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Recommendations based on Running in the Familyby Michael Ondaatje
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
The Songlines
by Bruce Chatwin
A mix of travelogue, memoir, and fiction exploring the Aboriginal concept of songlines and their connection to the land.
In this extraordinary book, Bruce Chatwin has adapted a literary form common until the eighteenth century though rare in ours; a story of ideas in which two companions, traveling and talking ... (Goodreads)
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
by Alexandra Fuller
An autobiographical account of a white family in Rhodesia, struggling to survive in a war-torn land.
Alexandra Fuller's book tells the story of her family of white Zimbabwean tenant farmers in the years before and after Independence. These are not the wealthy landowners demonised by the present ... (Wikipedia)
Wave
by Sonali Deraniyagala
Memoir of a family's tragic loss in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and a woman's journey of resilience and recovery.
On the morning of December 26, 2004, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Sonali Deraniyagala lost her parents, her husband, and her two young sons in the tsunami she miraculously survived. In this ... (Goodreads)
Gratitude
by Oliver Sacks
A collection of essays on the importance of gratitude in life, written by the renowned neurologist and author Oliver Sacks.
“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on ... (Goodreads)
I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
by Nora Ephron
A humorous and poignant look at the struggles of aging and being a woman in modern society.
With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are ... (Goodreads)
Bluets
by Maggie Nelson
A lyrical exploration of love, loss, and grief, expressed through memories and reflections.
Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color... A lyrical, philosophical, and often explicit exploration of personal suffering and the limitations of vision and love, as ... (Goodreads)
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
by Philip Gourevitch
True story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, told through the eyes of survivors.
In April of 1994, the government of Rwanda called on everyone in the Hutu majority to kill everyone in the Tutsi minority. Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most ... (Goodreads)
The Complete Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
Autobiographical tale of a girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
Here, in one volume: Marjane Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed graphic memoir. Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving ... (Goodreads)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson
A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.
The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)
Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
An exploration of the Wild Woman archetype and the ways she has been repressed throughout history.
Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered ... (Goodreads)
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
by William Zinsser
Comprehensive guide to writing nonfiction, covering craft, style, and technique.
On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get ... (Goodreads)
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
by Svetlana Alexievich
An oral history of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, as told by the survivors.
Written by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occurred in Chernobyl and contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. ... (Goodreads)
The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Comprehensive scientific exploration of the evolution of species and the natural world.
Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for ... (Goodreads)
The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion
A woman's reflections on life and death after the sudden loss of her husband.
'An act of consummate literary bravery, a writer known for her clarity allowing us to watch her mind as it becomes clouded with grief.' From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of ... (Goodreads)
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
by Malcolm Gladwell
An exploration of unlikely success stories, examining conventional wisdom and biases.
In his #1 bestselling books The Tipping Point , Blink , and Outliers , Malcolm Gladwell has explored the ways we understand and change our world. Now he looks at the complex and surprising ways the ... (Goodreads)
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
by Haruki Murakami
Reflections of a runner, exploring the physical and mental challenges of the sport.
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such ... (Goodreads)
Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Epic tale of exploration and adventure as Lewis and Clark traverse the American wilderness.
'This was much more than a bunch of guys out on an exploring and collecting expedition. This was a military expedition into hostile territory'. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his ... (Goodreads)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by Lynne Truss
A humorous look at the importance of punctuation and its effect on language.
In Eats, Shoots & Leaves , former editor Lynne Truss, gravely concerned about our current grammatical state, boldly defends proper punctuation. She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and ... (Goodreads)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
A family memoir spanning decades of Chinese history, exploring the power of resilience.
The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten ... (Goodreads)
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Alison Bechdel
An autobiographical story of a daughter's complex relationship with her father and her own journey of self-discovery.
The narrative of Fun Home is non-linear and recursive. , Incidents are told and re-told in the light of new information or themes. , Bechdel describes the structure of Fun Home as a labyrinth , ... (Wikipedia)
Naked
by David Sedaris
Collection of humorous essays exploring the absurdities of everyday life.
Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked , Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, ... (Goodreads)
I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual
by Luvvie Ajayi Jones
A humorous and insightful guide to navigating modern life, calling out bad behavior and encouraging readers to do better.
"A truth-riot of a book!" — Shonda Rhimes, New York Times, Bestseller #1, Washington Post, Bestseller, Redbook ,“20 Books By Women You Must Read this Fall”, GoodHousekeeping.com, “17 New Best New ... (Barnes & Noble)
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
by Joan Didion
Collection of essays exploring the cultural landscape of 1960s America.
The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains, decades after its first publication, the essential portrait of ... (Goodreads)
The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy
by Mark Logue
The story of King George VI's struggle with stuttering and how his speech therapist helped him overcome it during a crucial time in history.
One man saved the British Royal Family in the first decades of the 20th century - he wasn't a prime minister or an archbishop of Canterbury. He was an almost unknown, and self-taught, speech ... (Goodreads)
The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know
by Katty Kay
A guide for women to develop confidence, backed by scientific research and interviews with successful women.
Following the success of Lean In and Why Women Should Rule the World , the authors of the bestselling Womenomics provide an informative and practical guide to understanding the importance of ... (Goodreads)
Your Erroneous Zones
by Wayne W. Dyer
A guide to liberating oneself from self-destructive thoughts and habits.
THE RECORD-BREAKING, #1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER – OVER 35 MILLION COPIES SOLD The first book by Wayne Dyer, author of the multimillion-copy bestseller, Pulling Your Own Strings, and national ... (Goodreads)
Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
by Mark Adams
An adventurous journey to uncover the secrets of Peru's Machu Picchu.
THE, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLING TRAVEL MEMOIR,What happens when an unadventurous adventure writer tries to re-create the original expedition to Machu Picchu?,In 1911, Hiram Bingham III climbed into ... (Barnes & Noble)
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
Chronicles of two young artists in New York City, finding friendship and inspiration in each other.
In Just Kids , Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal ... (Goodreads)
The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery
by Miguel Ruiz
A guide to personal growth and self-mastery, based on ancient Toltec wisdom. The fifth agreement is to be skeptical but learn to listen.
In, The Four Agreements, , don Miguel Ruiz revealed how the process of our education, or "domestication," can make us forget the wisdom we were born with. Throughout our lives, we make many ... (Barnes & Noble)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
An exploration of the power of introversion, examining the implications of modern society's emphasis on extroversion.
The book that started the Quiet Revolution, At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike ... (Goodreads)
