This is a list of memoirs that I’ve read since I began writing my own memoir, as well as a few I’ve read before my project and a few that are still on my bookshelf. Some are better written than others. Recommendations welcome!
- Me Melvin ‘N Andy by Andy Anderson
- Nautilus 90 North by William R. Anderson and Clay Blair Jr.
- Growing Up by Russell Baker
- My Own Story by Bernard Baruch
- All over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
- Flight of Passage: A Memoir by Rinker Buck
- Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
- Alcatraz: The True End of the Line by Darwin E. Coon
- SisterMotherHusbandDog by Delia Ephron
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
- Why I Left the Amish by Saloma Miller Furlong
- B-17 Bomber Crew Diary by Edward J. Giering
- Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
- Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Lit by Mary Karr
- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
- No Limits: How I Beat the Slots by Debbie Tosun Kilday (CAPA)
- Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
- Love and Sand: An RAF Flyer’s memoir of love, lies and mayhem in the WWII Deserts of North Africa by H.M.Layton (CAPA)
- A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett
- Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
- West with the Night by Beryl Markham
- Mountain City by Gregory Martin
- Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
- The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
- Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
- Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicky Myron with Bret Witter
- Reading Lolita in Iran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
- Persepolis: A Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
- Burma Surgeon by Gordon Seagrave
- Prisoner of War Number 2378 by Adrian Stroud (CAPA)
- There’s a Porcupine in my Outhouse by Michael J. Tougias
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- When we were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine by Monica Wood
CAPA indicates members of the Connecticut Author and Publishers Association.
kelleytjansson 
Good list and I have a lot more to add ;)! I’m so lazy, though, maybe I will take a pic of my memoir bookshelf and post it on my blog!
That would be great! I’m always interested in recommendations, although my own to-read pile is high at the moment. Mary Karr’s book Lit includes a list of the author’s memoir recommendations.
There are so many . . ..
Mary Karr’s Lit is really good. Her book, The Liar’s Club, started the whole memoir craze. Another good one is Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.
Thanks! I appreciate the recommendation.
And “they” said there wasn’t a “market” for memoirs! Bah Humbug!!!