Great True Stories
Narrative Non-Fiction Books Worth Reading and Re-reading
From Truman Capote to lesser-known authors, this list of narrative non-fiction stories will keep you absorbed and perhaps lead you to revisit the stories in the future.
Recommended non-fiction reading lists are always changing with time. Most everyone - at least in their minds if not on paper - has a list of books they've liked. What makes a book compelling to readers? Whether it's the story, the real-life people, events or just a paragraph that perfectly described a moment, the fact of the matter is that something struck a chord. Here, in no particular order, is a narrative non-fiction list to consider that will do just that and maybe even more after being absorbed in some incredible reads.
- "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote - The incredible inside story of a murder investigation into the deaths of a Kansas family in the 1950s
- "Katherine Graham - Personal History" by Katherine Graham - The autobiography of the woman who was at the helm of The Washington Post during the Watergate scandal, at a time when very few of the country's newspapers had women editors
- "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand - A story about one of the famous race horses in its time that's so good there are moments you are taken inside Seabiscuit's brain
- "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien - A literary masterpiece about the author's experience in the Vietnam War and - about the things he carried
- "Animal ER" by Tufts University's School of Veterinary Medicine - A series of incredible ER stories about saving the lives of usual and unusual animals
- "Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village" by Sarah Erdman - A story of a Peace Corps volunteer's journey to combat AIDS in a small village in the Ivory Coast
- "Firehouse" by David Halberstam - One NYFD ladder company's story before, during and after Sept. 11
- "Expecting Adam" by Martha Beck - A Harvard graduate's story of her pregnancy with her son, diagnosed with Downs syndrome
- "The Poet and the Murderer" by Simon Worrall - The story of how a man plagerized an Emily Dickinson poem, costing a literary organization in the famous poet's name a lot of money
- "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath- Author's autobiography
- "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt - Author's autobiography on his childhood
- "Hometown Killer" by Carol J. Rothgeb - A story about the murder investigation into the rapes and deaths of a two young girls and a young woman in Springfield, Ohio in the early 1990s
- "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt - A murder story that put Savannah, Georgia on the map (again)
The copyright of the article Great True Stories in Resources for Writers is owned by Shuva Rahim. Permission to republish Great True Stories must be granted by the author in writing.
