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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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All These Beautiful Strangers
All These Beautiful Strangers
by Elizabeth Klehfoth
The Night in Question
The Night in Question
by Nic Joseph
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
Bel Canto
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
All the Birds in the Sky
All the Birds in the Sky
by Charlie Jane Anders
Soulless
Soulless
by Gail Carriger
Pretty Guilty Women
Pretty Guilty Women
by Gina LaManna
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God's War
God's War
by Kameron Hurley
Earthsea
Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Book of Blues
Book of Blues
by Jack Kerouac
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The Boxcar Children Halloween Special
The Boxcar Children Halloween Special
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Graveyard Book
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
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Ammonite
Ammonite
by Nicola Griffith
Twilight
Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer
Under the Dome
Under the Dome
by Stephen King
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The Secret of the Old Clock
The Secret of the Old Clock
by Carolyn Keene
In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
Gravity's Rainbow
Gravity's Rainbow
by Thomas Pynchon
Children of Blood and Bone
Children of Blood and Bone
by Tomi Adeyemi
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Invisible Cities
Invisible Cities
by Italo Calvino
Silver Girl
Silver Girl
by Elin Hilderbrand
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
by Meg Elison
Firefly Lane
Firefly Lane
by Kristin Hannah
Charming Billy
Charming Billy
by Alice McDermott
Waverley
Waverley
by Sir Walter Scott
White Teeth
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith
Where'd You Go Bernadette
Where'd You Go Bernadette
by Maria Semple
The Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
The Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
by Langston Hughes
The Storyteller
The Storyteller
by Kathryn Williams
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Tara Road
Tara Road
by Maeve Binchy
Blue Nights
Blue Nights
by Joan Didion
The Red Tent
The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant
A Thread of Grace
A Thread of Grace
by Mary Doria Russell
Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary
Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary
by Anita Anand
The Mists of Avalon
The Mists of Avalon
by Marion Zimmer Bradley
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Sing, Unburied, Sing
Sing, Unburied, Sing
by Jesmyn Ward
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
Booth
Booth
by Karen Joy Fowler
A Brief History of Seven Killings
A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James
Pretty Marys All in a Row
Pretty Marys All in a Row
by Gwendolyn Kiste
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The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons
The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons
by Samantha Barbas
See You in the Cosmos
See You in the Cosmos
by Jack Cheng
The Sea, The Sea
The Sea, The Sea
by Iris Murdoch
The Air He Breathes
The Air He Breathes
by Brittainy C. Cherry
Almost American Girl
Almost American Girl
by Robin Ha
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My Life on the Road
My Life on the Road
by Gloria Steinem
A Christmas Memory
A Christmas Memory
by Truman Capote
The Sunday Girl
The Sunday Girl
by Pip Dysdale
Amsterdam
Amsterdam
by Ian McEwan
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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.