Staff Picks: Nonfiction (DDL Winter Reading 24-25)

Updated January 5, 2025
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Atomic habits : tiny changes, remarkable results : an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones
Clear, James
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 25 million copies sold! Translated into 60+ languages! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of...
The barn : the secret history of a murder in Mississippi
Thompson, Wright
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Slate, Vanity Fair, TIME, Buzzfeed, Smithsonian, BookPage, KCUR, Kirkus, and Boston Globe * Nominated for a PEN America...
A fatal inheritance : how a family misfortune revealed a deadly medical mystery
Ingrassia, Lawrence
Paper Book
Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction Named a best book of the year by Amazon, NPR, and Kirkus Weaving his own moving family story with a sweeping history of cancer research, Lawrence Ingrassia delivers an intimate,...
The Friday afternoon club : a family memoir
Dunne, Griffin
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by TIME, NPR, People, Town & Country, and Air Mail "Warm and perceptive." --New York Times "Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story." --Washington...
Grief is for people
Crosley, Sloane
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, TIME, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Esquire, NPR, Elle, Library Journal, LitHub, Oprah Daily, Publishers Weekly, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, Bookpage, The Independent, and New Statesman
Knife : meditations after an attempted murder
Rushdie, Salman
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring--and surviving--an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New...
The last fire season : a personal and pyronatural history
Martin, Manjula
Paper Book
H Is for Hawk meets Joan Didion in the Pyrocene in this arresting combination of memoir, natural history, and literary inquiry that chronicles one woman's experience of life in Northern California during the worst fire season on record. FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS...
The manicurist's daughter : a memoir
Lieu, Susan
Paper Book
An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery. Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family's past and about her own future. Refugees from...
Meditations for mortals : four weeks to embrace your limitations and make time for what counts
Burkeman, Oliver
Paper Book
A National Bestseller Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, Meditations for Mortals offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls "imperfectionism." It helps us tackle challenges as...
Men have called her crazy : a memoir
Tendler, Anna Marie
Paper Book
*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* "This book is so many things I didn't know I needed: a testament to the work of healing, a raw howl of anger, and an indictment of misogyny's insipid, predictable, infuriating reign." --Carmen Maria Machado, author of the National Book Award...
The message
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The renowned author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell--and the ones we don't--shape our realities. "Ta-Nehisi Coates always writes with a...
Night magic : adventures among glowworms, moon gardens, and other marvels of the dark
Henion, Leigh Ann
Paper Book
From a New York Times bestselling nature writer comes a celebration of what goes on outside in the dark, from blooming moon gardens to nocturnal salamanders, from glowing foxfire and synchronous fireflies that blink in unison like an orchestra of light.  ...
The other Olympians : fascism, queerness, and the making of modern sports
Waters, Michael
Paper Book
WINNER of the 2025 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Nonfiction. A Finalist for the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History and the 2025 Mark Lynton History Prize. Named one of the Best Books of 2024 by The New Yorker, NPR and BookPage.
Patriot : a memoir
Naval?ny?, Alekse?
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, THE ATLANTIC, NPR * The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political opposition leader who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs. "...
Polar vortex : a family memoir
Dorrance
Paper Book
What do you do when your mother can't remember who you are? You catch the first flight from your adopted home of London to your original hometown of Cedar Rapids, lowa, where she's hospitalized, injured, and struggling with the swirling disorientation of dementia. You take responsibility for...
The secret history of Bigfoot : field notes on a North American monster
O'Connor, John (Journalist)
Paper Book
"A winning portrait of America at its weirdest." -- Publishers Weekly STARRED Review From the shrouded forests of the Pacific Northwest to off-the-wall cryptozoological conventions, one man searches high and low for the answer to the question: real or not, why do we want to believe? ...
The serviceberry : abundance and reciprocity in the natural world
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world....
Smoke and ashes : opium's hidden histories
Ghosh, Amitav
Paper Book
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Foreign Policy, Literary Hub, and The Millions Ghosh unravels the impact of the opium trade on global history and in his own family―the climax of a yearslong project. When Amitav Ghosh began...
Soldiers and kings : survival and hope in the world of human smuggling
De León, Jason
Paper Book
Political instability, poverty, climate change, and the insatiable appetite for cheap labour all fuel clandestine movement across borders. As those borders harden, the demand for smugglers who aid migrants across them increases every year. Yet the real lives and work of smugglers - or coyotes, or...
The Wager : a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder
Grann, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager...
What I ate in one year : (and related thoughts)
Tucci, Stanley
Paper Book
From Stanley Tucci, award-winning actor and New York Times bestselling author, a deliciously unique memoir chronicling a year's worth of meals. "Sharing food is one of the purest human acts." Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci's...
Woman, life, freedom
Satrapi, Marjane
Paper Book
Winner, ALA ALEX Award An urgent, groundbreaking and visually stunning new collection of graphic storytelling about the present Iranian revolution, using comics to show what would be censored in photos and film in Iran. Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis,...

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