Tag: Non Fiction

I love describing this book almost as much as I loved reading it: after the dissolution of a decade-long romantic relationship with a dominatrix, Emerson Whitney embarked on a failed storm chasing tour. Interspersed with the account of this wacky road adventure are Whitney’s meditations on gender, love, family, and the physical and relational impacts…

A memoir about a trans man coming out as gay and how he navigates dating life in London may seem niche. After all, the author himself points out that he was compelled to write this book because he couldn’t find any of its kind on the shelves­­. And yet, not even halfway through I found…

I read A Flat Place with mountains at my back and the sea before me.  By the time I’d finished I was paying luminous attention to both. This is a book that could fit many categories or none – that is to say, the most interesting kind of book.  Memoir, nature writing, literary criticism, writing…

“Things look bleak. The propensity to despair is strong but should not be indulged. Sing yourself up.  Imagine a world in which you might thrive, for which there is no evidence. And then fight for it.”  Legendary journalist Gary Younge has pulled together some of his best work of the last 30 years, with a…

I read Ace after it was recommended to me by a colleague, wondering what could be so great about it. Now I have become that person that wants to recommend it to everyone. This non-fiction book covers the nuances and layers of complexity inherent to the exploration of human relationships and the analysis of individual…

Fire Island is a thin barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island, New York, known for its private beaches, posh family-oriented communities, and, increasingly since the second half of the 20th century, its queer party scene. In this excellent blend of history, cultural commentary, and memoir, Jack Parlett traces the island’s roots and…

In March 2010, Cheryl Strayed took over the Dear Sugar advice column, to great success. Two years later, her memoir Wild became an international sensation. The following year, she published Tiny Beautiful Things, this delightful selection of her best Dear Sugar pieces. Almost a decade later, her advice remains reassuring and relevant. The columns vary…

The Mixed-Race Experience is a great point of entry into many of the questions concerning growing up and existing as a mixed-race person in the UK and in the Western world in general. It tackles themes from adoption and parenthood to hair and growing up in small towns, through interviews, personal anecdotes and research. The…

It is rare when a book of interviews strikes a balance between informative and conversational, but this one nails it. Ezra Woodger chats with eight transmasculine people of different ages, races, and backgrounds. Main topics discussed include changing views on masculinity, approaches to transition, paths to self-expression, and the importance of an accepting community. The…

What is it like to be a marine scientist and conservationist in the time of the climate emergency and the increase in species becoming extinct?  How do you keep going? Spring Tides is a well written combination of natural history and memoir that helps answer this question. “My energy comes from looking down into clear…

A Norwegian woman inherits a tiny cabin in a remote location.  There’s no running water, but there is a river.  There’s no electricity, but there is a woodburning stove.  And there’s no toilet, but there is Siri Helle’s determination to make a loo in a hut, with her own two hands. Don’t be put off…

This autobiography of an outstanding civil rights lawyer, who has specialised in inquests, doubles as an incisive and detailed account of many of the most important human rights cases of the last 30 years.  Thomas always puts the people involved at the heart of his account.  I felt that the book, while being candid about…

The editors of Welsh Plural have gathered some of the most interesting and relevant writers from Wales to consider what Welsh identity means today.  This is anything but niche: for anyone thinking about what identity, belonging and borders mean or could come to mean, this is helpful.  It is no surprise that this anthology has…

The Madhouse at the End of the Earth is an engrossing account of a journey to Antarctica in 1897.  One thing after another goes wrong for the crew of the Belgian whaling ship the Belgica, and they get stranded for the whole of the winter darkness, their ship frozen in a sea of ice. Among…

The pocket-sized London’s Hidden Walks series is well researched and handy.  The latest addition, subtitled Every Street Has a Story to Tell, is a genial and inspiring guide to some hidden London treasures. Who knew that the Spanish Civil War memorial was right next to Fulham Palace?  Or that the cabman’s shelter in Pimlico, a…

I read Islands of Abandonment in hardback during one of the lockdowns last year.  I was transported to wildly different newly-wild places around the world, even as I couldn’t stir much from home: a former military base on a Scottish island; an abandoned agricultural institute in the Tanzanian mountains; the drowned homes and fields of…