Librarians' Top Reads for 2020: Non-Fiction

2020 was a year like no other and so maybe it isn't surprising that it was also the year some of us read a lot more non-fiction than usual. Here are some of the non-fiction titles that particularly stood out.

From Kate:

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty
Honestly, I picked up this one because of the title (Death, Tiny Mortals - awesome!) and because someone had dared to write truthfully about death for the young reader, which I thought was cool. The book was actually really insightful and thought provoking, as well as super cool. I ended up reading all the rest of Doughty’s books after this and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and other lessons from the crematorium was also great.

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
Apparently Junior Doctors in the NHS system had to keep a journal of each day and what happened - sort of as a reflective learning exercise - and this is Adam Kay’s. It's amazingly, horrific, scary and heartbreakingly funny all mixed into one. It's well worth the read. As bonus material you can also pick up his book 'Twas the Nightshift before Christmas, but I definitely suggest reading that AFTER the first one, not before. 

Unfollow: a journey from hatred to hope, leaving the Westboro Baptist Church

by Megan Phelps-Roper

I saw a Ted Talk by Megan Phelps-Roper a couple of years back and have been really interested in her story ever since. This autobiography details what it was like growing up in, and eventually leaving, the Westboro Baptist Church (you know ‘America’s most hated family’). But this story is not the usual ‘I’ve been in a cult and this is my weird story about it’ tale - Phelps-Roper is honest, forgiving and sensitive in her storytelling. I felt like it was a genuinely enlightening and insightful view into why incredibly smart, loving and rational people can get involved in, and do quite horrible things, in the name of religion and love. In today's age of Trump and hate dominating the news cycles I feel like this is particularly recommended reading.

No Happy Endings: a memoir by Nora McInerny Purmort
Another one I came across from a Ted Talk! And well worth the watch while you are at it. Nora sadly loses her beloved husband to cancer, her father, and her unborn second child in one really crappy year. That sounds like a horrible thing to read about but it was actually really uplifting. This is an honest tale about ‘moving forward’ with grief, how life is messy and unpredictable and full of both sorrow and joy – sometimes at the exact same time.

From Miss Moneypenny:

This year I have managed to read some of the books that have been on my To Be Read List for a very long time including 84 Charing Cross Road and Cider with Rosie. 

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. 

For twenty years American writer Hanff and British bookseller Doel correspond. Told in letter format Hanff initially requests obscure books but as the years roll by the correspondence widens to include his family and other staff at the bookshop as they swap details of a post war England for American food parcels. This small book is a delight to read; funny, engaging and sad as the correspondence ends and the book finishes. An unexpected pleasure to read. 

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. 

Another delight. Set after the First World War in a Cotswolds village, Lee recounts growing up in a large busy family starting with a funny first school day experience. He recounts how the seasons influenced their life and as he grows up, the wonder of motorcycles and cars. Although each adventure is set against a background of poverty and hardship there is much innocence and laughter. Quaint, charming and gritty all rolled into one good read.

The Home Edit Life: the no-guilt guide to owning what you want and organizing everything by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin. 

If like me you long to have a super-organised house this is one inspirational book. Based on their successful business sorting other people’s stuff out the authors share the principals of supreme tidiness. In a nutshell, get rid of stuff you don’t use and store everything else in bins that are colour coded. Honestly just looking at the photos made me feel better 'cause I am never going to put every item in the fridge into labelled containers and then organise them based on food groups and/or colour. Especially after a very therapeutic session colour coding the linen cupboard that lasted barely a week – sigh.