The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years

1.
The Year of Magical Thinking
The Year of Magical Thinking 3.93 avg rating — 284,960 ratings
2.
Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration
Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration 4.48 avg rating — 4,363 ratings
3.
Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me 4.40 avg rating — 357,391 ratings
4.
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1) 4.15 avg rating — 650,953 ratings
5.
Life
Life 3.89 avg rating — 97,137 ratings
6.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic 4.08 avg rating — 197,140 ratings
7.
Conundrum
Conundrum 3.90 avg rating — 2,167 ratings
8.
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? 4.01 avg rating — 45,373 ratings
9.
H is for Hawk
H is for Hawk 3.74 avg rating — 78,922 ratings
10.
Wave
Wave 3.79 avg rating — 22,484 ratings
11.
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts 3.73 avg rating — 33,276 ratings
12.
My Lives
My Lives 3.78 avg rating — 515 ratings
13.
A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950
A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950 3.68 avg rating — 84 ratings
14.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches 4.41 avg rating — 1,678 ratings
15.
The Memory Chalet
The Memory Chalet
by: Tony Judt
4.13 avg rating — 2,188 ratings
16.
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life 4.27 avg rating — 37,922 ratings
17.
Personal History: A Memoir
Personal History: A Memoir 4.09 avg rating — 24,450 ratings
18.
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Men We Reaped: A Memoir 4.30 avg rating — 27,666 ratings
19.
Palimpsest
Palimpsest 4.01 avg rating — 2,024 ratings
20.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance 3.94 avg rating — 229,609 ratings
21.
A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother
A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother 3.94 avg rating — 6,883 ratings
22.
Boyhood (Scenes from Provincial Life #1)
Boyhood (Scenes from Provincial Life #1) 3.77 avg rating — 5,847 ratings
22.
Negroland
Negroland 3.62 avg rating — 7,832 ratings
22.
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys 4.28 avg rating — 13,075 ratings
25.
Unreliable Memoirs
Unreliable Memoirs 3.87 avg rating — 4,224 ratings
26.
Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets
Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets 3.76 avg rating — 800 ratings
27.
Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A.
Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A. 4.09 avg rating — 25,194 ratings
27.
Patrimony
Patrimony 4.21 avg rating — 6,017 ratings
29.
Fierce Attachments
Fierce Attachments 4.04 avg rating — 18,556 ratings
30.
It's a Long Story: My Life
It's a Long Story: My Life 4.13 avg rating — 9,724 ratings
30.
Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage 4.60 avg rating — 537 ratings
32.
The Yellow House
The Yellow House 3.89 avg rating — 25,003 ratings
33.
They Called Us Enemy
They Called Us Enemy 4.42 avg rating — 50,173 ratings
34.
The Color of Water
The Color of Water 4.15 avg rating — 131,556 ratings
35.
Priestdaddy
Priestdaddy 3.86 avg rating — 25,273 ratings
36.
Heavy
Heavy 4.47 avg rating — 43,661 ratings
37.
Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir
Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir 4.07 avg rating — 2,830 ratings
38.
Dancing With Cuba
Dancing With Cuba 3.61 avg rating — 484 ratings
39.
Autobiography of a Face
Autobiography of a Face 3.97 avg rating — 29,612 ratings
40.
Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism
Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism 4.10 avg rating — 16,787 ratings
41.
Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir
Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir 3.73 avg rating — 2,381 ratings
42.
Giving Up the Ghost
Giving Up the Ghost 3.95 avg rating — 4,822 ratings
43.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis, #1)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis, #1) 4.27 avg rating — 224,931 ratings
44.
A Childhood: The Biography of a Place
A Childhood: The Biography of a Place 4.35 avg rating — 2,816 ratings
45.
All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw
All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw 4.22 avg rating — 489 ratings
46.
Lives Other than My Own: A Memoir
Lives Other than My Own: A Memoir 4.10 avg rating — 10,569 ratings
47.
A Tale of Love and Darkness
A Tale of Love and Darkness
by: Amos Oz
4.23 avg rating — 12,546 ratings
48.
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs 4.07 avg rating — 8,085 ratings
49.
Country Girl
Country Girl 3.51 avg rating — 2,355 ratings
50.
Experience
Experience 3.90 avg rating — 4,012 ratings
51.
Hitch 22: A Memoir
Hitch 22: A Memoir 4.02 avg rating — 22,232 ratings
52.
Growing Up
Growing Up 4.10 avg rating — 7,495 ratings
53.
This Boy's Life
This Boy's Life 3.97 avg rating — 30,188 ratings
54.
The Liars' Club
The Liars' Club
by: Mary Karr
3.94 avg rating — 71,039 ratings