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)
101.
Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend : Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump by Ben Philippe EN
Country: North America / 
Haiti
Haiti
Description:
In the vein of 'What Doesnt Kill You Makes You Blacker' and 'We Are Never Meeting in Real Life', Ben Philippes candid memoir-in-essays chronicles a lifetime of being the Black friend (see also: foreign kid, boyfriend, coworker, student, teacher, roommate, enemy) in predominantly white spaces.
102.
Tell Me how it Ends : An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli EN
Country: North America / 
Mexico
Mexico
Description:
A damning confrontation between the American dream and the reality of undocumented children seeking a new life in the US.
103.
The Book of Rosy : A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz, Julie Schwietert Collazo EN
Country: North America / 
Guatemala
Guatemala
Description:
A searing tale of the human lives behind the Trump administration-made immigration crisis, written by two remarkable mothers--a Central American woman whose children were taken from her by the United States government at the southern border, and the American who helped reunite the family--and offers a timely and urgent look at a migrant experience, family separation and reunification, and the power of individuals banding together to overcome even the cruelest and most unjust circumstances. When Rosayra Pablo Cruz made the wrenching decision to seek asylum in America with two of her children, f... continue
104.
The Country Under My Skin : A Memoir of Love and War by Gioconda Belli EN
Country: North America / 
Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Description:
"A passionate, lyrical, tough-minded account of an extraordinary life in art, revolution, and love. It's a book to relish, to read and re-read. Unforgettable." --Salmon Rushdie An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer (“A wonderfully free and original talent”—Harold Pinter) and central figure in the Sandinista Revolution. Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-class cocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in a world of country clubs and debutante balls; educated abroad; early marriage and motherhood. But in 1970, everything changed. Her growing dis... continue
105.
The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFed EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held o... continue
106.
The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie EN
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
In this award-winning memoir, two sisters reckon with the convalescence and death of their outlandishly tyrannical mother and with the care of their psychologically terrorized father, all relayed with dark humor and brutal honesty. When Vicki Laveau-Harvie and her sister learn their mother has been hospitalized for a broken hip, they return to their parents' home in Alberta, Canada, to put things back in order. Though their parents disowned them years before, the sisters now reassert themselves in the dysfunctional household: their father, undernourished and suffering from Stockholm syndrome i... continue
107.
The Ghosts That Haunt Me : Memories of a Homicide Detective by Steve Ryan EN
Country: North America / Canada
Canada
Description:
After years working as a homicide detective, there are some things you just can’t forget. For retired homicide detective Steve Ryan, hair-raising true crime stories are more than just entertainment — they were real life. Investigating homicide for more than a decade, he spent time searching for killers and saw his share of sad and unjust occurrences. Some things were so terrible they were impossible to forget, even after his retirement from the police force. In The Ghosts That Haunt Me, Steve memorializes his time as a homicide investigator. While hard to tell, these stories were harder to liv... continue
108.
The Girl Who Fell to Earth : A Memoir by Sophia Al-Maria EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Award-winning filmmaker and writer Sophia Al-Maria’s The Girl Who Fell to Earth is a funny and wry coming-of-age memoir about growing up in between American and Gulf Arab cultures. With poignancy and humor, Al-Maria shares the struggles of being raised by an American mother and Bedouin father while shuttling between homes in the Pacific Northwest and the Middle East. Part family saga and part personal quest, The Girl Who Fell to Earth traces Al-Maria’s journey to make a place for herself in two different worlds.
109.
The Glass Castle : A Memoir by Jeannette Walls EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Now a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts. MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST The perennially bestselling, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, “nothing short of spectacular” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world’s most gifted storytellers. The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics... continue
110.
The Hitchhiker Man by Matt Fox EN
Country: North America / Canada
Canada
Description:
In June of 2007 Matt Fox left his middle-class life in Toronto behind to go hitchhiking. One year later he arrived in Alaska with less than fifty dollars to his name. This is his story.