33 Best Memoirs That Are Nothing Short of Inspiring

In Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming, the former First Lady of the United States chronicles her journey from growing up on the South Side of Chicago to her time in the White House. Obama shares personal stories about her childhood, education, career, motherhood, and experience as a First Lady.

This powerful and inspiring read offers insights into her challenges and triumphs, including moments from history that you may even remember. Her advocacy for education, health, and women’s rights is a major theme in her book and life. It’s a must-read for those interested in personal growth, resilience, and the life of one of the most influential women in recent times.

Drew Barrymore’s memoir, Wildflower, comprises personal essays in which the actress reflects on her unconventional upbringing, her career in Hollywood, and her journey to becoming a successful actress and mother. Through candid and heartfelt stories, she shares the lessons learned from her tumultuous childhood, early fame, and struggles with addiction.

Wildflower is an inspiring read for its honesty and resilience, offering an intimate glimpse into Drew’s life and evolution into the grounded and joyous adult we see today on her talk show.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle is a memoir that chronicles the author’s journey to find her true self. Doyle, a renowned speaker and activist, shares her experiences with personal struggles, including divorce and coming out. During the process, she learns to trust her inner voice.

It’s one of the best memoirs you can read because it challenges societal norms, encouraging readers to break free from expectations and live authentically just as Doyle did. With its powerful message of self-discovery and empowerment, “Untamed” is a compelling read for anyone looking to embrace their true identity and find liberation in their own lives.

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Sociopath: A Memoir by self-identified Patric Gagne takes a deep dive into the author’s life as he navigates the complexities of living with antisocial personality disorder. Gagne, now a writer and mental health advocate, offers an unflinching look at her experiences. Throughout its chapters, she sheds light on the challenges and misunderstandings surrounding sociopathy.

With personal anecdotes and introspective insights, she aims to humanize the condition and foster empathy for others in similar situations. For those interested in mental health, it’s a crucial read and one of the best memoirs you can opt for, as it provides a rare, authentic perspective on a frequently stigmatized disorder of sociopathy.

The Madwoman and the Roomba: My Year of Domestic Mayhem is a humorous memoir by award-winning columnist Sandra Tsing Loh. The book captures Loh’s chaotic and relatable experiences managing household life, technology mishaps, and the everyday challenges of modern domesticity.

Through her witty anecdotes and sharp observations, she explores themes of middle age, parenting, and the absurdities of suburban life. You should read it for its laugh-out-loud humor and keen insights into the trials and tribulations of family and home management. It may even give you a comforting and comedic take on the universal struggles of domestic life.

Boy and Going Solo consist of two autobiographical works by renowned author Roald Dahl published in 1984 and 1986. Boy recounts Dahl’s early childhood and school years in England, filled with vivid, often humorous tales of pranks and strict teachers. Going Solo continues his story into young adulthood, focusing on his adventures as a pilot in World War II.

These memoirs are rich with the storytelling flair that characterizes Dahl’s fiction, offering insight into the experiences that shaped his creative imagination. You should read them for their engaging narrative, historical context, and to understand the formative years of one of the 20th century’s most beloved children’s authors.

Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir is an evocative recount of Frank McCourt’s impoverished childhood in Limerick, Ireland. The author narrates his early years with humor and resilience despite facing extreme poverty, his father’s alcoholism, and the loss of siblings. This memoir vividly depicts the harsh realities of life in mid-20th-century Ireland.

You should read it for its poignant storytelling and its ability to find hope and humanity in the face of adversity. McCourt’s narrative is both heartbreaking and inspiring, making it a compelling read that highlights the strength of the human spirit.

An American classic, Maya Angelou’s debut memoir recounts the acclaimed author’s childhood and adolescence from Arkansas to Missouri to California. She touches on themes of identity and self-acceptance and recounts the abhorrent racism she and her family experienced, as well as the sexual violence she suffered at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend. But there’s great joy here, too, especially when young Angelou learns to come out of her shell through her love of literature.

You’ve probably seen this book on several similar lists, but that’s because it’s endlessly interesting. The late, great Bourdain dishes on such a niche culture—that of high-octane kitchens in some of the world’s best restaurants—and doesn’t shy away from some of its ugliest qualities. He gets personal, too, with anecdotes both amusing and somber.

Sri Lankan writer and economist Sonali Deraniyagala lost her parents, her husband, and her two young sons in the 2004 tsunami that devastated parts of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and India. In this poignant memoir, she delves into the seemingly bottomless depths of grief and how our ability to remember the past can be healing. Readers who love a resolution might look elsewhere, but they’d be missing out on some unflinching, courageous writing.

In Whoopi Goldberg’s memoir, she opens up about the powerful influence her mother, Emma Johnson, and brother, Clyde, had on shaping her into the woman she became. With warmth, humor, and vulnerability, the actress and The View host reflects on her childhood in New York City, the love that grounded her, and the deep grief she felt after losing the two people who knew her best.

This book is both a tribute and a revelation, offering a rare glimpse into the family life behind her public persona. It’s a celebration of resilience, identity, and the kind of unconditional love that gives someone the courage to become exactly who they are.

In Restaurant Kid: A Memoir of Family and Belonging, author Rachel Phan shares a moving portrait of life as the daughter of immigrant restaurateurs. Caught between obligation, identity, and the hunger for connection, Phan watched her parents pour everything into their Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, this left her to navigate childhood on the sidelines, quietly adapting to a world that expected her to be grateful, invisible, and perfectly assimilated. As she unpacks generational trauma, cultural dissonance, and the silent sacrifices that defined her upbringing, Rachel brings humor and heart to the story of a girl trying to bridge the gap between being the “good daughter” and being fully herself.

Honest, lyrical, and deeply reflective, this memoir captures the ache of growing up in a space that both sustains and stifles you—and the courage it takes to reach back across that space with love.

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In this memoir, which has already started to make headlines, journalist and writer E.A. Hanks—daughter of actor Tom Hanks—embarks on a deeply personal cross-country road trip that retraces a journey she once took with her late mother. Driving her minivan dubbed “Minnie” along the I-10 through the American Southwest, Hanks follows the trail of old memories and her mother’s diaries in search of answers about her family’s past.

What begins as an emotional tribute evolves into a nuanced exploration of trauma, truth, and identity. In the journey, she unearths long-buried secrets that challenge everything she thought she knew. With vivid stops in places like White Sands, New Orleans, and the Florida panhandle, this book also paints a portrait of America while she pieces herself together through its landscape.

In this memoir, beloved actor and comedian Josh Gad delivers a laugh-out-loud yet surprisingly poignant collection of essays that pulls back the curtain on the man behind Olaf. Best known for voicing the lovable snowman in Disney’s Frozen and stealing scenes on Broadway as Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon, Gad brings his trademark warmth and wit to his stories about growing up, grappling with insecurity, chasing nearly impossible dreams, and navigating life as a father, performer, and self-proclaimed over-sharer.

With humor that’s both self-deprecating and sharp, he touches on everything from Hollywood flops (his own!) to personal triumphs, all while maintaining the comic timing that made him a household name.

What sets Gad’s memoir apart is its celebration of vulnerability and perseverance in the face of absurdity, which balances out the existential dread. (Can’t we all relate?) Whether you’re a fan of his voice, his stage presence, or just want to know what it’s like to survive rejection and still believe in the magic, this “tell-some” is a joyride worth taking.

In Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, acclaimed author Salman Rushdie confronts his brutal 2022 knife attack that nearly took his life. In this book, he reflects on what it meant to survive. Known globally for his groundbreaking novel The Satanic Verses, which led to a decades-long fatwa calling for his death, Rushdie has long been a symbol of both literary brilliance and freedom of expression.

In this raw and courageous memoir, he recounts the terrifying moment he was attacked on stage in New York, the long road to physical and emotional recovery, and the love that helped him endure from his wife, Eliza, and the unwavering support of readers and friends around the world.

With gripping prose and profound clarity, Rushdie unpacks not only the event itself but also the deeper questions it raises about mortality, purpose, and resilience.

In A Clean Mess, author Tiffany Jenkins trades in the highs of addiction for the far more complicated chaos of real life, and sobriety proves to be its own wild ride. Known for her bestselling memoir High Achiever, Jenkins now shares what happened after the prison doors closed and her second chance began.

One day, she got a cryptic text that shattered her marriage. In her story, she navigates new motherhood and mental health without the buffer of substances. This raw and honest book is littered with dark humor that will make readers fall in love with Jenkins. This is no clean-and-tidy recovery narrative—it’s messy, emotional, and deeply human. Jenkins doesn’t pretend to have all the answers; instead, she offers something more valuable: proof that it’s possible to rebuild, feel everything, and still keep moving forward when your past is heavy and your present is wobbly.

From acclaimed writer Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking recounts the sudden death of her husband and the hospitalization of their daughter within days of each other. (Her daughter eventually died at 39, which Didion writes about in Blue Nights.) It’s an engrossing and vulnerable look into a year of experiencing and coping with tragedy—filled, of course, with the writer’s famously incisive prose.

In her final book, actress and writer Carrie Fisher gives fans a peek behind the curtain of her time on the set of the first Star Wars movie. She hilariously commentates on excerpts from her diary during that time, recalls her crush on Harrison Ford, and delves into how complicated it can be to navigate the world of celebrity—especially as the face of such an iconic character.

Widely recommended as one of the best books of 2017, Hunger is Roxane Gay’s raw and powerful memoir about her own self-image and our society’s obsession with appearance. There’s a reason Gay is such a prolific writer today, whether you follow her musings on Twitter or her New York Times column; she is incredibly inquisitive and can make any reader question the status quo. Hunger is no exception.

We all have songs that can conjure specific memories. Writer, comedian, and TV personality Dave Holmes takes that notion to heart in his memoir, where he writes about growing up Catholic and closeted in Missouri and how he “accidentally” became an MTV VJ. There’s a plethora of references to ʼ80s and ʼ90s music and self-deprecating humor that strikes the perfect balance.