Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week, bloggers get a topic which entails giving a list of ten things based on the topic.
Ten Books Every Memoir Lover Should Read
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier by Ishmael Beah is about Ishmael’s experiences as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. It is shocking but inspiring. Definitely one of the most powerful memoirs that I have ever read.
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt- One of my favorite memoirs. The book is based on Frank McCourt’s life in Ireland.I have never read anything more devastating like this narrative. Angela’s struggles were unimaginable and the poverty described in the book was heartbreaking. The narrative by young Frank is really good though. You can read my review here.
Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barrack Obama-An inspiring book by/about a great man.You can read my review here.
I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou- Inspiring but heartbreaking. The things that Maya went through especially at age 8 were quite overwhelming.
I am Nujood, Age 10 years and Divorced by Nujood Ali and Delphine Minoui- A child’s bride story. A sad book but Nujood’s bravery was motivating.You can read my review here.
Infidel by Ayaan Hassan Hirsi- This memoir was quite controversial. I have never read anything like it. There were parts of the book that I hated especially the parts that involved the author’s scathing remarks about Kenya. She was a refugee here and I didn’t understand her hatred for the country that offered her refuge from the war in Somali. She didn’t just hate this country, she made all kinds of hate remarks about Kenyans(apparently,we stink and so does our food lol) However, her remarks about Kenya were nothing compared to her remarks about her former religion, Islam. That is what got her running for her life. I don’t even know how to describe Ayaan. Let us just say, she went through a tough time after the release of this memoir. This is the kind of memoir that everyone should read for themselves and see how they feel about it.
Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer- This is a very heartbreaking story about a boy who was abused by his own mother.You can read my review here.
Left to Tell by Immaculée IIibagiza- An inspiring book about the Rwandan genocide and one woman’s journey.You can read my review here.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert- I loved this book. I wish I could travel like Elizabeth but I guess only a few people can be that lucky.
Dreams in a time of war by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o- A beautiful memoir about pre-colonial Kenya
I also have the following memoirs on my TBR. I have heard good things about them.
Have you read any of the memoirs on my list? Do you think you that will add any of them to your TBR list? Share your TTT links so I can read your posts too and please let me know in case you know of any other wonderful memoirs that I should read.
A Haven for Book Lovers 
I have only read Eat. Pray. Love. It was fun read. 🙂
I am soooo looking forward on reading I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A quote from that lovely book is my blog’s theme. 🙂
Oh I hope you will like Maya’s book. Its quite inspirational. I love her quotes too. EPL sure was a fun read. I envied Elizabeth’s travels though 🙂
i am sure i will like it! 😀
yay! we share the same thoughts!
Good topic! Thanks for the list of books on this topic they will make for great reading. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a wonderful book.
Here’s a link to my TTT post: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2016/04/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-every-russian.html
Thank you and glad to hear you liked Maya’s book too. Heading over to read your list now and see the Russian classics that you recommend 🙂
Memoirs are one of my best genres. I’ve read a couple of books you’ve mentioned. Haven’t come across Infidel by Ayaan Hassan Hirsi though. Do you have a pdf copy? I’d love to read about her story.
I have a hard copy of The Infidel. I don’t mind passing it to you. Let me email you shortly and we can see how to go about it. Thanks for visiting 🙂
Sure, will appreciate.
I honestly haven’t read any memoirs. I’ve heard about Eat.Pray.Love and Anne Frank. We’ve read excerpts from Anne Frank as part of a school requirement, though I can’t remember anymore details. Nice list. ❤
Thanks Angie. Hopefully you will come across a memoir that will interest you someday. The two that you have mentioned would be a great starting point although I have not yet read Anne Frank. Thanks for reading and commenting 🙂
I really need to widen my interests in terms of book genres… More books to read! Thank you for reading and commenting too.❤
A Long Way Gone is amazing. I met him once, and he is a lovely person.
My TTT: https://booksbeyondmeasure.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/top-ten-books-every-mystery-lover-should-read/#more-796
Oh wow, you met Ishmael? Lucky you, he is such an inspiring person. Thanks for visiting and sharing your link. Heading over to read your post now.
I love Angela’s Ashes – one of my favourite books (and coincidentally I included it in a TTT a month ago – a list about Irish misery literature). I also found Nujood very moving. Eat Pray wasn’t for me but I have heard her most recent book, The Signature of All Things, is excellent.
I also have Lucky in my TBR stack and if you haven’t yet read Anne Frank’s diary, drop everything and read it – it’s amazing.
LOL your comment has motivated me to read Anne Frank. I will do it this week. Not even sure why it has taken me so long to read the book.
Glad to see we have a number of similar likes, well apart from Eat, Pray, Love. Always nice to meet another reader who shares similar book interests 🙂
Agreed 🙂
This is such a good list! You were right to send it over to me. Considering how much I’ve read on Rwanda, you’d think I’d have read Left to Tell, but I haven’t. I honestly hadn’t even heard of it. Thanks for putting it on my radar.
You are welcome. The author has two books; Left to Tell and Led by Faith although I preferred the first one. I also got another book recently on Rwanda, its called’ We Wish to Inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families’ by Philip Gourevitch. If you haven’t read that one too, perhaps you can also check it out. Happy reading 🙂
I want to finish reading the rest of Maya Angelou’s books. I read the caged bird two years ago. Happy reading! https://ireadboooks.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/top-ten-tuesday-audiobook-recommendations/
I also hope to find the rest of her books especially in the autobiography series. Thanks for sharing your link. I enjoyed reading your post on audio-books. I really need to get my first one now 🙂
I’ve only read Eat Pray Love and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I liked both though!
Great to hear that 🙂
I own Eat Pray Love. I need to read it.
I hope you will enjoy it once you do read it 🙂
A Long Way Gone is on my list. I would recommend January First to you.
Thanks for recommendation about January First. I have just looked it up on goodreads. Mixed reactions and a lot of complains about the dad but I am intrigued to read the book. I haven’t read any books that touched on mental illness. Thank you for putting it on my radar.
Love Maya Angelou, but I’ve never picked up her memoir. I should get to it soon. The Diary of Anne Frank is fantastic, I’ve read it a couple of times and am continually in awe of it. Great list this week!
Thank you Alicia. I need to read Anna Frank now. I have received a number of recommendations about it. I hope you like Maya’s memoirs. I am looking for the remaining books in her autobiography series. The first one was quite moving.
I haven’t read many memoirs (not exactly a genre I always click with) but I have read Eat, Pray, Love and enjoyed that well enough! The wanderlust was real with that one. XD Great list, I think I might check out a few!
Glad to hear you liked Eat, Pray, Love. Hope you like the memoir that you pick. Happy Reading.
I heard SO many mixed things about Eat Pray Love, but mostly negative things if I’m being honest. Should I, should I not?
That is a tough one 🙂 I enjoyed it and it seems most people who have commented on this post did too. How about you take a look and see how it goes, you may end up liking it enough to at least read it to the end. So yeah, try it out 🙂
The Lost Boy was so.. Wow. It’s definitely a must read. I also enjoyed Lucky. I’ve never read Eat Pray Love, but I’ve heard many people praise it. Great list!
I hope to also enjoy Lucky. I read Lovely Bones by the same author and it was pretty good. I hope you will enjoy Eat, Pray, Love if you ever decide to read it 🙂
I read very few memoirs but those I have, I’ve really liked! Reading a book by Anne Frank sounds like a great read since I have always been fascinated by her story. Also, Helen Keller sounds like a good read too! Great topic this week.
Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland. 🙂
Great list! I’ve been looking for some good memoirs. Just bookmarked this post 🙂