Largehearted Boy: Favorite Nonfiction of 2012

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December 6, 2012

Favorite Nonfiction of 2012

These are the nonfiction books I have most recommended to family and friends this year.

All links go to the authors' contributions to the Book Notes series or the book's page at Amazon. I have reposted my original review below each book.

What was your favorite nonfiction book of 2012?

Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz by Cynthia Carr

Thoroughly researched and skillfully told, Cynthia Carr's Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz is one of the year's most impressive biographies, a book that not only covers the artist's life but also the vibrant East Village art scene of the 1980s.

Love Goes To Buildings On Fire by Will Hermes

In the mid-1970s, New York City was in turmoil, facing financial bankruptcy, blackouts, a recession, and rising crime, but the music scene was thriving. Love Goes To Buildings On Fire's Will Hermes captures the city's evolving music scenes of the era from hip-hop to punk, salsa to rock and roll.

A Queer and Pleasant Danger by Kate Bornstein

Kate Bornstein's memoir A Queer and Pleasant Danger can be loosely described by its subtitle, "The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She Is Today," but that does not do the book justice. Bornstein shares her struggles and triumphs in a conversational tone that connects directly to the reader in this brave and heartbreaking story of her life. Big issues like religion and gender are successfully explored in one of the year's most important books.

A Sense of Direction by Gideon Lewis-Krau

Gideon Lewis-Kraus's A Sense of Direction is an always smart and often funny memoir. The book's subtitle, "Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful," serves it well, this is a book about pilgrimages physical, intellectual, and emotional.

Things That Are by Amy Leach

Amy Leach's Things That Are is an enchanting book, an essay collection that lyrically covers the natural world from the terrestrial to the celestial.