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Nonfiction That Reads Like Fiction Pt.1
Return to Fiction_L Booklists Menu
April 1998
Compiled by Vicki Novak
of the Maricopa County Library District, from contributions by the members of Fiction_L.
(To use this list in your library, book club, etc., please include the following credit line: "Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list." This list may not be used for commercial purposes.)
Nonfiction in which the pacing, character development, writing style, etc. will please even someone who normally reads just fiction.
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost At Sea by Steven Callahan -- Riveting story of a lone sailor surviving for 3 months in the Atlantic after his sailboat was capsized.
Alive by Piers Paul Read
All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
Among The Thugs by Bill Buford, on English soccer fans
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Bad Land: An American Romance by Jonathan Raban, on the high hopes of farmer settlers in Montana; and their eventual surrender to the realities of the weather there.
Boy: Tales Of Childhood by Roald Dahl
Castaway by Lucy Irvine -- She responds to an ad looking for a wife to settle with a ne'er-do-well on a tropical island in the South Pacific
The Cat Who Went To Paris and A Cat Abroad: The Further Adventures Of Nortonby Peter Gethers -- Norton is an endearing Scottish fold cat who travels first class in Gethers' pocket on European jaunts where the cat is treated with more deference than the author.
Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee -- a boyhood in the west of England
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
Deadly Feasts: Tracking The Secrets Of A Terrifying New Plague by Richard Rhodes
Death Without Weeping: The Violence Of Everyday Life In Brazil by Nancy Scheper-Hughes
Desert Wife by Hilda Faunce
The Duke Of Deception: Memories Of My Father by Geoffrey Wolff
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Farm: A Year In The Life Of An American Farmer by Richard Rhodes
The Farm On The River Of Emeralds by Moritz Thomsen
Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream by H. G. Bissinger -- About deadly serious high school football in a declining Texas city.
Geography Of The Heart by Fenton Johnson -- beautifully written book of a gay man's homage to his partner, dead of AIDS.
Growing Up by Russell Baker
Hardball: A Season In The Projects by Daniel Coyle -- White collar volunteers develop and organize a Little League in the Chicago projects.
Having Our Say : The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years by Sarah and A. Elizabeth Delany
High Tide In Tucson: Essays From Now Or Never by Barbara Kingsolver
A Hole In The World: An American Boyhood by Richard Rhodes
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
House by Tracy Kidder
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
I Took A Lickin' And Kept On Tickin': And Now I Believe In Miracles by Lewis Grizzard
I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me by Jimmy Breslin
In Cold Blood: A True Account Of A Multiple Murder And Its Consequences by Truman Capote
In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle by Madeline Blais -- About a girl's high school basketball team in Amherst, MA. In addition to the sports aspect of the book, the author delves into the relationship of townies with the many schools in Amherst. All in all, it's a great read even if you don't like sports.
In This Dark House by Louise Kehoe
Into The Wild by John Krakauer -- The adventures of a hitchhiker through Alaska.
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Mount Everest Disaster by JonKrakauer
The Liar's Club by Mary Karr
Little League Confidential: One Coach's Completely Unauthorized Tale Of Survival by Bill Geist -- (may be classed as fiction in your library). Very funny reminiscences by CBS commentator and Little League coach Bill Geist.
Living Poor:A Peace Corps Chronicle by Moritz Thomsen
Longitude: The True Story Of A Lone Genius Who Solved The Greatest Scientific Problem Of His Time by Dava Sobel -- Maybe a little scholarly, but fascinating popular science reading.
Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers Of Southern Living by Bailey White
A Man Called Intrepid: The Secret War by William Stevenson
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Marilyn: Norma Jeane by Gloria Steinem
A Match To The Heart by Gretel Ehrlich -- riveting account of the author's 2nd experience as a lightning-strike survivor.
Men To Match My Mountains: The Opening Of The Far West 1840-1900 by Irving Stone
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt
Mindhunter: Inside The Fbi's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas
My Own Country: A Doctor s Story Of A Town And Its People In The Age Of AIDS by Verghese, Abraham -- the author leaves Ethiopia and sets up a practice in a small town in Tennesse where he is overwhelmed by the number of patients with AIDS who seek treatment
My Posse Don't Do Homework (later editions are called Dangerous Minds) by LouAnne Johnson --Johnson, a former marine, takes on the California school system as an English teacher to kids at risk. Much, much better than the TV show.
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Nine Lives: From Stripper To Schoolteacher: My Year Long Odyssey In The Workplace by Lyn Snowden -- From rock groupie to stripper to rape counselor, Snowden spends months learning first-hand, about work in America.
No Mercy: A Journey To The Heart Of The Congo by Redmond O Hanlon -- Manic stream of consciousness adventure saga of two professors in search of lowland gorillas.
Out Of Africa by Isak Dinesen
The Years Of Lyndon Johnson: The Path To Power by Robert Caro -- 1st volume of Robert Caro's bio of Lyndon Johnson. Don't let the heft scare you - great descriptions of early Texas, women's work in the days before rural electrification, Depression life, etc.
The Perfect Storm: A True Story Of Men Against The Sea by Sebastian Junger
Praying For Sheetrock: A Work Of Nonfiction by Melissa Greene -- civil rights come to a community ruled by a formerly benevolent dictatorial sheriff.
Rachel And Her Children: Homeless Families In America by Jonathan Kozol
Roommates: My Grandfather's Story by Max Apple -- Apple takes his 96 year old grandfather to college with him. Rocky is cranky good company, until Max marries Debby.
Sailor On Horseback: The Biography Of Jack London by Irving Stone
Sleeping At The Starlite Motel: And Other Adventures On The Way Back Home by Bailey White
There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz
This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff
Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle
Travels On My Elephant by Mark Shand -- Shand sets out on a walk one day: 800 miles across India with a half-starved elephant named Tara whom he rescues.
Travels With A Hungry Bear: A Journey To The Russian Heartland by Mark Kramer -- Kramer, an agriculture consultant to the USSR (then Russia) for several years, recounts the effect of perestroika on the Russian farmers
Treasure Hunt : A New York Times Reporter Tracks The Quedlinburg Hoard by William H. Honan -- This title is a wonderful mystery, with eccentric characters and a real fortune in stolen art treasures.
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, And The Opening Of The American West by Stephen Ambrose
West With The Night by Beryl Markham
Who Killed My Daughter?: A True Story Of A Mother s Search For Her Daughter s Murderer by Lois Duncan
A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle
Young Men And Fire by Norman Maclean
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