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Off the Shelf: The Best Nonfiction Books of 2016

By Sharon Saye on November 30, 2016 from Off the Shelf via Connect-Bridgeport.com

The Best Books of the Year lists continue to appear from media such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.  Last week I listed the fiction titles that made the lists; this week, I’ll mention nonfiction titles.
               
“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” by J. D. Vance appears on almost all of the best books’ lists.  Vance whose roots extend into coal country and then into rural Ohio tells his life story in a way that explains the reality of the white working class and how it perceives and is perceived by the rest of America.
               
“White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in America” by Nancy Isenberg, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by Matthew Desmond and “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right” by Jane Mayer all gained critical attention this year by looking at issues that affect society.
               
“When Breath Became Air” by Paul Kalanithi was another book that touched many people in this memoir of a young neurosurgeon as he faces terminal cancer.  “A Mother’s Reckoning” by Sue Klebold is the story of the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the murderers in the Columbine shooting.  “Lab Girl” by Hope Jahren takes readers into the scientific world as she tells about her struggles for recognition as a geobiologist constantly plagued by gender bias and harassment. 
               
“Avid Reader” by Robert Gottlieb looks behind the scenes of the publishing world by one of its most famous editors while Bruce Springsteen shows exactly why he was “Born to Run.”  “Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency” by James Andrew Miller takes you behind the scenes of the movie and entertainment business as he recounts the wheeling and dealing that went on at CAA. 
               
Other nonfiction titles to make the lists are: “”I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life” by Ed Yong, “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly, “The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer” by Kate Summerscale, “Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives” by Tim Harford, “All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation” by Rebecca Traister, “American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trials of Patty Hearst” by Jeffrey Toobin, “The Gene: An Intimate History” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, “In the Darkroom” by Susan Faludi, “Hitler: Ascent, 1889=1939” by Volker Ullrich, and “ A House by the Sea” by Bunny Williams and Shafer Gill.
               
The library has just undergone a major update of its automation system; users will see some changes, but library staff will see even more.  One of the changes involved deleting patrons who have not checked out a physical item since 2014.  The purpose of this was to give us a more accurate picture of exactly who is using the library and what sort of books are most in demand.  This may affect those who use our online services particularly the WVDELI; if you didn’t check out a physical item in the last two years you may find your account deleted.  Please come in and get your card updated so you may continue to use the WVDELI.  One of the reasons for the update was to be able to better keep track of usage of our extensive online holdings in our automation system.



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