Favorite memoirs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am rereading Angela’s Ashes - it’s just as good as I remembered!

I read that book several years ago. The poverty was astonishing to me. It made me appreciate my ordinary life, with a home with heating and cooling, running water, food in the cupboards.
Gosh, now I kind of want to reread it again too.

[Anonymous]

I love this genre. Two more not previously mentioned: Walking with Ghosts (Gabriel Byrne) and Stories I Only Tell My Friends (Rob Lowe).

[Anonymous]

When breath becomes air

Somebody's daughter

Between The world And Me

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (I think people really overlook the literary value of this book)

Not my favorites but would also recommend:

Educated
Becoming


I have heard great things about I'm Glad My Mom Died and that's next on my list.

[Anonymous]

I just started priestdaddy and it seems good and very funny so far.

[Anonymous]

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad.

She wrote the "Life Interrupted" column in the New York Times.

[Anonymous]

Loved Rob Lowe, Michelle Obama, Trevor Noah, Jeanette McCurdy, Minka Kelly, and Ross Matthews.

Didn’t like Educated. Uneducated? Whatever- I wasn’t moved by it. Also, huge gymnastics fan but all the memoirs by Olympic gymnasts suck - Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols (excluded from Olympics for being Athlete A), etc. Rachel Denhollander (not an Olympian) had a decent book.

[Anonymous]

I also loved Educated and Born a Crime. All time favorite is Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett.

[Anonymous]

Sunshine Girl

[Anonymous]

Angela’s Ashes and the follow-up ‘Tis by Frank McCourt. (There is a third one too but haven’t read it.) They’re gorgeously written (he won a Pulitzer for Angela’s Ashes) but fair warning that they’re about absolutely grinding poverty. I haven’t re-read them since becoming a parent myself and think that would be extremely hard. But again, well worth the read.

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls is also beautifully written and again, about poverty/dysfunctional family dynamics.

Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs is funny and horrifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When breath becomes air

Somebody's daughter

Between The world And Me

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (I think people really overlook the literary value of this book)

Not my favorites but would also recommend:

Educated
Becoming
Heartily second the rec. Frederick Douglass in fact published 3 autobiographies, all worth reading.

I have heard great things about I'm Glad My Mom Died and that's next on my list.

[Anonymous]

Strong Female Character - Fern Brady
Ten Steps to Nanette - Hannah Gadsby
Persepolis - Marjane Sartrapi
Fun Home - Alison Bechdel
Spare - Prince Harry
Bossypants - Tina Fey
Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

[Anonymous]

Just Kids by Patti Smith. I'm not the biggest fan of Patti's music (though I appreciate why she's famous and her place in history of rock), but I found her memoir really engaging.

Also really enjoyed:

- My Name is Barbra (Barbra Streisand)
- High on Arrival (Mackenzie Phillips)
- Open (Andre Agassi)

[Anonymous]

Hunger by Roxane Gay

[Anonymous]

Glass castles
Agustin burroughs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When breath becomes air

Somebody's daughter

Between The world And Me

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (I think people really overlook the literary value of this book)

Not my favorites but would also recommend:

Educated
Becoming


I have heard great things about I'm Glad My Mom Died and that's next on my list.

IGMMD is really good - it got me on a binge of celebrity memoirs. I'm listening to Jessica Simpson's now - of all people - and find myself liking it way more than I expected. I also really liked Molly Shannon's and Steve Martin's. Britney Spears's is depressing as hell.

I tried to listen to Matthew Mcconaughey and couldn't even get through two chapters. I found it really annoying!