Do you like to read? To me, it doesn't get much better than a good book while you lounge on the beach, so I thought I'd take a moment to highlight some of my favorites. Turns out that making a short all-time favorites list is pretty difficult so I broke it down by genre. For today, here's a collection of my favorite memoirs.
1. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren. Pretty self explanatory title.
2. Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff. Also self explanatory title.
3. Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff. The father's perspective of the previous book in the list.
4. Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. A look back into the 30 years that Frank McCourt spent as a teacher in the NYC school system.
5. All Souls: A Family Story From Southie by Michael Patrick Macdonald. I felt like this was a modern day Angela's Ashes - Macdonald, one of nine children (from various fathers), recounts growing up in Southie in extreme poverty.
6. My Bloody Life: The Making of A Latin King by Reymundo Sanchez. About joining the Latin Kings, trying to get through each day, and trying to get out of the gang alive.
7. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher. Hornbacher wrote this at only 23 years old but her talent is undeniable. With candor, she talks about getting down to a painful 52 pounds and how she decided to turn it all around and get healthy.
8. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I absolutely love the way this book is written. It's laugh out loud funny with sobering moments about how Eggers is left to pick up the pieces and raise his younger brother when both parents die suddenly.
9. Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War by Deborah Copaken Kogan, a photojournalist who travels the world and meets many men along the way.
What are your favorite memoirs? Please share - I'm always looking for a good read!