Non-Fiction that Reads Like Fiction 2005

Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself by Becoming an EMT

Jane Stern
Call Number:
B-STERN STERN

Told with self-deprecating humor, Jane Stern (who has written many ‘food’ books) shares how she overcame depression, fears and phobias by volunteering as an ‘ambulance girl.’ What Jane discovers (trite as it sounds) is that by helping others she has helped herself.

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age

Kevin Boyle
Call Number:
345.7302 BOYLE

This 2004 national book award winner is a compelling account of a forgotten 1920s Detroit trial. African-American Dr. Ossian Sweet with his wife and eight friends defend their house against a mob of white neighbors. A neighbor is killed and Dr. Sweet and the rest face a charge of murder. Clarence Darrow leads the defense in the dramatic trial.

Audubon: The Making of An American

Richard Rhodes
Call Number:
B-AUDUBON RHODES

This biography of John James Audubon (the world-famous illustrator of birds) is well written and absorbing. Not only does Rhodes show Audubon’s passion for natural history, but also how the devotion of his wife allowed him to spend years on his field studies.

Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad

Ann Hagedorn
Call Number:
973.7115 HAGEDOR

An inspiring read that tells the story of Ohio abolitionist John Rankin and his colleagues, many of them ex-slaves, who dedicated their lives to transporting slaves across state lines.

Blue Blood

Edward Conlon
Call Number:
363.2092 CONLON
CASSETTE 363.2092 CONLON
CD 363.2092 CONLON

A Harvard graduate and New York City police officer shares his experiences going from ‘rookie’ to detective in that great city. Well written and fast paced, Conlon’s world ranges from desperate junkies to corrupt politicians.

Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

Ross King
Call Number:
726.6094 KING

The Renaissance cathedral Santa Maria Del Fiore has the world’s largest dome, which is still considered a feat of engineering and design. King personalizes this story with insights into everyday Renaissance life and the biography of architect Filippo Brunelleschi.

A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal

Anthony Bourdain
Call Number:
641.013 BOURDAI
LGE-TYPE 641.013 BOURDAI

Bourdain travels the globe “in search of the perfect meal.” He is fearless in not only what he eats—from lamb testicles in Morocco to cobras in Vietnam—but also his willingness to see how the meal is produced. A thoughtful but very humorous read.

Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man’s Tour of Duty Inside the IRS

Richard Yancey
Call Number:
353.0072 YANCEY

You may find this hard to believe, but this memoir by a former IRS revenue officer is both gripping and hilarious.

Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, Murder in Victorian England

James Ruddick
Call Number:
364.1523 RUDDICK

Who poisoned Charles Bravo in 1879? It’s still a puzzle today. James Ruddick claims to have the answer in this fascinating reconstruction of the crime. Life in Victorian England was not so tame! A true crime gem.

In Search of King Solomon’s Mines

Tahir Shah
Call Number:
916.3047 SHAH

The purchase of an old map convinces Shah that he can find King Solomon’s mines. He travels to Ethiopia and starts his quest under difficult circumstances. An interesting mix of adventure, history and travel guide.

Jarhead: A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles

Anthony Swofford
Call Number:
956.7044 SWOFFOR
CASSETTE 956.7044 SWOFFOR
CD 956.7044 SWOFFOR

Swofford’s brutally honest account of his life as a marine in Desert Storm. Describes the friendships between comrades but also the fear, hardship and sorrow of war.

The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women & the Artists They Inspired

Francine Prose
Call Number:
700.922 PROSE

Prose tells the tales of nine women who inspired famous artists, from Samuel Johnson to John Lennon. She examines the roles these interesting women played and the price they paid in their own artistic talents and ambitions.

Living To Tell the Tale

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Call Number:
B-GARCIA GARCIA

Marquez writes of his early years and his journey to becoming a writer. The writer of One Hundred Years of Solitude and other great works tells his story with the same grace, wit and ‘magic realism’ as his fiction.

Lost in America: A Journey With My Father

Sherwin B. Nuland
Call Number:
974.7275 NULAND

Nuland recalls his journey from being the son of a poor, angry and ill immigrant father to becoming a faculty member at Yale. The author shows how his complex and demanding relationship with his father contributed to his own breakdown and major depression at midlife. An often heartbreaking but moving account about the complexities of family ties and love.

Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy

Diana Preston
Call Number:
940.4513 PRESTON

The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 killed more than 1,200 people and helped draw the United States into World War I. Preston unravels some of the mysteries of this disaster and its far reaching consequences. Well researched and written.

Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope

Jonathan Kozol
Call Number:
305.2309 KOZOL

Kozol focuses on the courageous and resilient children in one of the poorest areas in the South Bronx and the adults who dedicate their lives to teaching and nurturing them. This is a wonderful, inspiring book.

Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs and Binion’s World of Poker

James McManus
Call Number:
795.412 MCMANUS
CASSETTE 795.412 MCMANUS
LGE-TYPE 795.412 MCMANUS

Commissioned by a magazine to write a story about the World Series of Poker, McManus surprises even himself by joining the tournament (staking his advance). Even if you have never played poker, this is a suspenseful and entertaining read.

The Quest for Paradise: Visions of Heaven and Eternity in the World’s Myths and Religions

John Ashton
Call Number:
291.33 ASHTON

The belief in a heaven or paradise unites humans from all cultures and religions. The authors explore both major and less known belief systems in this wonderfully illustrated book.

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship

Ann Patchett
Call Number:
362.1969 PATCHET

Patchett (Bel Canto) pays tribute to her complex and often difficult relationship with writer Lucy Grealy (Autobiography of a Face). Grealy was facially disfigured from cancer and her life was one of constant pain and surgeries. Although she had a brilliant mind, Grealy tried to hide her sense of isolation and despair with drugs and alcohol. This memoir is an honest assessment of friendship.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Jon Krakauer
Call Number:
289.33 KRAKAUE
LGE-TYPE 289.33 KRAKAUE
CASSETTE 289.33 KRAKAUE

As part of his examination of breakaway members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Krakauer concentrates on the murder of a woman and her infant. A provocative look into religious extremes and fanaticism.

Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired

Benson Bobrick
Call Number:
220.5 BOBRICK

Bobrick shows the political and social changes that occurred following the translation of the Bible into the vernacular. An intriguing history of ideas with biographies of all the important figures involved in this centuries-long struggle.

Wrapped In Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston

Valerie Boyd
Call Number:
B-HURSTON BOYD

Boyd’s remarkable research into the life of Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston results in an outstanding biography. Hurston emerges as a courageous, brilliant novelist and folklorist in this engrossing work.