We love seeing which books our readers are enjoying, especially when it comes to nonfiction. BookBub readers have recommended some incredible books recently, from powerful texts on racial justice to compelling memoirs and incredible stories about the natural world. Here are some of the best reader nonfiction recommendations, along with why each reader loved the book. Check out this list of heart-breaking, dramatic and pragmatic stories to choose your next read!
1) The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang
Written by Esme Weijun Wang, a Taiwanese-American author, known primarily for The Border of Paradise. This novel captures her experience with Cotard’s Syndrome, often diagnosed with schizophrenia or severe depression.
Inked with sophisticated prose—undoubtedly a testament of Wang’s skill— the novel carefully examines the chaos that lies within the mind. Slightly toned down intensity and smartly withheld information allows the reader to not be intimidated, rather festers a feeling of incompleteness which enables the novel to be more obsessive to read. Therefore the collection of wonderfully penned essays allow the reader to enter a manic state of an under-examined condition.
2) Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
Written by T Kira Madden, a queer American author and founding Editor-in-Chief of “No Tokens Journal”. This memoir chronicles Madden’s childhood in a Jewish community as a biracial, queer girl with parents who struggled with substance abuse and a fashion giant, Steve Madden as her uncle.
The coming of age novel is set in privilege, overbearing standards and white collar crime. It follows the trajectory of three ‘fatherless’ girls through imperfect friendships, lust and loss. The novel is bold, raw and depicts the author’s sorrows with an almost painful accuracy. With unresolved trauma, we travel through the trial and triumph of life which showcases beauty even in misery.
3) How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Written by Saeed Jones, a gay African-American man and award winning poet. This text catches the complexities of love, queerness and race in a world prejudiced against single mothers and disadvantaged children. It journals his inner growth and his relationship with his family as he becomes a young man.
Filled with graphic scenes and emotionally taxing descriptions, this book has an overwhelming effect on the reader. Blended with prose and poetry, Saeed turns language into a fierce cutting weapon. By the end, the reader has an authentic understanding of his personality, and is helpless but to follow what’s next in his life.
4) Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Written by Channel Miller, an American author and artist. A sexual assault survivor, Miller shares what is undeniablely one of the most tragic moments of her life in just 7000 resounding words. In this memoir, she calls out the injustice done to her not only by her rapist, Brock Turner but the law enforcement who failed to give her justice. Heavy hitting and dark, this true story is told with grace and dignity.
Painful and then triumphant, Miller shifts the narrative from victim to hero. Her unparalleled bravery metamorphoses into the pages, and becomes an inspiration to countless. A must read, heart wrenching memoir for every man, every woman and every human.
5) Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Diaz
Written by Jaquira Diaz, journalist and a culture critic. Her award winning novel explores themes of girlhood innocence, challenges that faced her and how she overcame the obstacles. In this searing memoir, Diaz writes fiercely and eloquently to express herself.
From colonialism in Puerto Rico to a childhood spent battling poverty and unstable parents, Diaz writes it all. A schizophrenic mother and a drug dealer father were just some of the normal, everyday experiences. Unafraid to divulge deep, she talks about violence, depression and sexual assault with an unflinching tone. Her powerful and vibrant language immerses the reader completely.
6) Good Talk by Mira Jacob
Written by Mira Jacob, Indian-American writer known for The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing. Her graphic memoir is hilarious, due to the warm and funny dialogue. Amusingly inquisitive, her meditation on interracial families and racism in America gives a unique perspective while the mixed media artwork provides an uncommon touch.
Mira fearlessly enters into the murky grey areas of race and family, of bigotry and colorism with raw honesty and toned down intensity to give her son—the most important character— the understanding he needs to have about the world.
7) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Written by Carmen Maria Machado, American short story author and critic frequently published in ‘The New Yorker’. In this intimate, formally experimental memoir, Machado recalls the complexities of abuse in queer relationships. With exacting, exquisite prose, Machado is just a fantastic psychological writer with keen sensibilities, and finds highly evocative words and images to convey her own past.
The scarcity of these narratives, and riveting and satisfying exploration of how we, as individuals or groups, can claim our difference gives a unique perspective. Loaded with references to myth, folktales, and literary genres, the book is a compelling page-turner.
8) Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer
Written by Lara Prior-Palmer, British writer and athlete. This emotional siren lures newly-minted adolescents into making rash decisions, most stereotypically taking the form of raucous parties and torrid love affairs. On a whim, Palmer participated in the world's longest and most demanding horse race which took place over 14,000 km of Mongol terrain, literally following the hoof steps of Genghis Khan’s postal couriers.
With odds stacked against Palmer, one must question why someone as underprepared as our young author would take on this challenge. It's a puzzle she subtly tries to solve for herself throughout the book with tones ranging from the contemplative to the outright exhausted. But although her choice to join the race was impulsive, her resolve remains steadfast as she navigates from station to station.
