Here are 100 books that The Fact of a Body fans have personally recommended if you like
The Fact of a Body.
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I am a published author, memoir-writing instructor, and retired clinical psychologist. I wrote an initial memoir as a chronological account of my dysfunctional marriages and recovery from them, but lately, I have become very interested in what is termed âhybrid memoirs.â Hybrid memoirs combine personal memoirs with major incidents and research into issues similar to those in the memoir or the culture and laws surrounding them. Since my new book combines my memoir with an account of a crime that affected all the citizens in the country village where I grew up, I have gravitated to memoirs featuring crime as part of the story.
I loved how this book is a memoir and research into trauma that affects people their whole lives. Through conversations and interviews, Rosner tells the story of the holocaust and its psychological effect on those who survived and those whose relatives perpetrated or witnessed the horrors.
I like that she looks into PTSD that many suffer from and how she states that horrors or abuse have to be acknowledged to be healed.Â
As featured on NPR and in The New York Times, Survivor Cafe is a bold work of nonfiction that examines the ways that survivors, witnesses, and post-war generations talk about and shape traumatic experiences.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runâŠ
When asked to describe the nonfiction genre I work in, I often say âtrue crime-adjacent,â meaning that while there is crime in my books, Iâm more interested in the people, circumstances, and culture in which those crimes occur than the act itself. I love books that go deep into character analysis and motivation, as well as the authorâs inclination toward the subject. These true crime-adjacent books are all-absorbing, thought-provoking page-turners, with stories so wild you wonât believe theyâre completely real.
Women are the top consumers of true crime. But why, when the stories so often feature women as victims of violence? New Yorkerjournalist Rachel Monroe profiles four different women in the roles of Detective, Victim, Defender, and Killer to see what itâs all about. The reporting and context in this book are staggering, and Monroeâs writing is both critical and empathic.Â
A ânecessary and brilliantâ (NPR) exploration of our cultural fascination with true crime told through four âenthrallingâ (The New York Times Book Review) narratives of obsession.
In Savage Appetites,Rachel Monroe links four criminal rolesâDetective, Victim, Defender, and Killerâto four true stories about women driven by obsession. From a frustrated and brilliant heiress crafting crime-scene dollhouses to a young woman who became part of a Manson victimâs family, from a landscape architect in love with a convicted murderer to a Columbine fangirl who planned her own mass shooting, these women are alternately mesmerizing, horrifying, and sympathetic. A revealing study of womenâsâŠ
As a former Prison Governor who has had to work with a number of murderers and serial murderers â and who now writes about them as Emeritus Professor of Criminology â my professional life has inevitably been dominated by violent men. As they might say in the United States, I have âwalked the walkâ before doing my talking and I try and bring this applied dimension into my written and more academic work.
First published in 1990 â based on a series of articles originally written for The New Yorker, this book is a warning to true crime authors the world over about the morality of reaching out and writing with and about murderers.Â
The journalist in question is Joe McGinniss and the murderer is the former Special Forces Captain Dr Jeffrey MacDonald who became the subject of McGinnissâs 1983 book Fatal Vision. Is it ethical to collaborate with someone who has been accused of murder? What are the pitfalls that need to be managed? And, at the end of the day, who is conning who â the journalist or the murderer?
'Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible'
In equal measure famous and infamous, Janet Malcolm's book charts the true story of a lawsuit between Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, and Joe McGinniss, the author of a book about the crime. Lauded as one of the Modern Libraries "100 Best Works of Nonfiction", The Journalist and the Murderer is fascinating and controversial, a contemporary classic of reportage.
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadâŠ
When asked to describe the nonfiction genre I work in, I often say âtrue crime-adjacent,â meaning that while there is crime in my books, Iâm more interested in the people, circumstances, and culture in which those crimes occur than the act itself. I love books that go deep into character analysis and motivation, as well as the authorâs inclination toward the subject. These true crime-adjacent books are all-absorbing, thought-provoking page-turners, with stories so wild you wonât believe theyâre completely real.
You might be wondering why a book about yoga is on this list, and I tell you itâs because crime is everywhere! Lorr does incredible immersive journalism and for this book he embedded with Bikram yoga teachers and ended up breaking the story of Bikram Choudhuryâs sexual misconduct. The book deconstructs the culture of cult-like thinking to reveal how crimes are perpetrated, excused, and covered up, and youâll learn a lot about yoga in the process. Lorr is also hilarious but in a more maximalist gonzo manner.Â
Author Benjamin Lorr wandered into a yoga studioâand fell down a rabbit hole
Hell-Bent explores a fascinating, often surreal world at the extremes of American yoga. Benjamin Lorr walked into his first yoga studio on a whim, overweight and curious, and quickly found the yoga reinventing his life. He was studying Bikram Yoga (or "hot yoga") when a run-in with a master and competitive yoga champion led him into an obsessive subcultureâa group of yogis for whom eight hours of practice a day in 110- degree heat was just the beginning.
So begins a journey. Populated by athletic prodigies, wide-eyedâŠ
When asked to describe the nonfiction genre I work in, I often say âtrue crime-adjacent,â meaning that while there is crime in my books, Iâm more interested in the people, circumstances, and culture in which those crimes occur than the act itself. I love books that go deep into character analysis and motivation, as well as the authorâs inclination toward the subject. These true crime-adjacent books are all-absorbing, thought-provoking page-turners, with stories so wild you wonât believe theyâre completely real.
I always describe this as âthe book I wish Iâd written,â and was completely formative in defining the kind of nonfiction writing I do. Ronson hangs out with conspiracy-minded groups who on the outset would likely hate each other (neo-Nazis and Jihadists, for example) but all believe the same thing: a cabal of powerful people run the world. It shows that Qanon and its ilk are nothing new, and somehow Ronson walks the line of being with repugnant people yet also reveling in their inherent ridiculousness.Â
A wide variety of extremist groups -- Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis -- share the oddly similar belief that a tiny shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, journalist Jon Ronson has joined the extremists to track down the fabled secret room.
As a journalist and a Jew, Ronson was often considered one of "Them" but he had no idea if their meetings actually took place. Was he just not invited? Them takes us across three continents and into the secret room. Along the way he meets Omar Bakri Mohammed, considered one of the most dangerous men inâŠ
I am a published author, memoir-writing instructor, and retired clinical psychologist. I wrote an initial memoir as a chronological account of my dysfunctional marriages and recovery from them, but lately, I have become very interested in what is termed âhybrid memoirs.â Hybrid memoirs combine personal memoirs with major incidents and research into issues similar to those in the memoir or the culture and laws surrounding them. Since my new book combines my memoir with an account of a crime that affected all the citizens in the country village where I grew up, I have gravitated to memoirs featuring crime as part of the story.
I was immediately drawn into the story and admired how the author wrote three parts skillfully and had the tenacity to drive many miles to find the people who took part in the original story to portray what happened. Â
I found this to be a powerful book in many ways. It combines the story of the 1959 murder of a family in small-town Alberta, the possible miscarriage of justice, the authorâs search for the truth about the case, and a fictional account of a family in which things turned out differently. Â
In 1959 Ray and Daisy Cook and their five children were brutally slain in their modest home in the central Alberta town of Stettler. Robert Raymond Cook, Ray CookÂs son from his first marriage, was convicted of the crime, and had the infamy of becoming the last man hanged in Alberta. Forty-six years later, a troublesome character named Louise in a story that Betty Jane Hegerat finds herself inexplicably reluctant to write, becomes entangled in the childhood memory of hearing about that gruesome mass murder. Through four years of obsessively tracking the demise of the Cook family, and dancing aroundâŠ
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheâŠ
I am a published author, memoir-writing instructor, and retired clinical psychologist. I wrote an initial memoir as a chronological account of my dysfunctional marriages and recovery from them, but lately, I have become very interested in what is termed âhybrid memoirs.â Hybrid memoirs combine personal memoirs with major incidents and research into issues similar to those in the memoir or the culture and laws surrounding them. Since my new book combines my memoir with an account of a crime that affected all the citizens in the country village where I grew up, I have gravitated to memoirs featuring crime as part of the story.
This is both a memoir and the story of a crime. I was interested in this book because the crime happened in the town where I went to university. A crime so close to home seems more frightening, more real.
The author writes a sincere, honest story about how you can be fooled by the person you most want to trustâyour husband. I found this book hard to put down.Â
A remarkably compelling and harrowing story of love and betrayal and one womanâs pursuit of justice, redemption, and healing.
âOne month into our marriage, my husband committed horrific violent crimes. In that instant, the life I knew was destroyed. I vowed that one day I would be whole again. This is my story.â
An impassioned, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful story of one womanâs pursuit of justice, forgiveness, and healing.
When Shannon Moroney got married in October 2005, she had no idea that her happy life as a newlywed was about to come crashing down around her. One month after herâŠ
I am a published author, memoir-writing instructor, and retired clinical psychologist. I wrote an initial memoir as a chronological account of my dysfunctional marriages and recovery from them, but lately, I have become very interested in what is termed âhybrid memoirs.â Hybrid memoirs combine personal memoirs with major incidents and research into issues similar to those in the memoir or the culture and laws surrounding them. Since my new book combines my memoir with an account of a crime that affected all the citizens in the country village where I grew up, I have gravitated to memoirs featuring crime as part of the story.
I am acquainted with Janet and was eager to read her book. This tale of her marriage and the huge trip she and her husband made from South Africa to Cairo is extraordinary, even as a travel book, but the story of her marriage as they made their journey is equally compelling.
They faced many challenges, but then they faced an ultimate challenge on the journey (I wonât give it away!)Â Â
Despite having everything she could ask for, Janet Wilson couldn't shake a sense of emptiness in her life-or her desire to return to the continent of her birth. After much back-and-forth, she and her husband reached an agreement: they would embark on a daring adventure, driving 25,000 miles across Africa. What they couldn't anticipate then was how this trip would challenge almost every belief, opinion, and value they held.
Over the course of their journey, Janet and her husband collided with the world and each other. There were tears and laughter. They shared thrilling highlights and challenges that forced themâŠ
As a child I would invent stories to entertain my cousins but at school I developed a passion for thrillers, devouring every Agatha Christie novel I could get my hands on and delighted in discovering new authors to satisfy my appetite. However, after my encounter with a man on a train, who went on to become a serial killer and after suffering a few other attacks, I crafted a novel using my experiences and melded fact with fiction to create my first psychological thriller, Killing Me Softly. It was extremely cathartic and now is a series of six, with another on the way. Iâve written eighteen books and even my historical novels are thrillers.
I love James Patterson books, particularly his Alex Cross series, and I confess I have gorged on them this summer. I appreciate the remarkably short chapters, making it easy to pick up and put down if interrupted. This one is particularly interesting as we learn more about the family and their relationship dynamics. The fact his relative is accused of murder in what appears to be a slam dunk case, Cross is not satisfied. After a plea from his lawyer niece, Cross goes to investigate. Going back to his roots in his hometown dredges up good and bad memories for him and Nana-Mama. Readers who like suspense and a complicated mystery will enjoy this story. Investigations are fraught with danger for the whole family and Cross is a man who protects his family. This is not a typical whodunnit. The case is solved but not in the way one mightâŠ
For Alex Cross, the toughest cases hit close to home-and in this deadly thrill ride, he's trying to solve the most personal mystery of his life. When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades. As he tries to prove his cousin's innocence in a town where everyone seems to be on the take, Cross unearths a family secret that forces him to question everything he's ever known. Chasing a ghost he believed was long dead, Cross gets pulled into a case that hasâŠ
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the worldâs most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the bookâŠ
As a suspense and thriller author in my own right since 2015, I have also read very many books that are much like the ones that I write. I am most comfortable here and I, too, like to write books with these crazy, think-outside-the-box types of twists when it comes to plotting. Honing my craft, as I am in the middle of five different book projects right now for future release, I am hoping to make a name for myself and become as memorable to my readers as my favorite authors are to me.
This is one of my new favorite authors, of who I have read many more of her books recently. I like books like this that contain twists and turns and endings that you donât see coming. Most of her books are in the domestic thriller or psychological suspense thriller categories. These are the type of books that I read(and write) most.
When Bridget spots an elegantly dressed woman leaving her husbandâs office late one night, she fears the worst. Her marriage is already strained but things are about to take an even more shocking turn when her family is suddenly torn apart by a horrific crime they all become entangled in.
Her trust is shattered, her husband is on the run, and her son is hiding a dark secret. Bridgetâs life has become a dangerous lie and the clock is ticking as the police close in on a killer.
But who can she trustâŠ
