For most of my life, I would have told you I wasn’t a fan of nonfiction books; I never felt like they drew me in or evoked the same emotional reaction from me as fiction books did. However, more recently I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t that I didn’t like nonfiction books, it’s that I wasn’t reading the right nonfiction books for me. So, here are my newly discovered top ten favorite, and slightly unconventional, nonfiction books.
- Bluets by Maggie Nelson
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In this nonfiction poetry collection, author Maggie Nelson explores the color blue. The entire book is centered around her personal experiences with blue and blue things, and as abstract as it sounds, it’s pretty amazing.
- Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
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I just love this book! It’s such a moving story about what it means to find oneself and come into one’s own identity, especially with queerness, and it’s also just a really beautifully drawn graphic memoir.
- Clemente! by Willie Perdomo
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This is a picture book biography, and before you go and say, “Oh, I’m too old for picture books”, no, you’re not. Picture books are awesome and you can still learn so much from them, even as an adult. This book is the story of a young boy named Clemente. He is learning about his namesake, the baseball player Roberto Clemente, who was the first Latin American player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is beautiful and moving and doesn’t shy away from hard social issues; it’s incredible and I cannot recommend it enough.
- Cheeky: A Head to Toe Memoir by Ariella Elovic
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For all the girls that grew up with the American Girl Doll Care and Keeping of You book, this is the one for you! This is a delightful graphic memoir about finding confidence in one’s body, as author Ariella Elovic takes a head-to-toe look at herself and the messages she’s placed on her body. It’s funny, insightful, and a wonderful joy to read.
- Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
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I’m reading this right now, so while I can’t fully speak about the book as a whole, I can say that I’m over halfway done and absolutely loving it. Dolly Alderton’s writing is so quick, smart, and charming, and reading this book truly feels like I’m talking to a friend.
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
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Braiding Sweetgrass is an account of both scientific knowledge and Indigenous wisdom. Robin Wall Kimmerer is both a botanist and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, aspects of her identity that she brings to center stage when writing this book and looking at humanity’s relationship to the natural world.
- Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
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I just read this for class, and I can honestly say it changed my life. Through a series of 248 notes from things ranging from old photographs to discussions of what the word “life” means, this book is an incredibly beautiful, poignant, and immersive experience of Black life and existence.
- They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
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This is such a cool essay collection and I love it so much! Hanif Abqurraqib uses music and culture as a lens to view and understand the world. His writing is intense and vibrant, every single essay is so enrapturing, and I simply cannot recommend it enough.
- In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
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If I was asked to give book recommendations on my deathbed, this would be on my list. This is an extremely heavy book, as it centers on Carmen Maria Machado’s exploration of her emotionally abusive relationship with her ex-girlfriend, but it is also one of the most beautiful and spellbinding things I have ever read. Machado uses different narrative tropes to explore her trauma and create one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful and heartbreaking books I’ve ever read.
- The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
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If you ever ask me for a book recommendation, this is always one of the first things I’ll ask if you’ve read it. The entire book is John Green exploring different aspects of human life and rating them on a 5-star scale. While this may sound a little goofy, there is a lot of fun to be had with this book and there is such beautiful insight into the human condition, the ways we connect with others, and the beauty that can be found all around us. If you only pick up one book from this list, pick this one.
To close the list out, here are a few other books I haven’t read yet but have heard great things about:
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
- I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
- Just Kids by Patti Smith
Happy reading!