24 Best Memoir & Personal Essay Books Chosen by YOU!

I love to read. Love, love, love to read. It’s one thing that I did not let motherhood rip away from me. I read every night before bed and thanks to my insomnia, I have plenty of time to crack open a book and slip away into the world of words.

I was looking for a great book to read the other day, so I decided to ask you all what your favorite books of all time are. I posted on Facebook and got so many awesome responses, I had to share! There were hundreds of suggestions from fiction to memoir to sci fi to nonfiction to thrillers to young adult … everything! Memoir and personal essay happens to be one of my favorite genres, so I plucked out all of those suggestions to share with you. So here you go, the MyLifeSuckers community picks for best personal essay/memoir books!

1. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
2. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
3. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris by David Sedaris
4. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
5. The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
6. A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive by David Pelzer
7. The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank by Erma Bombeck
8. Bossypants by Tina Fey
9. The Tender Bar: A Memoir by JR Moehringer
10. A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True Story by Dave Eggers
11. Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
12. People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges by Jen Mann
13. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
14. A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert M. Sapolsky
15. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
16. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
17. Hobbytots for Hawnyawks by Victoria George
18. A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel
19. Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way by Shauna Niequist
20. A Piece of Cake: A Memoir by Cupcake Brown
21. Peanut Butter and Naan: Stories of an American Mom in the Far East by Jennifer Hillman-Magnuson
22. A House in the Sky: A Memoir by Amanda Lindhout
23. First Person Plural: My Life As a Multiple by Cameron West
24. Naked by David Sedaris

And speaking of great books, I’m giving away 3 copies of Jen Magnusson’s memoir Peanut Butter and Naan: Stories of an American Mom in the Far East and 3 copies of Jen Mann’s hilarious book of essays People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges to 3 lucky winners. Enter to win below!

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