best of 2024: nonfiction

 A few notes before I begin:

- I read much less nonfiction than fiction, so this list only has five titles.

- My favorite is at the top, but the rest are random.

- Not all of these were or will be first published in 2024, but that's when I read them. Number 3 was an advanced reader copy (thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!) and won't come out until next year.

- Obviously the year isn't over yet, but if I read something between now and the end of the month that belongs here, I'll update accordingly.

- And, as always, your mileage may vary.

1. Keanu Reeves Is Not in Love with You by Becky Holmes:  A look inside the world of online romance scammers, who frequently pretend to be celebrities...hence the title.  (You wouldn't think people would fall for it, but a quick peek at the scams subreddit proves otherwise.)  It's often hysterically funny, because the author loves to mess with the scammers and provides screenshots of her conversations with them, but it's also deeply empathetic towards the victims.

2. Splinters by Leslie Jamison:  A searing memoir about the end of the author's marriage and raising her baby daughter mostly alone.  I don't ordinarily do this, but I highlighted numerous passages in my Kindle edition because they hit so hard.  (Not that I've ever been divorced or had a baby, but some of her expressions of loss just rang so true.)

3. Alive Day by Karie Fugett:  Months after the author eloped with her boyfriend Cleve, he was deployed to Iraq.  His vehicle was hit by an IED and he suffered severe injuries that led to the amputation of his leg.  This memoir details the struggles Cleve had with both the physical and mental trauma, the toll it took on his relationship with his wife, and Karie's desperate attempt to get him care.  It's a gritty and devastating look at how we both applaud and neglect our military veterans.

4. Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin:  When the author was eight years old, her mother Kathy was abducted in a mall parking lot, raped and murdered, and dumped in an oil field.  In this achingly sad and tender memoir, the author grapples with her immense grief and skillfully writes her mother back to life.

5. Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways by Brittany Means:  A memoir about the author's very fucked up (to put it mildly) childhood and how she learned to break the cycle of abuse and addiction.  Not an easy read---in fact, at times it's excruciating---but beautifully written.  Look up content warnings if you have any triggers, though, because pretty much all of them are in here.