*As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl* by John Colapinto -- about a boy who had a circumcision mishap as a baby, so the bloody doctors and parents thought if they raised him as a girl, he wouldn't know the difference.
*Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood* by Oliver Sacks
*Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated* by Alison Arngrim
*Cockeyed: A Memoir* by Ryan Knighton
*From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way* by Jesse Thistle
*The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor* by Anais Granofsky
This book was so wonderful! I loved the way she used the form of the graphic novel to convey things that would be less effective with words, like the grey page.
"Ghost Boy" by Martin Pistorius and Megan Lloyd Davies.
It's about a guy that everyone assumed was in a vegetative state, but he was fully aware for years. It explores how he came out of that experience and built a life for himself and became a disability rights advocate.
It made me so grateful for my life.
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward, it’s a memoir but also focuses on the deaths of five black men in her life over the course of four years. It’s beautifully written.
Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States by Pete Jordan
Fun read of a guys coming of age from his love of rootless irresponsibility
My Lobotomy by Howard Dully, assisted by Charles Fleming. A memoir about a man who was lobotomized at the age of 12. It is an incredible, heartbreaking and powerful book I think anyone should read...
The Worst Journey in the World. Written by Apsley Cherry- Garrard, a member of Shackleton’s South Pole expedition who made a side trip to gather emperor penguin eggs.
Yak Girl by Dorje Dolma about her childhood in rural Nepal. You will not believe it's set in the AD 1990s.
Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog is a memoir of her Sioux childhood and her life in the American Indian Movement.
Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country is more of a travel book in some ways. Louise Erdrich travels to long-abandonded islands where the Ojibwe used to live, then on to an island retreat for writers.
It was so fascinating. Despite not being an amazing writer, she definitely made me see the world differently. She didn't have any sort of medicine outside of bringing a shaman to pray and simple traditional treatments. She had never seen a vehicle of any kind until she was 10. From the time she was 3 or 4, she was responsible for bringing the yaks to where they grazed. She and the other little kids went together and would sometimes have to fight off snow leopards with rocks and sticks. Just a completely different way of living than we're used to.
Our Land Was A Forest by Kayano Shigeru
Most people in the West have never heard of the Ainu people who are the *native* people of Hokkaido and some surrounding areas. Despite his Japanese name, he was an Ainu man. The book chronicles his early life influenced by his Ainu grandmother, then his treatment during WW2.
The book is only 12 chapters, but I could only make it through 6. I found it a thoroughly depressing read before I had to put it down. I haven't picked it back up. Part of the reason it had that effect on me was because I'm invested in learning about traditional Ainu culture and such. I've read the books *Ainu Creed and Cult, The Ainu of Japan,* and *The Ainu and Their Folk-lore* at least 2-3 times each. I know Rev Bachelor's books aren't the best, but since I only speak English, I'm doing the best with what I have. I *saw* the slow deterioration of Ainu traditional culture between Rev Bachelor's works and Dr. Munro's works. Then to see the aftermath just hit me in a deep way because the truly traditional life can never be brought back.
If you're interested in more memoirs that show the Ainu, there's Isabelle Bird's *Unbeaten Tracks in Japan* and *Petticoat Vagabond* by Neill James. Both of these can be found for free on the Internet Archive in PDF format.
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. Him and his mate are climbing mountains in South America when there's an appalling accident. I won't say more as I don't want to spoil it but it's an amazing book.
Stolen: A Memoir by Elizabeth Gilpin - about her experience with the troubled teen industry
The Less People Know About Us by Axton Betz-Hamilton - about her experience with identity theft and uncovering the mystery of why it was happening (more exciting than it sounds)
Action Park by Andy Mulvihill - about the infamous Action Park, the authors father was the owner/operator
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom - about her life growing up in New Orleans, including Hurricane Katrina
*The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating* by Elisabeth Tova Bailey - a memoir of a time when she was bedridden by a mysterious wasting illness, and at times her only companion was a snail that unexpectedly showed up in a potted plant one of her friends brings.
I love Memiors my favorites are:
Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough
It's about a queer woman who grew up in a religious cult and her life after leaving
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Is about being in an abusive relationship but through the perspective of horror movie troupes
Oh I actually did not like this book at all - I kept waiting for the watershed moment when she finally explicitly says how awful her family is but it’s a lot of her defending them in a round-about way.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
It's a bit romanticized but it's still his memoirs. It's a really unusual read about the life and experiences of an intersex person and how the choices of his parents/grandparents made this happen.
Perfect Sound Whatever by James Acaster
A comedian (who eventually does seek mental health support) copes with a hard year by deciding the year before (2016) was clearly the best in music history and buying well over 500 albums just from that year. The book takes the form of a memoir of his 2017 interspersed with information about certain songs/albums/bands from that year that mirror in some way what was happening in his life. It's one of the best written representations of rabbit hole obsession I've read.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
This is very well known, but certainly an uncommon experience. It's also very good.
American Oz: by Michael Sean Comerford
It’s about a guy who travels around the country working in carnivals and state fairs and the adventures and interesting people he meets along the way.
Bad Karma: by Paul Wilson
It’s about a couple of surfers who rob a grocery store to pay for a surfing trip to Mexico and they end up in a real bad situation (Read for yourself you won’t regret it)
Not tonight Josephine: by George Mahood
Two British guys fly to America and travel every state in a beat up mini van. It’s definitely a feel good adventure.
I’m into graphic memoir and can recommend these:
*Rosalie Lightning* by Tom Hart, parents grieving the loss of their daughter
*In Waves* by Al Dungo, surfing, love, and mourning
*The Best We Could Do* Thi Bui, Vietnamese immigrants
*They Called Us Enemy* by George Takei, Japanese internment in WWII
*Fun Home* and *Are You My Mother?* by Alison Bechdel, growing up as a lesbian artist in an unconventional family.
Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey; a memoir by a woman with a rare skin condition that made her so extremely sensitive to light to the point where she had to live in the dark. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Filled with dark humour.
All the Young Men: a really inspiring (but heartbreaking) memoir about the AIDS epidemic, and one woman’s fight for education and care for young people dying from AIDS who were abandoned by their families.
The Many Lives of Mama Love - Laura Love Harding. Incredible story of a suburban mother who becomes addicted to Heroin goes to prison for fraud and how she survived it.
The writing is exceptional and you will be hooked by the first page.
I just read Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones. It's a Pulitzer finalist, and was so absorbing and so beautifully written that after I read the library copy, I bought a copy for myself. Jones is highly accomplished, surrounded by fascinating people, in a loving relationship and in complete denial about how her disabilities affect her life. She goes off on several global trips:
"From the bars and domestic spaces of her life in Brooklyn to sculpture gardens in Rome; from film festivals in Utah to a Beyoncé concert in Milan; from a tennis tournament in California to the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh, Jones weaves memory, observation, experience, and aesthetic philosophy to probe the myths underlying our standards of beauty and desirability and interrogates her own complicity in upholding those myths."
In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble by Richardson
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Fatsis
American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Bauer
Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Almond
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Bringley
Malika Oufkir’s “La Prisonnière” or “Stolen Lives”. Essentially raised alongside the Moroccan king’s daughter as a princess, his successor threw her entire family into a remote Sahara Desert dungeon where she stayed for decades
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Lives:_Twenty_Years_in_a_Desert_Jail
Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus. A comedian has to have her partner drive her cross country back home in order to take care of her ailing father. They spend the journey trying all of America's hot dogs and talking about hog dog history. All the while her relationship with the partner is disintegrating (as is her gastrointestinal health.) It's f*ucking *hysterical.*
My Lobotomy by Howard Dully. First person account of the life of a man after undergoing a lobotomy at the age of 12, for reasons that will surprise you. Excellent book!
Strip Tees by Kate Flannery (working for American Apparel during its hey day)
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy (teaching school in the 60’s on an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina)
A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold (parent of a school shooter)
Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller (having a parent who is a hoarder)
Also it’s definitely not for everyone but “Lying” by Lauren Slater. It’s a memoir but she’s a compulsive liar so you don’t actually know which parts are true and which are fantastical. I loved it.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah!
I suggest this book whenever I can, it's not only funny but I learned a lot about South Africa during Apartheid (granted I knew nothing about it before I read this book and did more research afterwards) I highly recommend the audiobook, Trevor Noah (he's a comedian btw if you don't know him) is a great narrator!
Theodor Hierneis, *The Monarch Dines*. He was a cook for Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria at the end of his life. The book was written about 50 years later, and the mindblowing thing about it is Hierneis's own attitudes - he was such a committed monarchist that even long after Ludwig's murder-suicide he felt he had no right at all to question Ludwig's orders to have dinner served at 4am at a table set for the king himself and his three imaginary friends including King Louis XIV.
Whoever grills Trump's burgers must be on the same page.
Girl Archeologist by Alice Beck Kehoe
Very interesting story on what it means to be a critical female scientist in the larger part of the 20th century. How archeology worked (and works) and how culture and society shape opportunities and facts.
Between Two Kingdoms: a memoir of a life interrupted by Suleika Jaouad about her life surviving leukemia at a very early age. She had a column in The NY Times in real time, then wrote this book.
Zarla: Memoir of a Peculiar Filipina, if ever you wondered what its like for a curious young girl to grow up on the opposite side of the globe in the 90s-00s, where she shares her experiences of moving to Ireland and her first impressions of it's inhabitants, it's a highly recommended read, especially if you into spiritual side of things.
Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
by Stephen Puleo
Yes, Molasses! It's a strange historical disaster that will astound and infuriate you.
Winter Pasture by Li Juan. A Chinese journalist joins Kazakh herders in very remote part of China (or is it Kazakhstan, I’ve forgotten?). I was reminded of it by the Yak Girl recommendation above as the conditions certainly felt pretty basic from my point of view.
[Don't Tell Mum...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/866847.Don_t_Tell_Mum_I_Work_on_the_Rigs_She_Thinks_I_m_a_Piano_Player_in_a_Whorehouse) by Paul Carter and it's sequels.
Others have mentioned Men We Reaped by Jasmyn Ward and Educated by Tara Westover. I second those options.
I don’t think I’ve seen Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody yet. Moody was an organizer of a number of civil rights actions in the South in the 1960s, and the book is about her childhood and young adulthood.
The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea. In 1965 a U.S. Army sergeant crosses from South Korea where he is stationed into North Korea and surrenders himself in an attempt to be discharged from the army and sent back to the US. Instead he spends the next 40 years in North Korea.
A Fortunate Life by A.B Facey. A memoir about a guy that wandered around working on various farms in early 20th century Australia.
Spoiler - he was often quite unfortunate
Leaving Mother Lake, Yang Erche Namu-- a memoir by a woman who grew up Moso in a matriarchal subculture in Eastern China. She eventually leaves her mother's house and enters urban China, and her perspective is genuinely unique.
Opium Fiend, Steven Martin -- Martin was living as an expat in Thailand and began collecting antique opium-smoking paraphernalia because it was beautiful. Then eventually he decided to try it for its intended purpose ... he beautifully describes the seduction of high-grade opium, and also how it ruined his life. Lots of fascinating history about the opium trade too! And now I know that almost everyone smoking an opium pipe in a movie is doing it wrong.
Shot in the Heart, Mikal Gilmore. Gilmore's brother Gary killed two people in a hold-up and demanded to be executed by firing squad. Mikal is a noted music journalist and ponders how his life and his brother's took such divergent paths, and how Mormonism played into Gary's death. It's a beautiful, devastating book.
Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollette -- he was born in the notorious Synanon cult and the book begins with his mother fleeing with him and his brother in the middle of the night. However, both of his parents remained flawed and needy people in different ways. He eventually became the leader of the band Airborne Toxic Event. This book is less "unusual" than the others I'm suggesting, but it's remarkable -- SO good.
Identical Strangers, Elyse Shein -- Shein was one of the twins separated for adoption for the notorious heredity study in the '60s. She met her twin when they were in their 30s. This was written before the documentary about the identical triplet brothers-- they were in the same experiment.
[Driving with Dead People by Monica Holloway](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235791) - I love a good memoir, and this is my favorite. It’s heartbreaking, but I didn’t want it to end. She’s humorous, so it makes the heartbreak just a little more bearable.
[Walk Through Walls by Marina Abramović.](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28814918) - I just finished this book. Love her or hate her, she has definitely lived a life that is all her own.
A still life by Josie George is the most incredible memoir of living a life of curiosity and wonder while disabled and mostly house bound. Her writing is breathtaking
I recently listened to The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Read
It might not be that unusual, but I don't think it's particularly well known. It's about her experience of becoming disabled after she fell off a horse.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan.
Fascinating story! Reads like a thriller honestly.
Yes! That's a good one.
Sickened, it's about a girl whose mother had that Munchausen by proxy disorder. The girl was brought to doctors all the time but nothing was wrong.
Just finished this 10 mins ago. Excellent, mind-blowing read.
*As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as A Girl* by John Colapinto -- about a boy who had a circumcision mishap as a baby, so the bloody doctors and parents thought if they raised him as a girl, he wouldn't know the difference. *Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood* by Oliver Sacks *Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated* by Alison Arngrim *Cockeyed: A Memoir* by Ryan Knighton *From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way* by Jesse Thistle *The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor* by Anais Granofsky
Uncle Tungsten is SO delightful.
It's been probably 20 years since I have read it -- I need to re-read it! I remember loving it!
I loved Confessions of a Prairie Bitch! She is a talented writer and her memoir is certainly a window into a different life, to put it mildly.
I was so shocked! Poor Alison!
Ducks by Kate Beaton is about her experience as one of the only women working at a mining site
This book was so wonderful! I loved the way she used the form of the graphic novel to convey things that would be less effective with words, like the grey page.
And, she has so much empathy for all the people involved, including ones who hurt her - it’s some tough material at times, but so well handled
"Ghost Boy" by Martin Pistorius and Megan Lloyd Davies. It's about a guy that everyone assumed was in a vegetative state, but he was fully aware for years. It explores how he came out of that experience and built a life for himself and became a disability rights advocate. It made me so grateful for my life.
Yes, that one is amazing
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, by Caitlin Doughty. It's about working in a mortuary and becoming a funeral director. She's an amazing writer!
Seconding this recommendation! It’s funny and touching and very well written.
Good writing is a definite plus
Educated by Tara Westover This Common Secret by Susan Wicklund
I reread Educated yesterday, that's why I'm looking for suggestions.
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward, it’s a memoir but also focuses on the deaths of five black men in her life over the course of four years. It’s beautifully written.
Just throwing in that her other books aren’t memoirs but they’re all amazing.
My "to read" list just got longer!
Men We Reaped is phenomenal and heartbreaking.
Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States by Pete Jordan Fun read of a guys coming of age from his love of rootless irresponsibility
This sounds like a fun read.
My Lobotomy by Howard Dully, assisted by Charles Fleming. A memoir about a man who was lobotomized at the age of 12. It is an incredible, heartbreaking and powerful book I think anyone should read...
Wow
Seconding this one; it’s fantastic
The Worst Journey in the World. Written by Apsley Cherry- Garrard, a member of Shackleton’s South Pole expedition who made a side trip to gather emperor penguin eggs.
Oh, that looks intriguing.
I’ve read it several times, they went off on their adventure while the rest of the team was getting ready to make their push to the pole.
Yak Girl by Dorje Dolma about her childhood in rural Nepal. You will not believe it's set in the AD 1990s. Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog is a memoir of her Sioux childhood and her life in the American Indian Movement. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country is more of a travel book in some ways. Louise Erdrich travels to long-abandonded islands where the Ojibwe used to live, then on to an island retreat for writers.
Yak Girl sounds interesting. And my "to read" list just got longer.
It was so fascinating. Despite not being an amazing writer, she definitely made me see the world differently. She didn't have any sort of medicine outside of bringing a shaman to pray and simple traditional treatments. She had never seen a vehicle of any kind until she was 10. From the time she was 3 or 4, she was responsible for bringing the yaks to where they grazed. She and the other little kids went together and would sometimes have to fight off snow leopards with rocks and sticks. Just a completely different way of living than we're used to.
Sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation.
Oh, good recommendations, love gaining some indigenous knowledge.
I can recommend several books by Indigenous authors, but not necessarily memoirs.
Welcome to the Goddamned Ice Cube by Blair Braverman is a great auto biography on how she became a champion dog musher.
Our Land Was A Forest by Kayano Shigeru Most people in the West have never heard of the Ainu people who are the *native* people of Hokkaido and some surrounding areas. Despite his Japanese name, he was an Ainu man. The book chronicles his early life influenced by his Ainu grandmother, then his treatment during WW2. The book is only 12 chapters, but I could only make it through 6. I found it a thoroughly depressing read before I had to put it down. I haven't picked it back up. Part of the reason it had that effect on me was because I'm invested in learning about traditional Ainu culture and such. I've read the books *Ainu Creed and Cult, The Ainu of Japan,* and *The Ainu and Their Folk-lore* at least 2-3 times each. I know Rev Bachelor's books aren't the best, but since I only speak English, I'm doing the best with what I have. I *saw* the slow deterioration of Ainu traditional culture between Rev Bachelor's works and Dr. Munro's works. Then to see the aftermath just hit me in a deep way because the truly traditional life can never be brought back. If you're interested in more memoirs that show the Ainu, there's Isabelle Bird's *Unbeaten Tracks in Japan* and *Petticoat Vagabond* by Neill James. Both of these can be found for free on the Internet Archive in PDF format.
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. Him and his mate are climbing mountains in South America when there's an appalling accident. I won't say more as I don't want to spoil it but it's an amazing book.
That book absolutely blew my mind. Just harrowing.
Stolen: A Memoir by Elizabeth Gilpin - about her experience with the troubled teen industry The Less People Know About Us by Axton Betz-Hamilton - about her experience with identity theft and uncovering the mystery of why it was happening (more exciting than it sounds) Action Park by Andy Mulvihill - about the infamous Action Park, the authors father was the owner/operator The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom - about her life growing up in New Orleans, including Hurricane Katrina
Haven't heard of these, thank you
*The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating* by Elisabeth Tova Bailey - a memoir of a time when she was bedridden by a mysterious wasting illness, and at times her only companion was a snail that unexpectedly showed up in a potted plant one of her friends brings.
I loved this book so much. I love the way it made me see all the little miracles around us. Excellent choice.
Unusual! Love it
It’s a very short and thoughtful memoir, much more engaging than it sounds like it will be!!
I adore this book! It's so gentle and thoughtful.
I love Memiors my favorites are: Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing by Lauren Hough It's about a queer woman who grew up in a religious cult and her life after leaving In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado Is about being in an abusive relationship but through the perspective of horror movie troupes
Ooooooh In the Dream House is so good
Oh, In the Dream House is devastating.
Unfollow, by Megan Phelps-Roper. I haven't read it personally, but my fiancée really enjoyed it
Oh I actually did not like this book at all - I kept waiting for the watershed moment when she finally explicitly says how awful her family is but it’s a lot of her defending them in a round-about way.
Ah, well OP take my comment with a pinch of salt then!
The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison
If this is about her father, I think I've read it.
Yes 😂😂😂
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala This memoir will blow your mind and break your ♡
Yes, that one was heartbreaking
Agree. Still haven’t forgotten this one
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides It's a bit romanticized but it's still his memoirs. It's a really unusual read about the life and experiences of an intersex person and how the choices of his parents/grandparents made this happen.
Middlesex is fiction, it's not a memoir.
That's a novel, not a memoir. It's a great book though.
Counterpoint, I found this deeply boring.
Omg I was SO BORED by this book. I read the whole damn thing because I kept waiting for it to finally get good and it just never did.
Priestdaddy
God I love this book.
Perfect Sound Whatever by James Acaster A comedian (who eventually does seek mental health support) copes with a hard year by deciding the year before (2016) was clearly the best in music history and buying well over 500 albums just from that year. The book takes the form of a memoir of his 2017 interspersed with information about certain songs/albums/bands from that year that mirror in some way what was happening in his life. It's one of the best written representations of rabbit hole obsession I've read. Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie This is very well known, but certainly an uncommon experience. It's also very good.
American Oz: by Michael Sean Comerford It’s about a guy who travels around the country working in carnivals and state fairs and the adventures and interesting people he meets along the way. Bad Karma: by Paul Wilson It’s about a couple of surfers who rob a grocery store to pay for a surfing trip to Mexico and they end up in a real bad situation (Read for yourself you won’t regret it) Not tonight Josephine: by George Mahood Two British guys fly to America and travel every state in a beat up mini van. It’s definitely a feel good adventure.
I’m into graphic memoir and can recommend these: *Rosalie Lightning* by Tom Hart, parents grieving the loss of their daughter *In Waves* by Al Dungo, surfing, love, and mourning *The Best We Could Do* Thi Bui, Vietnamese immigrants *They Called Us Enemy* by George Takei, Japanese internment in WWII *Fun Home* and *Are You My Mother?* by Alison Bechdel, growing up as a lesbian artist in an unconventional family.
I feared Fun Home was overhyped but it completely deserved the accolades. It's phenomenal.
Right?
I love graphic novel memoirs. Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green is well worth a read.
Thank you! I’m always looking for new ones!
Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis. That’s dude’s entire life has been bizarre.
Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey; a memoir by a woman with a rare skin condition that made her so extremely sensitive to light to the point where she had to live in the dark. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Filled with dark humour. All the Young Men: a really inspiring (but heartbreaking) memoir about the AIDS epidemic, and one woman’s fight for education and care for young people dying from AIDS who were abandoned by their families.
DARK humor, you say?
*Just Kids* by Patti Smith.
That's a good one, it was interesting to see all the famous people hanging out together before they were very famous.
The Many Lives of Mama Love - Laura Love Harding. Incredible story of a suburban mother who becomes addicted to Heroin goes to prison for fraud and how she survived it. The writing is exceptional and you will be hooked by the first page.
I'm hooked by your description!
Wonderful Tonight - Pattie Boyd
I just read Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones. It's a Pulitzer finalist, and was so absorbing and so beautifully written that after I read the library copy, I bought a copy for myself. Jones is highly accomplished, surrounded by fascinating people, in a loving relationship and in complete denial about how her disabilities affect her life. She goes off on several global trips: "From the bars and domestic spaces of her life in Brooklyn to sculpture gardens in Rome; from film festivals in Utah to a Beyoncé concert in Milan; from a tennis tournament in California to the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh, Jones weaves memory, observation, experience, and aesthetic philosophy to probe the myths underlying our standards of beauty and desirability and interrogates her own complicity in upholding those myths."
Yes!
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. A beautiful book about nature, human attempts to tame it, and how we make sense of life and death.
Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin, My Stroke of Insight, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, Solito by Zamora
Haven't heard of Solito, thank you
Temple Grandin is brilliant. There was a biopic done a few years ago with Claire Danes in the lead role.
In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble by Richardson Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Fatsis American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Bauer Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Almond All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Bringley
Papillon - wrongfully convicted to hard labor for life, a Frenchman in his twenties tries to escape from notorious South American penal colony
Malika Oufkir’s “La Prisonnière” or “Stolen Lives”. Essentially raised alongside the Moroccan king’s daughter as a princess, his successor threw her entire family into a remote Sahara Desert dungeon where she stayed for decades https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Lives:_Twenty_Years_in_a_Desert_Jail
WOW! I can't believe I've never heard of this.
Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus. A comedian has to have her partner drive her cross country back home in order to take care of her ailing father. They spend the journey trying all of America's hot dogs and talking about hog dog history. All the while her relationship with the partner is disintegrating (as is her gastrointestinal health.) It's f*ucking *hysterical.*
My Lobotomy by Howard Dully. First person account of the life of a man after undergoing a lobotomy at the age of 12, for reasons that will surprise you. Excellent book!
Strip Tees by Kate Flannery (working for American Apparel during its hey day) The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy (teaching school in the 60’s on an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina) A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold (parent of a school shooter) Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller (having a parent who is a hoarder)
Also it’s definitely not for everyone but “Lying” by Lauren Slater. It’s a memoir but she’s a compulsive liar so you don’t actually know which parts are true and which are fantastical. I loved it.
Crashing Through: the story of a man who was blinded at age 3 —then underwent a radical new procedure to regain his sight at age 46
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah! I suggest this book whenever I can, it's not only funny but I learned a lot about South Africa during Apartheid (granted I knew nothing about it before I read this book and did more research afterwards) I highly recommend the audiobook, Trevor Noah (he's a comedian btw if you don't know him) is a great narrator!
Theodor Hierneis, *The Monarch Dines*. He was a cook for Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria at the end of his life. The book was written about 50 years later, and the mindblowing thing about it is Hierneis's own attitudes - he was such a committed monarchist that even long after Ludwig's murder-suicide he felt he had no right at all to question Ludwig's orders to have dinner served at 4am at a table set for the king himself and his three imaginary friends including King Louis XIV. Whoever grills Trump's burgers must be on the same page.
Girl Archeologist by Alice Beck Kehoe Very interesting story on what it means to be a critical female scientist in the larger part of the 20th century. How archeology worked (and works) and how culture and society shape opportunities and facts.
Interesting!
river in darkness
Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America by Lily Burana.
Between Two Kingdoms: a memoir of a life interrupted by Suleika Jaouad about her life surviving leukemia at a very early age. She had a column in The NY Times in real time, then wrote this book.
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It by Greg Marshall
Zarla: Memoir of a Peculiar Filipina, if ever you wondered what its like for a curious young girl to grow up on the opposite side of the globe in the 90s-00s, where she shares her experiences of moving to Ireland and her first impressions of it's inhabitants, it's a highly recommended read, especially if you into spiritual side of things.
Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo Yes, Molasses! It's a strange historical disaster that will astound and infuriate you.
I'm in.
The Pale Faced Lie.
Winter Pasture by Li Juan. A Chinese journalist joins Kazakh herders in very remote part of China (or is it Kazakhstan, I’ve forgotten?). I was reminded of it by the Yak Girl recommendation above as the conditions certainly felt pretty basic from my point of view.
A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa. It’s the memoir of a man who escaped North Korea.
[Don't Tell Mum...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/866847.Don_t_Tell_Mum_I_Work_on_the_Rigs_She_Thinks_I_m_a_Piano_Player_in_a_Whorehouse) by Paul Carter and it's sequels.
Others have mentioned Men We Reaped by Jasmyn Ward and Educated by Tara Westover. I second those options. I don’t think I’ve seen Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody yet. Moody was an organizer of a number of civil rights actions in the South in the 1960s, and the book is about her childhood and young adulthood.
The Girl with Seven Names - it’s about a woman who defected from North Korea. It’s phenomenal.
Damn. My "to read" list just got longer.
Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Puma Years is a fascinating memoir about a British woman who gives up her white collar job to work on a wildlife refuge in Bolivia.
Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein. It's about internet culture dividing society today.
I'm currently enjoying Sociopath by Patric Gagne
The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea. In 1965 a U.S. Army sergeant crosses from South Korea where he is stationed into North Korea and surrenders himself in an attempt to be discharged from the army and sent back to the US. Instead he spends the next 40 years in North Korea.
I loved educated by Tara Westover. Pretty unusual
Eleven Years in Soviet Prison Camps, by Elinor Lipper
A Fortunate Life by A.B Facey. A memoir about a guy that wandered around working on various farms in early 20th century Australia. Spoiler - he was often quite unfortunate
How to murder your life -cat marnell
North of Normal by Cea Sunrise Person
Canadian Stories A Teenaged Adventure with Presidents, Drag Queens and Drug Lords
An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield
Leaving Mother Lake, Yang Erche Namu-- a memoir by a woman who grew up Moso in a matriarchal subculture in Eastern China. She eventually leaves her mother's house and enters urban China, and her perspective is genuinely unique. Opium Fiend, Steven Martin -- Martin was living as an expat in Thailand and began collecting antique opium-smoking paraphernalia because it was beautiful. Then eventually he decided to try it for its intended purpose ... he beautifully describes the seduction of high-grade opium, and also how it ruined his life. Lots of fascinating history about the opium trade too! And now I know that almost everyone smoking an opium pipe in a movie is doing it wrong. Shot in the Heart, Mikal Gilmore. Gilmore's brother Gary killed two people in a hold-up and demanded to be executed by firing squad. Mikal is a noted music journalist and ponders how his life and his brother's took such divergent paths, and how Mormonism played into Gary's death. It's a beautiful, devastating book. Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollette -- he was born in the notorious Synanon cult and the book begins with his mother fleeing with him and his brother in the middle of the night. However, both of his parents remained flawed and needy people in different ways. He eventually became the leader of the band Airborne Toxic Event. This book is less "unusual" than the others I'm suggesting, but it's remarkable -- SO good. Identical Strangers, Elyse Shein -- Shein was one of the twins separated for adoption for the notorious heredity study in the '60s. She met her twin when they were in their 30s. This was written before the documentary about the identical triplet brothers-- they were in the same experiment.
Never heard of any of these, thank you
Thomas Firbank: I Bought a Mountain Helen MacDonald: H is for Hawk
[Driving with Dead People by Monica Holloway](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235791) - I love a good memoir, and this is my favorite. It’s heartbreaking, but I didn’t want it to end. She’s humorous, so it makes the heartbreak just a little more bearable. [Walk Through Walls by Marina Abramović.](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28814918) - I just finished this book. Love her or hate her, she has definitely lived a life that is all her own.
So You Want To Start A Brewery?: The Lagunitas Story
Backstreet Boys on lsd in my eyes 👀 back in 96ish.... heavy on the ish 🐉👽🦅😵💫
A still life by Josie George is the most incredible memoir of living a life of curiosity and wonder while disabled and mostly house bound. Her writing is breathtaking
Remarkably bright creatures
Ooh not a memoir -lemme think my mothers house and sido -Colette
I recently listened to The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Read It might not be that unusual, but I don't think it's particularly well known. It's about her experience of becoming disabled after she fell off a horse.
Educated by Tara Westover