Memoir

As a literary genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning "memory", or a reminiscence), forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir.

Memoirs are structured differently from formal autobiographies which tend to encompass the writer's entire life span, focusing on the development of his/her personality. The chronological scope of memoir is determined by the work's context and is
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  • It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect by Gaelynn Lea
    It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect: A Memoir
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    Release date: Apr 14, 2026
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    Availability: 25 copies available, 2390 people requesting

    Giveaway dates: Feb 09 - Mar 06, 2026

    Countries available: U.S.

  • Z is for Zen by Bettina Mueller
    Z is for Zen: Life and Hard Times on the Dharma Road
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    Release date: Jan 15, 2026
    The author for Z is for Zen invites readers to walk alongside her as she battles to discover meaning in life, through an enticing narrative chroniclin ...more
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    Format: Kindle book

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    Availability: 100 copies available, 703 people requesting

    Giveaway dates: Feb 06 - Mar 06, 2026

    Countries available: U.S.

  • Choosing to Die by Theresa E. Evans
    Choosing to Die: A Daughter’s Story Of Supporting Her Mother’s End Of Life Through Assisted Death

    Release date: Mar 03, 2026
    Author's Message: My hope is that readers walk away contemplating how they want to show up for themselves and their loved ones at the end of life. ...more
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    Availability: 100 copies available, 772 people requesting

    Giveaway dates: Feb 06 - Mar 06, 2026

    Countries available: U.S.

  • The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsNight by Elie WieselAngela's Ashes by Frank McCourtEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
    Best Memoir / Biography / Autobiography
    5,938 books — 6,473 voters
    Steve Jobs by Walter IsaacsonUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandEinstein by Walter IsaacsonInto the Wild by Jon KrakauerJohn Adams by David McCullough
    Best Biographies
    1,690 books — 2,968 voters

    Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertA Walk in the Woods by Bill BrysonBlood River by Tim ButcherThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann ShafferInto the Wild by Jon Krakauer
    Best Traveling Vicariously
    2,141 books — 1,869 voters
    Band of Brothers by Stephen E. AmbroseBlack Hawk Down by Mark BowdenUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandWe Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. MooreLone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
    Best Non-fiction War Books
    2,175 books — 2,440 voters

    The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankNight by Elie WieselInto Thin Air by Jon KrakauerInto the Wild by Jon KrakauerFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
    Must Read Non-Fiction
    5,291 books — 4,510 voters
    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathJane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëA Room of One’s Own by Virginia WoolfThe Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
    Best Feminist Books
    2,676 books — 3,632 voters


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