Nonfiction recommendations please?

[Rae~]

While I sometimes have the urge to delve into the world of fiction (mainly because I feel I "should" read at least some of the classics/award winners), I am a nonfiction lover at heart.

Since we have such a diverse group of members, I'd love to hear recommendations of nonfiction books people might have read and enjoyed?

 

[Clio]

My favorites are heavy on history. Some of these suggestions are old, so you may have read them already.

I'm currently reading Two-Part Invention, which is Madeleine L'Engle's memoir of her marriage. Love it.

It's a couple of years old, but I recently read and enjoyed The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed. Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball is also very good (that one's about 15 years old though, so maybe you've read it). Oh, and the newish biography of Robert E. Lee by Elizabeth Brown Pryor.

A bunch of people I know have recently read and enjoyed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I've also read some good reviews of the latest Cleopatra biography by Stacy Schiff. I've also been wanting to read The Emperor of All Maladies, which is a history of cancer.

Michael Pollan's books about food are good, and I've had fun reading both of the Freakonomics books. I've not read any Malcolm Gladwell, but I know lots of people who like his books.

Some older histories I've loved and keep coming back to: Changes in the Land by William Cronon, A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, The Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone, The Great Influenza by John Barry (he also wrote Rising Tide, which is fantastic), The Destructive War by Charles Royster, Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer

Finally, one of my very favorites is 1 Dead in Attic, which is a collection of columns written right after Katrina by a Times-Picayune writer. It will make you cry.

 

[Rae~]

Thank you Clio, some of those sound really interesting and I am going to add them to my Xmas wishlist.

 

[dragonfly411]

My absolute favorite I've read thus far was A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, which is the biography of a naturalist who was also... a Pirate.

The Quantum Mind approaches psychology with an application of physics and was really eye opening to me.

The World's Religions was fun for me.

Dance of the Dissident Daughter is one I like very much by Sue Monk Kidd

I found Hot, Flat and Crowded very interesting.

French Women Don't get Fat was awesome to me as well, and really helped me get a healthy view on food.

 

[doodle]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is one of my all-time favorites. It's about the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer that was running rampant at the same time. I think I read the whole thing in a single night!

 

[sillyberry]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is one of my all-time favorites. It's about the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer that was running rampant at the same time. I think I read the whole thing in a single night!

When I saw this thread, I thought I would come recommend just this very book.

To keep with the Hyde Park of Chicago theme, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh and For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago by Simon Batz are both really interesting and enjoyable reads.

 

[doodle]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is one of my all-time favorites. It's about the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer that was running rampant at the same time. I think I read the whole thing in a single night!

When I saw this thread, I thought I would come recommend just this very book.

To keep with the Hyde Park of Chicago theme, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh and For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago by Simon Batz are both really interesting and enjoyable reads.

Ooh, I may be making a trek to the library! Great minds, sillyberry! I also love Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but my love for it could be biased since I'm a Georgian and have been to Savannah about a trillion times!

 

[gardengloves]

Another very good one by Erik Larson- In the Garden of the Beasts, about the American ambassador and his family in Berlin in the 1930's.

 

[AGBF]

Ooh, I may be making a trek to the library! Great minds, sillyberry! I also love Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but my love for it could be biased since I'm a Georgian and have been to Savannah about a trillion times!

No. I don't think you loved Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil due to geographical bias! I was just reading this thread because I love threads in "The Library", and was wondering when I had read my last non-fiction book (since I read them so infrequently), when I came upon this posting. I absolutely loved that book. It makes me realize that even I can read non-fiction! Some of it!

Deb/AGBF

 

[AGBF]

One non-fiction book I enjoyed a lot, because I have always loved Katharine Hepburn, was her biography by William J. Mann which is now about five years old. It is entitled, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn. I went to look up the exact title on Amazon before I typed it here and I got involved in reading readers' opinions of the book. (Certainly opinions vary widely.) My own opinion is that if you have any interest in Katharine Hepburn that you won't be able to put the book down. On the other hand, if you have any interest in Katharine Hepburn, perhaps you have already read it!

Deb/AGBF

 

[gardengloves]

The Black Swan.. Nassim Taleb

 

[LaraOnline]

With the release of Meryl Streep's new film, I'm pretty interested in learning a lot more about Margaret Thatcher.

coincidentally, Streep also played another, very different woman that I am interested in learning more about: Lindy Chamberlain, who was tried and convicted for murder when a dingo took her infant daughter during a tourist trip to Ayres Rock (Uluru) in Australia. Guess anything's better than frightening the tourists? She was finally exonerated (many years later) when the baby's clothes turned up in a very isolated area near the Rock.

I haven't yet specifically read any books on these subjects, so can't recommend authors. I do know there are autobiographies to explore, though.