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  1. Genres
  2. ›Memoir

Best Memoir Books

Personal memoirs and autobiographies

388 summaries

Showing 361–384 of 388

  1. Portrait of a Turkish Family

    Irfan Orga

    ★ 4.2 (2k) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    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.

  2. The Year of Yes

    Maria Dahvana Headley

    ★ 3.0 (1k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    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.

  3. Not Without Hope

    Nick Schuyler

    ★ 3.7 (1k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Clinging to a propeller in the vast Atlantic, a former college football star recounts the unimaginable boating tragedy that claimed three friends, including two NFL players, and tested the very limits of his will to survive.

  4. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

    Frederick Douglass

    ★ 4.3 (1k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Frederick Douglass's autobiography shows his journey from a Maryland plantation to becoming a key voice in the abolition movement, detailing his escape and fight against slavery and racial injustice.

  5. The Duke of Deception

    Geoffrey Wolff

    ★ 3.9 (1k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    A son grapples with his con-man father, a Gatsby-like figure who created a life of privilege and success while being a devoted, if deceptive, dad.

  6. Dangerous Minds

    LouAnne Johnson

    ★ 3.9 (1k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    An ex-Marine teacher, armed with unconventional tactics and unwavering belief, transforms a classroom of 'dangerous' inner-city sophomores into students who dare to dream and fight for their futures.

  7. Mother at Seven

    Veronika Gasparyan

    ★ 4.1 (865) average on GoodreadsBiography

    In the shadow of Russia's Black Sea, a seven-year-old girl endures a decade of horrific familial abuse, clinging to an unwavering belief in a brighter future to survive the unimaginable.

  8. Nisei Daughter

    Monica Itoi Sone

    ★ 3.9 (803) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Monica Itoi Sone's memoir shows the life of a Japanese-American girl in 1930s Seattle, contrasting it with her unjust internment during World War II.

  9. Fast Times at Ridgemont High

    Cameron Crowe

    ★ 4.0 (731) average on GoodreadsBiography

    A 22-year-old journalist goes undercover as a high school student, chronicling the daily lives of horny, wasted, and directionless teens in 1979 Southern California.

  10. Wasted

    Mark Johnson

    ★ 4.1 (709) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    From a childhood of brutal beatings and early addiction, 'Wasted' tells Mark Johnson's journey through heroin and crack dependency to becoming a successful entrepreneur who helps other recovering addicts.

  11. The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk

    Palden Gyatso

    ★ 4.4 (667) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Palden Gyatso's memoir is a harrowing account of a Tibetan monk's 33 years of Chinese imprisonment and torture, showing his steadfast Buddhist faith despite his culture's destruction.

  12. A Giacometti Portrait

    James Lord

    ★ 4.1 (658) average on GoodreadsBiography

    James Lord's memoir details eighteen days in Alberto Giacometti's studio, chronicling the artist's struggle to paint his portrait and revealing the deep human effort behind a masterpiece.

  13. Castaway

    Lucy Irvine

    ★ 3.7 (657) average on GoodreadsLifestyle

    A young woman's dream of an untouched Eden transforms into a stark, unforgiving reality as she braves the brutal beauty and personal antipathy of a remote island with a stranger.

  14. Letters to a Young Artist

    Anna Deavere Smith

    ★ 4.0 (614) average on GoodreadsCreativity

    Anna Deavere Smith shares a lifetime of theater experience through letters to a young artist, offering direct advice on navigating the creative life's highs and lows, from self-doubt to making a social impact.

  15. The Singing Wilderness

    Sigurd F. Olson

    ★ 4.4 (609) average on GoodreadsHistory

    Join 'Bourgeois' as he shares the ancient magic and lost stories of the Quetico-Superior wilderness, guiding you through its old lakes and quiet forests.

  16. The Middle Passage

    V. S. Naipaul

    ★ 3.6 (539) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    Naipaul's 'The Middle Passage' explores post-colonial Caribbean societies, showing how slavery and Empire still shape identity, politics, and daily life as British rule ends.

  17. The Enchanted Places

    Christopher Milne

    ★ 3.8 (530) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Christopher Milne recounts his childhood as the real-life Robin to his father's Pooh, navigating fame's bittersweet embrace and the longing for an ordinary existence.

  18. Why Women Should Rule the World

    Dee Dee Myers

    ★ 3.6 (512) average on GoodreadsBusiness

    Dee Dee Myers argues that empowering women leaders, with their strengths in communication and agreement-building, could create a more cooperative, productive, and healthier world.

  19. Brother to a Dragonfly

    Will D. Campbell

    ★ 4.3 (493) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    From the segregated backroads of rural Mississippi to the front lines of the Civil Rights movement, a preacher grapples with faith, family tragedy, and the evolving call for justice, forever bound by the memory of his brother.

  20. Bed Number Ten

    Sue Baier

    ★ 4.0 (469) average on Goodreads

    Trapped within a paralyzed body, a woman navigates the dehumanizing and heroic realities of long-term care, her only voice found in the flicker of her eyes as she battles for recovery.

  21. In Love and War

    Jim Stockdale

    ★ 4.3 (297) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Jim Stockdale's memoir, from his Hanoi prison to post-war life, shows the strength of leadership, love, and philosophy during the Vietnam War.

  22. Force Of Circumstance

    Simone de Beauvoir

    ★ 4.1 (292) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Simone de Beauvoir examines her life, her relationships with figures like Sartre and Camus, and the truths behind the legends, showing the 'force of circumstance' that shaped a pioneering feminist philosopher.

  23. Fireflies

    David Morrell

    ★ 4.1 (265) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    After his son's brave but losing fight with bone cancer, a grieving father finds comfort and understanding in mystical experiences that show the strength of the human spirit.

  24. Light in my Darkness

    Helen Keller

    ★ 4.2 (256) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Helen Keller, a symbol of resilience, describes her spiritual journey, showing how Emanuel Swedenborg's teachings changed her silent, dark world into one of inner light and meaning.

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