Armchair BEA - Nonfiction

Today's topic at Armchair BEA is nonfiction. Ten years ago, I probably would have just said that I rarely read nonfiction (because I did), but joining book groups changed all that. Through the varied selections of my multiple book groups, I discovered that nonfiction does not equal boring, dry facts. I also discovered that I absolutely love memoirs.

So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite nonfiction titles:

• The Anatomy of Hope by Jerome Groopman - I read this book about a year into my chronic illness, at the depth of misery and mourning, and it truly restored my hope.
• River of Doubt by Candice Millard, about Teddy Roosevelt's journey up the Amazon.
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - gripping, fascinating, and thought-provoking.
• The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Tim Egan, about the formation of the national parks.

And some of my favorite memoirs - do I have to choose? I love them all!

• 12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time: A Semi-Dysfunctional Family Circumnavigates the Globe by Mark Jacobson - travel AND family in one memoir - what more could I want?
• Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire - a fascinating historical backdrop told from a child's perspective and one of the summer reading selections at my son's high school this year!
• The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood by Helene Cooper - a chilling, compelling story about growing up in Liberia.
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique-Bauby - inspirational and emotionally powerful story of a paralyzed man.
• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson - we love all of Bryson's memoirs, but this one about his childhood is especially good...and hilarious!
• The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein - fascinating historical memoir about growing up in England in the 1910's on a street inhabited by Jews on one side and Christians on the other. Can't wait to read the sequel.

See? I told you I couldn't pick. I could go on and on.

What are your favorite nonfiction books and memoirs?