Nonfiction Reads
I am excited to share that I, Sarah Turner-Hill, have read TWO nonfiction books so far this year. Pretty wild news, I know. I am a consistent consumer of fiction, but for 2026 the one reading goal I made for myself was to read more nonfiction. Two books is more for me, so I am already crushing my goal (thank you for your kind support). The two nonfiction books I read I thoroughly enjoyed (another win) so I would like to share my thoughts with you.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis
I discovered this book from our library’s 2025 Staff Picks, a list of staff members’ top reads for the year. This book was listed by two different staff members so I took that as a good sign. Written by KC Davis, a licensed professional therapist, How to Keep House While Drowning truly is a gentle approach to home care, but also self care. Its aim is to provide simple, accessible steps and advice not only for cleaning your home, but how to improve the thoughts and feelings about cleaning your home. The book is founded on the recognition that there can be a lot of self-loathing and hate talk when it comes to chores and the grownup tasks of keeping a home clean and functioning. Davis proposes that instead of thinking of things like dishes, laundry, cleaning, and even cooking as “chores”, think of them as “care tasks”. And a care task should serve you, not the other way around. Davis provides simple, functional ways to help make this happen in such a real, vulnerable way, drawing from her own experiences struggling with taking care of her home amid mental health struggles or simply during regular life stress. I really appreciated how real this book was, it contained no shaming, doing the opposite by providing tips to stop shaming yourself when the laundry basket piles up or those clothes you’ve been meaning to donate have been in your car for months. The format is also very accessible. It’s written in bite size pieces with the intention of reading a little bit daily or over time, which was perfect for me. It also has helpful skip ahead reading guide tips; if you are short on time or attention the end of a chapter will tell you specifically where to go next or highlights from that chapter if you don’t want to read the entire thing. It’s a very easy book to read, with Davis mentioning its format and even type coloring is designed with struggling readers in mind. I really appreciated Davis’ approach to cleaning (or should I say care tasks) and how validating this book was.
The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke
Oh. My. Gosh. I love a memoir and this one did not disappoint. I didn’t know any of the back story to Shari or the nightmare she was about to unfold within the pages of this book. I discovered this book because it won the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Memoir. Now I know why. Shari is the oldest daughter of six children, and as Shari grew up her and her five siblings became unwillingly famous thanks to their moms hit YouTube Channel 8 Passengers, in which Shari’s mom, Ruby, vlogged her households day to day lives. Shari’s story reveals the truth that often happens in social media: the surface is a facade that hides a darker truth. Behind the camera Ruby was tyrannical; rigid with rules, controlling, and demanded her children act a certain way, both on and off camera, and wouldn’t hear of it if Shari didn’t want to be filmed or wanted to do something other than what her mother instructed. Ruby’s YouTube channel grew to viral level, with videos gaining millions of views. The height of the popularity was simultaneously a nightmare for Shari and her siblings, who mentions “The line between genuine interaction and performance had blurred so completely that sometimes, I wasn’t sure any of us could tell the difference anymore.” Then Ruby meets “lifestyle” coach Jodi Hildebrandt and joins her coaching program “ConneXions”, which would be best described as a cult. Jodi and Ruby’s need for control fed off one another and their relationship became extreme, with Jodi moving in with the family for a time. Shari moved out for college at 18 and continuously worried over the wellbeing of her younger siblings, and Ruby’s usual tyrannical tendencies were knocked up to disturbing proportions once Jodi entered the picture. There is a lot in this book to try to sum up here, but eventually Jodi and Ruby were both arrested on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. Perhaps this sounds familiar as it was viral news in 2023. This was a difficult read given the subject matter of Ruby’s cruelty and abuse of her children; Shari shares many horrific details and truly sad events. Shari wrote this memoir as part of her healing process, and that shows in her approach and the strength you can feel coming from her words. Where she has the opportunity to say whatever she wants about the situation, she shares the truths of her experiences in a way that comes across honest, healing, and unhateful, although Ruby earned any hate Shari could have sent her way. It’s a complicated, heartbreaking story, but very impactful and important, especially as the trend of family vlogging is as popular as ever.
Review by Sarah Turner-Hill, Adult Programming Coordinator
