My top 36 nonfiction reads to put on your audiobook list
after 300+ books read, here are the memoirs and more you should listen to!
Hi friends,
Happy World Cup finals day! It’s been such a joy to see how this tournament has brought people around the world together. Combined with the Knicks fever that started us off this summer, it’s been a big couple of months for the bandwagon sports girlies like me!
Sports aside, life’s been busier than I’d like lately. So busy that I just got around to sharing some exciting professional news on Instagram that I’ve been meaning to post for six months. And it’s exactly that stress on time and always wanting to maximize it that’s fueling today’s letter. I’m always on the go, and when I’m not listening to music or a podcast, I’ve got an audiobook in my ear. For years I've preferred to listen to memoirs and essays (especially when narrated by the author, which most memoirs are) and save reading time, book/Kindle in hand, for fiction.
A couple of days ago, when a friend asked me for a few audiobook recommendations, I realized I was overdue to make a resource on the topic! Consider this your complete rundown on my audiobook recommendations. As background on my taste, with nonfiction, I’m most compelled by voice. I love memoirs and essays that feel intimate, self-aware, vulnerable, and culturally attuned—books that explore identity, creativity, power, pleasure, food, work, media, and modern relationships through a personal lens. I particularly gravitate towards memoirs set in New York.
After over 300 books read (many of them being nonfiction), I’m breaking down my 36 books on this list into the six categories: for the foodie, for the media-obsessed, for the culture vulture, for the politico, for the messy and honest, and for a creative spark. And, as ever, the full list will exclusively be available to my paid subscribers. Additionally, paid subscribers will get my resources on how to listen to audiobooks for free through your local library and how to support your local indie bookstore through your audiobook purchases when the library doesn’t have what you’re looking for.
All subscribers: recommendations for the foodie and media-obsessed
Paid subscriber exclusive: recommendations for the culture vulture, politico, messy and honest, and for a creative spark, plus resources to maximize your audiobook listening while supporting local libraries and indies
But first things first. There’s long been a debate about whether audiobooks “count” as reading. I’ve never thought they didn’t, but apparently the debate ensues. Brian Bannon, the chief librarian at the New York Public Library, argues that the answer is a resounding yes. The New York Times recently reported that the NYPL's circulation of audiobooks greatly increased in the past five years, while circulation of print and e-books stayed flat. And audiobook sales topped $2 billion in the United States last year. "So maybe, even as the traditional way of reading books is in decline, the destigmatizing of audiobooks offers a path toward a more nuanced way of thinking about literacy," Brian argues. Read his full essay here through this gifted link.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten (2024) | Ina Garten’s memoir traces her unlikely path from a government budget analyst to the Barefoot Contessa— and it’s every bit as steady, warm, and unpretentious as her voice on the show. The chapters on her marriage to Jeffrey and the leap of faith she took to buy a specialty food store and a place in Paris will fill you with just the right amount of gumption.
Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever (2025) | I listened to this book last summer and am still thinking back fondly on it. Woolever’s sharp writing paints a moving portrait of food, grief, marriage, cheating, and life after loss. Her work with both Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain as a longtime collaborator puts equal parts candor and heart into this story.
I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally (2025) | Another epic memoir from the hospitality world, this unapologetic, darkly funny tell-all comes from the legendary restaurateur behind Balthazar and chronicles the chaos of New York dining and a life lived loudly. For anyone who appreciates the NY dining scene, I think this is a must-read. The impact his stroke had on his business, marriage, and writing life is particularly poignant.
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl (2019) | Reichl’s account of taking over as Gourmet’s editor-in-chief—right up until the magazine folded beneath her—is behind-the-scenes magic. This is equal parts kitchen memoir and eulogy for a golden era of food media, with all the ambition and self-doubt that came with the job.
Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (2019) | Tucci’s love letter to food, family, and Italy is warm in a way that feels like sitting at his dinner table. Between the childhood memories and the on-set cooking stories, this is the memoir that makes you want to book a flight to Florence and never leave.
What I Ate In One Year: (And Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci (2024) | A looser, diary-style follow-up to Taste—day-by-day entries on what Tucci’s cooking, eating, and thinking about, with less of a narrative arc and more of a “pull up a chair” feel. A fun companion read if you already loved the first book.
Setting the Table by Danny Meyer (2006) | Part memoir, part hospitality bible—Meyer traces his path from Union Square Cafe to building an empire, and lays out the “enlightened hospitality” philosophy that’s since shaped how an entire generation of NYC restaurants operate. He has a highly anticipated new book, "What Could Possibly Go Right?: The Essential Journey to Scale an Enduring Culture," coming out this fall, so what better way to get ready than reading Setting the Table?
Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara (2022) | Guidara’s memoir of turning Eleven Madison Park into the best restaurant in the world doubles as a hospitality philosophy book. The stories of “unreasonable” generosity—handwritten notes, surprise hot dogs delivered to the table—are the ones that really stick with you. This is a top five book on this entire list for me.
Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître’D by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina (2024) | Four decades of front-of-house stories from one of New York’s most legendary maître d’s, full of the celebrity run-ins, power plays, and behind-the-podium chaos that never make it onto the menu. If you’ve ever wondered what’s really happening at the host stand of a restaurant like Le Coucou, this is the answer—gossipy in the best way.
Anna: The Biography by Amy Odell (2022) | Amy Odell’s deeply reported biography of Anna Wintour pulls back the curtain on the woman who built her image around never explaining herself. It’s not a memoir—Odell wasn’t given Wintour’s cooperation to write it—but the outside reporting is exactly what makes it work, tracing her rise from British Vogue to the most powerful seat in fashion with the kind of detail Wintour herself would never volunteer.
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) | A revealing memoir from a former Facebook insider that chronicles the company’s early idealism—and its moral unraveling. Wynn-Williams offers a clear-eyed look at power, tech culture, and the personal cost of working inside one of the most influential platforms of our time. Disturbing, fascinating, and hard to put down.
Going There by Katie Couric (2021) | Couric’s decades in broadcast news, told with the same directness she’s known for on camera. She’s candid about the industry’s politics—the pay gaps, the rivalries, the pressure to stay likable —as much as her own missteps.
Joyride: A Memoir by Susan Orlean (2025) | A charming, reflective memoir that blends personal storytelling with Orlean’s signature curiosity about people, passions, and obsession. Moving fluidly through her life and career as a journalist, she explores what it means to stay open to wonder over time.
The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992 by Tina Brown (2017) | A front-row account of Tina Brown’s rise at Vanity Fair, capturing the excess, ambition, and cultural dominance of magazines at their peak. Equal parts gossip, strategy, and self-mythology, this diary reads like a masterclass in power and taste-making. Essential context for this entire media-era grouping.
When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter (2025) | This irresistible peek into glossy magazine culture showcases the Vanity Fair days at their peak—full of name-dropping, mischief, and the unapologetic glamour of a bygone media era. Would be a good one to read following Tina Brown’s memoir!
Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America by Michael Grynbaum (2025) | A deeply reported cultural history of Condé Nast and the people who shaped its mythos. Grynbaum traces how influence, aesthetics, and hierarchy operated behind the scenes, offering a more analytical counterpoint to the memoirs in this section. A must-read for understanding the machinery behind the gloss.
Famesick by Lena Dunham (2026) | This book took our feeds by storm this summer and for good reason. In it, Dunham takes an extremely personal approach to talking about what fame actually did to her sense of self. Tidbits about Girls, her health issues, and relationships with the likes of Jack Antonoff were particularly gripping. It’s less a tidy narrative than your typical collage of anxiety, celebrity, and self-examination, which makes it feel more honest.
They All Came to Barneys: A Personal History of the World’s Greatest Store by Gene Pressman (2025) | Pressman’s insider account of running Barneys during its cultural peak—the merchandising bets, the partying, the eventual unraveling—is catnip if you love the retail-as-theater era of New York. This book pairs naturally with the other magazine-world reads on my list.
