Best Books on Unusual Childhoods

1.
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle 4.32 avg rating — 1,325,669 ratings
2.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood 3.97 avg rating — 56,659 ratings
3.
This Childhood of Mine: A Memoir of My Last Summer with My Mentally Ill Mother and Alcoholic Father
This Childhood of Mine: A Memoir of My Last Summer with My Mentally Ill Mother and Alcoholic Father 4.21 avg rating — 34 ratings
4.
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl 4.20 avg rating — 4,073,291 ratings
5.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1) 4.30 avg rating — 568,960 ratings
6.
You're Never Weird on the Internet
You're Never Weird on the Internet 4.07 avg rating — 49,750 ratings
6.
My Family and Other Animals
My Family and Other Animals 4.17 avg rating — 61,497 ratings
8.
Sleepers
Sleepers 4.27 avg rating — 16,801 ratings
9.
Driving with Dead People
Driving with Dead People 3.86 avg rating — 5,918 ratings
10.
My Life on the Road
My Life on the Road 4.07 avg rating — 36,280 ratings
11.
Buck: A Memoir
Buck: A Memoir 4.05 avg rating — 3,060 ratings
11.
The Road
The Road really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,001,740 ratings
13.
Night
Night 4.38 avg rating — 1,334,233 ratings
13.
The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood
The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood 3.75 avg rating — 1,642 ratings
15.
The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier
The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier 4.05 avg rating — 3,950 ratings
16.
Running with Scissors
Running with Scissors 3.77 avg rating — 400,432 ratings
17.
Gods in Alabama
Gods in Alabama 3.86 avg rating — 23,927 ratings
18.
Stories I Tell Myself: Growing Up with Hunter S. Thompson
Stories I Tell Myself: Growing Up with Hunter S. Thompson 3.98 avg rating — 971 ratings
19.
Necessary Lies (Necessary Lies, #1)
Necessary Lies (Necessary Lies, #1) 4.30 avg rating — 82,043 ratings
20.
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist 3.88 avg rating — 419,634 ratings
21.
The Education of Dixie Dupree
The Education of Dixie Dupree 4.01 avg rating — 9,302 ratings
22.
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood 3.74 avg rating — 20,073 ratings
23.
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated 4.09 avg rating — 18,171 ratings
24.
It
It 4.24 avg rating — 1,227,490 ratings
25.
Through Innocent Eyes: The Chosen Girls of the Hitler Youth
Through Innocent Eyes: The Chosen Girls of the Hitler Youth 4.38 avg rating — 45 ratings
25.
A-Not-So-Still-Life
A-Not-So-Still-Life 4.29 avg rating — 21 ratings
25.
The Promise Girls
The Promise Girls 3.88 avg rating — 3,057 ratings
25.
My Parents: An Introduction / This Does Not Belong to You
My Parents: An Introduction / This Does Not Belong to You 4.08 avg rating — 730 ratings
25.
Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter: A Memoir
Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter: A Memoir 3.71 avg rating — 1,937 ratings
25.
Alcatraz Kid: A frank description by an ancient warrior about his teenage days on Alcatraz Island during the last years of the Army occupation on Alcatraz.
Alcatraz Kid: A frank description by an ancient warrior about his teenage days on Alcatraz Island during the last years of the Army occupation on Alcatraz. 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
31.
Chameleon Days: An American Boyhood in Ethiopia
Chameleon Days: An American Boyhood in Ethiopia 3.57 avg rating — 139 ratings
31.
Lamb Of Legacy
Lamb Of Legacy 4.53 avg rating — 17 ratings
31.
Memories of My Ghost Brother
Memories of My Ghost Brother 3.73 avg rating — 142 ratings
31.
June Bug
June Bug 4.18 avg rating — 5,095 ratings
31.
When Grownups Play At War
When Grownups Play At War 3.66 avg rating — 65 ratings
36.
Where All Light Tends to Go
Where All Light Tends to Go
by: David Joy
3.78 avg rating — 10,061 ratings
36.
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman 3.50 avg rating — 6,183 ratings
36.
Stillways: A Memoir
Stillways: A Memoir 3.88 avg rating — 128 ratings
36.
Travel Light, Move Fast
Travel Light, Move Fast 4.04 avg rating — 2,319 ratings
36.
A Red Boyhood: Growing Up Under Stalin (Volume 1)
A Red Boyhood: Growing Up Under Stalin (Volume 1) 3.89 avg rating — 46 ratings
36.
Prairie Tale
Prairie Tale 3.62 avg rating — 8,613 ratings
42.
1185 Park Avenue: A Memoir
1185 Park Avenue: A Memoir 3.62 avg rating — 299 ratings
42.
The Flood Girls: A Book Club Recommendation!
The Flood Girls: A Book Club Recommendation! 3.62 avg rating — 5,651 ratings
42.
Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing
Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing 4.10 avg rating — 511 ratings
42.
Coreyography
Coreyography 3.88 avg rating — 6,860 ratings
42.
No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War
No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War 3.93 avg rating — 1,828 ratings
47.
A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me: A Memoir
A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me: A Memoir 4.04 avg rating — 1,415 ratings
47.
The Ryer Avenue Story
The Ryer Avenue Story 4.04 avg rating — 114 ratings
47.
Life As I Know It
Life As I Know It 4.12 avg rating — 382 ratings
47.
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley 3.88 avg rating — 17,432 ratings
47.
One Mississippi
One Mississippi 3.71 avg rating — 4,667 ratings
52.
My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1)
My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1) 4.05 avg rating — 435,602 ratings
52.
Winter's Bone
Winter's Bone 3.86 avg rating — 38,156 ratings
52.
The Animators
The Animators 3.97 avg rating — 12,396 ratings
52.
Where the Crawdads Sing
Where the Crawdads Sing 4.37 avg rating — 3,479,435 ratings
56.
Epilogue: A Memoir
Epilogue: A Memoir 3.67 avg rating — 704 ratings
56.
Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1)
Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1) 4.31 avg rating — 1,449,770 ratings
56.
Blood Feud: The Hatfields And The Mccoys: The Epic Story Of Murder And Vengeance
Blood Feud: The Hatfields And The Mccoys: The Epic Story Of Murder And Vengeance 3.36 avg rating — 1,224 ratings
56.
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt 3.96 avg rating — 86,779 ratings
60.
Fault Lines
Fault Lines 3.86 avg rating — 28 ratings
60.
Not Taco Bell Material
Not Taco Bell Material 3.76 avg rating — 5,816 ratings
60.
The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, #1)
The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, #1) 4.09 avg rating — 224,655 ratings
60.
The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees 4.10 avg rating — 1,337,527 ratings
64.
How to Catch a Frog: And Other Stories of Family, Love, Dysfunction, Survival, and DIY
How to Catch a Frog: And Other Stories of Family, Love, Dysfunction, Survival, and DIY 4.12 avg rating — 484 ratings
64.
The Ransom of Red Chief
The Ransom of Red Chief
by: O. Henry
4.15 avg rating — 6,648 ratings
64.
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Whistling Past the Graveyard 4.10 avg rating — 42,505 ratings
67.
The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery
The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery 3.45 avg rating — 5,714 ratings
67.
Why I Left the Amish
Why I Left the Amish 3.49 avg rating — 588 ratings
67.
All Souls
All Souls 4.09 avg rating — 13,651 ratings
67.
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes 4.13 avg rating — 57,160 ratings
71.
Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2)
Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2) 4.13 avg rating — 286,788 ratings
71.
In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks . . . And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy
In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks . . . And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy 3.72 avg rating — 9,238 ratings
71.
Girl in Translation
Girl in Translation
by: Jean Kwok
3.99 avg rating — 58,179 ratings
74.
Long Walk to Freedom
Long Walk to Freedom 4.36 avg rating — 92,326 ratings
74.
The Joy Luck Club
The Joy Luck Club
by: Amy Tan
3.97 avg rating — 703,417 ratings
74.
Pretending to Dance
Pretending to Dance 4.03 avg rating — 23,837 ratings
77.
The Shining (The Shining, #1)
The Shining (The Shining, #1) 4.28 avg rating — 1,650,441 ratings
77.
The Book of Polly
The Book of Polly 4.04 avg rating — 8,461 ratings
79.
And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran: Blind Hero of the French Resistance
And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran: Blind Hero of the French Resistance 4.21 avg rating — 2,500 ratings
79.
The Song of the Jade Lily
The Song of the Jade Lily 4.16 avg rating — 9,314 ratings
81.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe 4.28 avg rating — 321,382 ratings
81.
The Color of Our Sky
The Color of Our Sky 4.24 avg rating — 12,284 ratings
83.
God Help the Child
God Help the Child 3.78 avg rating — 31,721 ratings
83.
The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico
The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico 3.35 avg rating — 606 ratings
85.
The Kindness of Strangers
The Kindness of Strangers 4.04 avg rating — 14,051 ratings
86.
The Roanoke Girls
The Roanoke Girls
by: Amy Engel
3.72 avg rating — 34,001 ratings
86.
Finding Me
Finding Me 4.08 avg rating — 1,019 ratings
88.
Saturday's Child: A Memoir
Saturday's Child: A Memoir 4.29 avg rating — 28 ratings
88.
Into the Free (Into the Free, #1)
Into the Free (Into the Free, #1) 3.95 avg rating — 7,090 ratings
90.
MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson
MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson 3.88 avg rating — 268 ratings
90.
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Fruit of the Drunken Tree 3.95 avg rating — 19,350 ratings
92.
Two If By Sea
Two If By Sea 3.37 avg rating — 4,009 ratings
92.
Next Year in Havana (The Perez Family, #1)
Next Year in Havana (The Perez Family, #1) 3.93 avg rating — 144,885 ratings
94.
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things 3.98 avg rating — 197,144 ratings
94.
Madame Bovary's Daughter
Madame Bovary's Daughter 3.58 avg rating — 485 ratings
96.
The Goldfinch
The Goldfinch 3.96 avg rating — 1,010,562 ratings
96.
The Myth of Perpetual Summer
The Myth of Perpetual Summer 3.96 avg rating — 3,404 ratings
98.
Between, Georgia
Between, Georgia 3.88 avg rating — 16,125 ratings
98.
The Promise Between Us
The Promise Between Us 4.09 avg rating — 2,067 ratings
100.
Cloudsplitter
Cloudsplitter 3.93 avg rating — 5,097 ratings
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