Hey there, book demolishers!
I’ve got the final booklist for you. Diving into non-fiction was always tricky. I don’t read very much of it if I’m honest. I prefer living in the land of fiction and all of its subgenres. Still, there are those who love hearing the world’s stories of life. So, after some searching, I bring you some non-fiction for your TBR this summer!
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
Author: Elon Green
The true story of the Last Cal Killer and the gay community of New York City that he preyed upon. Throughout the 80s and 90s the Last Call Killer targeted gay men and due to the high murder rates and the AIDS epidemic he was able to hide under the radar, eluding capture for years.
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Surviving the White Gaze
Author: Rebecca Carroll
A powerful memoir from black cultural critic. Rebecca Carroll about growing up as the only black person in rural New Hampshire, adopted at birth and then later meeting her birth mother, a young white woman that would constantly undermine Carroll’s sense of blackness as well as self-esteem. Carroll went on to carve a path for herself, searching for her racial identity and heal from the ground of her life and on up.
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Friday Night Lights
Author: H. G. Bissinger
In Odessa, Texas, it’s the Permian High School Panthers that keep the town’s hopes alive as unemployment rates as well as murder rates sky rocket. Socially and racially divided, it’s the Friday nights from September to December that brings the two together. Bissinger recounts one dramatic football season where single-minded devotion to the team can bring hope to teenagers and inspire a town.
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Eat the Buddha
Author: Barbara Demick
Demick explores a small Tibetan town perched eleven thousand feet above sea level. One of the first places that Tibetans and the Chinese meat one another, this book tells the story of their history, using the life-stories, Demick gives an eye-opening look at what it’s really like to live in a place that’s been romanticized as spiritual and peaceful.
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The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World
Author: Sarah Stewart Johnson
Once similar to Earth, one scientist details the search for life on the red planet. Johnson goes on to talk about her fascination with Mars and how it began from when she was a child to the work she does now, conducting research in some of the world’s most dangerous environments. A thought provoking journey to a place nobody has ever set foot on.
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The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Author: Erik Larson
From the author of Devil in the White City, Larson follows Churchill’s time as Prime Minister and how he taught the British people the art of being fearless as Hitler took over much of Europe. Utilizing personal pieces such as diaries and archival documents, Larson a grand look on London’s darkest time.
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Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country
Author: Sierra Crane Murdoch
Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009 and came home to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation to find that it had been given away and altered by an oil boom that left her people drowning in violence and addiction. When a white oil worker goes missing and nobody seems to care, she takes it upon herself to look for him. In her pursuit, she searched for redemption and comes to terms with the crimes she committed.
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Greenlights
Author: Mathew McConaughey
McConaughey shares the wisdom he’s collected over the years in his effort to find satisfaction in life. He gives a unique approach to life that he calls, “catching greenlights.” It’s a love letter. To life.
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Crying in H Mart
Author: Michelle Zauner
A memoir about growing up Korean American, losing family, and forging an identity. From working in the restaurant industry to performing gigs with her fledgling band to meeting the man that would later become her husband. Zauner reflects back on how she reckoned with her identity and reclaimed the gifts she’d learned from her mother.
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You Are the Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience
Author: Tarana Burke & Brene Brown
In this collection of essay by many contributers, Burke and Brown share the emotions of shame and healing as a black person. A vulnerable take and perfect space to recognize the trauma of white supremacy.
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More to come soon…
–K.
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Thoughts? Let’s chat in the comments below!
The Scarlet Reader 
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