Non-fiction Recommendations Wanted

As per the title.

Red Notice by Bill Browder

Educated by Tara Westover

A fortunate life

Wedlock - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/20/wedlock-wendy-moore

Accidental feminist- Jane Caro

Witness - Louise Milligan

How we get free - Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective - Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, also her book From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation is excellent.

I don't read that much non-fiction but it really depends what interests you.

Best non-fiction I have read includes Christiane F, Go Ask Alice, Schindler's Ark, Into Thin Air. I've read a bunch of other holocaust and mountain climbing books, almost all of which have been fascinating in their own ways.

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, a fascinating read soon to be a movie/series about a woman who built an empire based on lies

Catch and kill by Ronan Farrow, the Harvey Weinstein story / She said by Jodi kantor another Harvey story

Educated by Tara Westover

See what you made me do by Jess Hill, about domestic abuse

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, a memoir from the creator of Nike

Another for See what you made me do.

From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage*

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee*

Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine*

Ones with stars I have been banned from recommending because I am too enthusiastic about them...

Also Stalking Claremont. Lots of memories of the area.

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay

Accidental feminist- Jane Caro

Witness - Louise Milligan

I’d also suggest unbreakable- women share stories of resilience and hope edited by Jane Caro.

Dead man walking by sister Helen Prejean

And cardinal by Louise Milligan.

This is going to hurt by Adam Kay

Ooh yes, one of the best NF books I've read in the last few years. Read it now before the BBC comedy drama series starring Ben Whishaw drops.

It was based on the diaries Adam kept during his training and career as an obgyn in the NHS where he became a registrar.

The format is based on his diary entries and is very easy to read. The stories from maternity and gynae are often ridiculously funny, sometimes shocking or sobering and sometimes absolutely heartbreaking, particularly the unavoidable tragedy in the labour ward which led to his decision to quit medicine.

The memoir (pre-Covid) is a testament to NHS and probably all doctors, worn out by relentless hours, stress, emotional load and pointless bureaucracy for which they are not adequately paid.

Anyway, I was crying with laughter on one page and bawling with sadness on the next.

Here's a quote that I loved:

"When you reach a certain age, your body attempts to turn itself inside out via your vagina, but you can avoid all this by performing pelvic floor exercises. There are leaflets that describe these exercises in confusing detail, but I always just used to tell patients, ‘Imagine you’re sitting in a bath full of eels and you don’t want any of them getting in."

I highly recommend this and also his other book "Twas the Nightshift before Christmas."

I don't read that much non-fiction but it really depends what interests you.

Best non-fiction I have read includes Christiane F, Go Ask Alice, Schindler's Ark, Into Thin Air. I've read a bunch of other holocaust and mountain climbing books, almost all of which have been fascinating in their own ways.

I remember reading Christiane F when I was 13. Turned me off hard drugs for life. After reading that I didn't find Go Ask Alice all that shocking.

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. A story of how the first cell lines for testing were developed, taken from a Black woman without her consent.

Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky. Outlines the race to develop the polio vaccine.

Also the All Creatures Great and Small series are a fun light read, really charming. Also Call the Midwife and its sequels, and The Midwife’s Here and its sequels.