This is a list of memoirs I have read and found worth while. There are, of course, many more good memoirs out there that I haven’t yet had time to read.
Let me know of other memoirs you think I should read and add to this list. Use the contact form on the left side of the page to e-mail me your suggestions.
Achterberg, Jeanne. Lightning at the Gate: A Visionary Journey of Healing. Boston: Shambhala, 2002.
Bragg, Rick. All Over but the Shoutin’. New York: Random House, 1997.
Cheever, Susan. Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Fishman, Steve. A Bomb in the Brain: A Heroic Tale of Science, Surgery, and Survival. New York: Scribner, 1988.
Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia. New York: Viking, 2006.
Gordon, Mary. The Shadow Man: A Daughter’s Search for Her Father. New York: Random House, 1996.
Grealy, Lucy. Autobiography of a Face. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Hood, Ann. Comfort: A Journey Through Grief. New York: Norton, 2008.
Karr, Mary. The Liars’ Club: A Memoir. New York: Viking, 1995.
Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York: Scribner, 2000.
McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996.
McCourt, Frank. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir. New York: Scribner, 1996.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited. Rev. ed. New York: Putnam, 1966.
Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. New York: Random House, 2003.
Patchett, Ann. Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. New York: Harper Collins, 2004.
Rule, Ann. The Stranger Beside Me. Updated ed. New York: Signet, 2000.
Saks, Elyn R. The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness. New York: Hyperion, 2007.
Sebold, Alice. Lucky: A Memoir. New York: Scribner, 1999.
Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner, 2005.
Welty, Eudora. One Writer’s Beginnings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
Wharton, Edith. A Backward Glance. New York: Appleton-Century, 1934.