Summertime is the perfect time to catch up on your reading, and if you’re looking for some good nonfiction books to check out, you’re in luck.  Here are some of the most anticipated titles coming out in the next few months.  Whether you’re interested in history, biography, or psychology, there’s something for everyone on this list.  So put on some sunscreen and get ready to dive into a world of knowledge!

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

Selma Blair has played many archetypal roles: Gullible ingenue in Cruel Intentions. Preppy ice queen in Legally Blonde. Fire-starter in Hellboy. Muse to Karl Lagerfeld. Face of Chanel. Cover model. Advocate for the multiple sclerosis community. But before all of that, Selma was known best for being one thing: a mean baby. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Selma Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.

Mother Noise: A Memoir by Cindy House

A poignant and beautiful memoir told in essays and graphic shorts about what life looks like twenty years after recovery from addiction—and how to live with the past as a parent, writer, and sober person—from a regular opener for David Sedaris, Cindy House.

This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something–Anything–Like Your Life Depends On It by Tabitha Carvan

Why We Can’t Sleep meets Furiously Happy in this hilarious, heartfelt memoir about one woman’s midlife obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch, and the liberating power of reclaiming our passions as we age, whatever they may be.

This Is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan

A moving memoir from the award-winning screenwriter and playwright Abi Morgan about what happens when the person you love most no longer recognizes you.

A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman by Linda Elkins-Tanton

A radiant and inspiring memoir from one of the world’s leading planetary scientists, detailing her mission (scheduled for August 2022) to the largest known metal asteroid, her own remarkable life story, and the struggle for women’s voices to be heard in scientific fields.

Who Is Wellness For? : An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind by Fariha Roisin

The multi-disciplinary artist and author of Like a Bird and How to Cure a Ghost explores the commodification and appropriation of wellness through the lens of social justice, providing resources to help anyone participate in self-care, regardless of race, identity, socioeconomic status or able-bodiedness.  

We Carry Their Bones by Erin Kimmerle

Forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle explores the legacy of the notorious Dozier Boys School—the true story behind the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Nickel Boys—and the contentious process to exhume the graves of the boys buried there in order to reunite them with their families.  

Pig Years by Ellyn Gaydos

An itinerant farmhand’s account of the wonders hidden within the ever-blooming seasons of life, death, and rebirth.

Blood Orange Night: My Journey to the Edge of Madness by Melissa Bond

Brain on Fire meets High Achiever in this visceral, propulsive memoir detailing a woman’s accidental descent into prescription benzodiazepine dependence and the life-threatening impacts of the drugs’ long-term use.

Dinner for One: How Cooking in Paris Saved Me by Sutanya Dacres

From podcast host Sutanya Dacres comes Dinner for One, an unforgettable memoir of how she rebuilt her life after her American-in-Paris fairytale shattered, starting with cooking dinner for herself in her Montmartre kitchen–pitched as Julie & Julia for our times.  

Sisters in Resistance: How a German Spy, a Banker’s Wife, and Mussolini’s Daughter Outwitted the Nazis by Tilar J. Mazzeo

In a tale as twisted as any spy thriller, find out how three women were drawn together to deliver critical evidence of Axis war crimes to Allied forces during World War II: “Mazzeo is a fascinating storyteller” (New York Journal of Books).

The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit, and Peril at the Beach by Sarah Stodola

A captivating exploration of beach resort culture—from its roots in fashionable society to its undervalued role in today’s world economy—as the industry approaches a climate reckoning

How Are You, Really? : Living Your Truth One Answer at a Time by Jenna Kutcher

Forget hustle harder. Forget that 5 a.m. wake-up. Forget outlining your life plan in six-month, one-year, and five-year spans. Collectively, the recent history we have lived through has forced a cultural shift, a reframing of our perspective around what work is for, what work/life balance really means, and how we want to spend our time on the planet. In her first book, Jenna Kutcher—Entrepreneur, Photographer, Instagram Influencer, Teacher, Mom, and host of the wildly popular Goal Digger podcast—shares her philosophy on how to live a life that exists outside the tired cliché of “having it all.” How Are You, Really? is about taking a moment to soak up the richness of the experience and creating a life that allows for that.

Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir by Erika L. Sánchez

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is as deeply moving as it is hilarious.

All Down Darkness Wide: A Memoir by Seán Hewitt

By turns devastating and soaring, an ambitious memoir debut from one of Irish literature’s rising stars, Seán Hewitt.  

Why Didn’t You Tell Me? : A Memoir by Carmen Rita Wong

A dramatic memoir of one woman’s search for belonging after a DNA test upends her sense of identity, leading her on a quest to understand her immigrant mother’s long-held secrets

The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays by CJ Hauser

CJ Hauser expands on her viral sensation “The Crane Wife” with seventeen further essays in this intimate, frank, and funny book about love in the twenty-first century

The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

From the author of the critically acclaimed novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree, comes a dazzling, kaleidoscopic memoir reclaiming her family’s otherworldly legacy.

Pretty Baby: A Memoir by Chris Belcher

A queer teen rebel escapes small-town Appalachia and becomes Los Angeles’s Renowned Lesbian Dominatrix in this searing and darkly funny memoir that upends our understanding of sexuality, class, and power.

Illegally Yours: A Memoir by Rafael Agustin

For fans of Fresh Off the Boat, a funny and poignant memoir about how as a teenager, TV writer Rafael Agustin (Jane the Virgin) accidentally discovered he was undocumented and how that revelation turned everything he thought he knew about himself and his family upside down.

Choices: To the Hills and Back Again by Audrina Patridge

From the star of MTV’s The Hills and The Hills: New Beginnings, a candid and insightful reflection on aughts tabloid fame, the powerlessness and loss of self in toxic situations, and the life-changing power of even our smallest choices.

Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood by Satya Doyle Byock

A pioneering psychotherapist tackles the overlooked stage of Quarterlife, the critical developmental years between adolescence and midlife, and provides a roadmap to navigate its struggles and find joy and understanding in adulthood.

Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My (In)Fertility by Michelle Tea

From PEN/America Award winner, 2021 Guggenheim fellow, and beloved literary and tarot icon Michelle Tea, the hilarious, powerfully written, taboo-breaking story of her journey to pregnancy and motherhood as a 40-year-old, queer, uninsured woman.

Acceptance: A Memoir by Emi Nietfeld

A brilliant, generation-defining memoir of foster care and homelessness, Harvard University and Big Tech, about the stories we tell about ourselves to succeed and survive.

Fruit Punch: A Memoir by Kendra Allen

An arresting and one-of-a-kind memoir about the alternately exultant and harrowing trip growing up as a Black child desperate to create a clear reality for herself in this country.  

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

The Mamas: A Story About Parenting in the Age of Everything by Helena Andrews-Dyer

A Washington Post culture writer chronicles the challenges she faces as a Black mother in a mostly white mommy group in a time of gentrification, racial reckoning, and a global pandemic.

Diana, William & Harry by James Patterson, Chris Mooney

James Patterson tells the most heartbreaking story of our time, as only he can—Diana’s life as a princess and a mother—timed to the twenty-fifth anniversary of her death.

Are you looking forward to any of these nonfiction books?

What nonfiction books are you looking forward to in 2022?   What books would you add to the list?