Davenport>Book Lists>Non-fiction

Eminently Readable Non-fiction

Gripping Nonfiction | Excellent Essays
Biographies, Memoirs
Books About Books | Books About Movies
Pop Culture

Gripping Nonfiction

John Berendt

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil � Reads like pulpy, but literary, fiction. (Terrible movie, by the way, but great soundtrack.)

~New!~ Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference - Interesting, readable social commentary on the theory of social epidemics. Gladwell, a writer at the New Yorker, can make anything fascinating.

Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City - Absorbing parallel tales of the building of the 1892 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the serial killer who preyed on the visitors to the fair. Richly and beautifully described.

Stewart O'Nan

The Circus Fire - In 1944, a massive fire broke out at a circus in Hartford. Simply written and incredibly evocative, this book is a fascinating portrait of wartime America as well as of humanity.

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Essays

Susan Orlean

Saturday Night - Essays on how different Americans spend Saturday Night. Orlean has a wonderful gift for describing characters and places and situations. Don't miss the essay about zydeco dance organizer Jane Champagne--a character who should have her own mystery series.

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup - Great collection of essays, mostly previously printed in the New Yorker.

~New!~ My Kind of Place - No one is better than Orlean at exploring cultures and observing people.

David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day � Sedaris keeps getting better and better. Hilarious essays, mostly about his life in Paris and his childhood. Laugh-out-loud funny.

Holiday on Ice � Sedaris's holiday-related essays collected for your convenience during the busy holiday season.

Naked � Very good collection of memoir/essays.

Barrel Fever � His first collection. Includes the fabulous �Santaland Diaries.� Not for the faint of heart; it's a bit more rough around the edges than his newer books.

John Waters

Crackpot � Absolutely hilarious personal essays. Includes �101 Things I Hate," �101 Things I Love,� and the essay that "Hairspray" is based on: "Ladies and Gentlemen . . . The Nicest Kids in Town!"

Bailey White

Mama Makes Up Her Mind � Essays about Bailey�s eccentric family and life in the South.

Sleeping at the Starlight Caf� � See above.

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Biographies, Memoirs

~New!~ Paul Feig

Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence - Excruciating and hilarious memoir of growing up as a geek, by one of the creators of the fabulous television series Freaks and Geeks. So good, so embarrassing, so funny.

Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old virgin - Feig's tales of his (lack of) sexual misadventures is absolutely hilarious. And excruciating. An excellent companion piece to the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

~New!~ Jean Nathan

The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright - Thorough and compelling biography of the woman who wrote the creepy and depressing Lonely Doll books.

Terry Ryan

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - Very sweet story of a mother with ten kids who helps support her family by winning contests of word skill for various household products. Pleasantly diverting.

~New!~ Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls is a gossip columnist at MSNBC and was raised in an incredibly unconventional fashion. She begins this book with a scene where she is heading to a swanky party and sees her homeless mother digging through the garbage. Worried that other attendees at the party will see her with her mother, she heads home to her Park Avenue apartment. Such is the framing device that leads us into this gripping memoir. Her mother was an artist, her father an alcoholic, and neither of them cared much for conventional living. Jeannette and her family lived all over the country, and never stayed anywhere long. They lived in unbelievable poverty, but Jeannette never romanticizes her childhood, nor does she whine about the hard times she lives through. She just tells the reader exactly what happened in unsentimental, clean prose. Fascinating and impossible to put down.

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Books About Books

Helene Hanff

All, but especially:

84 Charing Cross Road � Fiction? Non? A must for anyone who�s spent any time at all in a used book shop.

Q's Legacy � Sort of a sequel to the above. Also charming.

Anne Fadiman

Ex Libris � Not at all pretentious essays about reading.

Alison Lurie

Don�t Tell the Grown-ups � Subtitled: The Subversive Nature of Children�s Literature. You�ll never look at Peter Pan or Kate Greenaway the same way again.

Anna Quindlen

How Reading Changed My Life � Excellent essay on reading.

Stephen King

On Writing � Half autobiography, half writing guide. The only writing book I've ever actually finished. Great insight into the life and writing style of a popular author.

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Books About Movies

Peter Biskind

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood - Look at American film in the 1970s. Filled with fascinating stories and insightful interviews.

Bruce Campbell

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor - Told with Campbell's self-deprecating sense of humor, this book really shows what it's like to be a workingman actor.

~New!~ John DiLeo

100 Great Film Performances You Should Remember - But Probably Don't - The author outlines each performances (from gesture to expressions to line delivery) in great detail, with great enthusiasm. It's like going to the movies with DiLeo himself, and great fun.

Roger Ebert

I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie - Fun collection of bad movie reviews. Nothing's more fun than reading about bad movies.

The Great Movies - Ebert's take on the great movies is an enjoyable read. Ebert gives lots of interesting tidbits about each film and provides context for each film within film history.

Richard E. Grant

With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant - Fascinating look at the working actor's life told through the very witty Grant's diaries.

~New!~ Robert Hofler

The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson - Painstakingly researched (well documented, anyway) biography of the Hollywood agent who discovered, among others, Rock Hudson, Troy Donohue, Tab Hunter, John Saxon, etc. Fascinating look at old-school Hollywood, and how attitudes towards homosexuality changed over the years, and a fascinating look at Willson himself, a fascinating personality.

~New!~ John Kenneth Muir

Best In Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company - Interesting look behind the scenes of the Guest productions. Interviews with actors and a wealth of info about the movies give real insight into how these movies are created, and why they're so darned good. A delight to read for any Guest enthusiast.

Kevin Murphy

A Year at the Movies � Or as the cover reads: Mystery Science Theater 3000's Kevin Murphy. Murphy went to a movie every day for a year in places as varied as New Zealand, Mexico and Edina.

Mike Nelson

Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese - More fun writing about bad movies.

~New!~ Tom Shone

Blockbuster - Written by a dry and witty Brit, this book is a response Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and how he claimed the movie industry was ruined by the big blockbuster films. Shone takes a chronological look at the blockbuster and makes the point that maybe there's nothing wrong with fun, popular movies.

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Pop Culture

Steve Almond

Candyfreak � Very good personal essay/informative nonfiction book about, yes, candy. Would it be too clich�d to say it was sweet? It was. Like the best candy, it was sweet, nostalgic and kind of forgettable.

~New!~ Chuck Klosterman

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota - This stream-of-conscious memoir/music guide about Motley Crue, Van Halen, and the difference between heavy metal, speed metal, hair metal, etc. is full of fun 80s memories. NOTE: Stop at page 226. Trust me. It turns into a self-pitying exploration of his alcoholism, he betrays his less-than-charming personality traits (like sexism), and responds to his critics in a most whiny way.

~New!~ Ethan Mordden

The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen : The Last Twenty-Five Years of the Broadway Musical - His latest in a series of historical overviews of musical theater is, like the rest, opinionated and witty, and delightful reading for the musical fan.

~New!~ Paco Underhill

Why We Buy - Underhill writes with a chatty, conversational tone that make his books a delight to read. Fascinating and practical insights on the way people shop.

Call of the Mall - Focuses on the social and cultural history of the mall, and is great reading for any pop culture enthusiast.

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Updated 2/26/06

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Email me at schka46[at]hotmail.com.

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