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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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The Floating Feldmans
The Floating Feldmans
by Elyssa Friedland
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The Branch and the Scaffold
The Branch and the Scaffold
by Loren D. Estleman
The Princess Bride
The Princess Bride
by William Goldman
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The True Believer
The True Believer
by Eric Hoffer
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway
Wow, No Thank You
Wow, No Thank You
by Samantha Irby
A Spy in the House
A Spy in the House
by Y.S. Lee
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
by Maria Semple
The Engineer's Wife
The Engineer's Wife
by Tracey Enerson Wood
Nefertiti
Nefertiti
by Michelle Moran
After Dark
After Dark
by Haruki Murakami
Murder on the Serpentine
Murder on the Serpentine
by Anne Perry
The Women of Brewster Place
The Women of Brewster Place
by Gloria Naylor
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Lighting the Flames
Lighting the Flames
by Sarah Wendell
Sold on a Monday
Sold on a Monday
by Kristina McMorris
Jackdaws
Jackdaws
by Ken Follet
The Librarian and the Spy
The Librarian and the Spy
by Susan Mann
Kill the Boy Band
Kill the Boy Band
by Goldy Moldavsky
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The Duke and I
The Duke and I
by Shonda Rhimes
The Road Back
The Road Back
by Erich Maria Remarque
The Wild Life
The Wild Life
by David Gordon
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The Lady in the Silver Cloud
The Lady in the Silver Cloud
by David Handler
The Silent Governess
The Silent Governess
by Julie Klassen
Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi
by Paramahansa Yogananda
To Die For
To Die For
by Joyce Maynard
Stoner
Stoner
by John Williams
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
by Mackenzie Lee
Girl on a Plane
Girl on a Plane
by Miriam Moss
Make Room for What You Love
Make Room for What You Love
by Melissa Michaels
The War of the Flowers
The War of the Flowers
by Tad Williams
Fever 1793
Fever 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr
The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr
by Susan Holloway Scott
The Winter Soldier
The Winter Soldier
by Daniel Mason
A Duty to the Dead
A Duty to the Dead
by Charles Todd
Fer-de-Lance
Fer-de-Lance
by Rex Stout
Human Dark With Sugar
Human Dark With Sugar
by Brenda Shaughnessy
The House of Closed Doors
The House of Closed Doors
by Jane Steen
Girl in Pieces
Girl in Pieces
by Kathleen Glasgow
Normal People
Normal People
by Sara Rooney
Social Creature
Social Creature
by Tara Isabella Burton
No Exit
No Exit
by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Bookshop
The Bookshop
by Penelope Fitzgerald
Again the Magic
Again the Magic
by Lisa Kleypas
Honey and the Hired Hand
Honey and the Hired Hand
by Joan Johnston
Thin Air
Thin Air
by Lisa Gray
Keep Me Warm at Christmas
Keep Me Warm at Christmas
by Brenda Novak
The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill
The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill
by James Charlesworth
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (Revised 2003)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (Revised 2003)
by Stephen King
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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.