The Nonfiction Files 14: Nonfiction Matrix Is Back
I love a mid-year check-in. Sometimes I just need to pause and reevaluate every decision I’ve ever made, and the middle of the year seems like as good a time as any, right?
Last year, I made up this nonfiction matrix, and I love it as a way to talk about books without the good-versus-bad binary. Plus, it is a simple, visual way to think about nonfiction books. So, we’re back with another Matrix for all the 2026 nonfiction I have read so far this year.
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Before we go full Neo1, did you check out my Nonfiction Reading Guide yet? It’s a PDF with 35 unputdownable nonfiction books, organized into seven categories, including a deep dive into 1980s NYC, survival stories, and books that are great on audio. I even asked a few pals ( and , to name a few) to contribute titles to the guide. Summer is the perfect time to get lost in your new favorite book, and extra credit if that book is a nonfiction rec from yours truly!
What Is this Matrix?
It is a Cartesian coordinate plane (AKA an X-Y axis) organized by pacing and style. It is a way to visualize books in relation to one another. And for those of you still figuring out what you like in nonfiction books, it is a great way to refine and clarify your own taste. Maybe a corner of the matrix houses your favorite books?
X-Axis: Pacing
How fast or slow is the book? A fully propulsive book is one you can’t put down because you must know what happens and how. An edge-of-your-seat reading experience. At the other end of the spectrum, you have your lyrical books that captivate with language. These are the books you want to ruminate on, slow down with, and savor.
Y-Axis: Style
This axis refers to the book’s style or tone. Creative nonfiction books are not constrained by narrative arc and can explore and experiment with form, time, and place. Whereas reported books are more straightforward in approach, laying out detailed information and storytelling.
I talk a lot more about style and genre in the first-ever Nonfiction Files, which was a taxonomy of nonfiction. It might be worth (re)visiting.
A Note on Books.
I won’t assume you’re familiar with every book I have read this year, so I’ve listed them for you below in the order in which I read them. The books in bold are the books I highly recommend2. Any book that’s been featured on The Stacks is also linked for your listening pleasure.
For those who are interested, I’ve read 31 nonfiction books so far this year, and of that group, 23 were published in 2026. I also read three nonfiction books at the end of last year that came out this year. Which means this matrix will have 26 books in total.
Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster by Jacob Soboroff (Ep. 407)
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden
Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises by Katie Benner & Erica L. Green
Storm at the Capitol: An Oral History of January 6th by Mary Clare Jalonick (Ep. 408)
Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage by Heather Ann Thompson (Ep. 411)
Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation by Elliot Williams
American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis, and a New Age of Hate by Eric Lichtblau
The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Family by Dorothy Roberts (Ep. 412)
Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family — and the World by Gabriel Sherman
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell (Ep. 414)
Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom by Camonghne Felix
P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance by Vanessa Díaz & Petra Rivera-Rideau (TSU Ep. 56)
In Sickness and in Health: Love Stories from the Front Lines of America’s Caregiving Crisis by Laura Mauldin
A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides by Gisèle Pelicot
End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America by Chris Jennings
Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón (Ep. 420)
A Scandal in Königsberg by Christopher Clark
The Oracle’s Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult by Harrison Hill
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe (Ep. 419)
The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (Ep. 423)
Dekonstructing the Kardashians: A New Media Manifesto by MJ Corey (Ep. 424)
If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation by Daniel Hahn (TSU Ep. 59)
Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life by Dusty Baker (Ep. 428)
On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward
In Defense of Sunlight: The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure by Rowan Jacobsen
Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival by Justine van der Leun
And Now, The Matrix!
Looking at this matrix, I see that I am really in my reported bag this year. Reported/propulsive is always my favorite quadrant, but since I’m mostly out of memoirs and really just living that hard journalism life, the bottom half of this graph is jam-packed—I could barely fit all these books.
I want to hear which quadrants speak to you most. Anything surprise you? Are there any books I’ve plotted that you think I got wrong? Any general questions about the matrix? Sound off in the comments.
If you want more of me and my nonsense be sure to listen to The Stacks podcast every Wednesday and follow me over on Instagram for a lot more book content.
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This is a Matrix joke, but I have never seen the film, so what do I know?
That is not to say I don’t recommend the others, I just know you all are going to ask me which ones I liked the most, so I am giving you what you want preemptively.
