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Jennifer here with some of my favorite non-fiction reads to recommend. Most people I know who don’t have time to read still might take a book along on a business or personal trip or on vacation. Maybe you prefer the humor or information or real-life thrills of non-fiction over a novel. Or maybe — like me — you like both.
Are you reading more this summer? I hope so. There are a lot of reasons that summer and reading should go hand in hand.
If you are encouraging your own kids to read this summer, there’s nothing that is more convincing than actually doing it yourself. Even though I am big reader, sometimes I am still working on the computer when I tell my son it’s reading time, and he recently has begun calling me on it.
If you haven’t read great non-fiction, you might be surprised that I describe it as
- Memorable
- Well-written and paced
- Educational and interesting
- Emotional as well as intellectual
These are the books that stand out to me as memorable nonfiction that I’ve recommended time and time again:
Drama High by Michael Sokolove — This is the true story of Lou Volpe, a high school drama teacher in a working class Pennsylvania town who takes an unlikely school population and creates an award-winning drama program. If you are a fan of theater or just love a good school story, you’ll enjoy this one. Click through the link to read my full review to see exactly how this book fell into my best of the best list.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer — Anyone I’ve ever spoken to about this book has agreed — the setting, the suspense, the unusual subject matter makes this an educational page-turning read. I’ve been wanting to re-read it, and my daughter wants to read it after reading another of Krakauer’s books Into the Wild, at school.
My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story by Abraham Verghese is the book that I stumbled upon at my local library many many years ago. His voice as a writer, an immigrant, a doctor treating patients on the forefront of AIDS, was captivating. I was sold on him as a writer, and waited patiently for anything else from him. My incredibly high expectations for his first novel made it hard for me to get into Cutting for Stone, but I ultimately ended up enjoying the saga.
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff — The information about the tragedy of a crystal meth addiction, plus the helplessness of a parent to change his child, enhanced by unconditional love, makes a story that will resonate with any parent. It’s a tough read, but I still remember it.
Have you read any of these books? I’d love to know what drew you in or even what didn’t. I’d also love your recommendations for your most-loved nonfiction. Please leave a comment and let me know!
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Bianca S says
I am a huge non-fiction fan and this is a fantastic book list. Thanks for sharing this with your readers. I recently read an amazing booked called “The Pedestriennes” by author Harry Hall (http://www.pedestriennes.com/) that delves into the mysterious world of female endurance walkers from the 19th century. I had never even known they existed and yet their stories are amazing! This was obviously a highly male dominated time period and these women proved their worth by walking for days straight beating the men’s highest records and dealing with injuries, dehydration and illness. Their downfall came from negative publicity that turned the public against them but their stories need to be told. They achieved so much for women at that time and inspired many. I have been recommending this book to everyone and anyone!
Paige says
Wow, great list. Krakauer’s book was very interesting post Into the Wild reading. Last Child in the Woods is currently on my reading list and I just finished The Search for Good Wine by John Hailman.
Barbara H. says
I haven’t read any of these. I think I have heard of Beautiful Boy.
One of my all-time favorite non-fiction books is Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. An excellent one I read this year is Out of a Far Country by Christopher and Angela Yuan. Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler was really good, too, as was Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.
Lisa notes says
Thanks for these recommendations, Jennifer. I’ll add them to my list especially since non-fiction reading is my favorite.
I just finished reading a most unusual but very well-written and interesting book: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory. It sounds gory (and okay, a little bit of it was–I had to skim), but overall it provokes a lot of thought about how we view death (or really try to avoid thinking about it) in America.
Jennifer Donovan says
That is interesting! Mary Roach wrote a book called Stiff about the whole death industry. She’s covered a bunch of topics. Nancy has reviewed several of them on 5 Minutes for Books. I read some of her essays. She’s very funny and engaging.