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- Memoirs offer personal advice and anecdotes from the author’s life.
- Here are 22 of the best memoirs published in 2021, based on Goodreads reviews and Amazon rankings.
- Memoir authors include Cicely Tyson, Stanley Tucci, Katie Couric, Dave Grohl, and Danny Trejo.
I’ve always shied away from non-fiction, as historical or biographical pieces — while vitally important — aren’t always exciting reads to me. However, I’ve found my nonfiction stride with memoirs, where I could view personal or historical events through the lens of great writers, activists, or simply ordinary people with extraordinary experiences.
The memoirs on this list came from a variety of sources such as the Amazon Top 100 list, the Audible Bestsellers list, and the nominees for Best Memoir from the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards. With memoirs from powerful immigration stories to coming-of-age anecdotes from our favorite singers and movie stars, these were the best and most popular memoirs from 2021.
The 22 best memoirs from 2021:
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $15.95
When Michelle Zauner’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, it spurred her reckoning with her identity and relationships through food. A powerful story about grief, family history, and her Korean American identity, this intimate and moving memoir captures Michelle’s wide range of emotion, wisdom, and the pain of grieving someone before they’ve even passed away.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $15.89
Ashley C. Ford continued to pine for her father throughout childhood, despite his being absent and incarcerated and her not knowing why. Through turbulent relationships with her mother, boyfriend, and the world, she continues to search for unconditional love in the idea of her father, until she learns why he was imprisoned, making her already complex familial love and understanding of herself even more complicated.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.99
Dave Grohl has always been known as a phenomenal storyteller, with anecdotes from his dreams of playing music as a child to headlining world tours in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. Full of wisdom, the richly remembered tales in this memoir will undoubtedly thrill music lovers but also offer something special to any reader.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.33
“Beautiful Country” is the stunning story of Qian, who arrived in America at seven years old with her hopeful and hard-working parents, willing to do anything to survive poverty in the richest country in the world. Able to vividly reimagine and retell her childhood memories, this memoir traverses Qian’s most memorable and devastating childhood experiences with clarity and moving prose.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.32
Published only two days before her passing in 2021, “Just as I Am” is a timely and timeless memoir about Cicely Tyson’s incredible career and her perspectives about the resiliency and joy of Black women. The story of a life well-lived, this book stands as a memorial to her legacy and a window to the wisdom she accumulated over 96 years of life.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $12.88
Though the pandemic kept Chimamanda’s family apart for health and safety concerns, her father unexpectedly faced complications from kidney failure and passed away. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s memoir initially began as a New Yorker piece about the grief of losing her father but was expanded to become a timeless memoir about the human experiences of survival and grief, shared by many in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.20
While Danny Trejo is now known as a Hollywood badass, playing bad guys we love to hate, he has struggled with addiction and incarceration in his past and is now an inspiration to recovery communities off-screen. Speaking about the most painful periods of his life, Danny Trejo creates a portrait of his success that grew from pain and tragedy.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $15.36
In “Broken Horses,” six-time Grammy winner Brandi Carlile takes readers on a journey through the most formative experiences of her life and the ways in which music saved her. From an infection that nearly killed her at five years old to a rejection that spurred an outpouring of love from her community as a teenager, this memoir is about Brandi’s journey to success and every moment that made her the artist and person she is today.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $21.99
This collection of autobiographical essays creates an encompassing and delightful image of John Paul Beamer, from his coming-of-age as a Queer, mixed-race child to his life and career as the writer of the LGBTQ+ advice column “¡Hola Papi!” Hoping to offer advice and laughter to readers of both his column and his memoir, John Paul seeks to answer some of life’s most challenging questions about our place in the world.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $22.49
In “Between Two Kingdoms” Suleika Jaouad tells the story of her leukemia diagnosis weeks before her 23rd birthday, just as she was finding her place and pursuing her dreams in the summer after graduating from college. After nearly four years of treatment, Suleika was cured but faced a new challenge of once again finding herself in the world and set off on a 100-day road trip to do just that.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $20.54
“Seeing Ghosts” is a memoir about Kat Chow’s relationship with grief and death, exploring perspectives and experiences from three generations of her Chinese American family and her own coming-of-age story. After her mother unexpectedly died from cancer, Kat, her sisters, and her father all faced a nearly debilitating grief in a way they never had before.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $20.69
Tarana Burke is the activist behind the Me Too movement and her harrowing but important memoir is the story of how she first came to say “me too.” After a terrible sexual assault that changed the course of her life, Tarana found the strength to heal, empathize with herself, and empower so many others who have had similar experiences.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.14
Stanley Tucci may be most well-known for his roles in “The Devil Wears Prada” and “The Hunger Games,” but what many don’t know is the importance of food in his Italian American upbringing and its centricity in his life. Full of reflection and mouth-watering anecdotes, this memoir is a story of culinary nostalgia and self-expression through food.
Amazon
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.99
Katie Couric has been a household name for more than 40 years but in this memoir, she finally tells the stories of what happened both personally and professionally behind the scenes. From the experiences that inspired her to pursue journalism to the challenges brought about from co-anchoring the “TODAY Show,” this riveting memoir follows much of Katie Couric’s history and perspectives that most have never seen.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.66
Jenny Lawson is a journalist and blogger who is known for her sardonic wit yet has never hidden the fact that she struggles with anxiety and depression. “Broken” is a memoir about her journey to physical and emotional healing that has both heartbreaking and hilarious anecdotes.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.90
Globally known as a “perfect-looking person,” Emily Ratajkowski is far more than the model and actress much of the world chooses to see. She is also an activist and an entrepreneur whose memoir details her experiences with being sexualized, mistreated, and witnessing the abusive and dysfunctional dynamics of power and sexuality in the fashion and film industries.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.30
#IHadAMiscarriage is a campaign created by psychologist Jessica Zucker to help women navigate the grief and complexities of experiencing pregnancy loss in a world where reproductive and maternal mental health is not a widely discussed topic. After suffering her own miscarriage at 16 weeks, Jessica saw a need for this space and outlines her journey of personal recovery and creating this much-needed movement.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $19.59
Akwaeke Emezi has written three absolutely incredible novels, including my personal favorite, “The Death of Vivek Oji.” In this memoir, they use their powerful voice to tell their own story of survival, transformation, and being a creative spirit in a deeply human world.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $10.99
This memoir is partly a story about Laura Coleman’s transformative experience living at a wildlife sanctuary in the Amazon and part-love letter to life, animals, and the Earth. Assigned to care for a puma named Wayra, the two formed a unique bond and showed how two creatures, even if they’re entirely different species, can save each other.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $15
Hunter Biden’s life has been tumultuous, from losing his mother and sister in a car accident to losing his brother to brain cancer. A raw and honest look at his life, this memoir is also a celebration of Hunter Biden’s path to getting sober and his newfound appreciation of the beautiful things in life.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $19.03
“Will” is Will Smith’s highly anticipated memoir about his astonishing and ground-breaking career and the imperfect path that led him to where he is now. Written with bestselling author Mark Manson, this memoir is a binge-able must-read about Will Smith’s life lessons learned with all the gripping, performative elements of any of his music or movies.
Bookshop
Available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.31
Priyanka Chopra Jonas is one of the world’s most recognized women, from her 20-year-long career as an actor and producer to her commendable volunteer work to her marriage to Nick Jonas. In this remarkable story of her life, Priyanka takes readers across the globe as her childhood and young adulthood was spent between the United States and India before her global acting career took off and she became the bold, inspiring, and ambitious woman we see today.
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