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Non-fiction books worth reading
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items I am a huge documentary and journals, non-fiction fan, and these are the books i've read and left their mark.
Leduc was discovered by Simone De Beauvoir and her books are so transparent that not even the movie was able to capture everything the writer delivers on her pages.
Violette Leduc | A bastarda| eBook
I believe Leduc is to France what Sylvia Plath is to the US regarding not holding back in translating their feelings in so many writings. This biography is a huge glimpse on who Leduc was not only to her country, but the non-fiction category in the w...
Violette Leduc Ned|eBook
Another great pick for those interested in Violette Leduc and the experiences the writer so well shared to her pages, and that captured the likes of Simone du Beauvoir, Camus, Cocteau, among others french intelectual that we don't really associate to...
La donna brutta: Vita e scrittura di Violette Leduc|eBook
Yup! I grew up listening to Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, so to be able to get to know Kathleen Hanna through her own worlds is a great treat to my rebel teenager self.
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk (Signed Book)|Signed Book
This one can be triggering because, as the author, I deal with my own mental health needs and have been called crazy by many, until I found the right support system to understand I'm not crazy, I just call things by their names. So this book is bitte...
Men Have Called Her Crazy: A Memoir
This is the closest we can get to a autobiography by Sylvia Plath. It's said, this book is biographical, she used a pseudonymous in its first edition. It's a great nod to young Plath and how deep her feelings were since a young age.
The Bell Jar (P.S. Series)|Paperback
You know when you read someone's letters and think: we would be friends? Plath is so vulnerable and funny and gentle and caring. Her poetry delivers it all, but reading her personal letters to her friends and family, gosh, it feels amazing and invasi...
The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956-1963|Hardcover
This one feels like a very detailed and a fully complete biography. It feels really well researched and written, even in the most delicate ways. For those curious about Plath or studying her literature, it's a must to.
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath|Paperback
My uncle/godfather gave me this book when I was 11yrs old, and it inspired me to start journaling. The reading felt adequate to my age, despite me not understanding - at that time - the true context of Frank's situation. Within the years, and acquire...
The Diary of Annie Frank
Back in 2016 in NYC, I was the producer of a theatrical play based on Lispector's body of work. The Ukraine born, was taken to Brazil as a newborn, as her family fled from the war. Despite not having recollection of the experience, Lispector's writin...
Near to the Wild Heart|Paperback
This book is funny, light, and tragic. I see myself as the ingenuous Macabéa, the main character and her life in the “big city”, not seeing harm or foul in absolutely anything - which can be both a great asset and such a dangerous one too. The book i...
The Hour of the Star|Paperback
I was lucky enough to get to know Benjamin Moser. His research work on Clarice's life is commendable and you can see his influence in his assistant work Katina Dodson, who later translated Lispector's “Complete Stories” (also a treat).
Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
To live in NYC isn't easy, but then, in one afternoon your boss tells you she's friends with Idra Novey, the translator of this book! And despite Portuguese being your first language, you just have to see how Clarice sounds like in English! And the b...
The Passion According to G. H.
I'm not a female writers only, but Kundera is one the few male authors that hits me where I'm vulnerable enough. And that means I'm unable to put his books down for a few hours. I appreciate how his writing is colloquial and relatable, and the experi...
The Joke|Paperback
Kundera is tender. I'm not a female writers only, but Kundera is one the few male authors that hits me where I'm vulnerable enough. And that means I'm unable to put his books down for a few hours. I appreciate how his writing is colloquial and relata...
Laughable Loves|Paperback
Another book that is so gentle to our eyes and feelings, despite touching some nerves. I'm not a female writers only, but Kundera is one the few male authors that hits me where I'm vulnerable enough. And that means I'm unable to put his books down fo...
The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Twentieth Anniversary Edition|Hardcover
I'm not a female writers only, but Kundera is one the few male authors that hits me where I'm vulnerable enough. And that means I'm unable to put his books down for a few hours. I appreciate how his writing is colloquial and relatable, and the experi...
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|Paperback
I'm not a female writers only, but Kundera is one the few male authors that hits me where I'm vulnerable enough. And that means I'm unable to put his books down for a few hours. I appreciate how his writing is colloquial and relatable, and the experi...
Farewell Waltz: A Novel|Paperback
I'm reading this book at my therapist request, and I must say - despite my reluctance, it is touching the right nerves and teaching me a lot about my triggers and behaviors. It's not a book that points fingers or diagnose anybody, but it talks about ...
The Highly Sensitive Person's Workbook|Paperback
The confessional writing of Tove Ditlevsen is tough yet soft. The writer shares with us a life experience, from childhood to adultness, leading us her life experiences and struggles with dependency and personal relationships we can so relate to.
The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency|Hardcover
A beautifully written biography of one of the most iconic women in the world! This book is a treat to those who wants to learn more about the woman behind the art and the image the world formed of her.
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo
This a great, yet devastating window to the effect of the Great Depression in rural America. As an immigrant, it was really an insightful reading.
A Childhood: The Biography of a Place|Paperback
“Sometimes, a child is born to a parent who can’t be a parent, and, like a seedling in the shade, has to grow toward a distant sun. Ariel Leve’s spare and powerful memoir will remind us that family isn’t everything—kindness and nurturing are.” — Glor...
An Abbreviated Life|Paperback
Clarice Lispector is so intense per usual, but this time her writing is more of a monologue about the G.H’s existential questions.
The Passion According to G. H.|Paperback