Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Sagas of Icelanders | - | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 2 | Catskill Crafts: Artisans of the Catskill Mountains | 1987 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 3 | Charles Dickens | 2002 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 4 | A Year At the Races: Reflections On Horses, Humans, Love, Money And Luck | 2004 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 5 | Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel | 2005 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 6 | 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel | 2008 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 7 | The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer | 2010 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 8 | An Innocent Abroad: Life-Changing Trips from 35 Great Writers | 2014 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 9 | March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women | 2019 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
| 10 | The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom | 2023 | Jane Smiley | Buy |
Jane Smiley has published ten non-fiction works between 1987 and 2023. The subjects range widely, from regional artisanship in Catskill Crafts: Artisans of the Catskill Mountains to literary biography in Charles Dickens and computing history in The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer.
Several titles sit at the intersection of personal interest and cultural commentary. A Year At the Races: Reflections On Horses, Humans, Love, Money And Luck (2004) draws on Smiley’s own experience with horses, while Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005) examines the novel as a form. March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women (2019) looks at Louisa May Alcott’s classic from a modern perspective. Her most recent entry, The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom (2023), continues her engagement with reading and writing as subjects in their own right.