Popular North American Memoir Books
Find memoir books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (143)
1.
84, Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
"Those who have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel comprised of only letters between the characters, will see how much that best-seller owes 84, Charing Cross Road." -- Medium.com A heartwarming love story about people who love books for readers who love books This funny, poignant, classic love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a char... continue
2.
A Book of Days by Patti Smith EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
A deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids and M Train, featuring more than 365 images and reflections that chart Smith’s singular aesthetic—inspired by her wildly popular Instagram. In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message “Hello Everybody!” Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat... continue
3.
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott EN
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
"In her raw, unflinching memoir . . . she tells the impassioned, wrenching story of the mental health crisis within her own family and community . . . A searing cry." —New York Times Book Review The Mohawk phrase for depression can be roughly translated to "a mind spread out on the ground." In this urgent and visceral work, Alicia Elliott explores how apt a description that is for the ongoing effects of personal, intergenerational, and colonial traumas she and so many Native people have experienced. Elliott's deeply personal writing details a life spent between Indigenous and white communities... continue
4.
A Monk Swimming : A Memoir by Malachy McCourt EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The memoirs of Malachy McCourt who left a childhood of poverty in Ireland to live in New York where he carved out a colourful career as a writer and actor - The story of his early life was told in Angela's ashes, by his brother Frank McCourt.
5.
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid EN
Country: North America / 
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Description:
Lyrical, sardonic, and forthright by turns, this memoir is a brilliant look at colonialism and its effects in Antigua, by the author of "Annie John."
6.
A Stranger at Home : A True Story by Christy Jordan-Fenton, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton EN
Country: North America / Canada
Canada
Description:
The powerful memoir of an Inuvialuit girl searching for her true self when she returns from residential school.
7.
America the Beautiful? : One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled by Blythe Roberson EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The author of How to Date Men When You Hate Men examines Americans' obsession with freedom, travel, and the open road in this funny, entertaining travelogue that blends the humorous observations of Bill Bryson with the piercing cultural commentary of Jia Tolentino. For writer and comedian Blythe Roberson, there are only so many Mary Oliver poems you can read about being free, and only so many times you can listen to Joni Mitchell's travel album Hejira, before you too, are itching to take off. Canonical American travel writers have long celebrated the road trip as the epitome of freedom. But wh... continue
8.
Among Flowers : A Walk in the Himalaya by Jamaica Kincaid EN
Country: North America / Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Description:
In this delightful hybrid of a book—part memoir and part travel journal—the bestselling author takes us deep into the mountains of Nepal with a trio of botanist friends in search of native Himalayan plants that will grow in her Vermont garden. Alighting from a plane in the dramatic Annapurna Valley, the ominous signs of Nepal's Maoist guerrillas are all around—an alarming presence that accompanies the travelers throughout their trek. Undaunted, the group sets off into the mountains with Sherpas and bearers, entering an exotic world of spectacular landscapes, vertiginous slopes, isolated villag... continue
9.
And Still I Rise by Doreen Lawrence, Margaret Busby EN
Country: North America / 
Jamaica
Jamaica
Description:
Since the murder of her son Stephen in 1993, Doreen Lawrence has campaigned for justice for Stephen and for other victims of racially-motivated crimes. In this book, she describes the unimaginable events of 1993 and the years that followed as they happened to her.
10.
Avant la nuit : autobiographie by Reinaldo Arenas FR
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
De l'enfant nu qui mange de la terre dans une vieille ferme de Holguin à l'exilé cubain qui, à quarante-sept ans, malade, se donne la mort à New York, l'existence de Reinaldo Arenas est guidée par l'anticonformisme viscéral de qui a osé prendre tous les risques. Vibrant témoignage sur les exactions de la dictature castriste, Avant la nuit est une œuvre littéraire à part entière composée avec fureur et poésie. Elle est traversée de ses principaux thèmes de prédilection : une recherche éperdue de beauté, encore la lune, toujours la mer, et une sexualité débridée comme manifestation absolue de li... continue