2024 Round Up: Favourite Biographies & Memoirs

Immerse yourself in a new perspective. Here are our top personal stories from 2024.

Updated January 8, 2025
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At the edge of empire a family's reckoning with China
Wong, Edward, 1972- author. 
Paper Book
One of The Washington Post's 50 Notable Nonfiction Books of 2024 "A sprawling, complex morality tale, sweeping us along." --The Wall Street Journal "In telling this personal story about family memory, exile and return, the book also takes in the breadth of...
Be ready when the luck happens a memoir
Garten, Ina 
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten--aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon--shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table....
Burn book a tech love story
Swisher, Kara 
Paper Book
Instant New York Times Bestseller From award-winning journalist Kara Swisher comes a witty, scathing, but fair accounting of the tech industry and its founders who wanted to change the world but broke it instead. "Swisher, the bad-ass journalist and...
Cher the memoir. Part one
Cher, 1946- author. 
Paper Book
***The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller*** ***The Global #1 Bestseller*** The extraordinary life of Cher can be told by only one person . . . Cher herself. After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her...
Didion & Babitz
Anolik, Lili 
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Air Mail, Harper's Bazaar, The Washington Post, and more! Joan Didion is revealed at last in this "vivid, engrossing" (Vogue), and...
The Friday afternoon club a family memoir
Dunne, Griffin 
Paper Book
The instant New York Times bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by TIME, NPR, People, Town & Country, and Air Mail "Warm and perceptive." --New York Times "Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story." --Washington...
Grief is for people
Crosley, Sloane
Paper Book
Grief Is for People is a book about loss that is profuse with life. After the pain and confusion of losing her closest friend to suicide, Sloane Crosley looks for answers in philosophy and art, hoping for a framework more useful than the unavoidable stages of grief. For most of her adult life,...
Here after
Lin, Amy (Teacher)
Paper Book
Amy Lin never expected to find a love like the one she shares with her husband, Kurtis, a gifted young architect who pulls her toward joy, adventure, and greater self-acceptance. On a sweltering August morning, only a few months shy of the newlyweds' move to Vancouver, thirty-two-year-old Kurtis...
Kingmaker Pamela Harriman's astonishing life of power, seduction, and intrigue
Purnell, Sonia 
Paper Book
"A thorough account of Harriman's rise which also manages to be a brisk, twisty read ... riveting and revelatory." --The New Yorker "Rigorous but rollicking." --The New York Times Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by Apple Books, The Economist<...
Letters
Sacks, Oliver, 1933-2015 
Paper Book
One of The New Statesman's Best Books of the Year One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 One of The New Yorker's 'Best Books We've Read in 2024 So Far' THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE * The letters of one of the greatest observers of...
Patriot a memoir
Navalʹnyĭ, Alekseĭ 
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER, THE ATLANTIC, NPR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD * The powerful and moving memoir of a fearless political opposition leader who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs.
Question 7
Flanagan, Richard, 1961- author. 
Paper Book
THE WASHINGTON POST'S TOP TEN NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR * WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE * SHORTLISTED FOR PRIX FÉMINA ETRANGER * LONGLISTED FOR PRIX MÉDICIS * An exquisite, genre-defying new book from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Narrow...
Sonny boy a memoir
Pacino, Al, 1940- author. 
Paper Book
The Instant New York Times Bestseller * One of People Magazine's Top 10 Books of the Year "The rare celebrity memoir that's also a literary read. As funny as it is reflecive, it shares stories behind Pacino's hardscrabble upbringing, classic films and journey to icon...
We will be jaguars a memoir of my people
Nenquimo, Nemonte 
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK Named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year by Library Journal "An unforgettable memoir about fighting for your home and your heart." --Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club November '24 Pick) ...

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