you to the full review.

• No Man’s Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During WWI by Wendy Moore – I have read a lot of book on WWII, but not as many on WWI, so I love picking up books about WWI.
• Running with Sherman: How a Rescue Donkey Inspired a Rag-Tag Gang of Runners to Enter the Craziest Race In America by Christopher McDougall- I picked this book up on vacation thinking that I would read it right away, but never got around to it.
• The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts – I picked this up recently at a bookstore because I had never seen it before. It looks like an interesting WWII read.
• The Pope At War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler – This is a recent release that looks like a good read. At over 600 I am going to have to be in the right mood to pick this one up.

• Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope In a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo – This is another one that I picked up at a bookstore, but never got around to reading.
• A Sea Between Us: The True Story Of a Man Who Risked Everything For a Family and Freedom by Yosely Pereira and Billy Ivey
• The Orchard Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean – This is a true crime book that is on a lot of top true crime book lists.
• Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath – This came in my shelf subscription from The Bookshelf Thomasville early last year and I never got around to reading it.
• Behind Nazi Lines: My Father’s Heroic Quest To Save 149 World War II POWS by Andrew Gerow Hodges Jr. and Denise George
• River of Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candace Millard

• Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II by Adam Makos – I read an Adam Makos book last year and loved it. I knew that I wanted to read the rest of his books.
• The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II by Buzz Bissinger
• In Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown by Nathaniel Philbrick – This has been in my tbr stack for a couple of years. I want to read it, but other books always get moved to the top of the stack.
• The Bright and Blinding Sun: A World War II Story of Survival, Love, and Redemption by Marcus Brotherton

• Path By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss – A book about a famous Oklahoman is one I need to read. Read in April.
• The House of Kennedy: The Kennedy’s America’s Royal Family by James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen – I read James Patterson’s memoir last year, but I have never read anything by him. I don’t think his fiction is my type of read, but I would like to give his nonfiction a try.
• Walk In My Combat Boots by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann – Another James Patterson book that I hope to read.

What books are you looking forward to reading this year?