Looking for the best of literary nonfiction and biography? So are we. We’ve asked some of the most eminent authors and critics to recommend their favourite books, and those that are historically notable.
Among our most popular interviews in this section are Pulitzer Prize-winning author Margo Jefferson, who discussed ‘cultural memoirs’ and shared her favourite examples of the genre; biographer Hermione Lee’s discussion of her subject Virginia Woolf – and tour of Woolf’s greatest works; and the New Yorker writer and bestselling author David Grann on true crime.
Browse all interviews in this category below, or narrow down your selection to one of: Essays; Famous Artists; Great Philosophers; Iconic Economists; Literary Nonfiction; Lives of Scientists; or Memoir.
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1
Educated: A Memoir
by Tara Westover -
2
The Day That Went Missing: A Family's Story
by Richard Beard -
3
All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir
by Nicole Chung -
4
What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood
by Rigoberto González -
5
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home
by Nora Krug -
6
Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over
by Nell Painter
The Best Memoirs of 2019: The National Book Critics Circle Awards Shortlist, recommended by Laurie Hertzel
The Best Memoirs of 2019: The National Book Critics Circle Awards Shortlist, recommended by Laurie Hertzel
An increasing diversity of voices and willingness to experiment has heralded a new golden age of autobiography, says literary critic Laurie Hertzel. Here she highlights the very best: the six memoirs recently shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Awards.
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Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of Algorithms
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The Spy and the Traitor
by Ben Macintyre -
3
Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man
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4
Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
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5
Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy
by Serhii Plokhy -
6
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
by Carl Zimmer
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2018, recommended by Fiammetta Rocco
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2018, recommended by Fiammetta Rocco
It’s a difficult task: to identify the very best nonfiction books of the year. But the Baillie Gifford Prize aims to do just that. The chair of the prize’s 2018 judging panel Fiammetta Rocco talks to us about the six fascinating titles that made the shortlist.
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The Living Mountain
by Nan Shepherd -
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The Water Cure
by Sophie Mackintosh -
3
The Dark Stuff: Stories from the Peatlands
by Donald S Murray -
4
Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
by Chris D Thomas -
5
Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey
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6
Crudo: A Novel
by Olivia Laing
Editors’ Picks: Highlights From a Year in Reading, recommended by Cal Flyn
The Best Books for Surviving Your Twenties, recommended by Dana Schwartz
The sheer number of choices facing us during our twenties can be overwhelming, says the memoirist and humorist Dana Schwartz. But there's no need to panic. Here she selects five brilliant books which will help you navigate early adulthood.
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The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason, 1798 to Modern Times
by Christopher de Bellaigue -
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How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed Aids
by David France -
3
Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe
by Kapka Kassabova -
4
An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic
by Daniel Mendelsohn -
5
To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death
by Mark O'Connell -
6
Belonging
by Simon Schama
Best Nonfiction Books of 2017, recommended by Peter Bazalgette
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The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
by Charles De Gaulle -
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Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb
by François-René de Chateaubriand -
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Notre Jeunesse
by Charles Péguy -
4
Memoirs: Fifty Years of Political Reflection
by Raymond Aron -
5
The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France Since 1944
by Henry Rousso
The best books on Charles de Gaulle, recommended by Julian Jackson
The best books on Charles de Gaulle, recommended by Julian Jackson
Charles de Gaulle had ‘a certain idea of France’ which even he didn’t manage to articulate clearly. De Gaulle biographer and one of Britain’s leading historians of modern France, Julian Jackson, talks us through some key books to get a sense of France’s wartime leader and president, Charles de Gaulle.
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X -
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A Place to Stand
by Jimmy Santiago Baca -
3
Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison
by Shaka Senghor -
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Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters
by Wally Lamb -
5
True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall
by Mark Salzman
The Best of Prison Literature, recommended by David Coogan
The Best of Prison Literature, recommended by David Coogan
Prison literature can make difficult reading but is often incredibly touching, testimony to the resilience of the human spirit. David Coogan, an English professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who runs a creative writing workshop at Richmond City Jail, introduces ‘prison literature.’
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Selected Prose
by Charles Lamb -
2
Culture and Anarchy and Other Writings
by Matthew Arnold -
3
Selected Essays, Poems, and Other Writings
by George Eliot -
4
Studies in the History of the Renaissance
by Walter Pater -
5
The Hands of the Living God: An Account of a Psychoanalytic Treatment
by Marion Milner
David Russell on The Victorian Essay
David Russell on The Victorian Essay
With the advent of the Victorian age, polite maxims of eighteenth-century essays in the Spectator were replaced by a new generation of writers who thought deeply—and playfully—about social relationships, moral responsibility, education and culture. Here, Oxford literary critic David Russell explores the distinct qualities that define the Victorian essay and recommends five of its greatest practitioners.
The best books on Medicine and Literature, recommended by Gavin Francis
What can literature offer to medicine and what can medicine offer to literature? Author and physician Gavin Francis offers his professional opinion – and prescribes a list of five notable books at the intersection of his two great passions.
The Best Books by Muriel Spark, recommended by Alan Taylor
This year marks the centenary of the birth of the novelist, poet and essayist Muriel Spark, a singular voice of 20th century literature. Her 22 novels are slim and entertaining says Alan Taylor, author of Appointment in Arezzo, but beneath the jeux d’esprit lies a fearsome intellect. Here he selects five of her key works.
The best books on Immersive Nonfiction, recommended by Will Storr
A good writer must always aim to write the truth – a more complex narrative than one of heroes and villains. But to find the truth, sometimes you’ve got to get up and go there yourself, says Will Storr, journalist and author of Selfie. Here he selects five books that have inspired his own immersive approach to nonfiction.
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1
Lyrical Ballads 1798 and 1802
by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge -
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Gustave Doré -
3
The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge -
4
Coleridge's Notebooks: A Selection
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge -
5
Biographia Literaria
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The best books on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, recommended by Seamus Perry
The best books on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, recommended by Seamus Perry
The reputation of Romantic poet, critic and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge has long been overshadowed by William Wordsworth, his friend and Lyrical Ballads co-author. Oxford professor Seamus Perry talks us through the books that showcase Coleridge’s idiosyncratic brilliance.
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La Bibliothèque invisible
by Stéphane Mahieu -
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Mirabiblia: Catalogo ragionato di libri introvabili
by Paolo Albani & Paolo della Bella -
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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
by Laurence Sterne -
4
Nueva Enciclopedia
by Alberto Savinio -
5
The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas
by Marguerite Duras
Enrique Vila-Matas on Books that Shaped Him
Enrique Vila-Matas on Books that Shaped Him
‘I like to show some restraint when it comes to making things up…’ The Spanish novelist Enrique Vila-Matas discusses the role of risk in writing, the ‘crisis of the novel’, and five books that have shaped his own work. (You can also read this interview in the original Spanish.)
Forgotten Classics, recommended by Scott Pack
Ninety per cent of the books we hear about are new, which means we are missing out on countless masterpieces already out there. Scott Pack, co-founder of the Abandoned Bookshop, a digital publisher that specialises in finding forgotten and neglected books, picks five forgotten classics, for lovers not of the new but of the different…
The Best George Eliot Books, recommended by Philip Davis
George Eliot is all but synonymous with Victorian realism; for D H Lawrence, she was the first novelist to start ‘putting all the action inside.’ Here, Philip Davis, author of The Transferred Life of George Eliot, selects the best books by or about one of the greatest novelists of all time: ‘If you want to read literature that sets out to create a holding ground for raw human material—for human struggles, difficulties, and celebrations—read George Eliot’
The best books on Oscar Wilde, recommended by Sos Eltis
Oscar Wilde cultivated an image of himself as an idle genius, dashing off masterpieces with a lazy brilliance. But below the glittering linguistic surface of his works, suggests Sos Eltis, lies an anarchic politics and a phenomenal analysis of power.
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The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
by Dante Alighieri -
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Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation
by E.H. Gombrich -
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Leonardo da Vinci: i documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee
by Edoardo Villata -
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The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci
by Jean Paul Richter -
5
Leonardo da Vinci
by Kenneth Clark
The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp
The best books on Leonardo da Vinci, recommended by Martin Kemp
Every generation has its own Leonardo, and for many he remains a man of mystery. Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor in Art History at Oxford and the author of the recently published Mona Lisa: The People and the Painting, helps us identify the non-mythical Leonardo. What might Leonardo be doing were he alive today, in our own digital age?
The best books on The Lives of Artists, recommended by Maria Loh
We live in an age obsessed with self-image. Technology has made the ‘selfie’ a ubiquitous form of social currency. Renaissance means may have been very different, but celebrity artists in Medici Florence dealt with many of the issues relating to identity and authorship that we grapple with today. Maria Loh, author of Still Lives: Death, Desire, and the Portrait of the Old Master, talks to Five Books about the curated self.
David Grann on True Crime
True crime can be all too easily chalked up as a genre of grisly murders and cheap, voyeuristic thrills—but to do so would be to overlook compelling evidence to the contrary. David Grann, whose new book revisits long-forgotten, or concealed, crimes in the Osage community of Oklahoma, raises the bar with examples rich in historical discovery, literary merit and the kind of political inquiry these murky times are calling for
The best books on D H Lawrence, recommended by Catherine Brown
Although less flamboyantly experimental than his contemporaries Joyce and Woolf, D H Lawrence was a modernist, says literary scholar Catherine Brown. Here, she selects five books that make the case for this most contradictory, and often divisive, of writers—a man whose fictions and ‘philosophicalish’ works were by turns brilliant and bewildering, sublime and ridiculous
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1
Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy
by Mark Doty -
2
The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age
by Simon Schama -
3
Vermeer
by Lawrence Gowing -
4
Rembrandt's Enterprise: The Studio and the Market
by Svetlana Alpers -
5
Art of the Everyday: Dutch Painting and the Realist Novel
by Ruth Bernard Yeazell
The best books on The Dutch Masters, recommended by Adam Eaker
The best books on The Dutch Masters, recommended by Adam Eaker
The past may be a foreign country, but the world portrayed in the art of the Dutch Masters is not so very far from our own, says Adam Eaker of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. For a society that struggles with materialism and consumption, there are a lot of lessons to be learnt from the 17th century Golden Age.
The Best Charles Dickens Books, recommended by Jenny Hartley
He was the most popular novelist of the Victorian era, a convivial family man who always championed the underdog. But he also harboured dark secrets that only came out after his death. Jenny Hartley recommends the best books by and about the phenomenon that was and is Charles Dickens.
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The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between
by Hisham Matar -
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Negroland: A Memoir
by Margo Jefferson -
3
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
by Svetlana Alexievich -
4
East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
by Philippe Sands -
5
The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War
by Robert J. Gordon
Best Nonfiction Books of 2016, recommended by Stephanie Flanders
Roger Luckhurst on the life and works of H G Wells
Often described as the ‘father of science fiction’, H G Wells was a man of extraordinary charisma and vivid imagination. Yet he suffered terribly from class anxiety and subscribed to political beliefs we now find abhorrent, says the editor and author Roger Luckhurst.
The best books on Marx and Marxism, recommended by Terrell Carver
Few people have had their ideas reinvented as many times as the German intellectual and political activist, Karl Marx. Professor of political theory, Terrell Carver, takes us through the most influential books, in English, about Marx, Marxism and his friend, publicist and financial backer, Friedrich Engels.
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Hong Kong
by Jan Morris -
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Hong Kong Noir: Fifteen true tales from the dark side of the city
by Feng Chi-shun -
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Hotel China
by the Hong Kong Writers Circle -
4
The Heritage Hiker’s Guide to Hong Kong
by Pete Spurrier -
5
Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong
by Gordon Mathews
The best books on Hong Kong, recommended by Jason Ng
The best books on Hong Kong, recommended by Jason Ng
Hong Kong continues to simmer with tension, two years on from the ‘Umbrella Protests’ that made news around the world. But will it lead to advances in democracy or crackdowns by Beijing? Jason Ng, lawyer and author of Umbrellas in Bloom, chooses five of the best books for understanding China’s ‘foster child’ city.
The best books on Wilkie Collins, recommended by Jason Hall
Wilkie Collins, the sensationalist author and inventor of the detective novel, knew precisely how to “make ’em laugh, make ’em cry, make ’em wait”. Jason Hall, Victorian literature expert and editor of a new edition of Jezebel’s Daughter, chooses the five best books from Collins’s extensive oeuvre – and considers the voracious appetites and unorthodox lifestyle of this intriguing Englishman.
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The Memoirs Of Marguerite De Valois
by Marguerite De Valois -
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Why Not Say What Happened?: A Memoir
by Ivana Lowell -
3
Casting with a Fragile Thread: A Story of Sisters and Africa
by Wendy Kann -
4
The Mighty Queens of Freeville
by Amy Dickinson -
5
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed
The best books on Dauntless Daughters, recommended by Nancy Goldstone
The best books on Dauntless Daughters, recommended by Nancy Goldstone
In her book The Rival Queens, historian Nancy Goldstone explored the destructive relationship between Marguerite de Valois and her mother Catherine de’ Medici. Here she chooses five different memoirs that best explore the emotionally complex dynamics that characterise mother-daughter relationships.
The best books on Evelyn Waugh and the Bright Young Things, recommended by Selina Hastings
The biographer explores the decadence of the young and rich in 1920s London, and tells us about Evelyn Waugh’s rebellious youth, bullying disposition and later breakdown – as well as just how much (and early) he drank