Skip to Main Content

Introduction

Nonfiction that Reads Like Fiction

January 2006

True life, true adventure, truly amazing tales from great storytellers.

Recommended Reads

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
ISBN: 0743216385
Publication Date: 2001-06-01
An elite airborne unit defines WW II teamwork at the working soldiers' level in many of the major European campaigns.
Growing Up by Russell Baker
ISBN: 0452255503
Publication Date: 1983-01-01
A memoir of a time of innocence and trust in the American South by a NY Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning commentator.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
ISBN: 0679429220
Publication Date: 1994-01-13
Crime takes a backseat to a cast of characters that exposes the foibles of the post-Confederate South.
Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger
ISBN: 0306809907
Publication Date: 2000-08-11
Texas high school football. The pressure of a small town on a coach and team (at the expense of both) in order to win a championship.
She's Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan
ISBN: 076791404X
Publication Date: 2003-07-29
A true coming out as Jim becomes Jennifer. A story of the writer's life and a family's redefinition.
All over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
ISBN: 0679774025
Publication Date: 1998-09-08
The courage and strength of a southern single mother raising genuinely good "good ole boys." A loving memoir by one of her sons, a Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent.
I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me by Jimmy Breslin
ISBN: 0316110310
Publication Date: 1996-09-01
A brain aneurysm causes a classic NY journalist to revisit his past, dissect his surgery, and give thanks for both.
Among the Thugs by Bill Buford
ISBN: 0679745351
Publication Date: 1993-06-01
The underbelly of British and European soccer witnessed by an American.
Adrift by Steven Callahan
ISBN: 0345410157
Publication Date: 1996-09-29
Alone on a rubber raft, drifting 1800 miles before rescue.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
ISBN: 0679745580
Publication Date: 1994-02-01
The original true crime docu-drama that made criminal forensics a household phrase.
In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
ISBN: 014011291X
Publication Date: 1988-06-07
Vivid armchair travel to the southernmost tip of South America.
The House on Beartown Road by Elizabeth Cohen
ISBN: 0375507272
Publication Date: 2003-04-01
Multi-generational musings on illness, aging and family in the 21st century.
Boy by Roald Dahl
ISBN: 0140318909
Publication Date: 1986-08-05
The British boyhood of the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other classic children's books.
Having Our Say by Sarah L. Delany; A. Elizabeth Delany; Amy Hill Hearth
ISBN: 156836010X
Publication Date: 1993-09-15
A century of African American experience through the eyes of siblings devoted to their professional careers and to each other.
Mindhunter by John E. Douglas; Mark Olshaker
ISBN: 0671528904
Publication Date: 1996-08-01
The origin and famous cases of the FBI's profiling section, a plot source for many current TV series.
Who Killed My Daughter? by Lois Duncan
ISBN: 0385307810
Publication Date: 1992-05-01
A well known YA author finds strange psychic coincidences between the plots of her own novels and the unsolved murder of her child.
Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald
ISBN: 0767911784
Publication Date: 2005-03-14
The complete picture of the Enron scandal with a full cast of corporate evil doers and long term repercussions for the nation's economy.
Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos M. N. Eire
ISBN: 0743219651
Publication Date: 2003-01-28
From the privileged world of Batista's Cuba, to the Florida life of a Castro refugee, a childhood turned upside down yet redeemed by faith.
Little League Confidential by Bill Geist
ISBN: 0025429213
Publication Date: 1992-05-01
Sharp, funny musings on the intensity of kids' sports in modern suburbia.
Wait till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
ISBN: 0684824892
Publication Date: 1997-10-21
"Da Brooklyn Bums!" Baseball frames the post-war NY memories of a popular historian.
Personal History by Katharine Graham
ISBN: 0394585852
Publication Date: 1997-02-03
The Washington Post and the power of the press in the pioneering hands of a 20th century feminist.
Dove by Robin L. Graham; Derek L. Gill
ISBN: 0060920475
Publication Date: 1991-03-27
Running away from home to sail solo around the world. Graham's journey was the basis for an early National Geographic documentary.
84, Charing Cross Road by Hélène Hanff
ISBN: 0140143505
Publication Date: 1990-10-01
A literary life examined and shared through decades of trans-Atlantic letters.
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr; Marty Asher (Editor)
ISBN: 0394563492
Publication Date: 1995-08-29
A pivotal groundwater pollution case in Massachusetts is the source for this courtroom drama of a small town pitted against industrial giants.
Hiroshima by John R. Hersey
ISBN: 0679721037
Publication Date: 1989-03-04
In war, there are always innocent victims. This is Japan's story.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
ISBN: 0375502912
Publication Date: 2001-03-06
A Cinderella horse and rider bring hope to an entire nation during the Depression.
Treasure Hunt by William H. Honan
ISBN: 0880641746
Publication Date: 1997-06-01
Art missing from the Nazi plunder is tracked to Texas in a true heist case to rival any popular mystery.
Geography of the Heart by Fenton Johnson
ISBN: 068481417X
Publication Date: 1996-05-01
A tender memoir of love and death in the age of AIDS.
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
ISBN: 039304016X
Publication Date: 1997-05-17
A confluence of ideal meteorological scenarios unites tragic loss and amazing heroism in the Atlantic.
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
ISBN: 0140179836
Publication Date: 1996-05-01
A fragile Texas girlhood marred by mental illness and alcoholism is still remembered fondly by the survivor, a poet.
House by Tracy Kidder
ISBN: 0618001913
Publication Date: 1999-10-15
The creative structural building process from the studs up to the roof.
The Proving Ground by G. Bruce Knecht
ISBN: 0316499552
Publication Date: 2001-06-06
Competitive sailing as blood sport.
There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz
ISBN: 0385265263
Publication Date: 1991-02-01
Chicago's housing projects leave no room for childhood, yet resilient kids somehow manage to fight the odds.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
ISBN: 0679457526
Publication Date: 1997-04-22
1996 was a year of triumph and tragedy on the Himalayan slopes.
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
ISBN: 078670621X
Publication Date: 1999-03-19
Icebound for a year in the Antarctic Sea in the early 20th century.
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
ISBN: 0865471185
Publication Date: 1982-01-01
A lyrical depiction of the joys of flight and the beauty of Africa by a woman aviator.
The Color of Water by James McBride
ISBN: 1573225789
Publication Date: 1997-02-01
Issues of race and religion, questioned, challenged and redefined.
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
ISBN: 068484267X
Publication Date: 1999-05-25
A love of learning rises from the bitter remains of abject poverty.
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
ISBN: 0316881791
Publication Date: 2001-09-13
Life among the wolves on the frozen Arctic tundra by a naturalist with enormous respect for the subjects he was sent to study.
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
ISBN: 0679430946
Publication Date: 1994-09-20
Preventing an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in suburban Washington, DC demands precision teamwork among federal government agencies.
Bad Land by Jonathan Raban
ISBN: 0679442545
Publication Date: 1996-11-05
Southeastern Montana was once the dream land of homesteaders. A British journalist delves into the failure of their dream and its impact on their descendents.
Alive by Piers Paul Read
ISBN: 038000321X
Publication Date: 2002-12-03
After a plane crash in the high Andes, the continued survival of the lost becomes a moral dilemma dependent on cannibalism.
Awakenings by Oliver Sacks
ISBN: 0060973684
Publication Date: 1990-12-01
Case studies of hope and loss among Parkinson's disease patients.
The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
ISBN: 0316734500
Publication Date: 2003-10-29
An inside look at one surviving family in Afghanistan's recent turmoil.
Longitude by Dava Sobel
ISBN: 0802713122
Publication Date: 1995-11-01
The scientific challenge to measure longitude at sea pits a lone clockmaker against the royal astronomers for a prize worth over 12 million dollars.
One L by Scott Turow (Afterword by)
ISBN: 0446351709
Publication Date: 1988-05-01
Turow, known primarily as a novelist, reflects on the stress, competition and achievements of his Harvard Law class.
All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein; Bob Woodward (Based on a work by)
ISBN: 0684863553
Publication Date: 1999-06-18
Nixon undone by arrogance. Still compelling, even after the disclosure of Deep Throat.