Continuing to answer a faithful reader’s request, today we feature Read Fast Eat Slow’s list of top-10 nonfiction books.

What’s it like to be you? What was it like to be there? The best nonfiction answers these pressing questions. Just like a good HONY post, it makes us regard the stranger on the street a little differently.

Before we get started, fix yourself a pan of Smoked Turkey Burrito Pizza (recipe from this book):

smoked turkey burrito pizza blog ready

1 (1-lb.) loaf frozen white bread dough, thawed
1 (16 oz.) can refried beans w/ green chilies
1/3 cup mild thick and chunky salsa
2 scallions, chopped
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup chopped smoked turkey breast
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (8 oz.)
Sour cream, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce

1. Preheat oven to 450′

2. Roll (using a rolling pin and floured pastry cloth) or stretch dough to fit into a lightly greased 12-inchh pizza pan, building up edges slightly.

3. Mix beans with salsa and spread over top of dough, leaving 1/2-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle scallions, cilantro, turkey and cheese evenly over pizza.

4. Bake in middle of oven 12 to 15 minutes, or until crust is golden. Cut into 8 to 10 wedges to serve. Pass sour cream, chopped tomato and shredded lettuce on the side.

Now, cut yourself a couple slices and let’s talk books!

  1. HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE: This is the first entry in what I call the my-life-went-wrong section of our list. Mr. Gill had it all — great job, great marriage, great Connecticut house. And then suddenly he didn’t. What do you do with yourself when it all falls apart?
  2. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK:  I don’t know about you, but the fear of jail keeps me from shoplifting lipstick and perjuring myself on my tax forms. But what if I did end up behind bars? Would it be a total horror story? Ms. Kerman finds some surprising humanity in those cold hard cells.
  3. SAUCIER’S APPRENTICE:  If your love life turns sour, you can mope in your apartment and watch sad Netflix movies. Or you can go to Europe and learn how to make the perfect omelet. Author Bob Spitz shows you how to make your sadness more interesting.
  4. ANOTHER PLACE AT THE TABLE: And now we begin our I-could-never-be-you section. Kathy Harrison fostered more than a hundred children. We all know that children, as adorable as they are, grate on our nerves and damage our houses. So I think we can all tip our hats to the people who take in a hundred of them, particularly if they are children with scary problems. God blessed this woman with a pretty big heart.
  5. CLEOPATRA: The first reason I could never be Cleopatra is that I’m not rich. Actually, that’s a blessing. If you own an army and a lot of boats, you have to do something useful with them, noblesse oblige and all that. The thing about Schiff’s book is that she made the ancient world come alive for me. Until then, I had little to go on but Greek plays, and the characters therein get upset and gouge their eyes out. Pretty hard to relate.
  6. BABY CATCHER:  The reason I could never be Peggy Vincent is that I like regularity and schedules. If you deliver babies, you can you can forget all about that. But don’t you want to ride along on a few of those midnight runs, when Vincent dashes out of her house still in her flannel nightie? Yes!
  7. COLUMBINE:  Now we begin the blood-and-horror section of our list. I know it’s terribly morbid, but I have to know: what was it like to hear the gunshots go off? To hide in a locked-down classroom? To guess when it was safe to come out? To pace-pace-pace-pace until your child finally showed up (or didn’t)?
  8. 102 MINUTES:  And the same with 9/11. Would I have trusted the authorities that told me to stay in the towers? Or would I have hurried down the stairwell and run for my life?
  9. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: And we commence our What’s-it-like-to-live-in-your-micro-culture section. The micro-culture in question here is a West Texas city where the oil rigs have gone idle and where the scenery could suck the soul right out of you. What’s the one thing this place has going for it? High school football.
  10. RUMSPRINGA:  and finally, a micro-culture where the idea is to let the young folks get the wild out of their systems. We Mormons expend a lot of effort convincing our youngsters that the wild side isn’t all that wonderful and that, if you go there, you might not make it back. So you can bet devoured this book. Does the Amish Amish plan work? Seems pretty hard to know they’re out there, puffing away on Marlboros.

I might also mention two books from my pre-blogging days, books that helped me make sense of the world in which I drive around every day. EDGE CITY by Joel Garreau explains the way cities have grown in the age of the freeway. THE NINE NATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA, also by Garreau  and a bit dated now, defines just what it is that makes a Shreveport feel different from a Schenectady.