“Time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.”
Memoirs can be all manner of things, sometimes all at the same time. A journey through someone’s life, inspiration and empowerment for those looking for it, a striking commentary on issues faced by all of us, or comfort for those experiencing profound emotions – memoirs are intimate affairs, but also appeal to a vast audience. Narrowing down the best memoirs of all time is an impossible task, but we here at What We Reading thought we would pull together some of our favourites from the past few decades or so. Whether you’re looking to laugh, cry, or contemplate, you’ll find some incredible reads here.
Educated – Tara Westover
First up on our list of the best memoirs of all time, Tara Westover’s Educated was named The Goodreads Choice Award winner for Best Memoir & Autobiography back in 2018. This incredible story of grit and resilience became an instant global bestseller upon its release and remains one of the most empowering books about determination.
Having been born and raised by survivalists in the Idaho mountains, Tara had been expected to grow up as an obedient and unquestioning wife. Instead, despite facing incredible odds and gut-wrenching setbacks, she fought for an education and a life of her choosing. Educated is her account of the struggle for self-invention, of intense loyalty to her family and the grief that comes with severing ties with those closest to us.
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Hitch 22: A Memoir – Christopher Hitchens
One of the most enigmatic, fascinating, and missed commentators in recent years, Hitch 22 chronicles the life and times of Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great. From his upbringing in Portsmouth under his navy-man father, and his studies at Oxford to his career as a courageous and unpredictable writer in the United Kingdom and United States, this bestselling memoir demonstrates exactly how Hitchens was such a force to be reckoned with.
Hitchens demonstrates the seriousness with which he held things such as social justice, direct language, the free play of the mind, and the accountability of public figures should be held. However, Hitch 22 is also a vibrant book, filled with wit and charm, where his distinctive voice and fluent wordplay make for a fascinating read, regardless of how many of his opinions you agree with.
The Liars’ Club – Mary Karr
The Liars’ Club is the 1995 memoir by Mary Karr and, having been reissued a decade later is more than deserving of its place on a list of the best memoirs of all time. Inspiring countless other writers to tell their tales, Karr maps her upbringing in swampy East Texas under defiantly loving and volatile alcoholic parents.
At times funny and at times devastating, Karr’s raw and painfully honest memoir looks back at a life with her fist-swinging father and seven-times psychosis-fueled mother. The Liars’ Club is filled with candour, dry humour, and some of the most incredible demonstrations of courage imaginable as Karr refuses to leave any secrets in the shadows across this timeless memoir.
A Life’s Work: On Becoming A Mother – Rachel Cusk
Multi-award-winning author Rachel Cusk takes readers through a poignant and honest look at the life-changing wonders of motherhood in her 2001 memoir, A Life’s Work.
Selected as one of the best memoirs of the past fifty years by the New York Times, Cusk’s funny, moving, and brutally honest account of her early experiences with motherhood initially divided critics upon its release. Some claimed her children should be taken away from her, while Oprah famously invited her onto her show to defend herself. Yet, through the broken nights, bad advice, breastfeeding, and never being alone, this landmark has gone down as one of the most searingly honest accounts of all that goes into raising a baby.
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Beloved Strangers: A Memoir – Maria Chaudhuri
Beloved Strangers is the 2014 memoir and debut work by Maria Chaudhuri. In it, she chronicles her childhood in Bangladesh, her education in New England, and her pursuit of meaning and fulfilment sandwiched between two wildly different cultures.
From Dhaka to New York, this candid and moving memoir is a poetic exploration of moving away and up. Through her unforgettable recounts, readers are not only introduced to one of the most exciting new names from Bangladesh but also a new way of seeing why people leave their homes and sometimes find it difficult to return.
Dreams From My Father: A Story Of Race And Inheritance – Barack Obama
Published a year before his election to the Illinois Senate, Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father is a lyrical and compelling memoir of the search for meaning as the son of a black African father and white American mother.
Beginning with the revelation that his father has been killed in a car accident, Obama documents the emotional odyssey that led to a small town in Kansas where he traces the migration made by his mother’s family to Hawaii. He then takes readers to Kenya where he meets the African side of his family and uncovers the bitter truth about his father’s life. One of the best memoirs of all time, as well as one of the most powerful Presidential books ever written, Dreams from My Father, is essential reading for anyone looking to learn more about the fuel behind the US’s 44th President.
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic – Alison Bechdel
In this graphic, gothic, and darkly funny take on family life, Alison Bechdel takes readers through her fraught relationship with her late father.
Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family colloquially referred to as the ‘Fun Home’. By the time she had moved out for college, Alison had come out as a lesbian and her father had passed away. It was only then that it was revealed that her father too had been gay, opening the door to a series of mysteries and unanswered questions for her to attempt to solve. One of the best LGBT memoirs of all time, Fun Home evokes so many different emotions in a reader and inspired the 2019 Olivier Award-nominated musical of the same name.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
