I love memoirs so freaking much: Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast): This one is one of the best books Iāve ever read I think. Itās about Michelleās dealing with the death of her mother because of cancer and the way in which she tries to reconnect with her korean roots through food, because her mom was her only connection to korean culture. This is also how I found out about Michelleās band āJapanese Breakfastā which is also amazing and I love their music so much. Know my Name by Chanel Miller: This one is hard to read because of how much it destroys you to learn, or remember, how the criminal justice system is so unfair to r*pe victims. Miller reclaims her name aside from anything that has something to do with what was done to her, and tells her story from her own perspective. Itās also beautifully written. I talk more about this book in the link that I put in this post! (I was told to recommend a book to the people at my uni a few years ago). Just Kids by Patti Smith: I think this book is already very loved by so many people (and also not liked by many!). I loved it and Iāve read it a couple times. People say thereās a lot of name dropping here but I think that was just Pattiās life (maybe!). I also love Patti Smith as a person, sheās very sweet from what I know of her and an amazing writer and musician.
NOT a big non fiction reader but I will always pick up something that catches my eye (donāt judge a book by its cover, but also like sometimes do). Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) made me ugly cry at work. honorable mentions:
Mean Baby - Selma Blair
Iām Glad My Mom Died - Jeanette McCurdy
Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado
Down the Drain - Julia Fox
Cultish - Amanda Montell
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Lori Gottlieb
Flesh & Blood - N West Moss
memoirs:
finding me - viola davis - she's truly had such an interesting life
wild - cheryl strayed - memoir about a women walking the pct and all about her crazy life that lef her to that point
crying in h mart - michelle zauner - about a musician coping with her mother's death
educated - tara westover - about a woman who grows up in fundamentalist mormon family
i'm glad my mom died - jennette mccurdy - about her childhood as an actor and her relationship w/ her mother
the glass castle - jeanette walls
the anthropocene reviewed - john green - he reviews aspects of human life and shares parts of his own very interesting life
just kids - patti smith - about her life as a musician in nyc
kitchen confidential - anthony bourdain
down the drain - julia fox engaging non fiction;
- seconding the patrick radden keefe rec below - also his books empire of pain and the snakehead
- cultish - amanda montell - about the language that cults use
- so you've been publicly shamed - jon ronson
- slouching towards bethlehem - joan didion - sharply written essays mostly about 60s culture books on art:
- ways of seeing - john berger
- funny weather: art in crisis - olivia laing
- notes on 'camp' - susan sontag
- the art thief - micharl finkel books on food:
- small fires: an epic in the kitchen - rebecca may johnson
- chop suey nation - ann hui
- eating animals - jonathan safran foer
Some of my faves are coming of age memoirs by women carving out their space in the world in dialogue with culture, close relationships, and creativity of different kinds <3 - The Outrun by Amy Liptrott - a gorgeous exploration of identity and nature in the wreckage of, and then recovery from, alcoholism. Set in 2010s London and Orkney (very neurodivergent coded). - Mean by Myriam Gurba - electrifying coming of age as a queer mixed-race Chicana. So original and sharp. - Just Kids by Patti Smith - beautiful coming of age as an artist in late 60s/early 70s NYC in companionship with a creative best friend. - Run Towards the Danger by Sarah Polley - essays on navigating disability and identity as a child star with a dysfunctional family. - The Plague and by Betty MacDonald - gorgeously witty account of life in a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1940s.
i genuinely donāt understand the need for an āassistantā in every app now, it reminds me of how social media apps would copy each other to death, fighting to become the most popular one. remember when ig copied snapchat stories, or threads as the new twitter, the new be-real-like feature on ig, etcā¦?? except itās even worse with this. people keep tagging freaking grok everywhere for nonsense on twt, thereās meta AI in every meta app, and now idk if they made Siri function with AI tech (i looked it up and there wasnāt a definite answer, but if anyone knows please tell me!!!). my obvious biggest concern is the environment, while the rise of anti-intellectualism is also at bay. iām also tired of my university profs pushing AI onto me in an effort of trying to seem more modern. genuinely, i donāt think thereās anything that pisses me off more than chatgpt.