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....
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
Named a Best Book of the Year by Vogue, TIME, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Esquire, NPR, Elle, Library Journal, LitHub, Oprah Daily, Publishers Weekly, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus, Bookpage, The Independent, and New Statesman
Here after
Lin, Amy (Teacher) 
Paper Book
Starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal A Kirkus Best of 2024 Nonfiction Pick A March 2024 Book of the Month Selection An Apple Books Best Book of March A 2024...
In exile rupture, reunion, and my grandmother's secret life
Ansari, Sadiya 
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Globe 100 Best Book of 2024! The Hill Times 100 Best Book of 2024 In a deeply personal investigation, award-winning journalist Sadiya Ansari takes us across three continents and back a century as she seeks the truth behind a family secret. Why did...
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<...
KNIFE
RUSHDIE, SALMAN
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring--and surviving--an attempt on his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New...
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.
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...
There's always this year on basketball and ascension
Abdurraqib, Hanif, 1983- author. 
Ebook
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "powerful" (The Guardian) reflection on basketball, life, and home--from the author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America "Mesmerizing . . . not only the most original...
A walk in the park the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin 
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller * Winner of the 2024 National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Air...
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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