Memoir

As a literary genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning "memory", or a reminiscence), forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir.

Memoirs are structured differently from formal autobiographies which tend to encompass the writer's entire life span, focusing on the development of his/her personality. The chronological scope of memoir is determined by the work's context and is
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Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter: A Memoir From the Child of a Mail-Order Bride
Swan Song: Diana, My Sister
Receipts from the Bookshop: A Bookseller's Year in an English Seaside Town
The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia
Never Say Die
An Unexpected Life: A Memoir
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Breakfast for Dinner
I Think My Therapist Hates Me: A Memoir
Mexikid Dreams: A Graphic Memoir
Becoming the Ocean
A Bigger Life
In the Realm of the Last Man
I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie: A Memoir
Autumn: The Story of a Season
  • You Are What You See by Doménica Feraud
    You Are What You See: How My Favorite Shows Became My Worst Influences

    Release date: Oct 13, 2026
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  • Ugly Dumpling by Elaine Hsieh Yu
    Ugly Dumpling: A Memoir
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    Release date: Mar 16, 2027
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  • I Don't Want to Wait by Kerr Smith
    I Don't Want to Wait: My Life on Dawson's Creek

    Release date: Nov 10, 2026
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  • Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
    I'm Glad My Mom Died
    This Is Me: A Reckoning
    Famesick
    Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships
    Swan Song: Diana, My Sister
    Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
    Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
    Crying in H Mart
    The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom
    Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
    You With the Sad Eyes
    The Woman in Me
    The Land and Its People
    A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy
    The Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankAn Accidental Philanthropist by Winsome Dunn McIntoshAngela's Ashes by Frank McCourtNight by Elie Wiesel
    Favorite Memoirs/Autobiographies
    2,324 books — 2,620 voters
    John Adams by David McCulloughThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer1776 by David McCulloughThe Guns of August by Barbara W. TuchmanTeam of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
    Best History Books
    4,118 books — 4,741 voters

    The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertPersepolis by Marjane Satrapi
    Memoirs by Women
    3,497 books — 3,960 voters
    John Adams by David McCullough1776 by David McCulloughTeam of Rivals by Doris Kearns GoodwinA People’s History of the United States by Howard ZinnBury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
    Best American History Books
    2,330 books — 3,136 voters

    Steve Jobs by Walter IsaacsonUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandEinstein by Walter IsaacsonInto the Wild by Jon KrakauerJohn Adams by David McCullough
    Best Biographies
    1,843 books — 3,282 voters

    Educated
    I'm Glad My Mom Died
    The Glass Castle
    Crying in H Mart
    Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
    Becoming
    When Breath Becomes Air
    Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
    Bossypants
    The Diary of a Young Girl
    Night
    Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
    The Year of Magical Thinking
    Know My Name

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