Best Nonfiction Books of 2015

Hold Still by Sally Mann

Named one of the best books of 2015 by:

Amazon
BookPage
NPR
Publisher’s Weekly
The Washington Post 

Critical praise:
“A boldly alive, bracingly honest, thoroughly engrossing, sun-dappled, and deeply shadowed tale of inheritance and defiance, creativity and remembrance by an audacious and tenacious American photographer.” – “Booklist” (starred review)

“Mann’s prose-luminous, chatty and smart-together with photographs that arrest and provoke-invites readers to hold the camera still with her, and in that space, to imagine whole narratives that accompany these slices in time.” – “Los Angeles Times”

“A sweeping tale of Mann’s coming of age, her family history, her artistic influences and choices. It is also an homage to the South…HOLD STILL is thought-provoking and is certainly arresting to look at.” – “The Washington Post”

Borrow it from the Library: Book, eBook or eAudio

Unfinished Business by Anne-Marie Slaughter

Named one of the best books of 2015 by:

Business Insider
Forbes
The Washington Post

Critical Praise:

“Slaughter should be applauded for devising a ‘new vocabulary’ to identify a broad, misclassified social phenomenon. And she is razor-sharp on outlining the cultural shifts necessary to give caregiving its due … By putting these issues on the agenda, Slaughter has already taken an essential first step.” – “The Economist” 

“An eye-opening call to action from someone who rethought the whole notion of ‘having it all,’ Unfinished Business could change how many of us approach our most important business: living.” – “People” 
 
“Another clarion call from [Anne-Marie] Slaughter…Her case for revaluing and better compensating caregiving is compelling … Slaughter skillfully exposes half-truths in the workplace [and] makes it a point in her book to speak beyond the elite.” – Jill Abramson, “The Washington Post” 

Borrow it from the Library: Book or eBook

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Named one of the best books of 2015 by:

Amazon
BookPage
Kirkus Reviews
Library Journal
The New York Times
NPR
Publisher’s Weekly

Critical Praise:

“The powerful story of a father’s past and a son’s future Coates offers this eloquent memoir as a letter to his teenage son, bearing witness to his own experiences and conveying passionate hopes for his son’s life.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Immense, multifaceted . . . This is a poet’s book, revealing the sensibility of a writer to whom words—exact words—matter. . . . As a meditation on race in America, haunted by the bodies of black men, women, and children, Coates’s compelling, indeed stunning, work is rare in its power to make you want to slow down and read every word. This is a book that will be hailed as a classic of our time.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Powerful and passionate . . . profoundly moving . . . a searing meditation on what it means to be black in America today.” –Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Borrow it from the Library: Book, eBook or eAudio

Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis

Named one of the best books of 2015 by:

Flavorwire
The Paris Review
Publisher’s Weekly

It also won the National Book Award!

Critical Praise:

“Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems reframes the black figure, most specifically the black female, by pointing out the borders of black beauty, black happiness, and black resilience in our canonical visual culture. Tender and masterful opening and closing poems bookend the archival, lyric masterwork … Robin Coste Lewis takes back depictions of the black feminine and refuses to land or hold down that which has always been alive and loving and lovely.” – Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen: An American Lyric

“Lewis’s astonishing debut full-length collection works as a triptych, with the title poem’s central panel flanked by autobiographical lyric poems that investigate intersections of blackness and gender, geography, alienation, and the formation of the self.” – Publisher’s Weekly

Borrow it from the Library: Book or eBook

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Named one of the best books of 2015 by:

Amazon
Brain Pickings
Kirkus Reviews
The New York Times
NPR
Oprah.com
Publisher’s Weekly
The Washington Post 

Critical Praise:

“Had there been an award for the best new book that defies every genre, I imagine it would have won that too. . . . Coherent, complete, and riveting, perhaps the finest nonfiction I read in the past year.”  – Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker

“Captivating and beautifully written, it’s a meditation on the bond between beasts and humans and the pain and beauty of being alive.”  – People “To categorize this work as merely memoir, nature writing or spiritual writing would understate [Macdonald’s] achievement . . . her prose glows and burns.” – Karin Altenberg, Wall Street Journal

Borrow it from the Library: Book, eBook or eAudio

• The Best Books of 2015 – Amazon
• The Best Books We Read in 2015 – The Atlantic
• The 15 Best Books of 2015 – Brain Pickings
• Best Business Books of 2015 – Business Insider
• Best Poetry Books of 2015 – Flavorwire
• 15 Best Business Books of 2015 – Forbes
• Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 by Category- Kirkus
• Best Poetry Books of 2015 – Library Journal
• Top Ten Books of 2015 – Library Journal
• The Books We Loved in 2015 – The New Yorker
• 100 Notable Books of 2015 – The New York Times
• Best Books of 2015 – NPR
• Our Top 10 Favorite Books of 2015 – Oprah.com (O, The Oprah Magazine)
• Our Contributors Pick Their Favorite Books of the Year – The Paris Review
• Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 – Publisher’s Weekly
• 10 Best Music Books of 2015 – Rolling Stone
• WSJ’s Best Books of 2015 – The Wall Street Journal
• Notable Nonfiction of 2015 – The Washington Post