Personal memoirs and autobiographies
Showing 24 of 385 books
by Da Chen
4.0(2,437)
In a memoir of resilience and mischievous defiance, Da Chen navigates the brutal Cultural Revolution in rural China, transforming the scorn of his 'landlord' heritage into a quest for education and a hopeful future.
by Ricky Martin
3.5(2,364)
From the highs of Menudo and "Livin' la Vida Loca" to the personal journey of embracing his sexuality and fatherhood, Ricky Martin's memoir shows a superstar finding his voice amid global fame.
by Terence McKenna
4.2(2,333)
Terence McKenna recounts his Amazonian journey with psychoactive plants, exploring the line between madness and enlightenment and questioning our ideas about time and consciousness.
by Marguerite Duras
3.9(2,297)
In this raw memoir, Marguerite Duras reveals the Nazi occupation of Paris, showing the harrowing intimacy of survival, resistance, and personal sacrifice through nursing her emaciated husband back from Bergen-Belsen and her dangerous connection with a Gestapo officer.
by Jeffrey Archer
3.8(2,291)
From the squalor of a medium-security prison, disgraced politician FF8282 navigates the daily degradations and unexpected camaraderie of incarceration, offering a raw and often darkly humorous glimpse into the British penal system.
by Janisse Ray
4.0(2,222)
From a childhood steeped in rural isolation and religious fundamentalism amidst a junkyard, Janisse Ray forged a passionate quest to resurrect the vanishing longleaf pine ecosystem, weaving together personal history and ecological elegy.
by Myriam Gurba
4.3(2,108)
Myriam Gurba's "Mean" is a funny and bold memoir where a queer, mixed-race Chicana uses sharp humor to fight sexual assault, racism, and misogyny, showing that meanness, when done well, is a powerful art.
by Ernest K. Gann
4.5(2,101)
Join a pilot's intense journey through the dangerous, early days of commercial aviation, as Ernest K. Gann reveals the triumphs and terrors of flying.
by Eve Ensler
3.7(2,076)
Eve Ensler explores her own body obsessions and societal pressures while celebrating women's diverse beauty and resilience worldwide.
by Jawaharlal Nehru
3.9(2,052)
In a series of personal letters, Jawaharlal Nehru explains Earth's history, humanity's beginnings, and civilization's growth to his ten-year-old daughter, Indira, turning global history into a captivating bedtime story.
by Rebecca West
4.2(1,997)
Rebecca West travels through Yugoslavia before WWII, exploring its history, culture, and her own reflections to understand the Balkans' turbulent nature.
by Dina Nayeri
4.1(1,902)
Dina Nayeri exposes the emotional and political burdens refugees face, combining her own escape from Iran with stories of others seeking asylum.
by Karen Hesse
4.4(1,821)
In 1924 Vermont, the Ku Klux Klan shatters a quiet town, forcing a Black girl, a Jewish girl, and their neighbors to face hatred and find strength in unexpected friendships.
by Jimmy Santiago Baca
4.2(1,799)
From a maximum-security prison, Jimmy Santiago Baca builds hope and poetic strength, turning despair into an example of human endurance.
by John Edward
3.9(1,788)
John Edward's book demystifies the afterlife, guiding readers to connect with the Other Side, understand spiritual helpers, and use their own psychic abilities for a fearless journey.
by Willie Morris
4.0(1,783)
In a sleepy 1940s Mississippi town, a shy boy's world is transformed by the arrival of Skip, a spirited fox terrier with an intelligent gaze and an insatiable appetite for adventure.
by Robert Louis Stevenson
3.7(1,732)
Robert Louis Stevenson and his donkey, Modestine, embark on an arduous twelve-day trek through France's rugged Cévennes mountains.
by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
4.1(1,708)
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, in the wild beauty of a Florida orange grove, navigates runaway pigs and colorful neighbors, finding humor, hardship, and a deep bond with the land that shapes her.
by Ian Frazier
3.9(1,641)
Ian Frazier explores the realities of the Oglala Sioux on the Pine Ridge Reservation, showing a culture sustained by humor, resilience, and the past in the face of modern challenges.
by Donn Fendler
3.9(1,637)
Twelve-year-old Donn Fendler endures a terrifying two-week ordeal, battling starvation, delusion, and the unforgiving Maine wilderness after a momentary lapse separates him from his Boy Scout troop on Mount Katahdin.
by Tom Brown Jr.
4.2(1,605)
Guided by an ancient Apache, a New Jersey boy becomes a master tracker, learning to read the earth's subtle whispers and confront the wilderness's most harrowing challenges, ultimately saving lives and rediscovering humanity's lost connection to nature.
by Nicholas Wolterstorff
4.5(1,584)
After his son Eric's sudden death, a philosopher turns his grief into a personal and moving lament, giving voice to the pain of loss and the strength of love.
by Irfan Orga
4.2(1,540)
In fin-de-siècle Istanbul, an Ottoman family, led by an autocratic grandmother and a child-bride mother, copes with the collapse of their empire, fortune, and way of life, from opulent hamam rituals to the reality of a new Turkish republic.
by Maria Dahvana Headley
3.0(1,485)
A witty memoir about one woman's year-long dating experiment across New York City, embracing every suitor from taxi drivers to writers in a quest to redefine love and fix her bad taste.