General Nonfiction

I have been ready for this book since devouring The Empathy Exams, Jamison’s first collection of essays that blazed new vistas in the landscape of narrative nonfiction. Here Jamison explores what it means to be wanting, whether as a blue whale, in Second Life, or in our own everyday lives—how do we live with want, how does it haunt, how can it enrich? Make It Scream, Make It Burn does not disappoint; rather it does exactly as the title directs, each of its essays bridging disciplines in astute, thoughtful, urgent ways. A beautiful, mind-reeling pleasure to read. - Melinda

The most recent anthology of cutting-edge literature from long-time Granta editor John Freeman is all about the glorious (and troubled) place we call home. Matching the Golden State’s diversity of landscape and demographics, the collection offers new work from 30 authors, including William Vollmann (covering the Carr Fire), Rabih Alameddine (remembering San Francisco during the AIDS crisis), Tommy Orange (conjuring a potentially suicidal would-be bank robber), and Santa Cruz’s own Karen Tei Yamashita (sharing the correspondence of a Japanese American man visiting Hiroshima shortly after the bombing). In piece after piece, the writing is poignant, compelling, and thought provoking. - Rico

I’m so here for books written by women and queer folks that reveal the over-50, white, cis-het men behind the pop culture and politics curtain. We’ve existed in a world created by and for these men for too long, and West’s essays are a rallying cry to take up a sledgehammer and knock down those institutions. Don’t settle. Give this to your favorite feminist who needs a good laugh at everything awful that’s going on. - J Gallo

If you’ve read her novels, you know Ferrante has wonderfully unique insight, specifically into relationships between mothers and daughters and childhood friends. In this collection, Ferrante looks inward and explores her own experiences (first love, personal fears, having her novels adapted into TV shows) and perspectives on larger issues (climate change, feminism, nationality). With delightful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for all the Ferrante fans out there. - Emma

I first learned about Lydia Davis at one of my favorite bookstores, Dog-Eared Books in San Francisco, when I overheard the booksellers there waxing poetic about her. Reading Break It Down was a revelation, and I’ve been a fan ever since. In Essays One, the first in a two-volume set, Davis has gathered essays dating back to the 1970s, revealing her influences as a reader and an early writer/student and discussing process at length, most deliciously in her “Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits.” There’s a reason Davis is considered a “writer’s writer”—this book is an education you didn’t know you needed. - Chorel

Terry Tempest Williams’s latest work is powerful, poetic, and absolutely necessary—an offering for how to understand, survive, grieve, and challenge our current political and environmental crises, acting as both balm and tonic. Written with an open heart, a seeking mind, and unfathomable honesty, these essays range from conservation activism to life in the desert, from plumbing the depths of personal grief to public outrage. She speaks to the natural erosion of all things, and how in that loss, there is also strength and reformation, a way to hope. - Melinda

In signature literary fashion, Jonathan Safran Foer draws on the threads of history, science, and family history to illustrate the power in a single human choice to change the world—and the challenge to make it. His premise is simple: You can stop climate change’s devastation by not eating animal products before dinner. While light on practical suggestions, Foer does offer an intricate exploration of interconnectivity and agency and a passionate plea for our planet’s future. - Jocelyn

Before there was phone-a-friend or Google, librarians fielded questions, from the basic to the we’re-not-doing-your-homework-for-you. The New York Public Library discovered a cache of cards recording the questions asked of their librarians over decades of the 20th century and decided to share them in this book. With 21st-century resources and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, Peculiar Questions may not have the answers the original askers expected (or wanted), but the book is completely entertaining. As a catalog of the curiosity and needs of humanity, this is a perfect gift for any bibliophile or library lover. - Jocelyn

A witty and highly fascinating - sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, occasionally disturbing - gonzo-journalistic tour into the world of death-renouncing transhumanists, many of whom are bankrolled by the mysterious Silicon Valley billionaires and by the military-industrial complex. Loved it! - Ksenia