Springing into Non-Fiction: A Trio of Must-Reads
This week we take a look at some recently read non-fiction for you to try
It may have been obvious when reading all of my recent reviews, that I sat down and wrote a whole bunch of reviews all at one time. It was absolutely wonderful to be super organised and to have the reviews all scheduled to come out each week and allow me some breathing room. But as I write this review in early September 2024 (which is when you are getting it!) I now have 12 books (and counting) on my list to review. If I do one a week, that takes us nearly to Christmas! So this week you have some mini reviews of some of my five star recent non-fiction reads.
First up we have The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
I feel in describing this book, I may make it sound very boring. I think if someone described this to me, I would not read it, mainly because science is not my thing – even by using the word science have I put you off? Let me try to convince you!
This book is an incredible cocktail of science (everyone loves cocktails), history, and personal narrative that left me fascinated and reflective. Imagine you’re reading a science fiction story, except it’s all real—Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were taken without her knowledge (!!!!) in 1951, gave birth to the first immortal cell line, HeLa. These cells have been essential in countless scientific breakthroughs, from the polio vaccine to gene mapping. But this isn’t just about science; Skloot masterfully tells us the Lacks family’s harrowing experiences, exposing the ethical dilemmas and racial injustices they faced. It’s a book that will make you question the intersection of medicine, ethics, and human rights. By the end, you’ll feel like you’ve taken a deep dive into a gripping human story that’s still impacting the world today. This one has also been turned into a movie staring Oprah Winfrey so maybe try that if you aren’t a nonfiction reader. This honestly was one of those books that had me down the google rabbit hole as I was reading it. It is so well researched, and despite the subject matter – so very fascinating! Give this one a try, and let me know what you think.
Next up, and perhaps a much easier sell, is The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is an unputdownable wild ride! I read this in one sitting. It had those nice short chapters with a hook at the end that had me saying “just one more chapter” until it was done. This is a heart-wrenching but ultimately triumphant memoir that reads like a rollercoaster ride you didn’t know you needed. Hardin shares her journey from being a suburban soccer mom with a not-so-secret drug addiction to becoming a convicted felon, and then—wait for it—a ghostwriter for some of the most prominent figures in the literary world. Her honesty is raw, and her wit is sharp, making her story one of resilience and redemption. Hardin doesn’t just let you peek into her life; she throws open the doors and invites you in to witness the mess and the magic. I loved this one, and coincidentally is one of the Oprah Book Club picks.
Three for the price of one this week, our third and final book for the first week of Spring in New Zealand is In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. This book is unlike any memoir you’ve read before—it’s an experimental, genre-bending exploration of an abusive relationship that defies traditional narrative structure. Machado dissects her experience in a series of vignettes, each styled in a different literary genre, from horror to fairy tale to Choose Your Own Adventure. This approach might sound disorienting, but it’s brilliant in capturing the fragmented, surreal nature of trauma. Machado’s prose is lyrical and haunting, and her ability to weave personal pain with broader cultural critiques makes this book not just a memoir, but a critical commentary on how we talk about and understand abuse. It’s a challenging read, emotionally speaking, but also very rewarding—a memoir that pushes the boundaries of what genre can do. This is probably more of a niche recommendation for book nerds (like me!), because life is too short to read bad books.