Great True Stories

Recommended non-fiction reading lists are always changing with time. Most everyone - at least in their minds if not on paper - has a list of books they've liked. What makes a book compelling to readers? Whether it's the story, the real-life people, events or just a paragraph that perfectly described a moment, the fact of the matter is that something struck a chord. Here, in no particular order, is a narrative non-fiction list to consider that will do just that and maybe even more after being absorbed in some incredible reads.

• "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote - The incredible inside story of a murder investigation into the deaths of a Kansas family in the 1950s
• "Katherine Graham - Personal History" by Katherine Graham - The autobiography of the woman who was at the helm of The Washington Post during the Watergate scandal, at a time when very few of the country's newspapers had women editors
• "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand - A story about one of the famous race horses in its time that's so good there are moments you are taken inside Seabiscuit's brain
• "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien - A literary masterpiece about the author's experience in the Vietnam War and - about the things he carried
• "Animal ER" by Tufts University's School of Veterinary Medicine - A series of incredible ER stories about saving the lives of usual and unusual animals
• "Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village" by Sarah Erdman - A story of a Peace Corps volunteer's journey to combat AIDS in a small village in the Ivory Coast
• "Firehouse" by David Halberstam - One NYFD ladder company's story before, during and after Sept. 11
• "Expecting Adam" by Martha Beck - A Harvard graduate's story of her pregnancy with her son, diagnosed with Downs syndrome
• "The Poet and the Murderer" by Simon Worrall - The story of how a man plagerized an Emily Dickinson poem, costing a literary organization in the famous poet's name a lot of money
• "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath- Author's autobiography
• "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt - Author's autobiography on his childhood
• "Hometown Killer" by Carol J. Rothgeb - A story about the murder investigation into the rapes and deaths of a two young girls and a young woman in Springfield, Ohio in the early 1990s
• "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt - A murder story that put Savannah, Georgia on the map (again)

Shuva Rahim - Shuva is a children's portrait and wedding photographer who started her career as a newspaper journalist. She wrote about of issues ...

• Resources for Writers
• Writer's Markets
• Literary Agents
• Writer Networks
• Ghostwriters
• More