2026 Texas Topaz Adult Nonfiction Reading List

The Texas Library Association has created a list that highlights outstanding nonfiction published during the past three years that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning. This list is the Texas Topaz Reading List. Here are the items from the 2026 list that are in the TBP collection.

For more information, check out the Texas Library Association’s Website.

10: A MEMOIR OF FAMILY AND THE OPEN ROAD by E. A. Hanks (DB 129565)
99% PERSPIRATION: A NEW WORKING HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE by Adam Chandler (DB 126380)
ALSOSPEAK: HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF LANGUAGE by Adam Aleksic (DB 130700)
ART SPY: THE EXTRAORDINARY UNTOLD TALE OF WWII RESISTANCE HERO ROSE VALLAND by Michelle Young (DB 130698)
AWAKE: A MEMOIR by Jen Hatmaker (DB 133020 IN PROCESS)
BEAST IN THE CLOUDS: THE ROOSEVELT BROTHERS’ DEADLY QUEST TO FIND THE MYTHICAL GIANT PANDA by Nathalia Holt (DB 131102)
CABIN: OFF-THE-GRID ADVENTURES WITH A CLUELESS CRAFTSMAN by Patrick Hutchison (DB 126568)
CODE DEPENDENT: LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF AI by Madhumita Murgia (DB 122004)
DAUGHTER OF DARING: THE TRICK-RIDING, TRAIN-LEAPING, ROAD-RACING LIFE OF HELEN GIBSON, HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST STUNTWOMAN by Mallory O’Meara (DB 130759)
DINNER FOR VAMPIRES: LIFE ON A CULT TV SHOW (WHILE ALSO IN AN ACTUAL CULT!) by Bethany Joy Lenz (DB 125492)
DISNEY HIGH: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE RISE AND FALL OF DISNEY CHANNEL’S TWEEN EMPIRE by Ashley Spencer (DB 125836)
DRAWN TESTIMONY: MY FOUR DECADES AS A COURTROOM SKETCH ARTIST by Jane Rosenberg (DB 126498)
 FRAMED: ASTONISHING TRUE STORIES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey (DB 124686, LB 0001022)
GIRL ON GIRL: HOW POP CULTURE TURNED A GENERATION OF WOMEN AGAINST THEMSELVES by Sophie Gilbert (DB 130145)
GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE by Sloane Crosley (DB 119523, LB 0000797)
HEY, HUN: SALES, SISTERHOOD, SUPREMACY, AND THE OTHER LIES BEHIND MULTILEVEL MARKETING by Emily Lynn Paulson (IN PROCESS)
MAILMAN: MY WILD RIDE DELIVERING THE MAIL IN APPALACHIA AND FINALLY FINDING HOME by Stephen Starring Grant (DB 132435)
MARRIAGE AT SEA: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE, OBSESSION, AND SHIPWRECK by Sophie Elmhirst (DB 131217)
MCMILLION$: THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY OF HOW AN UNLIKELY PAIR OF FBI AGENTS BROUGHT DOWN THE MOST SUPERSIZED FRAUD IN FAST FOOD HISTORY by James Lee Hernandez (DB 123334)
NO MORE TEARS: THE DARK STORY OF JOHNSON & JOHNSON by Gardiner Harris (DB 128599)
RAISING HARE by Chloe Dalton (DB 128243)
RAW DOG: THE NAKED TRUTH ABOUT HOT DOGS by Jamie Loftus (DB 115180)
SCIENTIST AND THE SERIAL KILLER: THE SEARCH FOR HOUSTON’S LOST BOYS by Lisa Olsen (DBC 30800)
SNAFU: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO HISTORY’S GEATEST SCREWUPS by Ed Helms (DB 129813)
SOCIOPATH: A MEMOIR by Patric Gagne (DB 120977, LB 0001397)
VANISHING TREASURES: A BESTIARY OF EXTRAORDINARY ENDANGERED CREATURES by Katherine Rundell (DB 125931)
 WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY: A STORY OF LOVE, DEATH, AND CHILD REMOVAL IN AMERICA by Roxanna Asgarian (DB 114060)
WELL-TRAINED WIFE: MY ESCAPE FROM CHRISTIAN PATRIARCHY by Tia Levings (DB 125222)
WHACK JOB by Rachel McCarthy James (DB 129313)

2025 Texas Topaz Adult Nonfiction Reading List

The Texas Library Association has created a list that highlights outstanding nonfiction published during the past three years that stimulates reading for pleasure and personal learning. This list is the Texas Topaz Reading List. Here are the items from the 2025 list that are in the TBP collection.

For more information check out the Texas Library Association’s Website.

AGE OF MAGICAL OVERTHINKING: NOTES ON MODERN IRRATIONALITY by Amanda Montell (DB 123290)
AMERICAN GIRLS: ONE WOMAN’S JOURNEY INTO THE ISLAMIC STATE AND HER SISTER’S FIGHT TO BRING HER HOME by Jessica Roy (DB 119214)
BIRDGIRL: A YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST LOOKS TO THE SKIES IN SEARCH OF A BETTER FUTURE by Mya-Rose Craig (DB 118312)
CHAMBER DIVERS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE D-DAY SCIENTISTS WHO CHANGED SPECIAL OPERATIONS FOREVER by Rachel Lance (DB 120888)
EYELINER: A CULTURAL HISTORY by Zahra Hankir (DB 119371)
FOUR THOUSAND PAWS: CARING FOR THE DOGS OF THE IDITAROD: A VETERINARIAN’S STORY by Lee Morgan (DB 122275)
HIDDEN POTENTIAL: THE SCIENCE OF ACHIEVING GREATER THINGS by Adam Grant (DB 117392, LB 0000582)
HIS MAJESTY’S AIRSHIP: THE LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST FLYING MACHINE by S. C. Gwynne (DB 123529)
HOW TO BE PERFECT: THE CORRECT ANSWER TO EVERY MORAL QUESTION by Michael Schur (DB 106773)
HOW TO SURVIVE HISTORY: HOW TO OUTRUN A TYRANNOSAURUS, ESCAPE POMPEII, GET OFF THE TITANIC, AND SURVIVE THE REST OF HISTORY’S DEADLIEST CATASTROPHES by Cody Cassidy (DB 118800)
MAKING IT SO by Patrick Stewart (DB 116785)
MAN OF TWO FACES: A MEMOIR, A HISTORY, A MEMORIAL by Viet Thanh Nguyen (DB 122406, BR 25523 IN PROCESS)
ONE IN A MILLENNIAL: ON FRIENDSHIP, FEELINGS, FANGIRLS, AND FITTING IN by Kate Kennedy (DB 118984)
ROGUES: TRUE STORIES OF GRIFTERS, KILLERS, REBELS AND CROOKS by Patrick Radden Keefe (DB 108725, LB 14056)
SAYS WHO?: A KINDER, FUNNER USAGE GUIDE FOR EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT WORDS by Anne Curzan (DB 120286)
SWANS OF HARLEM: FIVE BLACK BALLERINAS, FIFTY YEARS OF SISTERHOOD, AND THEIR RECLAMATION OF A GROUNDBREAKING HISTORY by Karen Valby
(DB 120913, LB 0000347)
TWELVE TREES: THE DEEP ROOTS OF OUR FUTURE by Daniel Lewis (DB 120510)
UNCLAIMED: ABANDONMENT AND HOPE IN THE CITY OF ANGELS by Pamela Prickett (DB 120500)
WAGER: A TALE OF SHIPWRECK, MUTINY, AND MURDER by David Grann
(DB 113965, BR 25435 IN PROCESS, LB 14399)
WALK IN THE PARK: THE TRUE STORY OF A SPECTACULAR MISADVENTURE IN THE GRAND CANYON by Kevin Fedarko (DB 122177)
WALKING WITH SAM: A FATHER, A SON, AND FIVE HUNDRED MILES ACROSS SPAIN by Andrew McCarthy (DB 114419)
YOU NEVER KNOW: A MEMOIR by Tom Selleck (DB 125747, LB 0000518)

2024 Texas Topaz Adult Nonfiction Reading List

Texas Library Association has created a list that highlights outstanding nonfiction published during the past three years that stimulate reading for pleasure and personal learning. Here are the items from the 2024 the Texas Topaz Reading List that are in the TBP collection.

For More Information: 2024 Texas Topaz List_Adult Annotated (txla.org)

ALL THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: FROM EMBALMERS TO EXECUTIONERS, AND EXPLORATION OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE DEATH THEIR LIFE’S WORK by Hayley Campbell (DB 110278)
ART THIEF: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE, CRIME, AND A DANGEROUS OBSESSION by Michael Finkel (DB 115367, LB 14518)
ATLAS OF THE HEART: MAPPING MEANINGFUL CONNECTION AND THE LANGUAGE OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE by Brené Brown (DB 106540, BR 24796 IN PROCESS, LB 13602)
BARBIZON: THE HOTEL THAT SET WOMEN FREE by Paulina Bren (DB 103460)
BEAVERLAND: HOW ONE WEIRD RODENT MADE AMERICA by Leila Philip (DB 112050)
COBALT RED: HOW THE BLOOD OF THE CONGO POWERS OUR LIVES by Siddharth Kara (DB 112317)
FATTY FATTY BOOM BOOM: A MEMOIR OF FOOD, FAT, AND FAMILY by Rabia Chaudry (DB 113084, LB 14612)
FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND: THE KU KLUX KLAN’S PLOT TO TAKE OVER AMERICA, AND THE WOMAN WHO STOPPED THEM by Timothy Egan (DB 114864)
FOREVER WITNESS: HOW DNA AND GENEALOGOY SOLVED A COLD CASE DOUBLE MURDER by Edward Humes (DB 112528)
FRIENDS, LOVERS, AND THE BIG TERRIBLE THINGS by Matthew Perry (DB 110888, LB 14205)
GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM: AND OTHER HELPFUL RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO BECOME AMERICAN by Wajahat Ali (DBC 27456)
GREAT ESCAPE: A TRUE STORY OF FORCED LABOR AND IMMIGRANT DREAMS IN AMERICA by Saket Soni (DB 113144)
HIJAB BUTCH BLUES: A MEMOIR by Lamya H. (DB IN PROCESS)
HYSTERICAL: A MEMOIR by Elissa Bassist (DB 113145)
JACQUES PEPIN ART OF THE CHICKEN: A MASTER CHEF’S PAINTINGS, STORIES, AND RECIPES OF THE HUMBLE BIRD by Jacques Pepin (DB 112702, BR 24763 IN PROCESS)
LIFE IN FIVE SENSES: HOW EXPLORING THE SENSES GOT ME OUT OF MY HEAD AND INTO THE WORLD by Gretchen Rubin (DB 114675 IN PROCESS, LB 14423)
LIGHT WE CARRY: OVERCOMING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES by Michelle Obama (DB 111237, BR 24710 IN PROCESS)
MONSTER’S BONES: THE DISCOVERY OF T REX AND HOW IT SHOOK OUR WORLD by David K. Randall (IN PROCESS)
MY FIRST POPSICLE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FOOD AND FEELINGS (LB 14504)
ROUGH SLEEPERS: DR. JIM O’CONNELL’S URGENT MISSION TO BRING HEALING TO HOMELESS PEOPLE by Tracy Kidder (IN PROCESS)
SCENES FROM MY LIFE: A MEMOIR by Michael Kenneth Williams (DB 109789)
STAY TRUE: A MEMOIR by Hua Hsu (DB 110669)
TELL ME EVERYTHING: THE STORY OF A PRIVATE INVESTIGATION by Erika Krouse (DB 108142)
UNRAVELING: WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT LIFE WHILE SHEARING SHEEP, DYEING WOOL, AND MAKING THE WORLD’S UGLIEST SWEATER by Peggy Orenstein (DB 113482)
WE SHOULD NOT BE FRIENDS: THE STORY OF A FRIENDSHIP by Will Schwalbe (DB 113625)
YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL: A MEMOIR by Maggie Smith (DB 115170)