LC IV Independent Memoir Reading Project

You may choose a memoir from this list to read independently for class. If there is another memoir you’d like to read that is not listed, you must have it approved by me first. Take some time to research these memoirs as you decide which one you would like to read.

● Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom ● I Am Nujood: Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali ● I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka ● I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou ● Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen by Arin

Andrews ● A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah ● Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger ● Please Stop Laughing at Me: One Woman’s Inspirational Story by Jodee Blanco ● Ball Four by Jim Bouton ● All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg ● The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby ● Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan ● Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates ● The Losing Season by Pat Conroy ● Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland ● The King of the Mild Frontier by Chris Crutcher ● Life is So Good by George Dawson ● Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince ● Model: A Memoir by Cheryl Diamond ● The Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim ● My Mad Fat Diary: A Memoir by Rae Earl ● Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle ● Relentless Spirit: The Unconventional Raising of a Champion by Missy Franklin ● Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grondin ● The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevera ● Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave by Shyima Hall ● Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler ● Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras by Jeff Henderson ● Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Katie Rain Hill ● Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher ● Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings ● The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba ● The White House Boys: An American Tragedy by Roger Dean Kiser

● Rock ‘n’ Roll Soldier: A Memoir by Dean Ellis Kohler ● Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea by

Sungju Lee ● Becoming Maria by Sonia Manzano ● The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore ● Breaking Night by Liz Murray ● Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League

by Dan-el Padilla Peralta ● The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch ● Beneath the Surface: My Story by Michael Phelps ● Positive by Paige Rawl ● Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter ● Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison ● No Summit Out of Sight: The True Story of the Youngest Person to Climb the Seven

Summits by Jordan Romero ● Die Young With Me: A Memoir by Rob Rufus ● A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me by Jason Schmidt ● Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris ● Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff ● All Better Now by Emily Wing Smith ● Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI by Ryan Smithson ● Solo: A Memoir of Hope by Hope Solo ● Half a Life by Darin Strauss ● We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a True Story by Josh Sundquist ● The Boy Who Loved Batman by Michael E. Uslan ● Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen ● The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls ● Forward: A Memoir by Abby Wambach ● I Am A Seal Team Six Warrior: Memoirs of an American Soldier by Howard E. Wasdin

and Stephen Templin ● The Kids are Alright by Diana Welch, Liz Welch, Amanda Welch, and Dan Welch ● Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson ● I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Graphic Novel Memoirs:

● El Deafo by Cece Bell ● March: Book One by John Lewis ● Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March by

Lynda Blackmon Lowery ● Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince ● Stitches by David Small ● Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman

● Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir by Maggie Thrash