Read These Memoirs!
There are so many memoirs to read, and books that help us learn how to write. This is the list of the classic books that I read as I began my memoir journey, and of course so many more books have come out. But here is a great list to choose from. I’ll post some of my favorites along the way–some of my favorites have * next to them.
Enjoy reading!!
Adams, Kathleen The Write Way to Wellness; Journal to the Self
* Allende, Isabel Paula
* Allison, Dorothy Bastard Out of Carolina
* Angelou, Maya I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings & other works
Ball, Edward Slaves in the Family
Arenas, Reinaldo Before Night Falls
* Baker, Russell Growing Up
* Balakian, Peter Black Dog of Fate
*Barrington, Judith Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art; Lifesaving
Bateson, Catherine Composing a Life; Through a Daughter’s Eye
* Bragg, Rick All Over But the Shoutin’; Ava’s Man
Brande, Dorothea Becoming a Writer
Brautigan, Ianthe You Can’t Catch Death
Brittain, Vera Testament of Youth
Cameron, Julia The Artist’s Way
Chandler, Marilyn A Healing Art: Regeneration Through Autobiography
Chernin, Kim My Mother’s House & other works
Conroy, Frank Stop Time
Conway, Jill Kerr When Memory Speaks ; The Road from Coorain and other books
Day, Dorothy The Long Loneliness
DeBeauvoir, Simone Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter first of three parts
De Caro, Frank A Boy Named Phyllis
De Salvo, Louise Writing as a Way of Healing
Eggers, David A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Elbow Peter Writing with Power; Writing Without Teachers
*Fox, John Poetic Medicine
Fremont, Helen After Long Silence
Gebler, Carlo My Father and I
Gates, Henry Louis Colored People
* Gilmore, Mikal Shot in the Heart
Goldberg, Natalie Writing Down the Bones etc.
Gordon, Mary Shadow Man
Gornick, Vivian Fierce Attachments
* Harrison, Kathryn The Kiss
Heilbrun, Carolyn Writing a Woman’s Life
* Hoffman, Eva Lost in Translation
Hooks, bell Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work
Jamison, Kay An Unquiet Mind
Jung, Carl Memories, Dreams, Reflections
* Karr, Mary The Liar’s Club; Cherry; Lit
L’Engle, Madeleine The Summer of the Great-Grandmother
*Lamott, Anne Traveling Mercies; Bird by Bird
*Lauck, Jennifer Blackbird; Still Waters
Lawrence, T. E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Ledoux, Denis Turning Memories into Memoirs
MacDonald, Michael All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
Mason, Bobbie Ann Clear Springs
Mairs, Nancy Remembering the Bone House
Maynard, Isabelle China Dreams: Growing Up Jewish in Tientsin
Maynard, Joyce At Home in the World
McBride, James The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
McCarthy, Mary Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
McCourt, Frank Angela’s Ashes; Tis
Mead, Margaret Blackberry Winter
*Merton, Thomas Seven Story Mountain; Diaries and Journals
*Metzger, Deena Writing for Your Life
Myers, Linda Joy The Power of Memoir; Don’t Call Me Mother
Neruda, Pablo Memoirs
Norris, Kathleen Dakota: A Spiritual Geography; Cloister
Walk
* O’Faolin, Nuala Are You Somebody? My Dream of You
Oppenheimer, Deborah (Ed) Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
Pennebaker, James Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions
Perel, Solomon Europa, Europa
*Rainer, Tristine Your Life as Story; The New Diary
Reichl, Ruth Tender at the Bone
Rhodes, Richard A Hole in the World
Ryan, Terry The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio
Santos, John Phillip Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation
Sarton, May Journal of a Solitude; Plant Dreaming Deep etc
Scott-Maxwell, Florida The Measure of my Days
See, Carolyn Dreaming
Stegner, Wallace Wolf Willow
*Ueland, Brenda If You Want to Write
Weisel, Elie The Night Trilogy
Welty, Eudora One Writer’s Beginnings
Williams, Terry Tempest Leap; Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Wolff, Geoffrey The Duke of Deception
* Wolff, Tobias This Boy’s Life
*Woolf, Virginia Moments of Being; Letters