I absolutely love reading memoirs. However, I realize that most of my favorites are unbelievably grim stories: The Glass Castle, I'm Glad My Mom Died, Persepolis, Fun Home, Educated, Not My Father's Son, North of Normal, etc.
Although the point of all these stories is that the memoirist has survived and thrived, I am at a moment in my life these days when I cannot read any more stories of growing up in crushing poverty, the brutality of horrifying governments (South Africa, Iran, the Jim Crow South, Nazis, etc,), or at the hands of abusive and mentally ill parents. I need something more positive.
It doesn't need to be a life story, one that is just about a period in their life is great, too.
A good positive example is All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot.
by zazzlekdazzle
22 Comments
*Yes Please* by Amy Phoeler is good. I listened to the audiobook version.
My Life in France by Julia Child is pretty charming.
*The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street* and *Q’s Legacy* by Helene Hanff are *delightful.*
You may want to read *84, Charing Cross Road* first, which ends on a sad note, but the trilogy is terrific.
If you like that she also wrote *Underfoot in Show Business* but I haven’t read that one yet.
Maybe look into celebrities you like?
I’m a Harry Potter millennial and enjoyed Tom Felton’s memoir. Steven Kings “On Writing” is also good.
Matthew Mcconaughey’s Greenlights might fit the bill – generally pleasant, and one if the better celebrity memoirs I’ve read 🙂
Not technically a memoir but bits of his life are woven into the book – The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green remains one of my all time favorite books.
I remember really enjoying Funny Farm by Laurie Zaleski!
One of my favourite memories is called My Mess Is A Bit of a Life. So funny yet still touches one some important topics.
Ruth Riechls memoirs are great. Tender at the Bone is the first one.
Elsa Lanchester – *..Herself*
A witty, telling and fascinating memoir. Lanchester came from a surprisingly progressive background, and has many a juicy Hollywood tale to tell. She did a hell of a lot more than simply portray the Bride of Frankenstein.
Furiously Happy is fantastic – it is about the author’s struggle with mental illness, yet it is positive and laugh out loud funny.
Madeleine L’Engle’s Crosswicks Journals are just lovely – quiet memoirs of the life of an affectionate family.
I suggest {{A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr}} even though it is technically a novel. Today it would be classified as an autobiographical novel as the MC closely mirrors Carr’s life, and many of the people in the novel are slightly disguised relatives, acquaintances and friends.
You might like The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio. The family definitely dealt with some shit (poverty and alcoholism, to start with), but the author focuses on her mother’s optimism, ingenuity, and upbeat attitude that brought the family through it all. It’s pretty uplifting, imo.
Amy Poehlers memoir, Yes, Please is smart and funny. Same with Tina Fey’s bossy pants.
I loved Back Story by British actor and comedian David Mitchell. It’s a smart, funny, and wonderfully optimistic narrative, beautifully written.
Becoming
I absolutely adored The Storyteller by Dave Grohl and I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt.
Have you read any Bill Bryson? I feel like most of his books fit this ask.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens – Ina Garten
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
On Writing by Stephen King.
James Herriott. His memoirs are hilarious, insightful, and full of eccentric characters and unusual animals.