top 5 non-fiction books ? :3
GREAT QUESTION!! in no particular order:
weatherland by alexandra harris, gorgeous gorgeous book on the influence of weather on english art and literature. such a wealth of information while being a hugely beautiful read, and forever got me to look at the sky whenever i am on walks and hikes. grey skies can be beautiful, a game changer when you're from northern england!!
lady sings the blues by billie holiday, as if her music and presence wasn't enough i felt like i was in love with her when i read this. its lovely and casual it feels like you're there with her chatting, but getting to hear the point of view of someone as incredible and complicated as her <3333 she is literally one of my most favourite people ever
river kings by cat jarman, of all the historical periods that are out there, vikings are probably among the ones that interest me the least. but this is a tremendous book that primarily follows a single piece of material culture back to its origins in baghdad (a carnelian bead) and its woven so delightfully in the history of the vikings, the trade system, and advances in archaeology. i was hooked!!
border by kapka kassabova, oh my god!!! WHAT a book!!!! kassabova is also a poet and my goddddd does it prove!!!! super super incredible book about the region where greece/turkey/bulgaria told through stories from during and the aftermath of the cold war and the author's displacement. super beautiful prose <3
with the old breed by e.b. sledge, YES IYKYK!!!!! a memoir that could double as a horror book, i went into this with very high expectations since i was fresh off of watching the pacific and had really enjoyed the other memoir of which it was based on but oh my god. truly a book to put down and pace around your room every 10 minutes to digest. there's a passage towards the end of the book about sledge imagining the dead rising back up from the mud and my god if that hasn't stuck with me. any good book about any war should leave you with the question how the FUCK did we get here!!!!!
ask me my top 5/10 of anything
