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Sitting in geometry class, I had a terrible thought: “Oh my god. All I want to do is talk about myself.”
Of course, that’s not exactly what I meant. Thoughts don’t come through fully formed when you’re half listening to an explanation of what a parabola is. Still, I wrestled with its meaning for several days. When I wrote stories, I often got bored of made-up characters, opting to base them almost entirely on myself and my friends. I was never the type of person to become wrapped up in a fictional series, either. Somehow, it interested me less to know that the characters weren’t actually real.
And then, I discovered creative nonfiction and memoirs. Overnight, my life changed. I fell back in love with writing, a passion that I realized had been there ever since we wrote “personal narrative” essays in third grade. I consumed as many memoirs as I could, drinking in every last detail. Hearing people’s real-life stories had the power to stop me in my tracks, their relatable anecdotes and touching reflections reminding me that we never go through experiences alone.
What follows is a list of my four favorite memoirs, each a unique, touching story.
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Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search For Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
When I ordered this book from the library, I thought it might be overhyped. However, as a self-certified memoir lover, I knew I couldn’t consider myself an expert on the subject without reading the memoir for girls in their twenties. I am happy to share that it did not disappoint. Elizabeth Gilbert takes us on her fascinating journey, spanning Italy, India, and Indonesia, and separates the sections of the book into three categories that relate to each country (eating, praying, and loving, respectively). The result is a uniquely sincere story that will give you chills before you flip to its final page. In my eyes, Elizabeth’s deeply moving memoir can be summed up in one sentence, a simple one yet my favorite in the book: “I crossed the street to walk in the sunshine.” Don’t we all need a little bit more sunshine in our lives? This delightful book is full of it.
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Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Some books change the chemistry of your entire being. They twist your heart, moisten your eyes, change the way you inhabit the world. Everything I Know About Love was that book for me, and for that reason it is the best thing I’ve read in my entire life (better, even, than a note saying, “should we get ice cream before dinner?” at seven or a text that says, “he likes me back!” at seventeen). Dolly Alderton manages to capture everything I love so dearly about girlhood and wrap it into a sweet 368 pages. She takes us on a journey from her teens to her thirties, giving refreshingly candid takes on dating, drinking, and doing life with your best friends. Her writing is funny, deeply thoughtful, and incredibly self-reflective. I read this book in one sitting in my freshman dorm room, and decided right then and there that it was one of the most sacred things I owned. The following passage, underlined in pink highlighter in my copy, made me want to become a writer. Dolly, after recounting a decade of trying to fulfill different men’s expectations of her, says: “I am enough… I am a just-pulled pint with a good, frothy head on it. I am my own universe; a galaxy; a solar system. I am the warm-up act, the main event, and the backing singers. And if this is it, if this is all there is- just me and the trees and the sky and the seas- I know now that that's enough.”
Amazon
That’s A Great Question, I’d Love To Tell You by Elyse Myers
You might recognize Elyse Myers from her viral TikTok about a date to get tacos gone wrong. Elyse is a hilarious comedian, Podcast host, and now, author! Reading this book was one of the biggest delights of my life. Elyse combines her love of writing and art to create a truly spectacular and unique story that is as visually pleasing as it is deep and humorous. Full of tales from her childhood to meeting her now-husband, it’s easy to feel like this book is a best friend confiding all of their best secrets to you over the phone. Plus, I love the way Elyse plays with different mediums (poetry, short story, listicle, etc) to create a truly one-of-a-kind storytelling experience. I have never felt like I understood the inside of someone else’s brain more than I did after reading this book.
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107 Days by Kamala Harris
In 2024, then vice-president Kamala Harris was tasked with an enormous feat: run an unplanned presidential campaign, in just 107 days. Although she did not end up winning (losing the popular vote by only 1.5 percent), she was able to harness incredible support and launch a historical campaign that will be remembered throughout history. Her memoir on the experience is a deeply fascinating read, pulling back the curtain on the inner workings of high-profile political relationships and sharing her emotions as she embarked on a type of journey no one else had been on before. I listened to her story as an audiobook, and hearing her first-hand narration helped the message hit even harder. Kamala shares her vision for what her presidency would have been like, saying, “I was born into a fight for freedom and stood in that tradition. Freedom to vote, to control one’s own body, to breathe clean air and drink clean water, to be free from the fear of weapons of war on our city streets and in our children’s classrooms… the freedom to simply be.” Even though she didn’t win, her writing serves as a great inspiration to fight for the freedoms of our future generations.
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Looking for your next page-turner? Check out our list of the 17 Top-Rated Memoirs Written By Women To Add To Your 2026 Reading List, including favorites like Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.
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