I managed to read 62 books last year. I was surprised at just how many books I could read in a year if I really put my mind to it. Then when I shared with you all that I had completed the 2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge, I noticed that out of the many books, only 2 were non-fiction (Sh*t My Dad Says & We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down).
I want to read more non-fiction, but I really don’t know where to start. I do have a few on my TBR:
Company Man is one that caught my eye on Traveling With T and Doing Dewey’s Futuristic Friday feature. I love to learn about the ins and outs of the government and its agencies.
I’ve always had an interest in the death of River Phoenix. I was only 10 when he died, and didn’t watch any of his movies until years later. But one of my all-time favorite movies is Stand By Me, and when I first watched it I was left wondering what could have been. Would he have become one of the greats or was it just not meant to be? Last Night at the Viper Room sheds some light on what happened that night as well as a look in to his early life.
You know how I don’t often re-read books? Well there aren’t many movies that I re-watch either. The Back to the Future films are in the minority. I could watch them over and over again. I loved Spin City too. I remember learning of Michael J. Fox’s diagnosis. Like many others, I was stunned! Since then he has helped bring some much needed attention and awareness to the degenerative condition, Parkinson’s. I am in awe of this man and how he could spin such devastating news into something so positive. Not everyone is able to do that. Lucky Man is Michael J. Fox’s account of how he and his family have dealt with his life-changing diagnosis.
I was sickened by the murder of Meredith Kercher. What kind of people are capable of that, and what part did Amanda Knox play in it all. There’s just something creepy about her but maybe this memoir, Waiting to be Heard, will change my mind, or maybe not.
Five Days at Memorial is a book that I’ve seen many of my favorite bloggers review. Investigative journalist Sheri Fink, reconstructs the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina ravaged Memorial Hospital and how doctors, faced with rising flood-waters and no power, chose to treat some of the patients. It is alleged that some physicians deliberately injected some patients to hasten their inevitable death. And well, it left me intrigued…
Something else that intrigues me is rich people. People who have more money than they know what to do with, how they got the money, and how they lived. Empty Mansions is a look into the life of Huguette Clark, the daughter of Gilded Age industrialist W.A. Clark., the battle over a $300 million inheritance, how and why Clark lived the last two decades of her life in a hospital and how she chose to spend her money before she died.
Based on my reading list above, and the reasons they made the list, do you have any non-fiction recommendations for me? Have you read any of the books on my list? What did you think? Did you go on to read similar books?
I haven’t read any of these, but I’ve heard good things about Empty Mansions, and I also would love to read Lucky Man. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but I will read some memoirs or some historical accounts that read like fiction. I have yet to hear of someone who didn’t like Wild by Cheryl Strayed. And I recently read one called Unbroken (I think by Laura Hillenbrand), which was quite an amazing survival story about a man in WW2.
I saw that Wild and Unbroken are both being released as movies this year. If I remember correctly Wild is starring Reese Witherspoon, and I like her so will probably watch it. Which means that I’ll likely read the book.
Thanks for the recommendations!
I just read Waiting to Be Heard this month and I really liked it! The book was so addicting, I seriously couldn’t put it down. Amanda is definitely a little weird, but I feel like there’s no way she committed that murder, and her book totally convinced me of it. It was interesting to get all the little details and facts of what happened, and see how the Italian justice system works (poorly). I’d definitely recommend it, and I’d be interested to hear how you feel about her after reading the book!
Waiting to be Heard was a kindle deal recently but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it yet. I have started a shelf for memoirs and such so I’m holding out for a deal on the hardcover.
Yay! Now, I am not a huge non-fiction fan- but Katie is, so I def think she’ll be able to guide your reading choices in 2014! However, I read a few non-fiction last year that I enjoyed- I’ll have to look up the names of the books!
Would love to hear which ones you read and enjoyed. And I will definitely be asking Katie for recs once I exhausted the ones already on my list. (PS this late reply is exactly why I suck at commenting
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Five Days at Memorial and Empty Mansions were both excellent reads — great choices! I always have a hard time recommending nonfiction because there’s such a variety (just like fiction). If you like celebrity memoirs, Mindy Kaling’s book is really fun. Columbine is a bit like Five Days at Memorial, but definitely a chunkster. And for historical mystery, I think The Black Count is really great.
I didn’t know that there was a book on Columbine. It happened the year I had to choose something to base my Sociology essays on at High School, so I actually researched it a lot and how violence is portrayed to adolescents in the media. It was really interesting so I have added the book to my wishlist now that I know one exists.
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Some of the books on your list are ones that I’ve been intending to read: Lucky Man, Empty Mansions, and Five Days at Memorial. I was traveling to Italy a few months ago so I picked up some travel memoirs: Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr; Taking the Kids to Italy by Roland Merullo; and Incontinent on the Continent: My Mother, Her Walker, and Our Grand Tour of Italy. All pretty different but good reads! Also recommend collections such as Ann Patchett’s book, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and Terry Pratchett’s book, A Slip of the Keyboard!