Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo: A terrible, frightening, and tragic portrait of the Annawadi slum and its inhabitants that reads like fiction.
Defending Jacob by William Landay: A psychological study of a man defending his child accused of murder. Not quite the shocking ending critics led me to expect.
The Likeness by Tana French: One of the best character studies I’ve read. Even if we know whodunit 3/4 of the way through, we don’t know why until the end.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast by Cheryl Strayed: Much, much more riveting and (I feel) genuine than Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat Pray Love, though the comparisons are valid.
How It All Began by Penelope Lively: Meh. Maybe crises of marriage and family are overrated.
Jessica Teisch, PhD 