Staff Picks Category: Non-fiction

Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder [Book]

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How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler [Book]

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If you are a fan of science writing and personal essays, and want to hear from young, queer folx, this book is a must-read. Imbler expertly blends their experiences with sea life and their own identity in these ten braided essays, each exploring a different creature from the deep. From feral goldfish to mother octopuses, these essays explore the complexity and beauty of animals that live in an otherworldly plain, whose inner lives we can only guess at.

The Hawk’s Way: Encounters With Fierce Beauty by Sy Montgomery [Book]

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In this short book, the author, Sy Montgomery, takes the reader through her journey with learning falconry, an ancient practice where humans and hawks join together to hunt. This partnership is unlike any Montgomery (or most of us) has encountered and calls her to question her relationship with the predators who, unable to be anthropomorphized, operate on instinct and care nothing for human companionship. Yet we are held in such thrall by their wildness. A wonderful, reflective piece of nonfiction.

Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and me by Bill Hayes [Book]

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Writer and photographer Bill Hayes has written a moving memoir that is equally a love letter to New York City and an affectionate portrait of his partner, the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Through vignettes and diary entries we see the city and the people in it as Hayes does and his enthusiasm and affection are infectious. It’s a particular treat to see Sacks through Hayes’s eyes: here he is revealed, yes, as a brilliant scientist and writer and as a quirky genius with eccentric habits, but, more importantly, as the brilliant scientist and quirky genius whom Hayes adores and who adores Hayes in turn. As for the city, Hayes has a remarkable ability to meet, befriend, and like the people around him, and many of the passages that are not about Hayes and Sacks are about Hayes and the folks he meets: shop owners, skateboarders, dancers, artists, many of whom he meets through his photography. The photographs in the book, even when it is not clear how they relate to the text, further enhance the experience of, again, seeing through Hayes’s eyes.

Sounds like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman [Book]

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After a childhood spent driving over the mountains of West Virginia to take violin lessons, Jessica is now officially a music student at Columbia University and on track to achieve her dream of becoming a professional violinist. As her first semester wears on, however, something becomes abundantly, horribly clear: Jessica isn’t good enough to play the violin professionally. Not even close. And the cost of her education is slowly crushing her, forcing her to take any job she can to survive.
So when Jessica is unexpectedly hired to play the violin at craft fairs and art shows by a mysterious man (identified only as The Composer throughout the book), she jumps at the opportunity. The Composer has a large, dedicated fanbase who obsess over his inoffensive, pennywhistle-heavy instrumental music, but Jessica quickly realizes that something is amiss about his live performances: they’re not live at all. As Jessica gets more and more involved in her work with the Composer, eventually touring across America with his group, she has to reckon with her own ideas of success and authenticity—all while pretending to play the violin in front of concert halls full of people.
This quick-moving memoir is a story of coming to terms with one’s own inescapable mediocrity after a lifetime of being called “gifted.” It’s also a funny and brutal look into the experience of someone who kind of, but not really, got to live out a dream—as well as a peek at the strange and mercurial composer whose fame was primarily based on the fact that his music shamelessly mimicked the soundtrack of the 1997 movie Titanic. Fans of quirky, biting, beautifully-written memoirs will love this quick read.

Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden by Diane Ackerman [Book]

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Ackerman’s award winner (NY Times Notable Books) is an exploration of the pleasures of her Ithaca, New York garden over the course of a year. While many gardeners may be quite jealous, (she clearly has LOTS of paid assistance in maintenance and renovations), her descriptions and historical asides are in her trademark lush, sensory-oriented language.

Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky [Book]

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Outwitting History is an adventure tale, but much more than an adventure tale. It is a deeply felt, thoughtful look into the place of “other” cultures subsumed into the American melting pot, an homage to a generation that will soon be gone, and an homage to books. Yiddish may have outwitted history, but couldn’t have done it without Aaron Lansky. Share this story of the birth of one of our local institutions and the local hero who made it happen. Bring a tissue but be prepared to laugh.

Crying in H Mart [Book]

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Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (also known by her band name Japanese Breakfast) is a beautifully crafted memoir about Zauner’s relationship with her mother and coming to terms with her mother’s slow decline and death. It grapples with themes of identity, loss, love, grief, and culture. She tells us about her and her mothers connection through vivid descriptions of Korean food and how food connects people, families, and cultures. It is a warm and yet heartbreaking story (one that will make you cry within the first chapter) that teaches us how we must not only remember the people who formed us, but also that we have the power to construct our own identities too.

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 [Book]

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This very readable history of why and how we got involved in the mess of competing tribes and loyalties that is Afghanistan explained in short, digestible chapters each detailing an event or a person. The long chain of events that led to September 11 and the failure of intelligence services is enlightening if grim reading. This writer will be interested in the author’s sequel to see if we’ve learned anything at all.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life) by George Saunders [Book]

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Reading this book is like getting to take author George Saunders’ MFA writing course on the Russian short story, as he takes you through reading seven of his favorites by Russian giants Tolstoy, Chekov, Gogol, and Turgenov. And while this might seem like a daunting hurdle, or something only helpful for aspiring writers – Saunders’ engaging examinations into how these greats are doing what they do, make for an accessible exploration into the importance of fiction and in turn: a revelatory experience of becoming a better reader AND an inspiration for finding one’s voice in any form of expression (not just writing). A non-fiction extension from what Saunders achieves with his own award winning fiction, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is appearing on many “Best of…” lists for good reason – an essential read for anyone who loves stories!

The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt [Book]

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If you are interested in the world around you—what are those little boxes on the sides of buildings? why are signposts built the way they are? what do those symbols painted on the road mean?—then 99% Invisible will appeal to you. Faith has already written up the 99% Invisible Podcast as a staff pick here, but I would like to bring your attention to the book, The 99% Invisible City. The book, as its title implies, has a narrower scope than the podcast, and concentrates on the urban environment. I highly recommend it for anyone who has enjoyed episodes of the podcast or has heard about it and been intrigued but never given it a listen. Nearly all of the topics in the book have been extensively covered on the podcast, so you will actually get more out of this if you are not yet a diehard 99pi fan, though longtime listeners will certainly find it an entertaining review.

This is a great book for whetting your appetite—each topic is covered only briefly, and you will want to learn more! Perhaps its greatest deficit is the lack of photographs—the illustrations are charming, but more often than not you will want to see photographs of what has been described. If you are anything like me you will take note of those stories that intrigue you most and continue to investigate them further on your own—which is, I suspect, exactly what Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt want!

How to be Antiracist [Book]

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Dr. Kendi breaks down the difference between being “not a racist” and being “anti-racist”. This book is required reading.