Recs if you like Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent...

This list is made possible by all the 🫛🐝’ers who came through for me during a terrible breakup. I asked the club for joyful nonfiction recs because fiction is too emotionally fraught for what I’m going through.

I hope these books can bring you some hope, relief, or perspective. Together, we can get through this 😊

Non-fiction books related to the humanities. Think: arts, language, culture and what we do with it. Mix of essays, memoirs, literary criticism, histories, and more.

“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

A list dedicated to the life, works, and study of William Shakespeare. Includes many of the books featured on Shakespeare Unlimited, the podcast produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Books to help me (and hopefully you) read more nonfiction

These books are short, light and easy prose, low stakes emotional investment, with distinct location or vivid atmosphere. Choose the one that fits the vibes of your destination!