25 Best Memoirs of All Time Make You Laugh, Cry and Think

In this genre-bending book that plays with time, place and form to depict the unique horrors of an abusive relationship, Carmen Maria Machado reimagines what a memoir can be. It will break your brain and heart open, in the best way.

Get to know Tara Westover as she leaves her survivalist family in Idaho and sets off on a journey that leads her to earn a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. The reception to the book, and what it says about the gulf between educated and uneducated people in the United States, earned Westover a spot on Times list of the Most Influential People of 2019. 

National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward grapples with losing five men in her life in the span of five years, and with it, the way racism and poverty put a target on their backs. This book reveals the intersection of class and race in an unblinking story that's lyrical, richly visual and hugely important.  

RELATED: 25 Books By Black Authors to Add to Your Reading List

Even if you think you know all there is to know about Michelle Obama from her eight-year tenure as First Lady of the United States, there's so much more left to discover. From her upbringing on Chicago's South Side to her triumphs and disappointments in the White House, Becoming offers a deeply personal look at Obama's life. 

RELATED: Michelle Obama on Facing Criticism, Life After the White House, and Advice for Meghan Markle

With a volatile mother, distant and hard-drinking father, and scrappy sister, Mary Karr's childhood in a small Texas oil town is by turns funny, sad and terribly poignant. It's as frank as it is moving in vivid prose that almost singlehandedly revived the memoir trend in the early 2000s. 

Paul Kalanithi didn't set out to become a writer — in fact, he was a doctor with more than a decade of training as a neurosurgeon, until he was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. After switching from doctor to patient, he wrote a memoir to examine what makes life worth living. 

When she was 15, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school because she spoke out about Taliban rule. Not only did she survive, she went on to become one of the leading voices of our time, and a symbol of how one person can change the world. 

In a book that explores his relationship with his family, body, sexuality, gambling and American culture as a whole, Kiese Laymon exposes the underbelly of our society and doesn't flinch. It asks us to consider who among us is really free and why we're all so afraid of it.

What happens when you cast off the person the world has always told you to be and start living life on your own terms? That's what this empowering, inspiring memoir explores. It will awaken that little voice inside all of us that asks, "Is this it?" 

This collection of essays about the comedian's life as a former star of The Upright Citizens Brigade, Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation also contains lots of useful real-world wisdom. It's as funny as you would expect, and far more practical than you might think. 

In this intimate and direct collection, we learn what it's like to live with mental and physical illness in an entirely new way. Wang writes about her experience with a clear, analytical eye that ranges from her deeply personal journey of psychosis to the institutional failures of the education and hospital system. 

Before it became a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Cheryl Strayed's memoir made bestseller lists for its deeply emotive portrayal of a woman who had lost herself to grief, but found herself again on a grueling solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Some parts are not for the squeamish, but it's all worth a read.

Every woman who's been told she can't rise to the top should read this laugh-out-loud, unexpectedly instructive memoir from 30 Rock creator Tina Fey. Her series of essays about her journey from her nerdy beginnings to her time leading the Saturday Night Live writing staff (and beyond)  give hope to all of us nerdy folk. 

This memoir is so popular, it's basically a meme. You may already know the basics of Elizabeth Gilbert's journey through Italy, India and Indonesia to recover her sense of self, but this book that more or less introduced us to the idea of self-care trend is still worth your time. 

RELATED: What Is Self-Care?

In gorgeous language and storytelling that won't let you go, Jeannette Walls brings readers along on her unconventional and nomadic upbringing being raised by nonconformist and often neglectful parents. It's not an easy read at times, but will stay with you for a long time.

Grab the tissues and your pup before you crack open this book about a naughty dog who wriggled his way into his owner's heart. This book will take you through an emotional journey that will make you want to snuggle your own furry friend all the way through. 

RELATED: These Are the Top 10 Smartest Dog Breeds, According to Experts

Anyone who really believes that all you have to do to get ahead is to work hard and pull yourself up by your bootstraps needs to read this seminal memoir ASAP. It's an eye-opening story of a single mom who's doing her best and still falling short, thanks to social forces beyond her control. 

David Sedaris's stories about living in Europe, trying to learn a new language, and the general shenanigans he gets into are so funny, you might not want to read it in public. Tip: Check it out on audiobook, and you can hear recordings of Sedaris reading to an audience in his distinctive style. 

RELATED: The Best Audiobooks to Break Out During Your Next Long Trip

Writer Mitch Albom's recounting of his weekly visits to an old college professor in the last months of the teacher's life drive home the importance of listening to the wisdom of our elders. Give this one to your high schoolers for a lesson that will stick with them forever. 

Frank McCourt borrows from Tolstoy when he says he had, "of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while." His memoir takes readers from from Depression-era Brooklyn to the slums of Limerick, Ireland, in a gut-wrenching story of survival that still manages to convey glimmers of humor and hope.