27 Top nonfiction books like What to Read and Why by Francine Prose

Cover of What to Read and Why by Francine Prose

What to Read and Why

By: Francine Prose

3.45

Format: 336 pages, ebook

In this brilliant collection, the follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer …

If you liked the nonfiction plot in What to Read and Why by Francine Prose , here is a list of 27 books like this:

Cover of The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1) by Shaun Bythell

1. The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1)

By: Shaun Bythell

3.72

Format: 310 pages, Paperback

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100… read more

Similar categories in Shaun Bythell's The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1) book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • books about books
  • audiobook
"the immersive capacity of a good novel to transport you into a different world is unique to the written word."

-Shaun Bythell, The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1)

"...people still cling to the notion that first editions are somehow imbued with a magical and financial value."

-Shaun Bythell, The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1)

"I am putting a mental jigsaw together of what a hobbit looks like, based on a composite of every customer I have ever sold a copy to."

-Shaun Bythell, The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1)

"A less than friendly email this morning... [from a booksop customer] After lunch I went to my parents' house to get my shotgun and shoot a kindle (broken screen, bought on eBay for £10)"

-Shaun Bythell, The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1)

Cover of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall

2. The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

By: Jonathan Gottschall

4.23

Format: 510 pages, Hardcover

Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. E… read more

Similar categories in Jonathan Gottschall's The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
Cover of The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II by David Smith, David A. Smith

3. The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II

By: David Smith , David A. Smith

4.38

Format: 613 pages,

When he was seventeen years old, Audie Murphy falsified his birth records so he could enlist in the… read more

Similar categories in David Smith's The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
Cover of The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization by Martin Puchner

4. The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization

By: Martin Puchner

4.36

Format: 184 pages,

In this groundbreaking book, Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and aroun… read more

Similar categories in Martin Puchner's The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
  • literary criticism
Cover of The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr

5. The Art of Memoir

By: Mary Karr

4.56

Format: 200 pages, Hardcover

Credited with sparking the current memoir explosion, Mary Karr's The Liars' Clubspent more than a y… read more

Similar categories in Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • audiobook
Cover of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

6. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

By: Nicholas Carr

3.28

Format: 437 pages, Paperback

"Is Google making us stupid?" When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Mont… read more

Similar categories in Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
Cover of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser

7. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

By: Eric Schlosser

4.20

Format: 406 pages, Paperback

A groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history that may change the way America thinks … read more

Similar categories in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

Cover of How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler, Charles van Doren

8. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

By: Mortimer J. Adler , Charles van Doren

3.98

Format: 426 pages, Paperback

How to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic. I… read more

Similar categories in Mortimer J. Adler's How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
"In short, we can only learn from our "betters"."

-Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

"A good rule always describes the ideal performance."

-Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

"The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used."

-Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

"True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline."

-Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

9. Memoria por correspondencia

By: Emma Reyes , Piedad Bonnett , None , None

4.60

Format: 431 pages, Paperback

Mediante veintitres cartas dirigidas a su amigo y confidente German Arciniegas, Emma Reyes asumio e… read more

Similar categories in Emma Reyes's Memoria por correspondencia book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

10. Winesburg, Ohio

By: Sherwood Anderson

2.96

Format: 7 pages, Paperback

Winesburg, Ohio (1919) is Sherwood Anderson's masterpiece, a cycle of short stories concerning life… read more

Similar categories in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

Cover of A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly Weinersmith

11. A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

By: Kelly Weinersmith

4.06

Format: 448 pages, ebook

Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no … read more

Similar categories in Kelly Weinersmith's A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"For now, if leaving Earth is humanity leaving the cradle, well, humanity is going straight to its neighbor's basement."

-Kelly Weinersmith, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

"The Moon isn't just sort of a gray Sahara without air. Its surface is made of jagged, electrically charged microscopic glass and stone, which clings to pressure suits and landing vehicles. Nor is Mar…"

-Kelly Weinersmith, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

Cover of Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

12. Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects

By: Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

4.22

Format: 272 pages, Kindle Edition

An enthusiastic, witty, and informative introduction to the world of insects and why we—and the pla… read more

Similar categories in Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson's Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"As far as we know, our planet is the only place in the universe where there is life. Many would say that we humans have a moral duty to rein in our dominance of the Earth and give our millions of fel…"

-Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects

Cover of Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount

13. Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

By: Jane Mount

4.33

Format: 224 pages, Hardcover

This volume brims with bookish treasures, all delightfully illustrated by avowed bibliophile, Jane … read more

Similar categories in Jane Mount's Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
"I know that any book, when read at the right moment, might make my life better, might give me a greater understanding of the universe and all the other people in it."

-Jane Mount, Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

"As Neil Gaiman said, a book is a "little empathy machine," and it is "very hard to hate people of a certain kind when you've just read a book of one of those people"."

-Jane Mount, Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

"[John McPhee] has taught writing at Princeton for decades. He tells his classes, "Taking things from one source is plagiarism; taking things from several sources is research."

-Jane Mount, Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

"The goal of this book is to triple the size of your To Be Read pile. It's a literary Wunderkammer, connecting you with books you might love for all kinds of reasons―because the subject speaks to you,…"

-Jane Mount, Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

Cover of Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

14. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

By: Judi Dench

4.56

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

Discover the work of the greatest writer in the English language as you've never encountered it bef… read more

Similar categories in Judi Dench's Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"There's magic to be mined in mistakes."

-Judi Dench, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

"[Judi Dench, referring to departed colleagues] Where are all those people? Can't believe it. How can it happen? They were so alive and -- so present, so vital. That's why we have to love the now, hav…"

-Judi Dench, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

Cover of Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It by Benjamin Bikman

15. Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It

By: Benjamin Bikman

4.12

Format: 280 pages, Kindle Edition

A scientist reveals the groundbreaking evidence linking many major diseases, including cancer, diab… read more

Similar categories in Benjamin Bikman's Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle

16. Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are

By: Rebecca Boyle

3.95

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

An intimate look at the Moon and its relationship to life on Earth--from the primordial soup to the… read more

Similar categories in Rebecca Boyle's Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

17. Why We Swim

By: Bonnie Tsui

3.96

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

An immersive, unforgettable, and eye-opening perspective on swimming—and on human behavior itself. … read more

Similar categories in Bonnie Tsui's Why We Swim book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim

18. Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong

By: Louisa Lim

4.10

Format: 320 pages, Paperback

The story of Hong Kong has long been obscured by competing myths: to Britain, a ‘barren rock’ with … read more

Similar categories in Louisa Lim's Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger

19. Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos

By: Lisa Kaltenegger

4.08

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

Riveting and timely, a look at the research that is transforming our understanding of the cosmos in… read more

Similar categories in Lisa Kaltenegger's Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley

20. Look Alive Out There

By: Sloane Crosley

3.77

Format: 256 pages, None

From the New York Times-bestselling author Sloane Crosley comes Look Alive Out There―a brand-new co… read more

Similar categories in Sloane Crosley's Look Alive Out There book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • essays
  • audiobook
"Everyone knows WebMD is a Choose Your Own Adventure book in which all roads lead to death."

-Sloane Crosley, Look Alive Out There

"There are few things sadder than an off-duty earlobe that’s been trained to accommodate a human fist"

-Sloane Crosley, Look Alive Out There

"I think by now we can all agree that the foundation of world travel goes something like "Bring a cardigan."

-Sloane Crosley, Look Alive Out There

"My roommate came running out of the closet and did not stop until he reached Los Angeles. I knew this day would come. Sometimes it's easier to be your actual self where nothing of your alleged self e…"

-Sloane Crosley, Look Alive Out There

Cover of Bibliophile: Diverse Spines by Jamise Harper

21. Bibliophile: Diverse Spines

By: Jamise Harper

4.41

Format: 144 pages, Hardcover

It's time to diversify your reading list. This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collectio… read more

Similar categories in Jamise Harper's Bibliophile: Diverse Spines book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • books about books
"In creating this miscellany, our goal is for you to find at least ten new-to-you and irresistible books by authors of backgrounds different from your own...that you'll read in the next year...The ide…"

-Jamise Harper, Bibliophile: Diverse Spines

Cover of Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale

22. Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying

By: Sallie Tisdale

4.15

Format: 256 pages, Hardcover

Former NEA fellow and Pushcart Prize-winning writer Sallie Tisdale explores all the heartbreaking, … read more

Similar categories in Sallie Tisdale's Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"We share a grand social agreement about mortality. We choose not to notice, if we can."

-Sallie Tisdale, Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying

"Our ideals about a so-called good death are constricting. Death is not something at which we succeed or fail, something to achieve. Life and death are not possessions."

-Sallie Tisdale, Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying

"…grief is not a disease to be cured. Grief is a wound, not unlike that from a knife or a bludgeon. The injury will heal in time leaving a scar but the tissue is never quite the same. One moves forwar…"

-Sallie Tisdale, Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying

Cover of Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott

23. Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives

By: Mary Laura Philpott

4.00

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

From the bestselling author of I Miss You When I Blink comes a poignant and powerful memoir that ta… read more

Similar categories in Mary Laura Philpott's Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • essays
  • audiobook
Cover of Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future by James Shapiro

24. Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future

By: James Shapiro

4.10

Format: 286 pages, Hardcover

From leading scholar James Shapiro, a timely exploration of what Shakespeare's plays reveal about o… read more

Similar categories in James Shapiro's Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • literary criticism
  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • books about books
  • audiobook
Cover of Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young

25. Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News

By: Kevin Young

3.17

Format: 560 pages, Hardcover

Has the hoax now moved from the sideshow to take the center stage of American culture? Kevin You… read more

Similar categories in Kevin Young's Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology by Paul Nurse

26. What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology

By: Paul Nurse

3.96

Format: 160 pages, Hardcover

The Nobel Prize–winning scientist’s elegant explanation of the fundamental ideas in biology and the… read more

Similar categories in Paul Nurse's What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of What to Read and Why by Francine Prose

27. What to Read and Why

By: Francine Prose

3.45

Format: 336 pages, ebook

In this brilliant collection, the follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer … read more

Similar categories in Francine Prose's What to Read and Why book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • unfinished
  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • criticism
  • essays
  • writing
  • books about books
  • literary criticism
Cover of Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times by Azar Nafisi

28. Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

By: Azar Nafisi

4.03

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

The New York Times bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran returns with a guide to the power… read more

Similar categories in Azar Nafisi's Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • essays
  • books about books
  • audiobook
"To be a victim is to abdicate responsibility, to in effect give up most of all on yourself."

-Azar Nafisi, Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

"Poetry was a way to combat the staid and formulaic language of politicians that opposed the flexible and dynamic language of poets and writers."

-Azar Nafisi, Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

"...it is not true that we all want the freedom of knowledge, because it comes at a high price. It comes with pain and loneliness; it demands commitment and responsibility."

-Azar Nafisi, Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

"In democratic societies, we do not normally resort to physical violence to muffle those with ideas, but we do use other forms of violence: prejudice, censorship, and slander."

-Azar Nafisi, Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times

Cover of The Wife of Bath: A Biography by Marion Turner

29. The Wife of Bath: A Biography

By: Marion Turner

3.94

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

From the award-winning biographer of Chaucer, the story of his most popular and scandalous characte… read more

Similar categories in Marion Turner's The Wife of Bath: A Biography book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • literary criticism
  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • criticism
  • audiobook
Cover of Around the World in 80 Books by David Damrosch

30. Around the World in 80 Books

By: David Damrosch

3.63

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works … read more

Similar categories in David Damrosch's Around the World in 80 Books book and Francine Prose's What to Read and Why

  • literature
  • nonfiction
  • writing
  • essays
  • books about books
  • literary criticism

19 must-read audiobook books like What to Read and Why by Francine Prose

Transform Your Habits

The Diary of a Bookseller (Diary of a Bookseller, #1)

Shaun Bythell

3.72

Transform Your Habits

The Art of Memoir

Mary Karr

4.56

Transform Your Habits

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

Kelly Weinersmith

4.06

Transform Your Habits

Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects

Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

4.22

View all the books

10 Top adult books like Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley

The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty

Amanda Filipacchi

4.39

Transform Your Habits

All Fours

Miranda July

3.81

Transform Your Habits

Sociopath: A Memoir

Patric Gagne

3.84

Transform Your Habits

Quietly Hostile: Essays

Samantha Irby

3.70

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