Best of 2017: Non-Fiction

Remember when I said that picking my top non-fiction was going to be harder than it was for me to pick my best fiction books?  Well, I wasn't lying.  My original list of wonderful non-fiction books was significantly longer than my other lists.  

It's not like non-fiction makes up the majority of my reading, but I am reading more and more non-fiction as I get older, and I am also learning a lot from what I'm reading. This is not the boring, dry non-fiction I remember from my childhood. The stuff being published now is entertaining, informative, and often hard to distinguish from fiction.

So here's the year's wrap-up:

1.  Secrets from the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, the Myth of Willpwer and Why You Should Never Diet Again by Traci Mann - I read this nearly a year ago, and think it is something I could read every year. So much good information packed in this book. When I read it the first time I called friends and family and read various portions of it to them.  I think it would be a fantastic book discussion pick, too.  How many women can relate to dieting? Pretty much every woman I know.

2.  Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel - Finkel read of the arrest of Christopher Knight who had broken in to a boy scout camp kitchen to steal food.  Finkel became intrigued by this man who had parked his car in the woods, left his keys on the dash, and then lived in the woods for twenty six years without having any contact with humans.  He ends up contacting Knight and learning about what prompted him to leave civilization for most of his adult life.

3.  The Family Gene: My Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future by Joselin Linder - Linder is a young woman when her legs begin to inexplicably swell.  Many misdiagnoses later, she begins to look for answers in her family's medical history - including her father's mysterious death.

4.  Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore - this is a fascinating - and sad- book about many young women hired to paint the glow in the dark numbers on watches.  Their exposure to radium caused cancer in many of these women, while the company who employed them tried to wash their hands of any wrong-doing on their part.  This is narrative non-fiction at it's best. 

5.  American Fire: Love, Arson and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse - true-crime/investigative journalism - Hesse begins to research this story after the arrest of Charlie Smith and his accomplice girlfriend for setting 67 fires in Accomack County, a place no longer thriving or wealthy, instead characterized by abandoned buildings.

6.  Happiness: A Memoir: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harpham - Harpham's recounting of her daughter's birth and dangerous health condition, as she tries to navigate a rocky relationship and single parenthood along with her daughter's medical needs. I appreciated every single word of this book (having had a child myself with a life-threatening diagnosis, I can attest to Harpham's ability to "get it right").

7. The Most Important Year: Pre-Kindergarten and the Future of Our Children by Suzanne Bouffard - as the daughter of a retired kindergarten teacher, I found myself nodding my head to pretty much everything Bouffard said about Pre-K education.  Every educator and administrator should make time for this book. And so should every parent.  

8.  After the Eclipse: A Mother's Murder, A Daughter's Search by Sarah Perry - Sarah was just twelve years old when her mother was murdered in their home while Sarah was asleep in the bedroom -just a room away from the crime scene.  This memoir/true-crime book shares how Sarah went on after her mother's death, and the eventual arrest of her mother's killer.  Perry's writing was so good, but yet so hard to read as I could see and hear what she felt as her mother was killed.

9.  How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn- this book is one every woman will nod their head to while reading, chuckle at, and at at the same time realize that Dunn is giving pretty good advice on how to help your relationship flourish while raising children.  I can think of lots of people I want to hand this book to.

10.  A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong - these two investigative journalists focus on a single rapist and the many women who become his victims. They share the women's stories, the background of the rapist, and also the stigma and attitudes that victims are subjected to.  A pretty important look at an important topic.  (This book is scheduled to be published in February 2018).

Some other titles that deserve a mention:
1.  Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
2. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins
3.  Columbine by Dave Cullen
4.  Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Coming Home by Amy Dickinson
5.  Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg
6.  Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein


Even if you think you're not a non-fiction reader, these are all fantastic books and you might be surprised by how much you would enjoy them. 

So, what great non-fiction titles did I miss this year? Have you read any from my list?

Stop back tomorrow when I re-cap my best Young Adult and Middle Grade titles.