The Greatest Memoir Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2576 The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934 Anaïs Nin 1966 French English
2595 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
2601 Darkness Visible William Styron 1990 American English
2607 Heavy Kiese Laymon 2018 American English
2610 What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer 1992 American English
2612 Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant U. S. Grant 1885 American English
2631 Old Glory Jonathan Raban 1981 British English
2652 Sleepless Nights Elizabeth Hardwick 1979 American English
2668 Sailing Alone Around the World Joshua Slocum 1900 Canadian English
2669 This Boy's Life Tobias Wolff 1989 American English
2672 Autobiographies William Butler Yeats 1926 Irish English
2678 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2689 Dependency Tove Ditlevsen 1971 Danish Danish
2690 Childhood Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
2697 All Over But The Shoutin' Rick Bragg 1997 American English
2720 The Life Of Saint Teresa Of Avila By Herself Teresa of Avila 1588 Spanish Spanish
2751 Satyagraha in South Africa Gandhi 1928 Indian Gujarati
2751 Dust Tracks on a Road Zora Neale Hurston 1942 American English
2751 My Fight for Birth Control Margaret Sanger 1931 American English
2751 The Worm Forgives The Plough John Stewart Collis 1947 British English
2751 Out Of Africa Karen Blixen 1937 Danish Danish
2807 Summertime J. M. Coetzee 2009 South African English
2847 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2871 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard P. Feynman 1985 American English
2872 Boyhood J. M. Coetzee 1997 South African English
2926 The Return Hisham Matar 2016 Libyan English
2973 Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom 1997 American English
3006 Hideous Kinky Esther Freud 1992 British English
3055 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
3072 The Armies of the Night Norman Mailer 1968 American English
3074 Patrimony Philip Roth 1991 American English
3075 One Writer's Beginnings Eudora Welty 1984 American English
3077 River Town Peter Hessler 2001 American English
3088 I, Rigoberta Menchú Rigoberta Menchú Tum 1983 Guatemalan Spanish
3089 Factory Girls Leslie T. Chang 2008 American English
3092 Disturbance Philippe Lançon 2018 French French
3099 Why We Can't Wait Martin Luther King 1964 American English
3100 Ball Four Jim Bouton 1970 American English
3102 Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi 2003 Iranian English
3117 The White Album Joan Didion 1979 American English
3135 Ake Wole Soyinka 1981 Nigerian English
3155 Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin 1955 American English
3163 Fierce Attachments Vivian Gornick 1987 American English
3178 Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood 2017 American English
3198 The Autobiography Of A Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda 1946 Indian English
3200 Story Of A Soul Thérèse of Lisieux 1898 French French
3204 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby 1992 British English
3217 Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson 2014 American English
3219 The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day 1952 American English
3231 This Bridge Called My Back Cherríe Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa 1981 American English
3235 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
3237 The Man Died Wole Soyinka 1972 Nigerian English
3248 Memoirs of Cardinal De Retz Cardinal de Retz 1717 French French
3274 Iron & Silk Mark Salzman 1986 American English
3280 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
3282 Blankets Craig Thompson 2003 American English
3310 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1942 American English
3311 Growing Up Russell Baker 1982 American English
3324 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
3374 A Man's Place Annie Ernaux 1983 French French
3462 To The Is Land Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
3479 The Bookseller of Kabul Asne Seierstad 2002 Norwegian Norwegian
3484 The Scorpion Fish Nicolas Bouvier 1982 French French
3512 Mary Chesnut's Civil War Mary Boykin Chesnut 1981 American English
3520 Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick 2009 American English
3525 Looking Back Norman Douglas 1933 British English
3543 The Good Women Of China Xinran 2002 Chinese Chinese
3552 The Revolt Of The Cockroach People Oscar Zeta Acosta 1973 American English
3573 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3572 Youth Tove Ditlevsen 1967 Danish Danish
3589 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
3594 Thick Tressie McMillan Cottom 2019 American English
3626 Adventures On The Wine Route Kermit Lynch 1988 American English
3630 Really The Blues Bernard Wolfe, Milton Mezz Mezzrow 1946 American English
3637 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Thomas de Quincey 1821 British English
3637 The House on Henry Street Lillian D. Wald 1915 American English
3637 The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Steffens 1931 American English
3637 Memoirs Of A Revolutionist Vera Figner 1920 Russian Russian
3637 Days In The Caucasus Banine 1945 French French
3637 Notes From The Blockade Lydia Ginzburg 1960 Russian Russian
3637 The Memoirs Of Princess Dashkova Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova 1840 Russian Russian
3637 Pack My Bag Henry Green 1940 British English
3637 Blasting And Bombardiering Wyndham Lewis 1937 British English
3637 Being Geniuses Together Robert McAlmon 1938 American English
3637 The Invisible Flag Peter Bamm 1952 German German
3637 Child Of The Revolution Wolfgang Leonhard 1955 German German
3637 The Questionnaire Ernst von Salomon 1951 German German
3637 The Story Of My Life George Sand 1855 French French
3637 Out Of My Life And Thought Albert Schweitzer 1931 German German
3637 How I Found Livingstone Henry M. Stanley 1871 British English
3809 Wittgenstein's Nephew Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3809 The Writing Life Annie Dillard 1989 American English
3821 Lenin's Tomb David Remnick 1993 American English
3833 Повесть о жизни Konstantin Paustovsky 1956 Russian Russian
3876 Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson 1973 American English
3944 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3952 Συναξάρι Αντρέα Κορδοπάτη Thanassis Valtinos 1964 Greek Greek
3952 A Prisoner Of War’s Story Stratis Doukas 1929 Greek Greek
3952 The Memoirs Of General Makriyannis Makriyannis 1907 Greek Greek
4066 Lives Other Than My Own Emmanuel Carrère 2009 French French
4074 Travels With Lizbeth Lars Eighner 1993 American English
4100 Life And Death In Shanghai Nien Cheng 1986 Chinese English
4135 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4138 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
4158 China To Me Emily Hahn 1944 American English
4163 The Naked Civil Servant Quentin Crisp 1968 British English
4187 Age of Ambition Evan Osnos 2014 American English
4206 Here's to You, Jesusa! Elena Poniatowska 1969 Mexican Spanish
4294 Bird By Bird Anne Lamott 1994 American English
4300 Supraviețuiri Radu Cosașu 1973 Romanian Romanian
4365 Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain 2000 American English
4377 A Woman Sibilla Aleramo 1906 Italian Italian
4381 How To End A Story Helen Garner 2021 Australian English
4414 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4419 Memoirs Of The Author Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman William Godwin 1798 British English
4441 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4443 Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge 1972 British English
4454 Mountains Beyond Mountains Tracy Kidder 2003 American English
4486 The Sugarbag Years Tony Simpson 1974 New Zealand English
4502 Killers of the Dream Lillian Smith 1949 American English