I pretty much read exclusively non-fic, but the history and essay variety. I love Nora Ephrons books, Anne Lamott, and Emily Ratajkowski’s book My Body. And history! I love reading about art thefts and the constriction of major sites like St Peter’s and currently reading one about Versailles
Thank you for this—YAY and where have you been all my life?! Converting readers (or just getting people to admit that nonfiction isn’t boring) is basically my life’s mission. I love everything you said here and couldn’t agree more. Let’s be friends? I’ve got a few (wink wink) recs on my page if you ever need backup!
co-signing narrative non-fiction! for those interested in tech/business, there are some great ones like Super Pumped (all about Uber), An Ugly Truth (Facebook), Billion Dollar Loser (WeWork) and Bad Blood (all about Theranos). they are also all written by journalists who covered them, which makes it even better.
This makes so much sense to me, I never thought of it this way. When I was younger my grandmother saw me reading and she was so proud, she told my older cousin and my cousin just said “she’s reading a novel, it’s nothing special” and my grandma was like “oh, you could’ve said you’re reading a novel”. And looking back, it makes so much sense that fiction (for some people) is viewed as a “female and unserious” waste of time and nonfiction is “real reading and education”.
I've just been thinking about this, I love a non-fiction book, and that has always been my go to. One that I enjoyed recently was 'A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' by Emma Southon which recounts a series of murders in ancient Rome and explains how Roman's understood murder, and by extension life, death, public and private spaces, family etc.
Yes!! These are all great recs and such a good reminder that there are so many nonfiction books that read like fiction and aren't trying to teach you to optimize your life or whatever
Great recs! I loved Educated, Crying in the H Mart, Everything I Know About Love, Three Women, Unnatural Causes and Cultish! I saw someone has already recommended The Glass Castle which is phenomenal.
I’d also recommend:
• Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon (a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley)
• When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty (a memoir from a mortician)
• These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (essay collection)
• When The Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope (expert on recovery after disasters)
• Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson (her memoir, also rec the follow up Raising Demons)
There’s so many more I could recommend! I think it’s all about finding what interests you then exploring beyond that.
i used to be one of those people who said i’d never read non-fiction because i was under the impression that it was all self-help books. now, a few years later, i love it and think it’s so valuable. there’s a huge misconception about non-fiction, mostly among new/younger readers!!
I’d recommend; the essays of Michel de Montaigne, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Phaedo by Plato, Erotism by Georges Bataille, Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille, Vermeer’s Hat by Timothy Brook and Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London by Matthew Beaumont.
I couldn't agree more with everything you've said!
Both fiction and non-fiction can teach us so much – fiction, just like you said empathy and seeing the world through different perspectives. If you're reading diversely it can even teach you things about different countries, cultures, and people. And non-fiction can be interesting while being informative.
I've just finished Just Kids by Patti Smith and discussed it with my book club (it was our July read). This book, if you don't get the references to people and art she makes, also reads pretty much like fiction – so if you wanted to, you could also just read it as that. Back in uni I wrote a paper on the emergence of punk music in New York, so this was just another piece in the puzzle of non-fiction about this era of the New York (music) scene that I had already started on putting together.
Also, I've read Claire Dederer's Monster – a very interesting and a highly relevant topic in our day and age. Yet I found myself wishing it would've been a bit more in depth and not just scratching surfaces of ideas, but then again one book can't cover everything there is to say about a topic. And just maybe I also had the unrealistic (and lazy) hope that the book might offer me a morally easy way to handle art made by bad people, but at the end of the day that's something we all have to decide for ourselves.
Some of my non-fiction recommendations:
Ace: What Asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex by Angela Chen
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
The Hundred Year's War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
And I generally like reading about music industry, history of rock & pop music, and musician memoirs.
and i 100% agree with your thoughts on monsters, i went into it knowing she wouldn’t be able to answer the question of where we draw the line with problematic artists - because it is really the unanswerable question! at the end of the day it’s very subjective and depends on what an individual is willing to look past. it is very surface level, but i do think it’s an accessible starting point for people getting into non-fiction and maybe haven’t engaged with the discussion before. and thank you for the recs!!
I pretty much read exclusively non-fic, but the history and essay variety. I love Nora Ephrons books, Anne Lamott, and Emily Ratajkowski’s book My Body. And history! I love reading about art thefts and the constriction of major sites like St Peter’s and currently reading one about Versailles
ooh yes nora ephron’s essay collections are great! have you read any of delia’s work? i’ve been recommend her memoir a few times
I haven’t! That sounds like it would be good though, because didn’t they co-write a lot of screenplays together?
Thank you for this—YAY and where have you been all my life?! Converting readers (or just getting people to admit that nonfiction isn’t boring) is basically my life’s mission. I love everything you said here and couldn’t agree more. Let’s be friends? I’ve got a few (wink wink) recs on my page if you ever need backup!
yesss i love finding fellow non fiction lovers! we can fight the good fight for non fic together
co-signing narrative non-fiction! for those interested in tech/business, there are some great ones like Super Pumped (all about Uber), An Ugly Truth (Facebook), Billion Dollar Loser (WeWork) and Bad Blood (all about Theranos). they are also all written by journalists who covered them, which makes it even better.
yes great recs!! i need to read bad blood, i’ve watched the dropout with amanda seyfried and it’s a crazy story
it’s an amazing book, highly recommend reading it!! the show was good too but the book is so gripping
Love it!!
If you enjoyed Educated, you would probably like The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a beautiful read!
yes a great one!! i still need to watch the film adaptation though, have you seen it?
This makes so much sense to me, I never thought of it this way. When I was younger my grandmother saw me reading and she was so proud, she told my older cousin and my cousin just said “she’s reading a novel, it’s nothing special” and my grandma was like “oh, you could’ve said you’re reading a novel”. And looking back, it makes so much sense that fiction (for some people) is viewed as a “female and unserious” waste of time and nonfiction is “real reading and education”.
I've just been thinking about this, I love a non-fiction book, and that has always been my go to. One that I enjoyed recently was 'A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' by Emma Southon which recounts a series of murders in ancient Rome and explains how Roman's understood murder, and by extension life, death, public and private spaces, family etc.
It’s funny because I have always preferred nonfiction and have only in recent years taught myself to read fiction.
there’s definitely room for both, i’d say a mix of reading fiction and non-fiction will make you a better reader
Yes!! These are all great recs and such a good reminder that there are so many nonfiction books that read like fiction and aren't trying to teach you to optimize your life or whatever
Great recs! I loved Educated, Crying in the H Mart, Everything I Know About Love, Three Women, Unnatural Causes and Cultish! I saw someone has already recommended The Glass Castle which is phenomenal.
I’d also recommend:
• Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon (a biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley)
• When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty (a memoir from a mortician)
• These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (essay collection)
• When The Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope (expert on recovery after disasters)
• Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson (her memoir, also rec the follow up Raising Demons)
There’s so many more I could recommend! I think it’s all about finding what interests you then exploring beyond that.
i used to be one of those people who said i’d never read non-fiction because i was under the impression that it was all self-help books. now, a few years later, i love it and think it’s so valuable. there’s a huge misconception about non-fiction, mostly among new/younger readers!!
thank you for the recs💕
I’d recommend; the essays of Michel de Montaigne, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, Phaedo by Plato, Erotism by Georges Bataille, Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille, Vermeer’s Hat by Timothy Brook and Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London by Matthew Beaumont.
thanks for the recs! i referenced a lot of simone de beauvoir and plato for my undergrad dissertation, i’ll check out the rest
I couldn't agree more with everything you've said!
Both fiction and non-fiction can teach us so much – fiction, just like you said empathy and seeing the world through different perspectives. If you're reading diversely it can even teach you things about different countries, cultures, and people. And non-fiction can be interesting while being informative.
I've just finished Just Kids by Patti Smith and discussed it with my book club (it was our July read). This book, if you don't get the references to people and art she makes, also reads pretty much like fiction – so if you wanted to, you could also just read it as that. Back in uni I wrote a paper on the emergence of punk music in New York, so this was just another piece in the puzzle of non-fiction about this era of the New York (music) scene that I had already started on putting together.
Also, I've read Claire Dederer's Monster – a very interesting and a highly relevant topic in our day and age. Yet I found myself wishing it would've been a bit more in depth and not just scratching surfaces of ideas, but then again one book can't cover everything there is to say about a topic. And just maybe I also had the unrealistic (and lazy) hope that the book might offer me a morally easy way to handle art made by bad people, but at the end of the day that's something we all have to decide for ourselves.
Some of my non-fiction recommendations:
Ace: What Asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex by Angela Chen
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
The Hundred Year's War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
And I generally like reading about music industry, history of rock & pop music, and musician memoirs.
love just kids, such a good one for a book club!
and i 100% agree with your thoughts on monsters, i went into it knowing she wouldn’t be able to answer the question of where we draw the line with problematic artists - because it is really the unanswerable question! at the end of the day it’s very subjective and depends on what an individual is willing to look past. it is very surface level, but i do think it’s an accessible starting point for people getting into non-fiction and maybe haven’t engaged with the discussion before. and thank you for the recs!!
yes krakauer’s into thin air is on this list! i need to read into the wild by him