I’m often asked, “What’s your favorite memoir?” That’s a tough question; it’s like asking someone to choose between their children. I have many favorite memoirs, and usually the one I like best is the one I’m currently reading, but I do have some I revisit often, ones that bring a smile to my face just seeing their covers, old friends I never get tired of passing time with.
Many of the memoirs that line my bookshelves I’ve not yet read, and that’s okay, even though my husband can’t understand why I buy another book when I haven’t read all the ones I already have. I look at my unread book collection like a big party full of interesting people, and I just haven’t yet made it around the room to say hello to everyone. Hopefully, I will before the party ends, but if not, I’ve had the pleasure of their company and energy anyway.
I can’t say I’ve read many bad memoirs. Some are better written than others, and I simply enjoy certain types of stories, but in the end, I love reading about other people’s experiences.
Authors who write memoirs are special people. For the most part, I don’t believe they write their life stories to get rich and famous. Those who take the months and years to painstakingly arrange thousands of words into an interesting story do so because they have a message they want to share. They often want readers to know they are not alone, that someone else has endured similar difficulties. They love their mothers or fathers and want others to know them, too. They grew up in a magical time or place and long for it to exist forever in people’s memories. Sometimes, authors write memoirs to help them make sense of what has happened in their own lives.
So, with that said, below is a list of memoirs that are worth reading. Now, I know, as soon as I publish this, I’m going to remember ten other memoirs I want you to know about, so check back because I’ll keep adding to the list. How many of these have you read? What memoirs would you add to the list? Do you have a favorite memoir? Share your thoughts in the comments section following the list, and here’s the memoir reading list you can print out for your next visit to the bookstore. Happy reading.
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Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Russell Baker, Growing Up (Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir)
Martha Beck, Expecting Adam
Rick Bragg, All Over But the Shoutin’
Rick Bragg, Ava’s Man
Rick Bragg, The Prince of Frogtown
Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid…A Memoir
Frank Conroy, Stop – Time (considered the forerunner of modern memoir)
Annie Dillard & Cort Conley (editors), Modern American Memoirs
Michael Gates Gill, How Starbucks Saved My Life
Mikal Gilmore, Shot in the Heart
J.T. Glisson, The Creek
Vivian Gornick, Fierce Attachments
Lucy Grealy, Autobiography of a Face
Patricia Hampl, A Romantic Education
Patricia Hampl, Virgin Time…In Search of the Contemplative Life
Homer Hickam, Rocket Boys
River Jordan, Praying for Strangers
Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place
Mary Karr, The Liar’s Club
Tracy Kidder, My Detachment
Haven Kimmel, A Girl Named Zippy
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek
Caroline Knapp, Drinking…A Love Story
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
Mike Leonard, The Ride of Our Lives
Steve Lopez, The Soloist
Jacki Lyden, Daughter of the Queen of Sheba
Nancy Mairs, Voice Lessons
James McBride, The Color of Water
Mary McCarthy, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
Mary McCarthy, Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir
Frank McCourt, Teacher Man
Frank McCourt, Tis
Paula McLain, Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses
Kathleen Norris, Dakota
Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
Kathleen Norris, The Cloister Walk
Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father
Michael Pollan, A Place of My Own
Michael Pollan, A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams
Barbara Robinette Moss, Change Me Into Zeus’ Daughter
Barbara Robinette Moss, Fierce
Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club
Alice Sebold, Lucky: A Memoir
Rachel Simon, Riding the Bus with My Sister
Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge…An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Stephen Tobolowsky, The Dangerous Animals Club
Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle
Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings
Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance
E. B. White, Essays of E.B. White
Neil White, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life: A Memoir
