I read my first memoir in high school and I was hooked. I’ve found that recently I’ve been reading a lot of autobiographies and they give me ALL the feels; namely, I love reading them and feeling inspired by what other people experience and learn along the way. It is always amazing to see how someone from a completely different background from me can be so relate-able… I always feel very connected to the world around me after reading. I’ve read a lot more memoirs than this (and some WERE NOT my favorite), but these are 12 memoirs I would recommend that I have read over the last few years.
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Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
I decided to just check this book out when it hit my library’s page because I didn’t have anything to listen to. I did an ancestry DNA test for information and thought the topic Shapiro talked about was interesting. Dani talks about her whole life from the lens of taking a DNA test and finding out her father… wasn’t her biological father. She embarks in a journey on what identity and family means to her, the religious implications she felt from this discovery, and evaluates her relationship with her mother. This memoir is family friendly, insightful, and interesting. I’d actually really love to pick up another book from her.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
I can definitely appreciate Tina Fey humor and I looking for something lighthearted when I added her audio book to my list. While Tina Fey can be slightly crass and I didn’t get all of her 30 Rock or SNL references, she made me laugh a lot. Tina Fey shares her life from having a dad that basically looks like a movie star to briefly discussing her face being slashed in her front yard as a child (I had noticed a scar, but I never realized the issue). I was dying laughing when she described her honeymoon experience being almost evacuated on a cruise. I really loved the chapters on her talking about her motherhood experience, her discussion on going from middle class to being a celebrity, and her satirical impressions on why women feel they need to be surgically enhanced.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
I picked up this audio book because of my book club. I didn’t know what to expect, but this is one of the best written memories I’ve ever listened to. MIchelle Obama discusses what it was like growing up in a changing Chicago suburb during white flight, being friends with Jesse Jackson’s daughter and going to marches, and interesting topics like how worker’s unions impacted the African American population in Chicago. She discusses all of these topics, and more, gracefully and with sensitivity. I loved hearing how Michelle went from a small city apartment with her family that often did fire drills after the death of classmates to the discomfort and apprehension of attending an ivy league school. Michelle’s chapters on her marriage and on motherhood are inspiring. I really think, regardless of political background, a lot of people will really enjoy Michelle’s book.
Heaven Is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy by Stephanie Nielson
Stephanie Nielson was in a plane crash with her husband and a pilot when she was a young mother. This autobiography describes her family’s challenge as they deal with healing from third degree burns, skin grafts and transplants, and a slew of medical problems. Despite the hardship her family encountered, Stephanie pulls together in optimism and hope about the cherished life she has post trauma. I find Stephanie’s journey on homemaking and motherhood inspiring. You can read her blog here.
Educated
This is a memoir written by Tara Westover about growing up in a survivalist Mormon family with extremely mentally ill family members. I found Westover’s story compelling, thoughtful, and painful to read. It was incredibly sad to see the spiritual abuse she suffered at the hands of family members and I can totally understand why she ended up leaving the church that I call home after this. I think this book is a good reminder for people to see that there is often more than meets the eye, but I was annoyed at people’s comments and reviews criticizing her for going back to family etc. Her family is extremely abusive which may be very triggering, but I think people need to be mindful too that our most primitive instincts tell us that our family has our best intentions in mind.
Hillbilly Elegy
This is a memoir written by J. D. Vance about his family’s often tumultuous past and present and how he managed to find stability for himself growing up. This book was recommended to me because I grew up in Kentucky and I was discussing how people can’t understand a lot of blue collar or traditions rooted in poverty until that is the landscape they have grown up with. I found myself nodding along a lot to Vance’s description of family loyalty, honor, and dysfunction. I found Vance’s memoir readable without being pretentious. He ended up receiving a law degree from Yale and he discusses a lot of the fatigue that comes from being a trail blazer in his family without academic supports.
I’m Not From Around Here: A Jewish Boy Telling the Historical Story of his Family’s Holocaust Survival in WW2
I love family memoirs written from the children or grandchildren of the main subjects. This book was intense and left off feeling kind of unresolved. Despite this, the book was good even though I feel like “dysfunctional families” always end up being the ones featured in biographies. The stories this author pulls together from family are really intriguing, depressing, but also shows how people keep pushing forward despite challenges.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
This is the true to life memoir of Susannah Cahalan as she goes from an independent and successful reporter to being admitted into a psyche ward with unknown causes. Cahalan uncovers her experiences over the month after being diagnosed with an extremely rare autoimmune illness that attacks her brain. As someone with autoimmune issues myself, I felt like I won the genetic jackpot after hearing about Cahalan’s nearly fatal health descent.
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite
This is the real memoir of Suki Kim, a south Korean, who immigrated to the US as a child. Kim becomes a journalist and is fascinated with North Korea because of her family experiences with the war. She ends up going under cover to teach ESL at a North Korean University to be able to observe conditions and then write this book. Because of the level of control she experiences, she ends up doing a lot of things to try to expose her students to the world beyond what they know in North Korea. There were many shocking things like Kim working with technology majors, but the students were having to be trained on how to use the internet. My concerns about the book is the danger that it could have put her students in by publishing it, but I do also find the information about North Korea very compelling because this is a culture that we truly don’t have much information or insight into. I think Kim does a great job discussing hardships she had while really loving her students a lot.
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
I read this book from book club and it is one I never would have thought about picking up myself. The book was well narrated and I enjoyed listening to the book so much that I zoomed through it in about three days. The book is biography of sorts of Christopher Knight, a man who at 20 years old, went to live in the woods of Maine without contacting society for 27 years. Knight’s behavior is definitely eccentric as he was eventually found because he would raid summer homes for supplies that he needed to survive. I found Knight’s family fascinating, but a sense of me also feels that he was exploited as this book was written (I felt similarly about this undercover story written by Suki Kim called Without You, There Is No Us that I wrote about here). The book is super fascinating though and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Additionally, the book was extremely family friendly and I would easily recommend it to any age group high school and on.
The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines
Everyone knows Chip and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper, but I sure did love knowing more about their back story and what makes them really tick. I absolutely loved this book, I love them, and this might be one of my favorite biographies I have ever read! The writing format switches back and forth between the husband and wife duo by using different fonts. I think a lot of people who watch the show might think that they just had connections and that’s how they got where they did. However, I loved reading about how much grit the couple has and what a entrepreneurial spirit Chip has. The Gaines family is so much more than a TV family. They have so much substance, are just really interesting, and the whole time I read the book I found it incredibly easy to relate to them and root for them along their journey. My favorite part of the book is that I found it more story oriented than self-promotional. A huge turn off for me is when writers try to sell you products the whole book, rather, I felt like I was just sitting in my family room listening to them talk. I would definitely recommend to anyone!
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted by Brian David Mitchell and his wife in 2002. I remember vividly watching the news reports from this as a child and admired Elizabeth from afar when I would see her on campus at BYU; what I always found amazing was what a happy and normal life she had. After reading the book, despite how sad and traumatic so much of the book is, Elizabeth shows a remarkable hope, resilience, and strength that is unmatchable. Elizabeth is really just an amazing person; I think we all can be inspired by how Elizabeth turns undoubtedly the hugest trial of her life into a launching point for her advocacy for children. While the topic of this book is extremely heavy, I think it is one that can really inspire you to be more grateful for your life and appreciate what you have.
