Feel-Good Nonfiction, Anyone?

Everyone has their own taste in books, and for me it's often nonfiction. In uncertain moments, it can be soothing to escape into a world of verifiable facts.

My all-time favorite reads are in the motley genres of literary journalism and narrative nonfiction. I like real-life stories with a subtle tension to keep me reading, while still offering passages of quiet reflection. Such works pair well with a related genre, a book of essays. These days I'm especially seeking essayists that promise irreverence and honesty, maybe even a rueful chuckle as I read.

The list below highlights authors who've produced a few works that fit my bill of fare, in hopes that it whets your appetite as well. All links go to eBooks in the library's catalog*.

John McPhee
For over half a century, New Jersey native John McPhee has been publishing carefully written and dryly humorous nonfiction about nearly every offbeat topic that interests him, from the hidden majesty of geology to the inner thoughts of athletes. Try The Crofter and the Laird, about the quiet life on a small Scottish island, or The Levels of the Game, about a tennis match in Forest Hills between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner.

Tracy Kidder
Like McPhee, literary journalist Tracy Kidder specializes in closely observed portraits of real people doing real things. He has a knack for finding the quiet drama in the mundane, and has been producing classic works of nonfiction at a steady pace since 1981's The Soul of A New Machine, about an early effort to build a personal computer. For pleasant reads, Try Among Schoolchildren or House. For something stirring, seek out Mountains Beyond Mountains, about a physician who has dedicated his life to fighting infectious disease in Haiti and around the world.

Mary Roach
For a more lighthearted but no less engaging read, popular science writer Mary Roach holds your ticket. She fearlessly will ask the embarrasing question about your favorite topic: sex, death, pooping, etc. And as you may surmise, she isn't afraid to confront the grossness of human physiology. Her Packing for Mars is always popular, but you can also try Bonk (about sex) or Gulp (about digestion).

Samantha Irby
Blogger Samantha Irby pens no-holds-barred essays glittered with raunchy humor and sharp honesty, beginning with the memoir-ish Meaty and continuing with We Are Never Meeting in Real Life and more recent works. She's quite popular, so be prepared to place holds as you await her wondrousness.

Sue Hubbell
If your favorite getaway is a trip to the countryside, Sue Hubbell offers rich rewards. Her A Country Year and A Book of Bees depict her back-to-nature living in the Missouri Ozarks, where she worked on her own to maintain a 100-acre honey farm.

Teju Cole
A multitalent—as photographer, art historian, and novelist—Teju Cole has published two well-regarded nonfiction works: Known and Strange Things, an essay collection, and Blind Spot, a collection of photos with commentary. In both, he waxes lyrical about writing, seeing, remembering and the many other subjects that move him.

Gerald Durrell
British naturalist Gerald Durrell lived a bit in the shadow of his older brother, the novelist Laurence Durrell. But Gerald was a prolific author in his own right and the library has many of his works available in eBook form. Several of his books (such as Bafut Beagles and Stationary Ark) recount his travels to remote places to find rare animals and build his personal and unconventional zoo. You might be more familiar with Gerald and his brother from The Durrells, a British TV series that also aired on PBS. The series was adapted from Gerald's Corfu Trilogy, memoirs of his childhood in the 1930s when his family lived an expatriate life on a Greek island.

Laura Hillenbrand
A magazine writer with a strong interest in straightforward storytelling, Laura Hillenbrand made her fame with Seabiscuit, an immersive tale about an underdog racehorse seeking greatness in the midst of the Great Depression. Her follow-up, Unbroken, retells the inspiring (and also harrowing) story of Louis Zamperini, an American prisoner of war during World War II.

Phoebe Robinson
Brooklyn-based comedian Phoebe Robinson has grown into her role as an author with her two books, You Can't Touch My Hair (which appeared on the longlist for this library's Literary Prize) and Everything's Trash, But It's Okay. Expect unfiltered wit and true confessions, along with social commentary executed with a light touch.

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*In some cases, searching for the author's name will pull up additional titles.

Mark is a Job Information Resource Librarian and member of the Connected Communities team at the library's Business & Career Center. He enjoys graphic novels, arranging his books by size, and looking for turtles in Prospect Park Lake.