I have been in a sort of reading slump, and I asked followers on Instagram to help me find a book of nonfiction that is “unputdownable”. The responses were SO good that I figured I would share them with you here and turn unputdownable books into a series on The Stacks website, featuring the most readable books by genre according to you all. Welcome to The Unputdownables.
To start, I’ll share two or three of my picks that fit the category (in this case nonfiction) and then share whatever you all sent my way. If you want to have your pick included in future editions of The Unputdownables make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram.
Ok here are my picks for The Unputdownables Nonfiction!
John Krakauer – I recognize this isn’t a book, but every book by John Krakauer is great, and I have read all of his books. They are so engaging and well researched and deep diving. Plus he covers a huge variety of topics from Fundamental Mormons to campus rape culture to Mount Everest. If you haven’t read his books, they are a must. If I had to pick just one, it would be Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.
Eiger Dreams | Into the Wild | Into Thin Air | Missoula | Under the Banner of Heaven | Where Men Win Glory
Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres – I rave about this memoir all the time and most people don’t know it, but trust me it is amazing. The book is about Scheeres (who is White) and her adopted brothers (who are Black) and their violent and volatile, religious family.
Columbine by Dave Cullen – Another book that I constantly talk about, and for good reason. In this book, Cullen dives deep into the most infamous American school shooting. His research is impeccable and his story telling is out of this world.
Here are a list of books submitted by you all of your favorite unputdownable non fiction titles. If the book came up multiple times I will note that by placing the number times it came up in parenthesis. If I have read the book, I will note that too, by putting the book in bold. The books are in alphabetical order by title. Ok. here is your list of total bingeable true stories as told to me by YOU.
- A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer
- A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story by Elaine Brown
- American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse
- American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer
- Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
- Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
- City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran by Ramita Navai
- Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller
- Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
- Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital y Sheri Fink
- Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
- Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
- Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister (The Stacks Book Club Episode)
- Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi
- I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell
- Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (2)
- Life Will Be the Death of Me: . . . and you too! by Chelsea Handler
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
- Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
- Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
- Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams and Jeannine Amber
- Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
- The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce
- The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee with David John
- The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber
- The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
- The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (2)
- This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
- Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by John Krakauer (2)
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha
- Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek MD and T.J. Mitchell
Thats the list for our first ever Unputdownable round up of nonfiction. You can get any of these books on Amazon or IndieBound. Make sure to share which books you would add to this list in the comments. Stay tuned for the next round of Unputdownables, coming soon.
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