Go Book Yourself

Go Book Yourself: Top 5 Non-Fiction Books 2014

Our favourite true tales of the year…

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald for incredibly poetic, rich and beautiful writing in the story of a grieving woman raising a bird of prey.

Blue 52 by Leslie Jamison for the story of the world’s loneliest whale, 52, and the humans who found in him a kindred spirit.

Murder In Mississippi by John Safran for a thrilling and witty true crime journey through the deep south (God’ll Cut You Down in the US).

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham for an at times controversial, yet insightful book of essays.

The Trials Of White Boy Rick by Evan Hughes for the incredible true story of a 17-year old Detroit drug kingpin.

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In The Woods by Tana French

For more psychological thrills that’ll leave you wondering about the reliability of your own memory, try these:

Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda for a ghost story about teenage girls, grief, and forgetting.

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes for a scary-as-hell tale about how the internet never forgets.

Blue Monday by Nicci French for a psychologist navigating the no-man’s-land between dreams, memory,and reality.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes for a Booker Prize-winning take on how we narrate our own history, truthfully or otherwise.

This post was guest edited by Emily Hughes, founder of proofreadingbooks, a blog of book and booze pairings. You can find her on Twitter.

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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

For more unique takes on WWII, try these…

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut for another classic satirical exploration of the madness of war.

The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman for a madcap globetrotting WWII adventure that was long listed for the Man Booker Prize.

HHhH by Laurent Binet for a fictional retelling of the assassination of high ranking Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, an architect of the Holocaust.

Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes for a novel that has Hitler waking up alive in 2011, and gaining a cult following as a Hitler-impersonator.

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Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

For more tales about life, love, and New York, try these…

Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger for hauntingly accurate depiction of letting your job over-run your life in New York City.

Beastly by Alex Flinn for the tale of a young man punished for his vanity. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in contemporary New York.

The Heiresses by Sara Shepard for frightening look at the lives of young, socialite woman in New York, and the people trying to destroy them.

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay Mcinerney for an intense story of losing who you are to the party scene and the enthralling draw of Manhattan itself.

The post was guest edited by author Jill Knapp. Her latest novel, We’ve Always Got New York, is out Nov 20. You can find her on Twitter here.

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

For more moving and intelligent stories about modern life.

One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner for an emotional story about friendship, family and loss.

After You’d Gone by Maggie O'Farrell for a beautifully written, tightly plotted tearjerker.

The Peculiar Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender for a quirky and insightful story about how to love the people we know the best.

One Day by David Nicholls for an iconic novel about missed opportunities and living life to the fullest.

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