re: Freakonomics, Malcolm Gladwell and Hillbilly Elegy - check out the If Books Could Kill podcast episodes about those lol
Some of my favorites have been: I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (true crime, about the Golden State Killer) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (memoir, have lots of tissues) The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton (about the criminal justice system) Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottleib (about psychology and grief) The Moth Presents Occasional Magic and The Moth Presents All These Wonders (short stories originally told aloud)
Post by basilosaurus on May 15, 2024 11:48:13 GMT -5
Thinking more, if you like Educated, there are a ton of fundie cult autobiographies, and I've probably read most. I can't think of my favorites, but just ask.
The entire ouvre of both Bill Bryson and Mary Roach. I remember reading Boink! by Mary Roach while dining solo in a restaurant and audibly laughing. Sorry, patrons, she's hilarious and educational. Stiff was great, and related was Bryson's the body (off the top of my head, so I might have the title slightly wrong)
Oh! I actually prefer nonfiction and read a lot of it. Some of my favorites:
1. Into Thin Air (about a disastrous climbing season on mt everest) and Into the Wild (about young guy who goes off grid in Alaska) 2. Born to Run (about ultramarathoning) 3. Unbroken (about an olympic runner who was POW in Japan during ww2) and Seabiscuit (horse racing)-- both by Laura Hillenbrand 4. Behind the Beautiful Forevers (life in slums of Mumbai) 5. Just Mercy (innocence project) 6. Chasing the Thrill by Daniel Barbarisi (the story dragged a little sometimes, but interesting to learn about bizarre, years-long treasure hunt) 7. Killers of the Flower Moon (murders on native american reservation) 8. The Spirit catches you and you fall down (hmong child being treated by american doctors and the culture clash that resulted) 9. The professor and the madman (the making of the first Oxford English dictionary) 10. The stranger in the woods (guy lives off grid in Maine, survives by stealing stuff from nearby camps for 30 years) 11. Born a Crime (Trevor Noah memoir) 12. Being Mortal (how society deals with aging and death)
I will stop there. I get excited when people want nonfiction recs LOL.
I'll preface this by saying that I did not care for Hillbilly Elegy or Educated. But I do read a fair amount of non-fiction. Some of my favorites are below, in no particular order. Memoirs read by the author are among my favorite type of audiobooks.
Yeager by Chuck Yeager The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown Caste by Isabel Wilkerson Devil in the White City by Erik Larsson Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden 1776 by David McCullough Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Excellent as audiobooks: Storyteller by Dave Grohl Born a Crime by Trevor Noah Becoming by Michelle Obama A Promised Land by Barack Obama Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey Acid for the Children by Flea
Oh! I actually prefer nonfiction and read a lot of it. Some of my favorites:
1. Into Thin Air (about a disastrous climbing season on mt everest) and Into the Wild (about young guy who goes off grid in Alaska) 2. Born to Run (about ultramarathoning) 3. Unbroken (about an olympic runner who was POW in Japan during ww2) 4. Behind the Beautiful Forevers (life in slums of Mumbai) 8. The Spirit catches you and you fall down (hmong child being treated by american doctors and the culture clash that resulted)
I've read these and will attest to them being solid recs. 4 and 8 were especially impactful.
For someone who's been accused of only reading fiction, apparently I have quite the non-fic repertoire, too.
I'll add to #1, Under the Banner of Heaven, same author, Mormon fundamentalist although not FLDS. I think they made a miniseries.
I've also read other books that I'm sure will come to mind eventually.
What is in the gray area is that autobiographies and memoirs are always suspect. Should I include Mai Bpen Rai? It was entertaining, but I wouldn't call it necessarily accurate. It was definitely relateable as someone who lived in the same country decades later about dealing with the cultural differences, but I'm sure there was a ton of poetic license.
Here's some non-fiction I've read in the past couple of years, mostly excluding all the memoirs I've read.
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur -- listen to the audiobook, it has the cast of the Good Place helping Schur narrate, but also have a physical copy, because I felt like I would have gotten more out of it if I could have re-read some of the examples.
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliot - started as a series of stories in the NYTimes, but then the journalist continued to follow the family and Dasani for a decade.
The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism by Dr. Jen Gunter - this is dense, but informative.
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell - this is a biography that reads like a spy novel.
On my TBR list: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe - about the Sacklers and the opioid crisis (my H is reading it and is fascinated).
Post by CrazyLucky on May 15, 2024 12:12:04 GMT -5
I just finished Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller. Other non-fiction I have enjoyed or gotten a lot out of: Just Mercy A Year of Biblical Womanhood Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian (this one is YA) Black Like Me The Men We Reaped Poverty
Oh! I actually prefer nonfiction and read a lot of it. Some of my favorites:
8. The Spirit catches you and you fall down (hmong child being treated by american doctors and the culture clash that resulted)
I was coming in to rec this one. I've reread it several times since college. Also There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz which follows 2 brothers growing up in the Chicago projects in the 80s.
I will always recommend Evicted by Matthew Desmond. It had such an impact on me that it's a major reason why I currently work where I do! It's not a light read but it is very eye opening about a lot of the systemic issues surrounding homelessness, poverty, and race. I think everyone should read it, especially if you haven't experienced housing instability.
The Warmth of Other Suns is another I haven't seen listed yet here that was excellent.
I'm taking notes because I've kind of gotten out of reading non-fiction in recent years!
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers *with the caveat that I read and loved it about 20 years ago, and I can't say for sure if 40s Susie would love it as much as 20s Susie.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong - James W. Loewen
Several books by Lewis Thomas: * The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher * The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher * Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony
Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916 - Peter de Rosa
I also read Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina - Misty Copeland - and just didn't love the writing. Her story was interesting.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Patrick Radden Keefe
The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - Michelle McNamara, et al.
"The Girls Who Went Away" by Ann Fessler. It's about the women who "went away" while pregnant and surrendered their children for adoption pre: Roe v Wade.
I really enjoy all David McCullough’s books ( 1776, John Adams, etc) and all Jon Krakauer books (Into Thin Air, Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven)
Also recommend - The Emperor of all Maladies, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Hidden Valley Road, and Five Days at Memorial
Post by expectantsteelerfan on May 15, 2024 14:03:41 GMT -5
My favorite/most memorable memoirs have been: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls I'm Glad My Mom Died by by Jeanette McCurdy (2 Jeanettes!) Choose your own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris
Favorite true crime: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (did not care for the Helter Skelter about the Manson murders)
Other: Bomb by Steve Sheinkin Empire of Pain by Keefe Night by Elie Weisel
I think this really depends on what you're interested in. I really enjoyed "Columbine" by Dave Cullen.
I'm also a true crime sucker and don't mind some of Ann Rule's stuff like "Too Late to Say Goodbye". Very heavy, but quick.
So what I'm mostly looking for is things that happened to or affected a large group of people. Things that were kind of scandalous, or messy. Money or Political scandals. Clashes of societal norms (which is why books about North Korea or Russia are interesting to me). Or social class clashes (like Educated or Evicted, which I've also read).
Not memoirs generally, although Sound of Gravel which was recommended (which I've read) counts, because it's also about the author's wider Fundie circle she grew up in, ditto Under the Banner of Heaven because the LDS church is a major player. Not true crime so much (though I read and loved Ann Rule's book about Ted Bundy). And not exactly historical stuff (I am a big history buff though) BUT things like Killers of the Flower Moon absolutely would go on my list, that was hella scandalous.
jinkies please feel free to recommend all your faves!