This year’s Adult Nonfiction Staff Picks highlight 18 books that include titles focused on true crime, celebrity memoirs, and climate change, as well as tales from a mortician and a psychotherapist.
See other Staff Picks for 2019 here.
American Predator by Maureen Callahan
This book will give you nightmares and they’ll be totally worth it. Chronicling one of the most horrifying serial killers in American history, this book is a well-written and well-researched culmination of years of investigation and a must-read for any true crime lover out there. – Olivia W., Customer Service Association, Levittown Branch
Alerting all true-crime fans! Sure to send chills up your spine, Callahan delves into the story of those who helped catch one of the most gruesome serial killers in recent history. – Megan M., Assistant Library Manager, Levittown Branch
Chase Darkness With Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders by Billy Jensen
Follow true-crime writer, Billy Jensen, as he tells the story of how he went from investigative journalist to helping detectives solve cold cases. For fans of Michele McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. – Megan M., Assistant Library Manager, Levittown Branch
Elderhood : Redefining Medicine, Life, and Aging in America by Louise Aronson
Aronson, a Harvard trained geriatrician, writes about how medicine and the larger society fails old people, however you define old. From the training of doctors, testing of drugs and insurance reimbursements, what the older person actually wants or needs is not seen as important. Aronson lays out what is needed for older people to thrive. Remember, unless you die, you will get old. – Ceil H., Manager, Collection Management Department
Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution by Amber Tamblyn
Known for her acting career (GENERAL HOSPITAL, SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, and JOAN OF ARCADIA), Amber takes us on a journey into her personal and professional struggles through this biographical piece. Her writing is both crisp and lyrical, raw and real, inspiring and educational. I read the entire book within a weekend – I literally had a difficult time putting the book down. – Kelly D., Customer Service Associate, Yardley-Makefield Branch
The Fate of Food : What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World by Amanda Little
Little, an environmental journalist, asks how we will feed 9 billion people with all of the climate change issues. Each chapter deals with subjects like GMO seeds, fish farming, drought resistance, meat created in labs, water management, indoor vertical farming and Soylent, the adult baby formula. This is a positive and entertaining take on a very serious subject. – Ceil H., Manager, Collection Management Department
The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission that Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
A fascinating look at the history of how we deal with mental illness and how we think of insanity vs. sanity. It’s also an investigation into a groundbreaking study that changed the field of psychiatry, with the author revealing some questionable facts about the scientist behind the study. Reads almost like a thriller — I zipped through it! – Katherine G., Customer Service Association, Levittown Branch
Home Work by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton
I will be honest – I haven’t read this yet – I’m still on the holds list! But Julie Andrews is my Joni Mitchell – “I love her, and true love lasts a lifetime” (Emma Thompson, Love Actually) so I will wait for it and hopefully read it with enjoyment. I read Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008) and it was absolutely fascinating. Andrews has been working since she was a very young child and Home ended with a cliffhanger – Julie on a plane flying to America to film Mary Poppins. I have been waiting eleven years for the rest of the story. I’ll be honest, when reading the stories of famous people’s lives, I find the years of struggle the most compelling (and Julie’s early years are a very compelling story – read Home!). But if Julie Andrews wrote it (with help from her daughter) I will read it – because I love her! – Pat H., Library Manager, Yardley-Makefield Branch
How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment — The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life by Sophie Hannah
Now, I never read self-help books. But when I found that one of my favorite psychological suspense writers, Sophie Hannah, had come up with a non-fiction book about holding grudges, I had to read it. And it did not disappoint. Funny and insightful, this book will teach you how to embrace your grudges–and then (maybe) let them go. – Alison McD., Customer Service Associate 2, Bensalem Branch
Marriageology : The Art and Science of Staying Together by Belinda Luscombe
Luscombe, a journalist who has been writing about marriage for Time Magazine for ten years, has written a humorous but scientific guide to staying together. She lists the six major issues that can derail marriages and simple, workable solutions to overcome these challenges. She also talks about when and how to get professional help. Very readable and often hilarious. – Ceil H., Manager, Collection Management Department
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Entertaining, enlightening, humorous, and heartbreaking, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone tells stories from both sides of the therapeutic couch. What’s it like to be a therapist trying to help the patients who seek your help? And then … what’s it like to be that same therapist, when you suddenly discover that maybe, just maybe, it’s time for you to talk to someone? In alternating chapters, Gottlieb, a psychotherapist, tells the stories of a select number of her patients, while also relating how therapy helps her when she suffers an emotional crisis. – Regina F., Marketing & PR Specialist, District Services
Me: Elton John by Elton John
In his autobiography, Elton John tells the story of his dramatic and fantastic road to fame, which was also loosely portrayed in the new film Rocketman. He discusses his difficult childhood and family upbringing, as well as his long-term struggle with drug addiction and his recovery. This true and honest account of his life brings to light to the real struggles celebrities can face over the course of their lives. For everything he has overcome, Elton John’s story makes him even more of an iconic legend in my mind, as he says a final goodbye to the public on his live Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour this year. – Kathleen L., Librarian, Collection Management Department
Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff
Equal parts hilarious and heavy, the hosts of the true-crime podcast, My Favorite Murder, recount stories from their youth–from meeting Ray Bradbury to dealing with a parent suffering from Alzheimer’s. – Megan M., Assistant Library Manager, Levittown Branch
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
A riveting true story about the sex lives of three real American women, based on nearly a decade of reporting. – Megan M., Assistant Library Manager, Levittown Branch
We Are the Weather : Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer
Foer, a novelist, talks about how hard it is to think anything you do can help with climate change worldwide. But, he says, individuals can make a substantial difference, they don’t have to wait for governments and industry. That just eating no animal products before dinner is a very significant act, since animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change, and most Americans consume twice as much protein as recommended. – Ceil H., Manager, Collection Management Department
What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence
Simultaneously hilarious, insightful, and somber, fifteen readers explore their relationships with their mother. – Jessica R., Youth Services Librarian, Langhorne Branch
What You Have Heard is True by Carolyn Forche
If you have never read Carolyn Forche’s poetry (as I had not), this book will definitely pique your interest. Forche left her California home–almost inexplicably–with a Salvadoran man to try to see what was happening in El Salvador as that country was on the precipice of civil war. What she saw were atrocities, but also tremendous resistance and a commitment to the idea that another world is possible. She was changed by the experience, and you just might be, too. – Steve L., Levittown Branch
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty
Best-selling author and YouTube’s Ask a Mortician, Caitlin Doughty, is back with another book about all things death related! Filled with candid questions from children, Doughty provides an insightful and hilarious look at how her youngest fans perceive death and how we all just might have the same questions about death as children do after all. – Megan M., Assistant Library Manager, Levittown Branch
Everyone’s favorite mortician is back with her third book to answer all the questions you were too afraid to ask about death. Doughty addresses a sometimes gross subject with candor and just the right amount of humor; even the squeamish can stomach this one. Pick up the audio edition for the added treat of hearing Doughty’s quirky and endearing narration and prepare to learn if your cat will eat your eyeballs (spoiler: probably) and so much more. (Not convinced? Get a glimpse of Doughty’s work here.) – Nicole L., Library Manager, Bensalem Branch
Women Rowing North by Mary Pipher
Pipher, a psychologist famous for writing about teenage girls, tackles ageism, misogyny, and loss. Full of common sense advice on aging using engaging stories from women she interviewed, from different walks of life, plus her own experience. – Ceil H., Manager, Collection Management Department
