Non-Fiction Book Recommendations for Fiction Fans

When you read a lot, you may find you receive judgement for the kinds of books you like.

That’s lame. The books you enjoy are worthy of your love, whether ‘society’ or anyone else deems them acceptable.

I often get asked for non-fiction book recommendations. As a lifelong fiction fan, it took me awhile to dip my toe into the waters of nonfiction. Or so I thought. But then I realized that memoir that made me laugh out loud, that science book that made me think and look at the world in a new way, those are considered nonfiction. It isn’t just biographies and text books, y’all! Who knew?!

Whether you love fiction, nonfiction, or #AllTheBooks (I fall under that category), don’t shame yourself or allow anyone else to put down your reading choices. The world is a dark place; live in your own light (and if your own light is dark, edgy horror, then you do you, friend). So pick up that regency romance, or hit play on that audiobook, and leave behind all the haters.

As the wise Taylor Swift once sang, haters gonna hate, hate, hate.

So read what you want.

If you, too, want to venture into the nonfiction aisles, here are some of my favorite reads from that other section of the library. While these stories are true, they are still stories. Storytelling is an art form regardless of genre, and these true tales are woven together beautifully.

The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell (and honestly all of his other books, too)
The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
Molly’s Game by Molly Bloom
Instant Mom by Nia Vardalos
Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harpham
If You Lived Here I’d Know Your Name by Heather Lende
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
Educated by Tara Westover
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Mindy Kaling’s memoirs: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Why Not Me?, and her recent mini-essay collection available on Amazon.
Dad is Fat and Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Masterminds and Wingmen by Rosalind Wiseman

As you can see, my non-fiction selections run the gamut just as much as my fiction selections. History, science, memoir, autobiography, humor: the nonfiction section has so much to offer.