A list of unputdownable nonfiction reads

Go shopping, it helps

Jesus I really should be working on my own book instead of making collages of other people’s

I debated whether to publish this week, but a couple of people said they could use the distraction. By now, for many it will probably be more about comfort than distraction, so let me first say that of course the best books for brain-soothing are in that broad category that I guess we call “genre;” books that are easy to read, are formulaic and predictable, and plot-driven in a way that will make you keep reading many hours into the night like you did when you were a kid with a flashlight under the covers. I’m partial to mystery and romance. Cozy mystery? Maisie Dobbs (great on audio, best from the library). Agatha Christie. Contemporary romance? Emily Henry. Evie Dunmore. Ali Hazelwood. Elevated, literary mystery? Tana Franch. Spicier romance? Scarlett Peckham. Tessa Bailey.

But. Breezy fiction recs are not my lane. I am here for all things nonfiction and today, like Dua Lipa and Kaia Gerber, I want to be the internet’s [nonfiction] librarian (because, in the words of

Ochuko Akpovbovbo

, it’s great “to be seen as being a hot intellectual with great taste.”)

Like the typical internet millennial that I am, I love lists as much as I love books, so I made a compilation of unputdownable nonfiction that I’ve read in the last several years. Now, this does not mean these are my only recent favorites. Nor does it mean they are all cheery and fun. But they do all share a compulsive quality to them that makes them great for getting out of your own head. They are all also books that I will be studying as I write my own, hoping to achieve the same blend of readability, informativeness, and exploding-brain-emoji reactions.

Books about bubbles that explain our current moment:

• Doppelgänger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. Don’t read this if you need spirit-lifting, but if you feel ready to try to understand what happened on Nov. 5, all through an extremely compelling and personal narrative, this book should be on top of your list.

• Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka. Now that I think of it, a great companion to Doppelgänger, but with fewer ventures into far-right and crazy town, and more into qs like “why do all the coffee shops in the world look like they were designed in Brooklyn in 2016?”

In this category, also check out Amanda’s Montell’s Cultish.

Books about the (fun-ish side of the) internet:

• Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture by

  Sara Petersen
  . You may know Sara from her Substack, but for a fascinating dive into the world of momfluencers and tradwives, you should really go to her book (I interviewed her about it for Elle). She’s THE momfluencer expert for a reason.

• Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It by Kaitlyn Tiffany. If you’re a One Direction fan, I’m sorry for your loss. I am not one, but found this book to be filled with mind-blowing nuggets and well ahead of the Sabrina Carpenter-adjacent discourse in talking about the power of girls and girlhood.

Books about the intersection of business and culture:

I am on the waitlist at the library for Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon by Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez, but in the meantime, here’s a couple of books in a similar vein, explorations that are on the surface about beauty and fashion, but say a whole lot more about gender, capitalism, and America.

• Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier by Marisa Meltzer. Read my interview with Marisa in The Cut if you’d like a taste of this book, which is also a masterclass of culture reporting and analysis.

• This is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World -- And Me, also by Marisa Meltzer. After I read Glossy I turned to Marisa’s previous book, which blends in memoir, so in addition to delivering a great dissection of diet culture you get some true gut punches.

• The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew by Maggie Bullock. Word of warning. This book (which I listened to on audio) will lead to wasting hours looking for the perfect vintage J.Crew rollneck that is NOT the re-issued fake “1988” edition. (Companion podcast rec: the American Ivy season from Articles of Interest)

Memoir and biography

• Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv. Aviv is one of our best longform writers, and that’s just one reason to reach for this book.

• The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America by Monica Potts. Skip the book by the Thiel-stooge VP elect (😳😳😳) if you want to learn about rural America, and go straight to this account of the lives of two friends from Appalachia whose lives couldn’t have gone more differently.

• Scammer by Caroline Calloway. It’s really good and readable, I’m sorry!!!

• The World According to Joan Didion by Evelyn McDonald. It’ll make you want to read all of Didion asap. And for the love of god can we go beyond the aesthetic fandom? (I am eagerly awaiting the copy of Lili Anolik’s Didion and Babitz that I pre-ordered, because it’s bound to be great. Bonus rec: Anolik’s podcast about Bennington College in the time of Donna Tart, Bret Easton Ellis, and Jonathan Lethem).

• The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne. This’ll get you more Didion (Dunne is her nephew), but it will also get you a no-holds-barred family memoir that’ll break your heart and make you lol. Highly recommend on audio, read by Dunne himself. Slight spoiler: I felt particularly partial to this book after hearing at the end that Dunne and his wife named their daughter Hannah, born just a couple of months after me, for the same reason my parents chose the name (Polish-ified without the last “h”): Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (it’s not any Hanna(h)’s fault Allen’s a POS, just remember that).

Incredibly reported books about the dismal state of the world

• Worn: A People's History of Clothing, by Sofi Thanhauser. I love sociological digs into the history, meaning, and systems behind ordinary things -- in this case, textiles. I really think everyone who has ever shopped for a piece of clothing should read this.

• Blood Money: The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America's Blood Industry by Kathleen McLaughlin. I have no idea why I reached for this book in the first place, but it’s such a strong indictment of America through a sliver of its for-profit healthcare system (selling plasma at your local strip mall), all told through the author’s personal experience.

• Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn. This book is not ALL doom and gloom, because it actually shows the incredible resilience of nature. This is one of those books that’s all about sense of place, truly a lesson in how to transport your reader. Exploding brain emoji reaction moments aplenty.

Have your own recs? Comment below!