Inspiration: narrative nonfiction

This week in "what was Trish thinking" we're talking about narrative nonfiction books. For those who aren't usually a fan of nonfiction, this can be a way to find entry, because they read more like the novels you're used to.

And again, it's a technique used a lot in children's books: hook them with a good story, then educate 'em with the facts!

A couple of my favorites, that I personally recommend:

• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt - murder and eccentricity in Savannah, Georgia.
• The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean - rare flowers and obsession.

You can do double-duty with our list of prompts, because many memoirs are written this way:

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - a poetic memoir written for kids, about growing up in America in the 1960s-1970s.
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed - hiking and soul-searching, for the drastically unprepared.
• Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller - a white child growing up in tumultuous Africa.

A few other non-memoir:

• We Are A People In This World: The Lakota Sioux and the Massacre at Wounded Knee by Conger Beasley - based on oral histories of survivors.
• Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman - the bond between brothers.

Here's an amazing list of 50 from BookRiot. 

And a review of 37 for kids.

Do you have a favorite? Tell us about it!