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The Best Biographies and Memoirs

For some readers, real life is much more compelling than fiction, and real people are far more interesting than any character an author could dream up. If you're one of those readers, then biographies, autobiographies and memoirs are for you. 

The types of true stories are endless—there are romantic memoirs and tragic memoirs. There are short, essay-length memoirs that give you just a taste of an author’s writing. Perhaps you’re interested in a travel memoir that will make you feel as though you’ve walked the same steps as the writer, or you’re an American history buff looking for a bucket list of biographies on every American president. You could read a first-hand account from a former slave who became a dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln, or immerse yourself in Ruth Gruber’s own account of how she helped 1000 refugees find asylum. 

From biographies of politicians, business leaders, artists and celebrities, to memoirs that tell unforgettable true stories with unflinching honesty, these are the books that let you fully step into someone else's shoes.

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Spring Cleaning
Spring Cleaning
by Antonio Manzini
 The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
by Ernest Hemingway
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10 Rainy Day Reads
Spy of the First Person
Spy of the First Person
by Sam Shepard
At Dawn We Slept
At Dawn We Slept
by Gordon W. Prange
Black & Blue (Lord and Lady Hetheridge Mystery Series)
Black & Blue (Lord and Lady Hetheridge Mystery Series)
by Emma Jameson
Honor Bound
Honor Bound
by W.E.B. Griffin
The Joy of Cooking
The Joy of Cooking
by Irma Rombauer
The Bottoms
The Bottoms
by Joe R. Lansdale
Warm Bodies
Warm Bodies
by Isaac Marion
The Devil All the Time
The Devil All the Time
by Donald Ray Pollock
Uglies
Uglies
by Scott Westerfield
No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy
The Green Mill Murder
The Green Mill Murder
by Kerry Greenwood
Lethal White
Lethal White
by Robert Galbraith
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The Best Books You Read in 2018
Diana: Her True Story – in Her Own Words
Diana: Her True Story – in Her Own Words
by Andrew Morton
The Giver
The Giver
by Lois Lowry
Son of a Trickster
Son of a Trickster
by Eden Robinson
The Only Good Indians
The Only Good Indians
by Stephen Graham Jones
Americanah
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Don't Look Now
Don't Look Now
by Daphne Du Maurier
The Classic Palmer
The Classic Palmer
by John Feinstein, Walter Iooss Jr.
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Fore!: 7 Books About Golf
Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon
by Toni Morrison
The Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror
by Jay Anson
Nixon & Rockefeller
Nixon & Rockefeller
by Stewart Alsop
After I Do
After I Do
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Passing
Passing
by Nella Larsen
The Reader
The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
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12 Epic World War II Novels
A Monster Calls
A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
Suite Française
Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky
The Nightingale
The Nightingale
by Kristin Hannah
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
by James Mustich
Slaughterhouse Five
Slaughterhouse Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
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We Have Always Lived in the Castle
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
by Shirley Jackson
Eragon
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini
The Eye of the World
The Eye of the World
by Robert Jordan
A Game of Hide and Seek
A Game of Hide and Seek
by Elizabeth Taylor
Too Dangerous for a Lady
Too Dangerous for a Lady
by Jo Beverley
Child of God
Child of God
by Cormac McCarthy
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
The Silent Wife
The Silent Wife
by A.S.A. Harrison
Swamplandia!
Swamplandia!
by Karen Russell
Just One Trilogy
Just One Trilogy
by Gayle Forman
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House in the Big Woods
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Idaho
Idaho
by Emily Ruskovich
The Scorpio Races
The Scorpio Races
by Maggie Stiefvater
Life of Pi
Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
Marriage Can Be Murder
Marriage Can Be Murder
by Emma Jameson
Summerland
Summerland
by Michael Chabon
Secrets of a River Swimmer
Secrets of a River Swimmer
by S.S. Turner
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Every list has different criteria, but the most sold autobiographies that rank on all of them are Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and InheritanceThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A memoir is a narrative written in the author’s perspective that details an important part of their life or a personal observation. While autobiographies are detailed accounts of a person’s life from beginning to end, memoirs are more narrative in tone and don’t have such a rigid structure, nor do they need to talk about a person’s entire life.