General Question

mayratapia_'s avatar

A good book in the memoir genre?

Asked by mayratapia_ (371points) August 3rd, 2010 from iPhone

Reading and I have never really gotten along until I read, Go Ask Alice, which I believe is a memoir. What are books that you would recommend in the memoir genre? Other books I have read and was interested in would be One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest and The Catcher in the Rye (I don’t quite know what genre they are in, but I loved them). Thanks.

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13 Answers

kenmc's avatar

Go Ask Alice was a fiction piece.

Anything by Charles Bukowski except for Pulp. Post Office is the best one from him I’ve read so far.

mayratapia_'s avatar

@boots, thanks for catching that. I will definatly look into the author &his books(:

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

Running with Scissors is a memoir, and it is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s by Augusten Burroughs.

kenmc's avatar

Yes, like @hawaii_jake said, Running With Scissors is a great book.

Buttonstc's avatar

Eat, Pray, Love.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a very engaging author. This memoir details the aftermath to her divorce in which she traveled and spent time traveling to Italy, and Sri Lanka among others.

Not just a travelogue but a tramsformative life journey.

Jeruba's avatar

Do you really mean a memoir?—a factual narrative about some part of a real person’s life, written by that person? It seems to me that you are talking about novels (fiction) written in the first person (that is, with the main character speaking as the “I” of the story).

absalom's avatar

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I haven’t met anyone who’s disliked it.

lapilofu's avatar

Ooh, I like memoirs a lot.

Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is a heartbreaking account of life after the death of a loved one.

Jon Katz’s Geeks is not a memoir, but it is a narrative work of non-fiction that I find inspirational—a story of two geeks in small town USA trying to get out.

Susan Casey’s The Devil’s Teeth is about spending time living on an island with shark researchers—it’s a great book for anyone who dreams of adventure.

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is a graphic (as in illustrated, as in comics) memoir of her relationship with her father the funeral home director, as well as a growing-up story with some sexual identity stuff mixed in there.

@absalom I was actually quite bored by the beginning of that book, but I think I didn’t give it a long enough chance. I’ll have to give it another shot.

SufiClown's avatar

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad (not really a memoir but narrative is in first person)
Outside my Comfort Zone – Steve Waugh

GeorgeGee's avatar

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

aprilsimnel's avatar

Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges

I like that guy.

ParaParaYukiko's avatar

West with the Night by Beryl Markham. That woman is so amazing.

SmoothEmeraldOasis's avatar

You all have wonderful suggestions and comments, I thank you for giving me good read ideas.

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