Book Riot's 100 Must-Read Memoirs

1.
Night
Night 4.38 avg rating — 1,334,208 ratings
2.
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle 4.32 avg rating — 1,325,633 ratings
3.
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 — 568,944 ratings
4.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail 4.07 avg rating — 850,479 ratings
5.
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1) 4.15 avg rating — 650,953 ratings
6.
Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me 4.40 avg rating — 357,391 ratings
7.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft 4.34 avg rating — 310,122 ratings
8.
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Me Talk Pretty One Day 4.01 avg rating — 714,087 ratings
9.
Just Mercy
Just Mercy 4.63 avg rating — 254,492 ratings
10.
The Year of Magical Thinking
The Year of Magical Thinking 3.93 avg rating — 284,961 ratings
11.
Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted 3.94 avg rating — 269,403 ratings
12.
Eat, Pray, Love
Eat, Pray, Love 3.64 avg rating — 1,819,804 ratings
13.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly 4.18 avg rating — 359,851 ratings
14.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life 4.05 avg rating — 112,354 ratings
15.
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance 3.94 avg rating — 229,610 ratings
16.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 4.16 avg rating — 192,415 ratings
17.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? 3.86 avg rating — 509,679 ratings
18.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban 4.16 avg rating — 612,699 ratings
19.
When Breath Becomes Air
When Breath Becomes Air 4.41 avg rating — 767,250 ratings
20.
Out of Africa
Out of Africa 3.91 avg rating — 46,908 ratings
21.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 3.69 avg rating — 182,715 ratings
22.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir 3.90 avg rating — 198,658 ratings
23.
Orange Is the New Black
Orange Is the New Black 3.72 avg rating — 204,763 ratings
24.
West with the Night
West with the Night 4.15 avg rating — 40,231 ratings
25.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory 4.22 avg rating — 104,622 ratings
26.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China 4.30 avg rating — 120,284 ratings
27.
H is for Hawk
H is for Hawk 3.74 avg rating — 78,922 ratings
28.
I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman 3.74 avg rating — 84,670 ratings
29.
Just Kids
Just Kids 4.21 avg rating — 333,664 ratings
30.
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Men We Reaped: A Memoir 4.30 avg rating — 27,666 ratings
31.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness 4.09 avg rating — 233,262 ratings
32.
The Liars' Club
The Liars' Club
by: Mary Karr
3.94 avg rating — 71,039 ratings
33.
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise 3.94 avg rating — 47,448 ratings
34.
Lucky
Lucky 3.77 avg rating — 101,359 ratings
35.
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 — 56,655 ratings
36.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope 4.07 avg rating — 31,874 ratings
37.
Falling Leaves
Falling Leaves 3.91 avg rating — 28,925 ratings
38.
This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone
This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone 3.75 avg rating — 2,961 ratings
39.
It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War
It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War 4.34 avg rating — 13,217 ratings
40.
Negroland
Negroland 3.62 avg rating — 7,832 ratings
41.
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? 4.01 avg rating — 45,373 ratings
42.
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books 3.66 avg rating — 138,465 ratings
43.
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
44.
Long Walk to Freedom
Long Walk to Freedom 4.36 avg rating — 92,322 ratings
45.
She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders
She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders 3.97 avg rating — 12,943 ratings
46.
Dry
Dry 4.03 avg rating — 97,574 ratings
47.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running 3.87 avg rating — 193,993 ratings
47.
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home 3.19 avg rating — 32,481 ratings
49.
Making Toast
Making Toast 3.65 avg rating — 5,268 ratings
50.
Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef 3.77 avg rating — 36,936 ratings
51.
The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir
The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir 4.07 avg rating — 5,827 ratings
51.
Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality
Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality 3.58 avg rating — 22,947 ratings
53.
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
by: Suki Kim
3.93 avg rating — 21,798 ratings
54.
Poor Your Soul
Poor Your Soul 4.04 avg rating — 624 ratings
55.
My Life on the Road
My Life on the Road 4.07 avg rating — 36,280 ratings
56.
Dust Tracks on a Road
Dust Tracks on a Road 4.11 avg rating — 8,197 ratings
57.
Conundrum
Conundrum 3.90 avg rating — 2,167 ratings
58.
Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of a Young Black Girl in the Rural South
Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of a Young Black Girl in the Rural South 4.13 avg rating — 11,515 ratings
59.
Autobiography of a Face
Autobiography of a Face 3.97 avg rating — 29,612 ratings
60.
The Color of Water
The Color of Water 4.15 avg rating — 131,556 ratings
61.
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget 4.04 avg rating — 22,968 ratings
62.
Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir
Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir 3.61 avg rating — 11,800 ratings
63.
Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran
Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran 3.70 avg rating — 4,726 ratings
64.
I'm Down
I'm Down 3.69 avg rating — 7,331 ratings
65.
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness 4.32 avg rating — 22,257 ratings
66.
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
by: Loung Ung
4.35 avg rating — 52,424 ratings
67.
One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life - A Story of Race and Family Secrets
One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life - A Story of Race and Family Secrets 3.68 avg rating — 1,751 ratings
68.
Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin
Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin 3.39 avg rating — 3,880 ratings
69.
Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship
Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship 3.96 avg rating — 12,229 ratings
70.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death 3.98 avg rating — 76,136 ratings
71.
House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East 3.63 avg rating — 2,539 ratings
72.
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading 3.48 avg rating — 7,281 ratings
73.
Hiroshima in the Morning
Hiroshima in the Morning 3.26 avg rating — 347 ratings
74.
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats 4.06 avg rating — 4,497 ratings
75.
Devotion
Devotion 3.89 avg rating — 3,838 ratings
75.
Life Itself
Life Itself 3.92 avg rating — 6,630 ratings
77.
The Long Goodbye
The Long Goodbye 3.97 avg rating — 3,724 ratings
78.
What It is Like to Go to War
What It is Like to Go to War 4.01 avg rating — 9,708 ratings
79.
One Hundred Names for Love: A Memoir
One Hundred Names for Love: A Memoir 3.85 avg rating — 1,777 ratings
80.
Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Fire Shut Up in My Bones 4.01 avg rating — 4,779 ratings
81.
Do You Dream in Color?: Insights from a Girl Without Sight
Do You Dream in Color?: Insights from a Girl Without Sight 3.78 avg rating — 187 ratings
82.
Paper Lion
Paper Lion 3.97 avg rating — 5,811 ratings
82.
Coming Clean
Coming Clean 3.96 avg rating — 34,886 ratings
84.
Prairie Silence: A Memoir
Prairie Silence: A Memoir 3.86 avg rating — 501 ratings
85.
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth 4.17 avg rating — 61,768 ratings
86.
Dreaming: Hard Luck And Good Times In America
Dreaming: Hard Luck And Good Times In America 3.89 avg rating — 209 ratings
87.
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs 4.07 avg rating — 8,085 ratings
88.
All Who Go Do Not Return
All Who Go Do Not Return 4.29 avg rating — 6,298 ratings
89.
Jesus Land: A Memoir
Jesus Land: A Memoir 3.97 avg rating — 19,432 ratings
90.
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School 3.69 avg rating — 10,587 ratings
91.
Look Me in the Eye
Look Me in the Eye 3.92 avg rating — 69,100 ratings
92.
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts 3.88 avg rating — 8,467 ratings
93.
Lonely: A Memoir
Lonely: A Memoir 3.42 avg rating — 764 ratings
94.
Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America
Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America
by: Jeff Chu
4.18 avg rating — 1,521 ratings
95.
Out with It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice
Out with It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice 4.01 avg rating — 543 ratings
96.
Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage
Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage 3.69 avg rating — 7,861 ratings
97.
The Lonely War
The Lonely War 4.22 avg rating — 340 ratings
98.
Daring: My Passages
Daring: My Passages 3.91 avg rating — 569 ratings
99.
Girl in a Band
Girl in a Band 3.67 avg rating — 31,031 ratings
100.
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl 3.83 avg rating — 36,214 ratings