How about a good book about real people? These books are sure to entertain and inform at the same time. Biographies, personal histories and essays help you learn about the lives of people just around the corner and far, far away. Fascinating, spell-binding and sometimes, hilarious, check out one (or more) of these “nonfiction that reads like fiction” books this month.
STAFF PICKS FOR ADULTS
We’ve selected a few of the amazing real-life narratives in our collection. Don’t see what you want? Let us recommend something that fits your interests.
NONFICTION
- “The Pioneer Woman” by Ree Drummond (B DRUMMOND)
American blogger and food writer Ree Drummond relates the real life story of how she met and married her “Marlboro Man.” These stories, about her husband, family and country living, paint a warm and touching picture of life on an Oklahoma ranch.
- “Blood, Bones and Butter” by Gabrielle Hamilton (B HAMILTON)
The chef of New York’s East Village Prune restaurant presents an account of her search for meaning and purpose in the central rural New Jersey home of her youth, marked by a first chicken kill, an international backpacking tour and the opening of a first restaurant.
- “Orange is the New Black” by Piper Kerman (B KERMAN)
This book follows the author’s incarceration for drug trafficking, during which she gained a unique perspective on the criminal justice system and met a varied community of women living under exceptional circumstances.
- “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson (304.809 WILKE)
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.
- “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot (616 SKLOO)
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as “HeLa.” She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine.
- “You Don’t Sweat Much for a Fat Girl” by Celia Rivenbark (814 RIVEN)
This collection of uproarious essays on modern womanhood imparts irreverent observations on such topics as menopause, long eyelashes and public exercise.
- “The Lost Girls” by Jennifer Baggett (910.4 BAGGE)
Three friends at a crossroads in their 20s quit their high pressure New York media jobs, leave their friends and everything familiar behind and embark on a year-long backpacking adventure around the world.
- “The Geography of Bliss” by Eric Weiner (910.4 WEINE)
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor and part twisted self-help guide, this book takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author’s case, moments of “un-unhappiness.”
- “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand (940.54 HILLE)
This book relates the story of a U.S. airman who survived when his bomber crashed into the sea during World War II, spent 47 days adrift in the ocean before being rescued by the Japanese Navy and was held as a prisoner until the end of the war.
- “In the Garden of Beasts” by Erik Larson (943.086 LARSO)
This book documents the efforts of the first American ambassador to Hitler’s Germany, William E. Dodd (a North Carolina native), to acclimate to a residence in an increasingly violent city where he is forced to associate with the Nazis while his daughter pursues a relationship with Gestapochief Rudolf Diels.
DID YOU KNOW? …
The Wake County Public Libraries are sponsoring writing workshops this month. Have you considered writing your memoir? Come to these workshops for ideas and tips for getting started.
1. Your Life, Your Story: Tackling the Memoir
- Cameron Village Regional Library
919-856-6710
- North Regional Library
919-870-4000
- West Regional Library
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 7 p.m.
919-463-8500
2. Remembering and Writing: A Workshop
- East Regional Library
Monday, Jan. 14, 7 p.m.
919-217-5300
- Eva Perry Regional Library
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m.
919-387-2100
- Southeast Regional Library
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 7 p.m.
919-662-2250
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