Did you read The Library Book by Susan Orlean as part of this year's Andover Reads series? Are you wondering what to read next? MHL librarians Stephanie and Renata have some suggestions for you. They discussed some of them in episode 7 of MHL's Shelf Help podcast, and here's a full list of titles that you might like if you're looking for more books featuring history, true crime, cultural criticism, and/or personal essays. We hope you find your next great library book (lowercase) here!
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The library book
by Susan Orlean The acclaimed best-selling author of Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief reopens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history, and delivers a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution—our libraries. |
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The Orchid Thief
by Susan Orlean A bizarre plant-obsessed subculture of orchid collectors is exposed in this unique and compelling expose, which introduces--among other exotic characters--the "Orchid Thief" who planned to clone flowers stolen from the Florida swamps and a band of Seminole Indians who never made peace with the U.S. government. |
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Adaptation
Film watchers view the story of a nonfiction book about a "crazy" orchid dealer and at the same time the story of a screenwriter who turns to his twin brother for help in adapting the book. |
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The bullfighter checks her makeup : my encounters with extraordinary people
by Susan Orlean In a collection of essays from The New Yorker, the acclaimed author of The Orchid Thief offers a series of intriguing profiles of some of the colorful people she has encountered, from the first female Spanish matador to the African king who drives a New York City cab to Silly Billy, a popular entertainer on the children's birthday-party circuit. |
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The 57 bus
by Dashka Slater Documents the true story of two Oakland high school students, a white teen from a privileged private school and a black youth from a school overshadowed by crime, whose fateful interaction triggered devastating consequences for both, garnering national attention and raising awareness about hate. |
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Savage appetites : four true stories of women, crime, and obsession
by Rachel Monroe Four true crime stories explore women, violence and obsession including a 1940s heiress whose dollhouse crime scenes established forensic science as well as a woman who moved into Sharon Tate’s guesthouse and entwined herself with the family. |
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Furious hours : murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee
by Casey N. Cep Documents the story of 1970s Alabama serial killer Willie Maxwell and the true-crime book on the Deep South's racial politics and justice system that consumed Harper Lee in the years after "To Kill a Mockingbird." |
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Catch and kill : lies, spies, and a conspiracy to protect predators
by Ronan Farrow Describes the author's investigation of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and rape accusations against Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer, and the many obstacles he faced, not only from Weinstein but also from his own employer, NBC. |
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The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century
by Kirk W Johnson Documents the astonishing 2009 theft of an invaluable collection of ornithological displays from the British Museum of Natural History by a talented American musician, tracing the author's years-long investigation to track down the culprit and understand his motives, which were possibly linked to an obsession with the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. |
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I'll be gone in the dark : one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer
by Michelle McNamara An account of the unsolved Golden State Killer case, written by the late author of the TrueCrimeDiary.com website and featuring an afterword by her husband, comedian Patton Oswalt, traces the rapes and murders of dozens of victims and the author's determined efforts to help identify the killer and bring him to justice. |
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Know my name : a memoir
by Chanel Miller Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting "Emily Doe" on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral, was translated globally, and read on the floor of Congress. It inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Now Miller reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. She tells of her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial, reveals the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios, and illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators. |
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Sigh, gone : a misfit's memoir of great books, punk rock, and the fight to fit in
by Phuc Tran Explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. |
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A little devil in America : notes in praise of black performance
by Hanif Abdurraqib A poet, essayist and cultural critic presents a profound and lasting reflection on how black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. |
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The possessed : adventures with Russian books and the people who read them
by Elif Batuman An award-winning Stanford University literary professor documents the stories of individuals who have dedicated their lives in occasionally absurd ways to pay tribute to Russian classics, describing their investigations of historical events, emulations of author habits and more. |
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Dead girls : essays on surviving an American obesession
by Alice Bolin A collection of essays exploring the American obsession with dead women in literature and pop culture features pieces on Twin Peaks, Britney Spears and Joan Didion and the podcast Serial. |
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Bad feminist : essays
by Roxane Gay A cultural examination of the ways in which the media influences self-perception, and discusses how society still needs to do better. |
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I like to watch : arguing my way through the TV revolution
by Emily Nussbaum Celebrating television as television, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic presents a thought-provoking collection of new and previously published essays evangelizing for a wider, wilder view of television. |
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Feel free : essays
by Zadie Smith In a collection of essays arranged into five sections—In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free—the best-selling author of Swing Time discusses important questions about our world that readers will immediately recognize. |
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Shit, actually : the definitive, 100% objective guide to modern cinema
by Lindy West The best-selling author of Shrill reexamines iconic movies from the past 40 years to identify laugh-worthy plot holes and fictional misrepresentations in such esteemed blockbusters as Forrest Gump, The Lion King and Top Gun. |
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The yellow house
by Sarah M. Broom Describes the author’s upbringing in a New Orleans East shotgun house as the unruly 13th child of a widowed mother, tracing a century of family history and the impact of class, race and Hurricane Katrina on her sense of identity. |
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The partly cloudy patriot
by Sarah Vowell The author of Take the Cannoli and contributing editor for public radio's "This American Life" shares her perspective on such topics as the 2000 election, present-day civil rights activists, and the relationship between the United States and Canada. |
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On immunity : an inoculation
by Eula Biss Examines the pervasive fears and myths surrounding vaccines from a mother's perspective and identifies the historical and cultural factors that cause people to doubt government regulations and the medical establishment. |
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Ghostland : an American history in haunted places
by Colin Dickey Takes readers on a road trip through some of the United States' most infamously haunted places and deep into the dark side of American history. |
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The bad-ass librarians of Timbuktu : and their race to save the world's most precious manuscripts
by Joshua Hammer Describes how a group of Timbuktu librarians enacted a daring plan to smuggle the city's great collection of rare Islamic manuscripts away from the threat of destruction at the hands of Al Quaeda militants to the safety of southern Mali. |
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The warmth of other suns : the epic story of America's great migration
by Isabel Wilkerson In an epic history covering the period from the end of World War I through the 1970s, a Pulitzer Prize winner chronicles the decades-long migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West through the stories of three individuals and their families. |
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The hour of land : a personal topography of America's national parks
by Terry Tempest Williams Collects lyrical portraits of twelve national parks, ranging from Acadia to Yellowstone, that are part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique. |
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Dragon hoops
by Gene Luen Yang An introverted reader starts understanding local enthusiasm about sports in his school when he gets to know some of his talented athletic peers and discovers that their stories are just as thrilling as the comics he loves. |
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Calypso
by David Sedaris A collection of personal essays by the best-selling author of Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls and Me Talk Pretty One Day shares even more revealing and intimate memories from his upbringing and family life. |
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Goodbye, Again : Essays, Reflections, and Illustrations
by Jonny Sun A collection of touching and hilarious personal essays, stories, poems--accompanied by his trademark illustrations--covering topics such as mental health, happiness, and what it means to belong. |
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Broken (in the best possible way)
by Jenny Lawson The award-winning humorist and author of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened shares candid reflections on such topics as her experimental treatment for depression, her escape from three bears and her business ideas for Shark Tank. |
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Out on the wire : the storytelling secrets of the new masters of radio
by Jessica Abel Go behind the scenes of seven of today's most popular narrative radio shows and podcasts, including This American Life and RadioLab, in graphic narrative. Every week, millions of devoted fans tune in to or download This American Life, The Moth, Radiolab, Planet Money, Snap Judgment, Serial, Invisibilia and other narrative radio shows. Using personal stories to breathe life into complex ideas and issues, these beloved programs help us to understand ourselves and our world a little bit better. With the help of This American Life's Ira Glass, Jessica Abel, a cartoonist and devotee of narrative radio, uncovers just how radio producers construct narrative, spilling some juicy insider details. |
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Thick : and other essays
by Tressie McMillan Cottom A collection of essays from the author of Lower Ed sheds light on the trait of being "thick," both in form and in substance, while dissecting society and culture from beauty to Obama to pumpkin-spice lattes. |
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The new kings of nonfiction
by Ira Glass An anthology of the finest nonfiction writings by leading contemporary writers features contributions by Malcolm Gladwell, Chuck Klosterman, Bill Buford, Susan Orlean, David Foster Wallace, James McManus, Mark Bowden, and others on topics ranging from teenage white collar criminals and Saddam Hussein to the drunken British soccer culture. |
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Wow, no thank you : essays
by Samantha Irby A new collection of humorous and edgy essays from the author of Meaty and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life that highlight the ups and downs of aging, marriage and living with step-children in small-town Michigan. |
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Here for it : or, how to save your soul in America : essays
by R. Eric Thomas A humorist and playwright provides a heartfelt and humorous memoir-in-essays about growing up seeing the world differently, finding unexpected hope and every awkward, extraordinary stumble along the way. |
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Trick mirror : reflections on self-delusion
by Jia Tolentino A New Yorker writer presents nine original essays examining the fractures at the center of culture today, offering insights into the conflicts, contradictions, incentives and changes related to the rise of toxic social networking. |