NONFICTION
“Isaac’s Storm” Erik Larson 1999
Most of these nonfiction titles are better described by their subtitles than my descriptions. This one: “A man, a time and the deadliest hurricane in history.” Larson paces this story of the destruction of Galveston like a thriller.
“The Liar’s Club” Mary Karr 1995
Karr’s tale of a childhood in East Texas spills authenticity in its details of big talkers, big drinkers and flawed folks trying to get by.
“Coronado’s Children” J. Frank Dobie 1930
Subtitle: “Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest.” The tales would have faded but for Dobie’s inimitable storytelling voice.
“Friday Night Lights” H.G. Bissinger 1990
Subtitle: “A town, a team and a dream.” You know the story. Football and dreams of getting out of town, which are renewed and dashed with each generation.
“Thursday Night Lights” Michael Hurd 2017
Subtitle: “The story of black high school football in Texas.” A deepdive account of a story not told.
“God Save Texas” Lawrence Wright 2018
Subtitle: “A journey into the soul of the Lone Star State.” Wright tells stories and recounts histories that suggest a state that has always been purple.
“Movies: And Other Things” Shea Serrano 2019
Serrano’s “Rap Year Book” had great content on Houston’s Geto Boys, but his musings on movies reveal sweet moments about growing up in San Antonio.
“Borderlands/La Frontera” Gloria Anzaldúa 1987
I was a latecomer to this book, so I can’t imagine how bracing it must have been upon release decades ago. It sits here in nonfiction, but honestly, it’s a genre of its own with a mix of Spanish and English, a mix of autobiographical prose and poetry, all stirred together to tell a story of self that resonates outside one body. Pulitzer Prize organization
“The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston” Marquis James 1975
This is the sort of bio that could be dense and impenetrable. Instead it’s an ode to a true Texas theme: the art of reinvention.
2017
“Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” Jenny Lawson 2012
I slightly prefer Lawson’s next book about depression, “Furiously Happy.” But this one gets into the granular detail of growing up in a small town.
“The Midnight Assassin” Skip Hollandsworth 2016
Subtitle: “Panic, scandal and the hunt for America’s first serial killer.” Nobody does weird Texas crime like Hollandsworth, who tells an incredible story from Austin in the 1800s.
“Goodbye to a River” John Graves 1960
Subtitle: “A narrative.” OK, that subtitle doesn’t quite explain Graves’ account of a canoe trip on the Brazos River filled with observation, memory and history. This is an astounding piece of writing.
“Empire of the Summer Moon” S.C. Gwynne 2011
Subtitle: “Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history.” I can’t add much to that subtitle, other than to say this book condenses a ton of history with brilliant efficiency.
“The Last Sheriff in Texas” James P. McCollom
Subtitle: “A true tale of violence and the vote.” The story of Beeville and trigger-happy Sheriff Vail Ennis was a narrative hanging curveball that touches on immigration, changing demogrpahics, antiquated police practices and other cultural debates. McCollom smacked it out of the park.
“The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power” Robert Caro 1982
Once I had two major reading goals: The entirety of Shelby Foote’s “The Civil War” and the entirety of Caro’s LBJ series. I completed one. I stalled after one volume of the other. But I will say Caro’s “The Path to Power” displays remarkable research that is as much about Texas as it is about Johnson.