Fifty Favorite Memoirs

Several rules: (1) I have listed these books in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, rather than in order of preference—though I’ve marked my ten very favorites with an asterisk. (2) I’ve chosen no more than one book per author. (3) Most of these books were marketed as either memoirs or autobiographies, but I’ve included a few essay collections, graphic novels, and works of cultural criticism if I thought they contained enough autobiographical material to justify it. (4) Because I was in danger of overpopulating this list with (very good) books by former students of mine, I struck them from consideration.    —Kevin Brockmeier, August 1, 2021

 

  1. The Afterlife: A Memoir by Donald Antrim

  2. The Child Poet by Homero Aridjis

  3. I See By My Outfit by Peter S. Beagle

  4. The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard

  5. Suburban Gospel: A Memoir by Mark Beaver

  6. And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos by John Berger

  7. Proxies: Essays Near Knowing by Brian Blanchfield

  8. I Remember by Joe Brainard

  9. This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost by Carolyn S. Briggs

  10. Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings by Italo Calvino

  11. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee

  12. Boy Erased: A Memoir by Garrard Conley

  13. Stop-Time: A Memoir by Frank Conroy

  14. A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk

  15. The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, 1957-1965 by Samuel R. Delany

  16. Broken Vessels: Essays by Andre Dubus

  17. Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D. H. Lawrence by Geoff Dyer

  18. Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets by Lars Eighner

  19. The Unexpected Universe by Loren Eiseley (*)

  20. Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason by Gina Frangello

  21. Little Labors by Rivka Galchen

  22. Seasonal Associate by Heike Geissler

  23. Bough Down by Karen Green

  24. Mentor: A Memoir by Tom Grimes

  25. Madeleine’s World: A Child’s Journey from Birth to Age Three by Brian Hall (*)

  26. A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke (*)

  27. The Courage of Turtles by Edward Hoagland

  28. All My Cats by Bohumil Hrabal (*)

  29. I Will Not Leave You Comfortless: A Memoir by Jeremy Jackson (*)

  30. Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob

  31. Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land by Toni Jensen

  32. Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo by Philippe Lançon

  33. The Two Kinds of Decay: A Memoir by Sarah Manguso (*)

  34. An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir by Elizabeth McCracken

  35. Predator: A Memoir, a Movie, an Obsession by Ander Monson

  36. Essays by Michel de Montaigne (*)

  37. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

  38. Never in a Hurry: Essays on People and Places by Naomi Shihab Nye

  39. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell

  40. I’ve Heard the Vultures Singing: Field Notes on Poetry, Illness, and Nature by Lucia Perillo (*)

  41. I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son by Kent Russell

  42. Argyll: A Memoir by Theodore Sturgeon (*)

  43. Smile by Raina Telgemeier

  44. Blankets by Craig Thompson

  45. Confession by Leo Tolstoy (*)

  46. Picture Cycle by Masha Tupitsyn

  47. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace

  48. Waiting for God by Simone Weil

  49. Exile in Guyville: How a Punk Rock Faggot Texan Moved to West Hollywood and Refused to Be Shiny and Happy by Dave White

  50. My Bright Abyss: Meditations of a Modern Believer by Christian Wiman


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