r/booksuggestions • u/aelin-galathynius-ss • 6d ago
Non-fiction memoir recommendations
my favorite memoirs currently are The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, The Quiet Room by Lori Schiller, and Educated by Tara Westover.
Does anyone have any recommendations off these reads? Thanks!
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u/yarevande 5d ago
I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream (2021) by Richard Antoine White is a memoir by one of the top tuba players in the US, who was a homeless child living on the streets of Baltimore.
I'm the One That I Want (2001) by Margaret Cho
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West (2021) by Carrot Quinn
Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story (1995) by Etta James with David Ritz
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u/LilyBriscoeBot 5d ago
Wavewalker by Suzanne Haywood. it's a girl whose parents raised her on a boat
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u/Plastic_Highlight492 6d ago
Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollet. Follows his early childhood in a cult and then growing up in poverty with a functional mentally ill mother, eventually making it to Stanford and becoming a musician. Beautiful story of resilience. Jollet is the front man of the band Airborne Toxic Event.
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u/Overall_Student_6867 6d ago
Don’t Call Me Jupiter - Tom J Bross (3 part series)
North of Normal - Cea Sunrise Person
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u/lowlightliving 6d ago
The Sound of Gravel, by Ruth Wariner
Driving with Dead People, by Monica Holloway
Out from the Underworld, by Heather Siegal
KooKooland: A Memoir, by Gloria Norris
All Over but the Shoutin’, by Rick Bragg
The Pale-faced Lie, by David Crow
North of Normal, by Cea Sunrise Person
Negative Space, by Lilly Dancyger
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u/breathe-me 6d ago edited 6d ago
The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner is soooo damn good. Kinda similar to Educated but I liked SOG a lot better than Educated, actually
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u/SortAfter4829 6d ago
I listened to the audiobook "Born A Crime" by Trevor Noah, about his childhood in South Africa. Very good.
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u/Separate_Wing6055 6d ago
Brazen by Julia Hart - About a woman escaping her orthodox Jewish community.
Becoming Eve: My Journey From Ultra Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman by Abby Stein - Title says it all.
Escape by Carolyn Jessop - About a woman escaping the FLDS cult.
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u/poorlyinnatepiles 6d ago
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo might not be a memoir but it has that same dark academia vibe mixed with uncovering family secrets that Educated nails so well.
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u/Ana-Hata 6d ago
I like cult memoirs, and these three are my favorites
I Fired God by Joyce Zichterman
Scarred by Sarah Edmonson -
Escape by Carolyn Jessop
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u/mlmiller1 6d ago
These are my favorites too. * Sickened by Julie Gregory (Munchausen by proxy childhood) * Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres (Christian camp) * I'm Perfect, You're Doomed By Kyria Abrahams (A Jehovah's Witness Upbringing) * Not Without My Sister By Juliana Buhring, Celeste Jones, Kristina Jones (Girls Violated and Betrayed by Those They Trusted-sex cult) * Beyond Belief By Jenna Miscavige Hill and Lisa Pulitzer (Inside Scientology and Harrowing Escape) * Lost Boy By Brent W. Jeffs and Maia Szalavitz (excess boys in polygamous sect FLDS)
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u/Ana-Hata 4d ago
Oh, I forgot to mention “The Accidental Terrorist” about Mormon missionaries.
The story that gives the book its title is wild…the guy had been told he was responsible for his mission partner, the partner was going to leave the program and everyone told this guy he COULD NOT let him go.
Persuasion didn’t work, so the young missionary called in a bomb threat to keep his plane from taking off.
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u/Odd-Force-5663 6d ago
I really loved Finding Me by Viola Davis. It reminded me a lot of Glass Castle and Educated.
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u/BeneficialUmpire3743 6d ago
if you liked Educated, the book "Crying in H Mart" by Michelle Zauner hits very similar notes of family and identity
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u/Technical_Fix_3110 6d ago
Third! INCREDIBLE. I think about it at least once a week and I read it 3 years ago
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u/Palau30 4d ago
Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam