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1

Becoming

Michelle Obamas memoir offers an intimate yet powerful look at navigating success, identity, and public life within the...

Politics Feminism Career Narrative Self Discovery

9.5 Brilliant

2

Into Thin Air

Jon Krakauer recounts the harrowing 1996 Everest disaster, transforming a mountaineering expedition into a gripping stud...

Adventure Mountaineering Survival Journalistic

9.3 Excellent

3

The Education of Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams is an autobiographical work by American historian Henry Adams, privately printed in 1907 an...

American Intellectual Adams Gilded Age

9.2 Excellent

4

Speak, Memory

Speak, Memory is Vladimir Nabokov's autobiographical account of his childhood in an aristocratic family in imperial Russ...

Literary Childhood Nabokov Russian American

9.2 Excellent

5

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical narrative by Harriet Jacobs, published in 1861 under the ps...

African American Feminist Slavery Jacobs

9.1 Excellent

6

Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir by Solomon Northup, a free Black man from New York who was kidnapped in Washingto...

African American 19TH Century Slavery Northup

8.9 Great

7

Educated

Tara Westover's 'Educated' recounts her extraordinary journey from a survivalist upbringing in rural Idaho to earning a...

Resilience Education UK Escape

8.8 Great

8

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls' 'The Glass Castle' chronicles her unconventional and impoverished childhood, raised by eccentric and of...

Family Dysfunction Childhood Memoir Struggle Narrative Voice

8.8 Great

9

An Autobiography

Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, originally written in Gujarati and published in English in 1929, recounting his experime...

Mystery British Literary Agatha Christie

8.8 Great

10

The Liars' Club

The Liars' Club is Mary Karr's 1995 memoir about her childhood in an unstable family in an East Texas oil-refining town....

Texas Childhood Abuse Mary Karr

8.7 Great

11

De Profundis

De Profundis is an extended letter written by Oscar Wilde in 1897 while he was imprisoned in Reading Gaol and addressed...

Literary Victorian Prison Oscar Wilde

8.7 Great

12

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

Angela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by Frank McCourt about his childhood in poverty, principally in Limerick, Ireland, after...

Childhood Irish Poverty Mccourt

8.7 Great

13

A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast is Ernest Hemingway's posthumously published 1964 memoir about his life in Paris during the 1920s. Thro...

Literary Paris 1920S Hemingway

8.6 Great

14

My Family and Other Animals

My Family and Other Animals is a 1956 autobiographical book by British naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. It recounts...

Nature Greek Childhood Gerald Durrell

8.6 Great

15

Working

Working is a 1974 oral history by American writer and broadcaster Studs Terkel, assembled from interviews with people in...

American Oral History Labor Studs Terkel

8.6 Great

16

The Alchemists Daughter: A Memoir of Science and Family

Isabelle LeBlancs The Alchemists Daughter is a fascinating memoir exploring her familys legacy as pioneering chemists in...

Chemistry France Discovery Family

8.5 Great

17

Growing Up

Growing Up is a 1982 memoir by American journalist and columnist Russell Baker. It recounts his childhood during the Gre...

American Journalism Coming Of Age Russell Baker

8.5 Great

18

On Writing

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is a 2000 nonfiction book by American novelist Stephen King. It combines autobiographi...

Horror Craft Literary Stephen King

8.5 Great

19

Hunger of Memory

Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez is a 1982 autobiographical book by American writer Richard Rodrigue...

Education Identity Chicano Rodriguez

8.1 Great

20

Division Street: America

Division Street: America is a 1967 oral-history book by American broadcaster and writer Studs Terkel. Built from intervi...

Urban Sociology Oral History Studs Terkel

7.9 Good