A Mourner’s Bestiary by Eiren Caffall: I was a bit reluctant to start this one because I worried it would be too much for my climate anxiety, but it ended up being my favorite nonfiction book of the year. The author weaves together a memoir about her experience of hereditary kidney disease with the lives of various creatures populating endangered coastal ecosystems. This is a really beautiful book about the grief of living in a damaged body and a damaged world that is also ultimately a story of hope and survival.
I also really enjoyed:
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations Long Struggle for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle
Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
Challenger: A True Story of Disaster and Heroism on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna
And an honorable mention goes to Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac for being way too relevant to the current political dystopia we find ourselves facing in 2025.
Rogue Readers' Advisory 