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Discover the stories of their lives, in recent biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs.
Updated November 26, 2023
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Discover the global phenomenon that tells an unforgettable story of love, loss, and healing. "Compellingly artful . . . [a] blockbuster memoir."--The New Yorker (Best Books of the Year) It was one of the most searing images...
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Pageboy: A Memoir
Elliot Page
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Eloquent and enthralling..." --Washington Post "The emergence of our true selves is all of our life's work. Pageboy helps chart the course." --Jamie Lee Curtis "Searing, deeply...
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The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight
Andrew Leland
A witty, winning, and revelatory personal narrative of the author's transition from sightedness to blindness and his quest to learn about blindness as a rich culture all its own "The Country of the Blind is about seeing-but also about marriage and family and the moral and...
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How to Say Babylon: A Memoir
Safiya Sinclair
A New York Times Notable Book A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian...
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Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me
Bernie Taupin
**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** An evocative, clear-eyed, and revealing memoir by Bernie Taupin, the lyrical master and long-time collaborator of Elton John "I loved writing, I loved chronicling life and every moment I was cogent,...
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Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury
Drew Gilpin Faust
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A memoir of coming of age in a conservative Southern family in postwar America. To grow up in the 1950s was to enter a world of polarized national alliances, nuclear threat, and destabilized social hierarchies. Two...
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Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
Stephanie Land
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick * New York Times Most Anticipated Books of Fall "Raw and inspiring." --People "Land is not just exploring her own story, but also the larger implications of what it means to...
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Father and Son: A Memoir
Jonathan Raban
A poignant memoir of love, trauma, and recovery after a life-changing stroke, twinned to a powerful account of his father's experience in World War II, by a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. "A beautiful, compelling memoir...Raban's final work is a gorgeous...
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Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
Maria Bamford
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From "weird, scary, ingenious" (The New York Times) stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, a brutally honest and hilariously frenetic memoir about show business, mental health, and the comfort of rigid belief systems--from Dale...
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President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier
C. W. Goodyear
An "ambitious, thorough, supremely researched" (The Washington Post) biography of the extraordinary, tragic life of America's twentieth president--James Garfield. In "the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years" (The Wall Street Journal),...
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Leslie F*cking Jones
Leslie Jones
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Hey you guys, it's Leslie. I'm excited to share my story with you. Now, I'm gonna be honest: Some of the details might be vague because a b*tch is fifty-five and she's smoked a ton of weed. But while bits...
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Up Home: One Girl's Journey
Ruth J. Simmons
An "extraordinary"(The New York Times) memoir from the daughter of sharecroppers in East Texas who became the first Black president of an Ivy League university-an uplifting story of girlhood and the power of family, community, and the classroom to transform one young person's life
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Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir
Curtis Chin
Most Anticipated This Fall in TIME, San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, Goodreads, Lamba Literary Review, Kirkus Reviews, and PinkNews This...
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Exit Interview: A Memoir
Kristi Coulter
A candid, intensely funny memoir of ambition, gender, and a grueling decade inside Amazon.com, from the author of Nothing Good Can Come from This. "A unique and brilliant book." --Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks What would you...
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You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir
Maggie Smith
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NPR Best Book of the Year * Time Best Book of the Year * Oprah Daily Best Memoir of the Year "A bittersweet study in both grief and joy." --Time ...
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A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial
Viet Thanh Nguyen
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide With insight, humor, formal invention,...
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Wandering through Life: A Memoir
Donna Leon
Theinternationally bestselling author of the Guido Brunetti mysteries tells herown adventurous life story as she enters her eighties In a series of vignettes full of affection, irony, and good humor, DonnaLeon narrates a remarkable life she feels has rather more...
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Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
Charles Busch
A poignant, deliciously anecdotal account of a talented artist's Oz-like journey in the worlds of Off-Broadway, Broadway, and Hollywood The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of...
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Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond
Henry Winkler
From Emmy-award winning actor, author, comedian, producer, and director Henry Winkler, a deeply thoughtful memoir of the lifelong effects of stardom and the struggle to become whole. Henry Winkler, launched into prominence as "The Fonz" in the beloved Happy Days, has...
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World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music
Jeff Tweedy
~New York Times Bestseller~ An exciting and heartening mix of memories, music, and inspiration from Wilco front man and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Tweedy, sharing fifty songs that changed his life, the real-life experiences behind each one, as well as what...
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Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir
Sly Stone
Not many memoirs are generational events. But when Sly Stone, one of the few true musical geniuses of the last century, decides to finally tell hislife story, it can't be called anything else. As the front man for the sixties pop-rock-funk band Sly and the Family Stone, a songwriter...
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Lou Reed: The King of New York
Will Hermes
"The only Lou Reed bio you need to read." --The Washington Post One of Pitchfork's ten best music books of 2023 | A Kirkus Reviews best nonfiction book of 2023 "There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the...
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Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith
John Szwed
"The first comprehensive biography of this hipster magus . . . [John Szwed] allows different sides of Smith's personality to catch blades of sun. He brings the right mixture of reverence and comic incredulity to his task." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times Grammy...
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Counting the Cost
Jill Duggar
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER For the first time, discover the unedited truth about the Duggars, the traditional Christian family that captivated the nation on TLC's hit show 19 Kids and Counting. Jill Duggar and her husband Derick are finally...
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Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
Christian Cooper
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up. "Wondrous . . ....
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In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life
Amy Schneider
An inspirational and bold memoir from the most successful woman ever to compete on Jeopardy!--and an exploration of what it means to ask questions of the world and of yourself. In eighth grade, Amy was voted "Most likely to appear on Jeopardy!" by her classmates....
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Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the Marriage That Shook Europe
John Guy
"A fierce, scholarly tour-de-force. . . . Hunting the Falcon brilliantly shows how time, circumstance and politics combined to accelerate Anne's triumph and tragedy." --Tina Brown, New York Times Book Review A groundbreaking, freshly-researched examination of one of the most...
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The Race to Be Myself: A Memoir
Caster Semenya
Olympian and World Champion Caster Semenya is finally ready to share the vivid and heartbreaking story of how the world came to know her name. Thrust into the spotlight at just eighteen years old after winning the Berlin World Championships in 2009, Semenya's win was quickly overshadowed by...
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The Witching Year: A Memoir of Earnest Fumbling Through Modern Witchcraft
Diana Helmuth
A skeptic's year-long quest to find spiritual fulfillment through modern Witchcraft, perfect for fans of A.J. Jacobs and Mary Roach. Diana Helmuth, thirty-three, is skeptical of organized religion. She is also skeptical of disorganized religion. But, more than anything, she is...
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Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided
Scott Eyman
The remarkable, must-read story of Charlie Chaplin's years of exile from the United States during the postwar Red Scare, and how it ruined his film career, from bestselling biographer Scott Eyman. Bestselling Hollywood biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of...
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Making It So: A Memoir
Patrick Stewart
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER The long-awaited memoir from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart! From his acclaimed stage triumphs to his legendary onscreen work in the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, Sir...
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First Gen: A Memoir
Alejandra Campoverdi
*A NATIONAL BESTSELLER* An unflinching memoir and "resource" (People) about navigating social mobility as a first gen Latina--offering both a riveting personal story and an examination of the unacknowledged emotional tolls of being a trailblazer. ...
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When Your Back's Against the Wall: Fame, Football, and Lessons Learned through a Lifetime of Adversity
Michael Oher
The NFL champion whose life inspired the hit movie The Blind Side is back with an inspiring and motivating book on overcoming any obstacle, no matter how tough the odds Millions of people became part of Michael Oher's story when they watched a version of him on the big...
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Don't Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre In Her Own Words
Ike Howard
"Every day, I have lived through the massacre. While our country may forget this history, I cannot." Viola Ford Fletcher Viola Ford Fletcher's memoir Don't Let Them Bury My Story vividly recounts the lasting impact of the Tulsa Massacre on her life....
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The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
Douglas Brunt
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The hidden history of one of the world's greatest inventors, a man who disrupted the status quo and then disappeared into thin air on the eve of World War I--this book answers the hundred-year-old mystery of what really became of...
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The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing
Lara Love Hardin
New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir. No one expects the...
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While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence
Meg Kissinger
From award-winning journalist Meg Kissinger, a searing memoir of a family besieged by mental illness, as well as an incisive exploration of the systems that failed them and a testament to the love that sustained them. Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg...
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Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the '80s
Gary Gulman
"One of my favorite books of all time." âe*Amy Schumer A tour de force of comedy and reflection about the perilous journey from kindergarten to twelfth grade and beyondâe*from the beloved stand-up comic and creator of The Great Depresh ...
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On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Ronald C. White
From the New York Times bestselling author of A. Lincoln and American Ulysses comes the dramatic and definitive biography of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the history-altering professor turned Civil War hero. Before 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had rarely...
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Omega Farm: A Memoir
Martha McPhee
A long-awaited memoir from an award-winning novelist--a candid, riveting account of her complicated, bohemian childhood and her return home to care for her ailing mother. In March 2020, Martha McPhee, her husband, and their two almost-grown children set out for her childhood home...
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Flirting with Danger: The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy
Janet Wallach
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE "A compelling story that pulsates with the energy of a thriller"-The Wall Street Journal "Suspense, elan and a generous helping of glamour- Think George Smiley in a mink-trimmed coat."-The New York Times Book Review...
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Amy Winehouse: In Her Words
Amy Winehouse
The Estate of Amy Winehouse will donate 100% of the advance and royalties it receives from the production and sale of this book to The Amy Winehouse Foundation. These funds will help assist the charity in continuing their vital work helping thousands of young people to feel supported in managing...
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Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir
Beth Nguyen
Named a Best Memoir of 2023 by Oprah Daily * Selected for Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 "This book...is what memoir writing in the hands of a caring, curious wunderkind can be." --Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy From the award...
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Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life
Arnold Schwarzenegger
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life--distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone. The world's...
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August Wilson: A Life
Patti Hartigan
The first authoritative biography of August Wilson, the most important and successful American playwright of the late 20th century, by a theater critic who knew him. August Wilson wrote a series of ten plays celebrating African American life in the 20th century, one play for each...
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George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle
Philip Norman
From the premiere Beatles biographer--author of the New York Times bestseller John Lennon: The Life and the million-copy selling Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation--a rare and revealing portrait of George Harrison, the most misunderstood and mysterious Beatle, based on...
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Talking to My Angels
Melissa Etheridge
Twenty years after the success of her first memoir, the New York Times bestseller The Truth Is . . ., the Grammy and Oscar award-winning rocker and trailblazing LGBTQAI icon takes stock of the intervening years, recounting the euphoric triumphs and the life-altering tragedies of her life. ...
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The World According to Joan Didion
Evelyn McDonnell
**INDIE BESTSELLER** A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2023 by The Millions * B&N Best Books of 2023 * "Shaped by intellectual rigor and artistic grace ... McDonnell's portrait is vibrant, fluent, sensitive, and clarifying." -- Booklist, starred review An intimate exploration of the life,...
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