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Non-Fiction Books for People Who Like to Hyper-Fixate on Fascinating Niche Topics
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items All of these books absorbed me for weeks and are the recommendations I give to people who love nonfiction and people who *think* they don’t love nonfiction alike.
✨Read this and THEN watch the series on Hulu
✨You’ll become absorbed by the Troubles and the IRA
✨The ending will absolutely shatter you and make you want to reread it from the beginning through a whole new lens
✨Paired Podcast Recommendation: ...
Say Nothing: True Story of Murder & Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
✨Read this if you enjoyed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - it will make Demon’s addictions and struggles even more tragic
✨Explores the vast power and wealth of the Sackler family and how they were able to amass it
Patrick Radden Keefe als...
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
This book retreads a familiar topic (the prevalence of serial killers in the 1970s-1980s) but offers an alternative theory for why violent serial killers seemed to flourish during this time and later nearly drop out of existence.
Using the case stu...
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
This book excels at bringing to life the six very different women who were wives to Henry VIII. I loved that it never told us how to feel about any of the people involved. Henry was at turns terrible (his treatment of his first wife, Katherine of Ara...
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
If you’ve watched Society of the Snow on Netflix or read “Alive,” and are looking for more harrowing survival stories, this one about the ill-fated Donner Party is next on your list. The true extent of the errors made and the cost to the party is so ...
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown
Growing up in the 90s, I had an awareness of the AIDS crisis, but not a true understanding. Reading this as an adult is jaw dropping and devastating. Randy Shilts masterfully weaves 15+ narratives of individuals in San Francisco, New York, Africa, Fr...
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts
This book is fascinating for adults who were kids in the 90s and have an awareness of mega-events in the 90s but not an adult understanding of them. Reading about things like the OJ Simpson trial and the Clinton Affair as an adult lends an entirely d...
The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman
Once you’ve mastered the basic meanings of the 78 cards, this is the best book I’ve read for interpreting how the cards interact with one another.
When providing readings, shifting from “this is what the card means” to a narrative form of “You were ...
Tarot Interactions by Deborah Lipp
I went through a heavy period of reading harrowing survival stories. After reading about the rugby team who endured being stranded in the Andes after a plane crash and the doomed Donner party, this one delved into the fate of men set adrift on the oc...
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
I bought this when it came out in hardback and devoured it. This book is adept at examining how the Holocaust spread east to west, beginning in Russia and Ukraine and then making its way west through Europe. A lot of what we think we know about the H...
The Holocaust: An Unfinished History by Dan Stone
The most absorbing memoir of serving in the Pacific theatre of WWII. My copy is in tatters because I’ve read it multiple times. Eugene Sledge kept a diary during the time he served in Peleliu and Okinawa. Explores a lesser-highlighted WWII experience...
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by EB Sledge