November 17, 2021
Nonfiction: Memoir/Biography #NonficNov
I’m eager to participate in Nonfiction November this year hosted by What’s Nonfiction, Doing Dewey, The Thousand Book Project, Plucked from the Stacks, and OCBookgirl. During the month of November, you will notice one nonfiction focused post each week:
Weekly Topics:
(Join us?)
Week 1: (November 1-5) – My Year in Nonfiction (with Rennie at What’s Nonfiction)
Week 2: (November 8-12) – Fiction/Nonfiction Book Pairing with Katie at Doing Dewey
Week 3: (November 15-19) – Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert with Veronica at The Thousand Book Project
Week 4: (November 22-26) – Stranger Than Fiction with Christopher at Plucked from the Stacks
Week 5: (November 29-December 3) — New to My TBR with Jaymi at OCBookgirl
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Nonfiction: Memoirs & Biographies
Nonfiction November is an opportunity to reflect on the year, to celebrate and appreciate nonfiction, and to share recommendations.
Playing The Expert: Today for Nonfiction November hosted by Veronica @ The Thousand Book Project, I am playing “the expert” and sharing books in a subgenre that I have read and highly recommend. These are my favorite memoir/biography recommendations. I chose them because they each share a personal story and help build my understanding of a specific life experience. Each one has affected me in a personal way. With only two exceptions, today’s list draws heavily from my original 2020 post. Do you have a favorite memoir or biography?
Please join me for Nonfiction November!
Background Image Source: Canva
15 Favorite Memoirs and Biographies:
The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee
(My review of Girl With Seven Names here)
The Choice by Dr. Edith Eva Eger
(My review of The Choice here)
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
A young readers version of Born a Crime here.
(My review of Born a Crime here.)
Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
(My review of Dolly Parton, Songteller here)
Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family by Mitch Albom
(My review of Finding Chika here)
Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
(My review of Wait Till Next Year here)
Open by Andre Agassi
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
(My review of Just Mercy here)
Unbroken: A WW11 Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Unbroken movie and YA version here.
(Not reviewed because I read this before I started blogging or Goodreads)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
(My review of Glass Castle here)
Educated by Tara Westover
Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle
(Not reviewed because I read this before blogging or using Goodreads)
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
(Not reviewed because I read this before blogging or using Goodreads)
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (childhood memoir) (MG)
(My review of Brown Girl Dreaming here)
We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success by Sampson Davis (The Three Doctors) (MG)
(Not reviewed because I read this before blogging or using Goodreads)
Related:
ICYMI: Here’s my post for “Playing the expert” two years ago: Nonfiction and Racial Injustice
Here’s my memoir post from last year (which is only updated slightly for this year’s post)
QOTD:
See any favorites?
Have you read one of these titles?
I know you can help me add to this list! If my husband had helped with this list he would include titles by Ron Chernow for sure! Here, here, and here.
I’d love to hear your suggestions for a favorite memoir or biography.
Happy Reading Book Friends!
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.
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Some highly interesting books there, Carol, some I’ve heard of, others I haven’t. I’ve only read one of the books you mentioned, The Glass Castle. which I highly recommend.
Here is my Year in Non-Fiction November for Week 3.
Thanks Marianne! I’m heading over now to read your post!
An interest8ng list with lots of variety, thanks for sharing your expertise
Thanks Shelleyrae! 🙌
There are some interesting books here! Born a Crime, Educated, and Bonhoeffer will be added to my TBR.
You always have such great recommendations!
Thanks Tralyn! Happy reading!
I do own and one of these days will read The Glass Castle
It’s memorable! Enjoy! There’s a movie, too, but it’s a Disneyish version!
I love memoirs, so I really enjoyed this post and enjoyed remembering some of my favorites as well.
Educated was astounding, and I am a long-time Doris Kearns Goodwin fan and loved her baseball memoir. Unbroken was definitely interesting, and Born a Crime and Dolly Parton:Storyteller are both on my tbr list.
Happy Nonfiction November
I’m thrilled to hear we’ve enjoyed many of the same books! Thanks for commenting!
I loved Born a Crime! Educated was very interesting too.
I just bought the YA version of Born a Crime for my teenage grandsons!
Unbroken and Glass Castle are two of my favorites. I keep meaning to read Born a Crime.
All three are memorable reads!
Fantastic set of books! And I’m glad to see Brown Girl Dreaming on here. It’s one of my favorites.
It’s time for me to reread this one!
You picked three of my very favorite books of the past few years — The Choice, Born a Crime and Just Mercy. I’m always so humbled and amazed by the people who can face terrible suffering and then write about it with humor and hope and undiminished zest for life. There are still millions of such stories out there and I will keep reading them as long as I can. Thanks for adding more fuel to the fire!
I’m thrilled to hear we share the love for these amazing books!
You have so many interesting memoirs here. Thanks for sharing this list. Several of these are my favorites too! I’ll look into a few others now. (I have Andre Agassi’s on my shelf right now; maybe I need to move it forward?) Thanks!
Agassi has some thoughtful reflections in between lots and lots and lots of tennis!!!
Great list! I have only read 4 of these. Now, I also feature biographies on my post, but in graphic format! My post is here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/11/15/nonfiction-november-2021-expert-on-graphic-nonfiction/
Thanks! I’m hopping over now to read your post!
[…] 3: (November 15-19) – Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (my fav memoirs/biographies) with Veronica at The Thousand Book […]
Memoir is a great theme. I haven’t read any of your books, but I do like the look of the Trevor Noah and Dolly Parton ones.
A biography that I enjoyed very much was Valerie Grove’s book about Dodie Smith (author of 101 Dalmatians, I Capture the Castle, and many more); I think it’s called ‘Dear Dodie’. Dodie had a fascinating life, and worked very hard for what she eventually got. And she and her beloved husband did indeed live surrounded by dalmatians!
Thanks so much for the Dear Dodie rec! I loved Capture the Castle! Thanks for commenting!
[…] 3: (November 15-19) – Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (my fav memoirs/biographies) with Veronica at The Thousand Book […]
[…] That Reads Like FictionMy Newbery ProjectThe Stationary Shop ReviewTTT: If You Like That, Read This15 Favorite Memoir/BiographyDaughters of War ReviewDolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics ReviewRibbons of Scarlet […]
What a great list, Carol. I have read 8 of these and have a few of the others on my TBR. I like the mix you have here.
Thanks so much Carla! I realized after I published that I inadvertently left The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom off 🤨😫
That is an amazing book, she and her family were so strong in their faith and convictions.
Maybe I need to edit the post and ditch one of the other books! 😂