After the best new fiction on Friday, here I am with my favourite non-fiction books of the year, which is very much a mix of new releases and not new releases, but also features a suspicious number of books that fall into one of my favourite periods of history – aka the first half of the 20th Century.
Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell*
I think this is my favourite of the new non-fiction that I’ve read this year. I love a look at how women exerted power in male-dominated environments, and this re-examination of Pamela Harriman – who has previously just been dismissed as a femme fatale/grande horizontale who worked her way through all the men she knew – is a really interesting one. Purnell makes a strong case – and appears to have the evidence to back it up due to the amount of personal papers that she had access to. I was so pleased to see this prominently displayed in the bookshops this autumn.
Capote’s Women by Lawrence Leamer
Harriman is one of the women in the title of Lawrence Leamer’s book – and the other women were definitely among those who dismissed Harriman as a modern day courtesan – after all she had slept with several of their husbands (one of whom she later married). If you don’t want to commit to an entire book about Pamela (and Kingmaker is 500 pages long) then you can catch a glimpse of her war years and immediate aftermath in this book about Capote and the women who featured in his notorious Esquire article La Cote Basque, which blew up his friendships with them forever.
Murder by Kate Morgan*
If you read as much mystery fiction set in the past as I do, this might be right up your street. It’s an examination of the evolution of the crime of murder in legal terms in England. If you’ve ever wondered about how the differences between murder and manslaughter came about, or when various forms of insanity defences evolved, this is the book for you. It also covers some of the more recent developments in murder trials that have come out of tragedies like Aberfan – and whether or not they have worked as intended. And if you’re writing historical crime fiction this is probably a must read to make sure you’re getting the legal side of things right!
Going Infinite by Michael Lewis
Another of my areas of special interest in non-fiction (aside from interwar history) are spectacular flops/business disasters/con men. And the rise and fall of Sam Bankman Fried and his crypto exchange are among the most spectacular of recent years. Of course the challenge of such a recent scandal as this is being up to date and this was originally published in 2023 just as the trial was starting and the paperback edition that I bought (on the way to Malaysia and then mostly read on the plane) came out not long after the sentencing. But the big reason for reading this rather than listening to one of the podcasts about the story (which have the ability to add new episodes as things evolve) is that Michael Lewis was already working on a book about SBF when the implosion happened – and thus was on the scene in a way no one else was. And have a bonus podcast recommendation – Spellcaster from Wondery is my pick of the SBF specials, although The Naked Emperor series of CBC’s Understood is also good (and I have their series about Celine Dion waiting to be listened to as well).
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy
It would be remiss of me not to include a memoir in this list – and this also fits into a special interest area: Hollywood. But Jenette McCurdy‘s memoir comes with some important caveats: this covers abuse of many different kinds as well as addiction and eating disorders. It is a tough read. A very tough read. But at the end it is hopeful that McCurdy – a former Nickelodeon child star – has come out of the other side, and not just because her mother is dead and can no longer emotionally manipulate and exploit her. I really hope that she is in a better place – this book really illustrates why so few child stars emerge from that early fame unscathed.
And I realise that’s a bit of a downer to end on. Sorry about that. But hey these things happen.
Have a good Sunday.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 