My Favorite Non-Fiction Books

10 of my favorite non-fiction reads - Christian, memoir, health, & self-help

Caroline Williams

Jan 28, 2025

These are 10 of my favorite non-fiction books I have ever read.

From Christian and health to memoirs and self-help, I think there is something here you will enjoy as much as I did.

Christian

Abba’s Child by Brennan Manning: This book is all about knowing God in a more intimate and personal way and in doing so, being able to know and live in your true identity in Christ. Manning explores the idea of not being a “false self” with anyone but especially not with God - you can bring him all the emotions, even and especially the negative, more messy ones. After I read this book in college, I started buying up any copies I saw so I could gift it to all of my friends. That’s how much it impacted me!
- The Ragamuffin Gospel and The Importance of Being Foolish are also excellent books by Manning! I would love to read more by him.
Quotes from Abba’s Child:
“The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi.”
“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.”
The Gospel Comes With a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield: This book explores a biblical view of hospitality and how it must be a part of who we are as Christians. She discusses this topic through the lens of her own story of how hospitality brought her to Jesus and how she continued it in her own family.
Quotes from The Gospel Comes With a House Key:
“Those who live out radically ordinary hospitality see their homes not as theirs at all but as God’s gift to use for the furtherance of his kingdom. They open doors, they seek out the under privileged. They know that the gospel comes with a house key.”
“Living out radically ordinary hospitality leaves us with plenty to share because we intentionally live below our means.”
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer: In this book, JMC talks about the state of our world and how we got to be so hurried - including a history of both speed and light. He also details practices to un-hurry your life, including silence & solitude, sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. If you have never read a JMC book before, I think this is a great one to start with! It is super practical, and his writing style is incredibly conversational and easy to understand, while also packing a ton of truth.
- All of John Mark Comer’s books are amazing! My second by him would probably be Garden City; however, I am also in the middle of reading God Has a Name, and it is so good!
Quotes from The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry:
“To restate: love, joy, and peace are at the heart of all Jesus is trying to grow in the soil of your life. And all three are incompatible with hurry.”
“Because what you give your attention to is the person you become. Put another way: the mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to.”
The Power of Place by Daniel Grothe: This book looks through a biblical lens on where we live, if we stay or go, and how we relate to our community. Grothe details what God really intended for human home and community to look like and how we can restore some of that, even in today’s incredibly mobile society.
Quotes from The Power of Place:
“But what if there are necessary and voluntary limits we must submit ourselves to in order to experience home?”
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Health

In the Flo by Alisa Vitti: This book teaches women all about their cycle and how to be more in tune with their body. If you are looking for a practical and detailed guide on how to start cycle syncing your workouts, foods, and even your time, this book is for you!
Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler: This book dives even deeper into how to be in tune with your body as a woman. It teaches women to read their body’s natural signs of fertility and if they want, use those signs as a form of natural birth control - which includes teaching you to chart your cycle. It does look like a textbook, so don’t be intimidated or feel like you have to read the whole thing! You could always just start with the chapters that feel most useful in that moment.

Self-Help

The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington: This book gave me the idea to have quarterly goals instead of just annual ones, allowing me to really focus on one thing at a time. It gives you practical ways to do this, or you can read it more for the mindset! If you are interested in more on this, check out this post!
Quotes from The 12 Week Year:
“Most of us have two lives: the lives we live and the lives we are capable of living.”
“Life balance is not about equal time in each area; life balance is more about intentional imbalance. Life balance is achieved when you are purposeful about how and where you spend your time, energy, and effort. At different times in your life you will choose to focus on one area over another, and that’s perfectly fine, provided it’s intentional.”

Atomic Habits by James Clear: This book is an incredibly detailed and practical guide on how to create and maintain good habits, as well as break bad ones. He discusses the power of your environment in dictating your habits and how to habit stack. He also encourages you to start with your identity when seeking change and then move towards making the habits you want to be doing obvious, easy, attractive, and satisfying.

Quotes from Atomic Habits:

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”

“You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it.”

Memoirs

Educated by Tara Westover: This is a such an intriguing and well-written memoir. It follows the author’s story as she goes from growing up in a strict, survivalist family in rural Idaho with no formal schooling to eventually earning a PhD from the University of Cambridge. It explores the theme of education - how education has the power to brainwash and hold back or to enlighten and set forth. It also explores the narratives we tell ourselves, loyalty to family versus to self, and the power of a place to define and influence us.

Quotes from Educated:

“An education is not so much about making a living as making a person.”

“I began to experience the most powerful advantage of money: the ability to think of things besides money.”

Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz: Rounding off this list with my most recent non-fiction read. This memoir explores the life of Bethany Joy Lenz, who you may know as Haley from the TV show One Tree Hill, during her time in a cult. It blends the theater world of NYC with the film world of LA, while also mixing in family struggles, the universal search for belonging and friendship, wrestling with faith and doubt, and so much more. Her vulnerability is inspiring, her storytelling is captivating, and her experience is gripping. This is truly a phenomenal memoir!

Quotes from Dinner for Vampires:

“I think we’re all little cathedrals of contradiction. Terrifying darkness and shocking beauty coexist in everyone, and God doesn’t wait for us to clean out all the bad before celebrating the good. It’s scandalous, really - that kind of love.”