My reading comfort zone is solidly Fiction. I like it all - mystery, thrillers, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi, romance - and anything else you can think of. What I'm not really into, clearly, is non-fiction. Alas, I do know that I am missing out, so from time to time, I delve into the realm of reading about real people or events. But I didn't do such a good job of reading a lot of non-fiction in 2011. Below is my list of 5 non-fiction books that I read in 2011.

Reading Outside the Zone in 2011

Read in 2011

1. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession, David Grann. This was an EXCELLENT read.
In The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, Grann takes the reader around the world, revealing a gallery of rogues and heroes who show that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Grann's tales range from the suspicious death of an Arthur Conan Doyle scholar to the story of an international impostor who somehow convinced an American family he was their missing son.

2. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls. Another very good book - but it's also a disturbing memoir - to know what the author went through growing up.
Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents - Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar).

3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot. This book has garnered a lot of accolades and deservedly so.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

4. Sh*t My Dad Says, Justin Halpern. Funny!
Justin's dad is a gruff Vietnam vet, retired research doctor who is honest to a fault.

5. Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems, David Rakoff. This is one I did not like. It's supposed to be stories of "excessive excesses", but it fell flat for me. I got the point that there are obscene riches side by side with obscene poverty - but the book didn't leave me thinking. Or rather - I thought - what's the point of these stories - did the author try to steal from the rich & give to the poor? Now that would have been worth writing about!
In "Don't Get Too Comfortable," a collection of essays by David Rakoff, the author skewers the excesses and abominations of American society.

- Question via Top Ten Tuesday Reading Meme at Broke & Bookish.