Last year, true’s editors offered some of their favorite nonfiction books, articles, and podcasts they consumed in 2023. This year, we’ve also asked our contributors to share some of what they’ve been reading or listening to, and what they’re excited for in 2025. Enjoy!
Reported Nonfiction
“Reckon True Stories” hosted by authors Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and Kiese Laymon (Heavy, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Long Division).
“From the moment I heard about Reckon True Stories—which debuted over the summer—I was hyped. Two of my favorite contemporary authors were going to explore storytelling through the lens of true stories and their impact on culture. As a fan of their respective work, and having witnessed them in dialogue with others I knew their conversations were going to be captivating. Episodes range from interviews to one-on-one discussions about a topic like the use of ‘I’ in non-fiction writing or the personal impact of Toni Morrison’s essay, “The Work You Do, The Person You Are.” Philyaw and Laymon dialogue with multiple writers from Roxane Gay to Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexander Chee, Minda Honey, Imani Perry, and Samantha Irby. They’re clearly fans of their guests and have a genuine interest in their process and inspiration. Love, care and thoughtfulness are the foundation of this gift of a podcast. Have a listen!” – true contributor Cija Jefferson
“[The book is] on the history of home economics. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s the story about home economics, but it really tells you a lot about women’s history and expectations of women through the decades. And it’s a similar thing I tried to do with swimming and synchronized swimming. So really that’s up high on my reading list.” – Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty
“It’s an interesting exploration of human’s relationships with water. I found it really fascinating. It’s a really well researched book. It has a bit more of a personal element to it than mine does.” – Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty
“One can’t help but be struck by the titillating title of this nonfiction work. Its audacious book jacket is just as eye-catching. You can’t look away, and you won’t want to. Author and sociologist Sarah Thornton began her work on this book after undergoing a double mastectomy, a procedure all-too-familiar to many American women. Upon waking from the subsequent reconstructive plastic surgery, Thornton was shocked to find that her surgeon had implanted a set of D cups, against her specific request for “something between an A and B.” Left wondering what factors would lead the surgeon to believe he knew her body better than she did, Thornton set about investigating the patriarchal influences on female bodily autonomy. Her investigation led her to five core cultural and social arenas that thrive on and because of breasts: sex work, human milk banking, plastic surgery, lingerie, and religion. Bodies are still somewhat taboo in America; we don’t like to talk openly about bodily functions and sex and pleasure and dysmorphia and illness. Thornton peels back the layers of such “uncomfortable” topics to illustrate the origins of our discomfort, helping us understand the topics differently. As a memoir writer whose own work interrogates societal expectations of women and of human bodies, and who, in a parallel life, is a board certified lactation consultant, I have opinions rooted in my own lived experience and in my clinical and educational work. Tits Up is a validating, infuriating, hilarious, and revealing journey that dives remarkably deep into the billion dollar business of women’s chests.” – true editor Megan Reilley
The Wife of Bath: A Biography by Marion Turner
“I’ve always loved Chaucer. As an English major in the early 2000s, I found The Canterbury Tales peculiarly modern and wouldn’t shut up about it. Thankfully, some years later, Marion Turner has offered a far more engaging lecture on the contemporary appeal of Geoffrey Chaucer’s most titillating character, the Wife of Bath. Turner examines how this bold, complex figure—known for her wit, experience, and subversion of societal norms—has been interpreted, reimagined, and received over time. In the first half of her book, Turner delves into the medieval world that shaped the Wife of Bath, exploring themes of gender, power, sexuality, and female agency. In the second half, she traces the character’s lasting influence, showing how the Wife of Bath has inspired writers, artists, and thinkers across centuries, cementing her as an enduring symbol of rebellion and resilience. Don’t be turned off by the academic content and context. Turner’s text is wildly readable, approachable, and engaging. This one is not just for the English majors.” – true editor Brandon Arvesen
“In Her Defence: 50th Street” from The Globe and Mail
“In the second season of the podcast ‘In Her Defence,’ veteran crime reporter Jana Pruden revisits the disappearance and murder of Amber Tuccaro, an indigenous woman from Alberta, Canada. Jana reports with vigor, while also exploring larger issues like missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, the failures of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and even the genre of true crime itself. And, she does this all while bringing an incredible amount of sympathy to the story, and just like in the first season, there were times where I found myself tearing up.” — true editor Kristina Gaddy
Memoir
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
“Oof. A memoir could not have hit harder on my soul. Smith’s decision to write her story using the language of craft made her divorce memoir especially intriguing to this divorced, single, mother-writer. Smith didn’t break the fourth wall, she simply never constructed it. Instead, she welcomed readers right into the mess of the end of her marriage and her subsequent journey to create a beautiful life, one that would be so very different from what she had imagined. It’s a difficult thing, to find oneself suddenly facing a new beginning. To write about the experience and offer it up as a balm to the collective of hurting souls is another level of brave.” – Megan Reilley
“Earlier this year, I asked a Facebook group if anyone had any recommended reading for how a writer reworks something they’ve been stuck on for a while. Although none of the recommendations were perfect for that, someone recommended Jill Ciment’s memoir Consent, which revisits the memoir she wrote thirty years ago. She interrogates what she wrote, she tells us why she wrote certain things a certain way, she reveals the half-truths she told her reader, and she offers her thoughts on that memoir decades later. More than the story she tells, I was intrigued by her interrogation of her own writing craft and what memoir is. While I was reading it, I snapped a photo of one of the pages and texted it to my fellow true editors, telling them this book was like a master class in memoir writing.” — Kristina Gaddy
A Little Less Broken by Marian Schembari
“I met Marian Schemari at Hedgebrook in February 2024, and knew that she had just finished her memoir about an adult diagnosis of autism. She moves through her life, recounting experiences of her neurodivergence and other people’s reactions to it, and then uses those stories to explain her autism diagnosis. Marian blends vivid storytelling with science in a way that many memoirists writing about health could take note of. I also found her empathy for her younger self extraordinary, having learned that she is not weird or difficult, but instead not neurotypical. Finally, what I also found amazing was that I knew from speaking with Marian that there were other episodes of her life that didn’t make it into the memoir, and I was reminded again of how we as nonfiction writers craft a story that fits the structure of our story.” — Kristina Gaddy
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
“This touching memoir powerfully illustrates the author’s story of a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. After a friend recommended this book to me, I avoided reading it for a while because I was scared of a story about illness. But Between Two Kingdoms tackles so much more: the challenge of maintaining a relationship when one person becomes a caregiver, what’s really important in life, and how to find joy in friendship even if it’s fleeting. I appreciated the juxtaposition between Jaouad’s powerlessness over the course of her treatments with her ability to create a shape for her life afterwards. This is a truly beautifully written narrative that I read over a single weekend and loved.” – true contributor Rey Katz
“Feeding Ghosts left my heart on the floor. Every single word in that book needs to be there, every single nuance, every single picture. It’s just a complete package as far as a satisfying reading in terms of a story, the emotional pull of it. I highly, highly, highly recommend Feeding Ghosts. It’s so good. When you come across a book like hers you think, ‘God, I’m in the hands of such an expert here.’ You can’t put it down.” — Putsata Reang, author of Ma and Me
The Flitting: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies by Ben Masters
“As a writer currently focused on his own father, I’m worry anytime I come across a father/son memoir. Sons writing about, to, or for their fathers is (to put it kindly) tried and true to memoir. For a father and son memoir to stand out, it often takes something truly unique (Art Spiegelman’s MAUS), revolutionary (Paul Auster’s The Invention of Solitude), or revealing (Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father) to rise above the noise. Ben Masters offers all three in his debut memoir. For the first time since childhood, Masters’ father cannot venture outdoors to observe the butterfly cycle he cherishes. Masters takes on the role of his eyes and ears, immersing himself in the outdoor spaces where butterflies thrive. He returns with tales of their delicate world alongside vivid descriptions of the landscapes his father once knew so well. Masters resists the urge to tell the story as it unfolds, opting to employ a squirrely structure of essays, conversations, and reflections on everything from pop-culture to the nature of masculinity. This book moves the form of memoir forward and elevates the conversations sons and fathers have been having on pages past.” – Brandon Arvesen
