15 Non-Fiction Beach Reads

Usually, beach read recommendations are light and fluffy fiction – fun romances and up lit. Not every beach day calls for book candy, though. Sometimes, you want something with just a little more meat to it, something compelling (though not necessarily challenging) to spend hours with in the sun. Here are fifteen non-fiction beach reads to pack in your bag this summer.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

The market for White House memoirs is well and truly saturated, but the only one that’s truly right to read on the beach is Becoming – Michelle Obama’s account of her life up to and including her time as the first black First Lady of the United States. Even though she, herself, wasn’t in a position to be drafting policy or implementing legislation, she still had a certain sway – especially with the public – and she used it to become the change she wanted to see in the way that America works. She also offers some really powerful and touching insights about her own missteps and mistakes while her husband was in office, too: from her naivete to outright ignorance of what her role should be and what it required of her. Read my full review of Becoming here.

Calypso by David Sedaris

The blurb of Calypso describes it as “beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumour joke”. Oh, and it reveals that David Sedaris named his holiday house the Sea Section. In this collection of essays, he focuses on middle-age and the changing shape of his family (as he approaches the age his mother was when she passed away, and deals with the loss of his sister). Many of the stories take place at the aforementioned Sea Section, with his remaining family members gathering at the North Carolina beach house for holidays and getaways. It presents the perfect location and excuse for the hilarious Sedaris clan to gather, and spend time with their patriarch, now in his 90s. Read my full review of Calypso here.

Educated by Tara Westover

When it comes to writing memoirs, you’ve either got to have talent for storytelling or a life so fascinating that talent (or lack thereof) doesn’t matter. Luckily, Tara Westover has both. Even in the hands of a real bore, Educated – a memoir about shame, understanding, and the transformative power of education – would be an interesting read. In Westover’s voice, it’s downright enthralling, and it’s the perfect non-fiction book to read on the beach. Read my full review of Educated here.

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

Everything I Know About Love is Dolly Alderton’s memoir, a collection of essays that tells a tale as old as time: a twenty-something has a lot of fun, has a few tough experiences, and grows up. Alderton covers almost every facet of a young life: work, sex, partying, loss, therapy, friendship, and (of course) love – but not (just) the romantic kind. It sounds like a lighthearted romp of a read, perfect for the beach, but it also has some hidden depths. Read my full review of Everything I Know About Love here.

Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing begins with a (very) brief introduction by Matthew Perry’s Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow, then dives straight into one of his (very) near-misses with death. From the beginning, it’s very clear that this is a memoir of addiction, not Hollywood stardom. Perry takes a warts-and-all approach: from penthouses and magazine covers and million dollar paychecks to impotence and colostomy bags and stealing pills from strangers’ medicine cabinets, he lays it all out. Read my full review of Friends, Lovers And The Big Terrible Thing here.

My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams

The best non-fiction books to read on the beach are the true stories that are stranger than fiction. My Friend Anna definitely delivers on that front, “the true story of Anna Delvey, the fake heiress of New York City”. It’s a memoir by Rachel DeLoache Williams, an American writer and photographer who was (as the title suggests) friends with the woman who became a world-famous con artist. Read my full review of My Friend Anna here.

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Quietly Hostile is a great sample plate of everything that makes Samantha Irby’s work wonderful fun to read, the perfect non-fiction book to take to the beach. Irby is all about diffusing the shame of what you like and who you are in the dark when you think no one can see you. In the very first essay, she advises readers to respond to derision with a simple “I like it!”. Not only does it help you affirm your sense of self, it silences (and usually embarrasses) the person who’s trying to shame you for your tastes – each equally important, of course. Read my full review of Quietly Hostile here.

Year Of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

Year Of Yes is an uplifting non-fiction book for your beach bag, all about the transformative power of being open to new things and overcoming ingrained anxiety, as exemplified by one extraordinary woman. When Shonda Rhimes starts saying “yes”, she finds that her fear won’t actually kill her. Most of the time, facing the fear she feels really pays off. She does interviews, speeches, cameo appearances, all kinds of awesome stuff that brings her a lot of joy – all of which she would have said “no” to, had her sister not made a crack at her at a family get-together. The more she says yes, and follows through, the easier (and better) it gets. Read my full review of Year Of Yes here.

We’re Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union

Gabrielle Union is an actress, activist, and “one half of a power couple” and in this book she offers us stories that are funny, complicated, and true. We’re Going To Need More Wine follows a loose chronology of Union’s life, but subjects range from colorism to heartbreak to parties at Prince’s house, covering “the good, the bad, and the WTF” of growing up a black woman. It feels like a boozy conversation with a friend, one that runs the full gamut and has you cracking open another bottle just to keep it going. That doesn’t mean that it’s fluffy or insubstantial, though. Read my full review of We’re Going To Need More Wine here.

Character Limit by Kate Conger & Ryan Mac

If you can stop doomscrolling Twitter for five minutes, you should pull a copy of Character Limit out of your beach bag and dive in. In it, journalists Kate Conger and Ryan Mac tell the story of how Elon Musk “gambled his reputation and billions of dollars on the haphazard acquisition of his favourite toy”. The book’s timeline covers all of the key points in Twitter’s history, up until the time of publication, from the platform’s inception, to #GamerGate, to QAnon, to Donald Trump’s suspension and (with Musk now at the helm) reinstatement – and it’s every bit as gripping as the most masterfully written high-stakes political thriller. Read my full review of Character Limit here.

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

To call The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks a ‘biography’ feels reductive. This 2010 masterpiece of journalistic non-fiction, by first-time American writer Rebecca Skloot, is much more than the dates and facts of a life. It’s a study of bioethics, a masterclass in accessible science writing, and a testament to the human consequences of scientific discovery. And it’s compelling as heck, to boot! The perfect non-fiction book to read on the beach, in other words. Read my full review of The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks here.

A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

A Short History Of Nearly Everything does exactly what it says on the label. It serves as a crash-course introduction to most areas of scientific inquiry, covering off everything from the Big Bang to evolution to quantum mechanics. It sounds like it should be a snooze-fest, I know, but it’s written in a folksy, conversational style that will keep your interest even with all the distractions of a beautiful beach day around you. Proof in the pudding: it was one of the best-selling pop-science books of 2005. Read my full review of A Short History of Nearly Everything here.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara

The back-cover summary for I’ll Be Gone In The Dark promises “a masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer – the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorised California for over a decade – from Michelle McNamara, a gifted journalist who died tragically while still writing and researching her debut book”. It also features glowing endorsements from Stephen King and Gillian Flynn, once again lending credence to the idea that the best non-fiction beach reads can be stranger (and better) than fiction. Read my full review of I’ll Be Gone In The Dark here.

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

London Falling begins in 2019, with 19-year-old Zac Brettler jumping to his death from the balcony of a luxury London apartment. It seems like a simple – if sad – story, but in Patrick Radden Keefe’s telling, it is an epic tale of power, greed, and family. It’s masterfully written, and perfectly paced despite its massive scope and complex web of connections. Through Zac’s story, Patrick Radden Keefe examines the seismic shifts that shape our lives (from Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies, to ethnic cleansing in Uganda, to COVID-19, to the Holocaust), and yet he never abandons the small details that make a story tangible. Read my full review of London Falling here.

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

The Stranger Beside Me is a unique non-fiction beach read in that it is both biographical and autobiographical, existing in the weird gray area between journalism and memoir. See, Ann Rule wasn’t just any crime writer who picked up the Ted Bundy story: she was his friend, before his crimes came to light. She met Bundy in 1971, when he was a psychology student at the University of Washington, and they volunteered together manning the phones of a suicide crisis line. Read my full review of The Stranger Beside Me here.