I intended to run this post right after this one about the possibility that we’ll see less published nonfiction in the coming years. But something must have come up, and it got set aside. So just in case you need more ideas for Christmas—and I am, after all, the gal who believes the perfect Christmas gift is a book (well, you know, aside from world peace and time spent with loved ones)—here is a list of my fave nonfiction books. (I know, I know, it’s another list; and not one of those cool, clever ones like they’re teaching in all the creative writing courses these days.) I’m sure I’ve missed some, but these are worth your time.
The Blank Slate / Steven Pinker (science)
Blink / Malcolm Gladwell (social science)
The Diary of a Young Girl / Anne Frank (memoir)
A Field Guide to the Birds / Roger Tory Peter (field guide)
A Girl Named Zippy / Haven Kimmel (memoir)
How the Irish Saved Civilization / Thomas Cahill (history)
Kitchen Confidential / Anthony Bourdain (memoir, food)
Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony / Lewis Thomas (science essays)
The Liar’s Club / Mary Karr (memoir)
Longitude / Dava Sobel (history)
The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats / Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (animals)
Reading Lolita In Tehran / Azar Nafisi (memoir, current events)
The Seven Storey Mountain / Thomas Merton (autobiography)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down / Anne Fadiman (cultural anthropology)
A Venetian Affair / Andrea di Robilant (biography, history)
A Year in the World / Frances Mayes (travel)
…and the official English catalogue of the Musée D’Orsay the Irishman bought me whilst I was standing in the main room of the Impressionists, weeping.
I could go on and on.
Tweet: Some of my favorite nonfiction—because you just can’t have enough books.
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