Nonfiction November: Seeking Books about Friendships
Seeking recommendations for nonfiction books about friendship similar to Truth & Beauty, Text Me When You Get Home, and Tell Me More.
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This week’s Nonfiction November theme is Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (Hosted by Julie at Julz Reads). Here is the prompt:
Three ways to join in this week! You can either share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).
I’m putting out a call for nonfiction books about friendship. Prompting this request is Ann Patchett’s Truth & Beauty, which I started on audio this past weekend. I love Ann Patchett anyway, and so far this has been a beautiful memoir of a Patchett’s life-defining friendship with the poet Lucy Grealy.
Other nonfiction books that I’ve read on friendships (particularly women’s friendships) are Text Me When You Get Home and Tell Me More, which isn’t exclusively about friendship but it does play a large role in many of Corrigan’s chapters.
I have always loved stories of strong friendships–from Beaches to Meredith and Cristina on Grey’s Anatomy to A Little Life to some of my own lifelong friendships, these are some of the only important relationships not bound by blood or marriage. They can be harder to maintain because of this, and time and distance sometimes seem to have no effect on the strength of a friendship.
So give me your best recommendations for memoirs and nonfiction books about friendships (and I won’t complain about a good fiction recommendation either)!
Love the topic. Patchett’s book is one I adored, and Text Me When You Get Home has been sitting on my shelf for a few months to read.
Though not my personal favorite, it’s one many others have loved: MWF Seeks BFF by Rachel Bertsche might be worth putting on your list. It’s about a young woman and the numerous ways she tries to make friends in her adulthood (& the challenges therein).
Oh, that sounds interesting! Making friends as an adult is definitely a challenge. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hahaha! I was going to recommend Truth & Beauty even though I haven’t read it yet! It’s on my list and I love Ann Patchett.
I’d also recommend Anna Quindlen’s Lot of Candles, Plenty of Cake….it’s like Tell Me More…not exclusively about women’s friendships, but she does talk about that a fair amount.
I’ve been looking forward to Truth & Beauty for ages–I was so glad to find the audio at the library.
I have actually read Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake…last year, I think. Definitely another good one!
I recently read a picture book about the creative and private friendship that developed between Audrey Hepburn & Givenchy – it caused me to add Audrey and Givenchy: A Fashion Love Affair By: Cindy De La Hoz to my wishlist.
That sounds kind of fun–thanks for the recommendation!
Ooo, what a great question! It immediately made me think of MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche. It chronicles her search for a new BFF after getting married and moving to a new city. There’s also Letters from Max: A Book of Friendship by Sarah Ruhl, which I haven’t read yet but looks wonderful.
Those both sound great, thank you! I can relate to the difficulty of finding good friends after moving as an adult, so that one would probably resonate with me.
MWF Seeking BFF was my first thought too! I really enjoyed this one. Reading it was like talking to a friend, easy and fun.
What a lovely topic! I’m adding the Patchett to my TBR list.
I honestly don’t recall a nonfiction book I’ve read with friendship at the forefront (so no recs from me, sorry!), but what a great topic to want to explore more!
great theme, but sorry, nothing comes to mind. My post is here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/11/14/nonfiction-november-2018-expert-on-books-on-books/
I’ve had Beth Kephart’s INTO THE TANGLE OF FRIENDSHIP: A MEMOIR OF THE THINGS THAT MATTER on my shelves forever. She’s one of my favorite authors and never disappoints.
This sounds really lovely–I’m adding it to my TBR. Thank you!
I happened to feature a few books on this topic in my fiction/nonfiction pairings post. I’d highly recommend Talk before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg (a novel) & Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell as follow-ons to Truth and Beauty. https://bookishbeck.wordpress.com/2018/11/07/nonfiction-november-fiction-nonfiction-pairings/
Thank you for pointing this out! I didn’t get to as many other posts as I’d hoped, but you have a lot of excellent pairings. I’ll have to check these out–I really loved Truth & Beauty.