As a reader who needs to be ‘in the mood’ for a book before I can read it, I struggle to assign myself a reading list which I will actually stick to. I tend to pick up whatever book matches the particular flavour of adventure, nostalgia, or heartache I’m craving, and spend days consuming it – only to get close to the end and find myself running out of motivation to continue. Although, upon reflection, perhaps it’s not motivation I lack; maybe I just dislike endings.
Internal conflict aside, there is one genre I am constantly in the mood for: creative nonfiction. With that in mind, I’ve decided that the best way to rid myself of commitment issues is to curate a summer reading list full of books I know I’ll want to finish, especially those where reaching the end will feel so much more gratifying than not getting there at all. So, without further ado, here are the creative nonfiction books I intend to finish this summer.
Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange by Katie Goh (Canongate 2025)
Here is the first victim of my ‘please don’t let it end’ habit; but the scent of citrus rises from its pages, and I find myself endlessly drawn to it. Katie Goh traces the history of the orange throughout the ages, tackling colonisation in all its forms: cultural, geological and linguistic, among many. In doing so, they unpeel not just history, but their own heritage.
This is a magnificently intimate memoir that wraps itself around the reader. It’s a testament to Goh’s craftsmanship; if you have ever wondered how to write research in tandem with experience, then you need look no further than this piece for an excellent example.
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf 2025)
The heartsickness within these pages lingers long beyond the end of this book. It confronts the narratives and lies of the West, picking apart exploitation and violence, and shattering the illusion that privilege strives to keep. El Akkad’s narrative is piercing, precise, honest, and unafraid. It is a work of nonfiction that I recommend to everyone, in the hope that fewer people wait too long to be against this.
Writers are tasked with answering the hardest questions in life, and El Akkad’s memoir teaches us how to be unflinching when we give our answers. He shows how questions about humanity should be courageously dissected; we must use our own experiences of life and trust what we’ve seen with our own eyes, and draw on that to engage with the world with unflinching moral courage.
Still Life with Bones by Alexa Hagerty (Wildfire 2023)
Alexa Hagerty recounts her time as an anthropologist working with a forensic team to identify the disappeared victims of violence in Latin America, through writing that is arresting and unflinching. I’m curious to see how Hagerty weaves the scientific and undeniably gruesome act of exhumation with the humanity of helping families identify their loved ones. The book has a sense of humanity emanating from it, and I imagine I will find it etched into every page.
One of the biggest challenges that creative nonfiction writers face is how to draw art out of a subject that is usually reserved for academics; it is an excellent example of how delicate prose, a strong voice, and compassion can be used to tell a historical and scientific story that makes readers feel the emotions in every page.
Summer, like New Years, is often a time for reinvention and reflection, but not all self-help comes in the form of step-by-step guides to positivity and inner peace. Sometimes, the best self-help book is one that challenges you to your very core. That’s why creative nonfiction is the one genre that I reach the end of far more often than the others: I find myself unable to rest until I have turned over every stone the author sets in front of me. The entire world exists within books; you only need to be brave enough to find them.
Tatianna Victoria, Co-Editor-in-Chief
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