The Devil is in the Details

Being a non-fiction fan is to be reminded regularly of the adage, "truth is stranger than fiction." Some of the best non-fiction writing is to be found in the pages of our dwindling supply of magazines. Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, the New Yorker and others supply much of the best "true stories" out there.
To that end, David Grann, he of THE LOST CITY OF Z, has delivered a delectable collection of "Tales of murder, madness and obsession," entitled THE DEVIL AND SHERLOCK HOLMES.
I have said this before, but you know it's a good book when you put other books aside to finish it and that is the way it was with DEVIL.
Spanning the genre from the prison politics of white supremacists to the final baseball days of Rickey Henderson to the last heist of an elderly bank robber, this collection would make a great gift for the non-fiction fan in your life.
To be honest, I could spend the rest of my life reading this kind of book. And, you know what? I think I will.

http://www.davidgrann.com

http://www.doubleday.com

http://www.randomhouse.com

Honest Porno

I recently finished Kevin Sampsell's A COMMON PORNOGRAPHY and I have to say it is one of the most honest memoirs I have ever read. Sampsell writes with candor about his evolution from little boy to man.
The best way I have to describe this book is that it is like having a stranger sit down at your table and proceed to tell you dozens of little stories of things that have happened to him. Now, if just anyone did that it would likely become very old and boring very fast. But Sampsell writes with a flair for detail and with seemingly nothing held back. This is doubtlessly one of the most honest and confessional memoirs I have read.
Sampsell is a musician, publisher and bookseller -- a full life for anyone. This book is told, not in narrative style, but in a series of honest and hilarious vignettes.
This book is neither common nor pornographic but is definitely a book to read if you like memoirs.
I enjoyed having Kevin at my table.

http://www.kevinsampsell.com

http://www.harperperennial.com