When people ask me “What memoir should I read?”
I smile and ask: What are you interested in? What do you want to learn about?
I ask because a memoir is a story about a protagonist questing for her North Star. That’s why the genre is so specific to the reader.
Each memoirist defines a quest and journeys to realize, heal or emancipate some aspect of their inner and outer life to find home or define a new one.
Memoirs are about how we change in the most pivotal moments of our lives.
Here are a few suggestions – in no particular order – to get started:
I Know Why A Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff
Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
On Writing, Steven King
Know My Name, Chanel Miller
You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know, Heather Sellers
Crying In H Mart, Michelle Zauner
I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jeanette McCurdy
Born A Crime, Trevor Noah
Naked, David Sedaris
Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Blood, Bones & Butter, Gabrielle Hamilton
This Is Not The Story You Think It Is, Laura Munson
This Could Be Beautiful, Maggie Smith
Wild, Cheryl Strayed
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
Lit, Mary Karr
H Is For Hawk, Helen Macdonald
A Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchet
The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen
What’s Next and How To Like It, Abigail Thomas
Three Dog Life, Abigail Thomas
Safekeeping, Abigail Thomas
What’s Next and How To Like It, Abigail Thomas
Anything by Abigail Thomas
Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner
You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, Sherman Alexie
Operating Instructions, Anne Lamotte
Dusk Night Dawn, Anne Lamotte
West With The Night, Beryl Markham
Stitches, David Small
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
For The Time Being, Annie Dillard
Anything by Annie Dillard
When Women Were Birds, Terry Tempest Williams
The Solace of Open Spaces, Gretel Ehrlich
Micro Memoir
Heating & Cooling, Beth Anne Fennely
Swerve, Brenda Miller
Safekeeping, Abigail Thomas
The Balloonist, Sarah Manguso
Love, Loss and What I Wore, Ilene Beckerman
Essays
B Channel, Megan Stielstra
Bite By Bite, Aimee Nezhukumatathil
World of Wonders, Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Books on Writing
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamotte
How To Write A Poem, Heather Sellers
Handling the Truth, Beth Kephart
Rose Metal Press Field Guide To Writing Flash Nonfiction, Dinty Moore
The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr
Story Structure
Story, Robert McKee
Save The Cat Workbook, Jamie Nash
Other:
Reader’s Digest Updated List of 45 Memoirs Everyone Should Read
