The second week of Nonfiction November is being hosted by Frances at Volatile Rune. The title of this week’s challenge is: Choosing Nonfiction.
She wrote: There are many topics to choose from when looking for a nonfiction book. For example: Biography, Autobiography, Memoir, Travel, Health, Politics, History, Art, Medicine, Gardening, Food, Business, Education, Music to name but a few. 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?
There are many topics I’d like to know more about – Anatomy and Physiology to name but one. Religion is another topic. Over the years I have read many books on Theology, Christianity, the Bible, books about the history of Israel and the creation of the state of Israel, a few books about Buddhism, but next to nothing about Islam or any other religion. Like many other people I’m horrified by what is going on in Israel and Gaza and last year I attempted to find out more. I read a few books – Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs And Jews In Palestine And Israel, 1917-2017 by Ian Black, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know by Dov Waxman, both of which gave me much to think about.
Now I would like to know more about Islam and I have two books that I’m hoping will enlighten me at least a little. They are Islam: A Very Short Introduction by Malise Ruthven and The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. I’ll begin with the first book and hope it will help me understand the basics and that the second will fill in the huge gaps in my knowledge of the history of Palestine.
Are there books you could recommend I read too?
BooksPlease 
You’ve picked a really interesting topic, Margaret. There’s such a long history there that’s impacted what’s going on now. And I like the idea of starting with the question of what you’d like to know more about. That curiosity helps to focus one’s reading.
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I hope you find what you are looking for, thanks for sharing your thoughts and goals
Happy Nonfiction November
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May your quest for knowledge be fulfilled. I’m not sure I could handle any topic of war and suffering right now. My younger daughter is very interested in religion and has gathered most of the world’s classic religious texts.
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I too want to learn more about religion and related topics but I don’t want to read books about history, more about practice. I just read a book which helped enlighten me a bit about Buddhism: The Timecode of a Face. I hope tor review it this week.
My Week 2 post:
https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/nonfiction-november-week-two.html
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I’m not very informed on Islam either so it would serve me well to read books like you’ve selected here. I’ve read lots of books about Buddhism the past few years and have found it fascinating.
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I know little about Islam either except what my friends who are Islamic have told me. I admire you for trying to find out more.
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I like learning about religion too. I hope you enjoy your books!
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