The Year of Magical Thinking
Didion on grief: a year retraced, accompanied by a striking sense of calm.
Non-fiction
14 books
Essays, biographies, and books that blur the line. I admire non-fiction that looks closely at the world more than non-fiction that tries to convince you of something.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul.”
Hiroshima
Six survivors, one journalist, and the most important piece of war reporting ever published.
Faith, Hope and Carnage
Forty hours of conversation with Nick Cave—his first proper interview in years, generous and articulate.
An Immense World
Ed Yong on the senses of the animal kingdom: catfish that taste with their skin, beetles that mate as forests burn. Our world, it turns out, is a flabbergasting place.
Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes
The V&A's curator of fashion examines the clothes that shaped her life—each essay handled like an object from the storeroom, with gloved fingers.
