A word about the heading: I was going to go with "100 Nonfiction Titles You Might Actually Have a Shot At Reading" or "100 Nonfiction Titles You Might Want to Take a Whack At," but those are both too long. So "100 Best-ish Nonfiction Titles" it is.
Here's the titles Time selected for their Autobiography/Memoir "best titles of all time":
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown
Maus by Art Spiegelman
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
On Writing by Stephen King
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Now, to be fair, I haven't read quite a few of these titles, so I can't really disagree with them. (The titles I have read are in bold.) And of course Time magazine has to list all the very serious, critically acclaimed titles. I won't repeat any of the titles, although I would like to list the Dave Eggers book; and of course titles like Maus and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are important for format and subject matter. But what is with the Bill Bryson book? That should be in a Travel category, I think. And I totally disagree with the Barack Obama title--and NOT because he's been a huge presidential disappointment (although he has)--but because it was too long and fairly standard coming-of-age fare.
Anyway, I digress. Here's my list:
Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High, Melba Pattillo Beals. Unbelievable account of Little Rock, Ark., school integration in 1957. I am not interested in American history, particularly of the 20th century, but this book made me want to learn more about civil rights.
Lucky, Alice Sebold. During her freshman year at Syracuse University, Sebold was brutally raped, an experience she recounts in heartreading detail in her memoir--in the first chapter, mind you. This book is not for the faint of heart but I promise you you've never read anything like it.
Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress, Debra Ginsberg. People are going to argue with me on this one, and say it's slight. Nothing doing. Ginsberg perfectly marries multiple memoir formats: working life, coming of age, love and parenting, self-discovery. And she does it in an economical 320 pages.
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain. Oh, Anthony, I do love you. The smoking! The swearing! The cooking! The rock 'n roll world of restaurants! This is one of the rare memoirs that sold well and really deserved all the hype it got. And if you've never read anything by Bourdain, this is a good place to start.
A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean. I know. You're going to tell me this one's fiction. I don't care. If it was published today, it would be marketed as memoir--Maclean recounts a story that hews pretty closely to the real details of his life. And he worked on it for years and years--getting each sentence just perfect. It shows.
Just Kids, Patti Smith. I've reviewed this one, here. A memoir that drops you in another time and place and makes you FEEL the unmistakable pulls of art, love, and youth--even against the grittiest of backdrops.
Somewhere Towards the End, Diana Athill. Athill's one of the most underappreciated memoir writers we have. This memoir on aging is bittersweet without really being bitter or sweet--how did she do that?
The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion. Didion's a prose master and her subject--the unexpected death of her husband and the serious illnesses suffered by her daughter immediately afteward--leaves the reader wondering just how one woman had the ability to be overwhelmed by sorrow while still describing it in incisive detail.
84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff. Okay, it's a collection of letters, not memoir. Close enough! Everyone who loves books and reading (or who loves feisty women, or who loves England, etc.) should read this slim volume of correspondence between a feisty book-loving New Yorker and a very proper bookseller in London.
Made in Detroit, Paul Clemens. A perfect coming-of-age memoir, combined with an elegy for a dying city and way of life.
Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, Michael Perry. Perry's beautiful book of stories about his return home to live in northern Wisconsin and become an EMT in his home community is funny, sad, beautiful, and completely honest.
Okay, that's only eleven titles, to the Time list's twelve. I'm reserving a spot because I know there's at least one title I've forgotten.
So, what do you think? Tell me yes or no on my choices, and feel free to list some of your own!
How about Boy by Roald Dahl?
Posted by: Nancy Wilson | 11 October 2011 at 09:32 AM
Oh, Nancy, that's a good one.
I'll add it to our master list, but would I bump anything off my list for it? I don't think so. But yes, definitely, if we could make just a list of the 100 best-ish memoirs.
Actually, it's time to read Boy again. Thanks for the reminder!
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 11 October 2011 at 09:43 AM
I'm a total sucker for lists, especially when they perplex me by being partly right-on-the-money and partly Who-Would-Ever-Read-*That?* The Time list fits the bill.
Your list of memoirs has just further bloated my TBR. (This is a mixed blessing.)
I strongly second A River Runs Through It, and I'd also add The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway, which I read over a decade ago and can't stop thinking about. She had one fascinating childhood, and she didn't flinch from telling the honest truth.
Posted by: Unruly Reader | 11 October 2011 at 10:27 AM
Unruly,
Yeah, we're all suckers for lists. I get it. They give some shape to the world, and sometimes we like to give the world some shape, don't we?
The Time list bloated my TBR list as well; I particularly want to try the Hemingway. And now I'll have to add the Conway title, which I think I tried at one point but couldn't get into. Time to try it again--thanks for the suggestion!
and p.s. Thanks for seconding A River... I know it's not everyone's cuppa but man do I love that book.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 11 October 2011 at 10:29 AM
I'm a big autobiography/memoir reader, so I've got several! First, I think Kevin Roose's Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semster at America's Holiest University is one of my favorite memoirs ever. At no point did he go for the cheap joke but instead he really approached the whole project with an open mind and really gave everything a try. And, for a college junior, it was amazingly introspective. One of my top books in the last five years, at least!
Also, I thought Fun Home by Alison Bechdel was also incredibly open and introspective. I literally couldn't put it down. Beautiful, complex, amazing.
Likewise with Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover was really introspective and insightful. Well written and compelling about the tolls on prison life and culture on the guards.
I was also incredibly moved by Douglas Adams's Last Chance to See which was both hilarious and profoundly sad. So so good.
Denial: A Memoir of Terror by Jessica Stern was one of the most insightful and compelling explorations of the after effects of trauma. Disturbing but absolutely worth it.
I'm not sure these would make my all time list, but I did also really enjoy The Sex Lives of Cannibals, On Writing, True Notebooks, Pack of Two, and The Kid. Also, one of the first books to really ignite my passion for non-fiction - Westward Whoa by W. Hodding Carter.
Posted by: Laura | 11 October 2011 at 12:44 PM
Or, This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff (terrible movie but I remember loving Wolff's writing) or Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick. My mother told me to read Fierce Attachments; it is about a toxic mother, daughter relationship. Weird, because I thought my mother and I had a great relationship--was she trying to tell me something?
Posted by: Nancy Wilson | 11 October 2011 at 01:59 PM
Laura,
Good titles all you've suggested too, thank you. I thought about Fun Home, particularly for its graphic format...but for some reason I just couldn't list it. I don't know why. I found it an interesting read but...I've always had a complex relationship with that book.
I've not been able to finish "Denial" but I agree it's a powerful work; well-written. And I have GOT to read the Douglas Adams.
Re: the Newjack and Unlikely Disciple, I think I'd have to get all splitsy-hairsy and say those are immersion journalism--investigative works--rather than memoir. But it's a fine distinction. (And Newjack was a great book; I've not read UD.) I have to revisit the Time list and see if there's a category for Journalism or something like that, where we can list those types of books.
Nancy!
Great picks, although if I can remember, I think I found the TBL movie interesting too. (Leonardo DiCaprio?) It seems sacrilegious to have a best-ish memoirs list without Tobias Wolff on it--he's a master of the form; you're right. Perhaps I will re-read TBL and give it that twelfth spot.
I'm guessing what your mom was trying to tell you was, aren't you glad we had a good relationship, unlike the one in this book? :)
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 11 October 2011 at 02:44 PM
This Boy's Life is great, as is The Duke of Deception, his brother Geoffrey's memoir. Speak, Memory is pretty amazing, so I might leave that on the list. I might add Jo Ann Beard's The Boys of My Youth and/or Dani Shapiro's Slow Motion. Joyce Johnson's Minor Characters is another one that would assuredly be on my list.
Posted by: laura | 11 October 2011 at 04:36 PM
I did wonder about the immersion journalism question for those two books, but, for me, the level of personal examination, reflection and introspection elevated both the memoir/autobiography. I guess I tend to think of immersion journalism as either fairly light weight in which the focus is on the task OR something like Nickeled and Dimed which is trying to make a social comment.
Posted by: Laura | 11 October 2011 at 05:04 PM
Unruly -- Yes: Norman Maclean. He's my dream author.
Posted by: Unruly Reader | 11 October 2011 at 10:21 PM
Laura,
Never read The Duke of Deception; I love the title. And thanks for the vote on Speak, Memory. I've always wanted to read that too. I've only read Lolita (by Nabokov) but I did find that pretty interesting. And thanks for all the other suggestions too!
Laura,
Yup, all book classification is often a subjective, personal call. I won't argue with your definition but I do tend to think of any sort of "tried something" or "did something for a year," even accompanied by reflection, etc., as immersion journalism. But then I love journalism/investigative writing and tend to call a lot of stuff that. (If any of that makes any sense.
Unruly:
In total agreement about Norman Maclean.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 12 October 2011 at 09:31 AM
Ditto on Duke of Deception and it's interesting to read that in tandem with This Boy's Life. I haven't read any of yours! So thanks for adding to my TBR list ... except I just can't bring myself to even consider the Didion. I love her writing, generally, but grief is just so painful and personal -- especially given what happened to her daughter. Just can't go there. (That's true of the entire recent surge of grief memoirs, not just Didion's.) I really liked Lit by Mary Karr. Interesting thing about Time's list was how few recent books were on there. Who's to say The Hemingses of Monticello or The Warmth of Other Suns or many, many others published in the last five years don't deserve to be on there? They just haven't had a chance to be influential yet ...
Posted by: nan | 12 October 2011 at 10:26 AM
How about Rainbow Pie or Fist Stick Knife Gun? I don't know if they are the "best", but they are noteworthy.
Lists drive me crazy, because they just add to my TBR pile, and the real pile is high enough!
Posted by: Venta | 12 October 2011 at 11:34 AM
Of the TIME list I've read only the Maya Angelou and Bill Bryson. I don't think Bryson is a memoir either; put it under travel. Of your list I've read the Didion and Hanff. Of these four I think the Didion was the best because it prompted me to go and read her earlier works since I loved her writing that much. (Bryson was great but not in this category.) I loved Boy by Dahl. I don't read too much in this category because I never know whether I can trust the author (hated Running with Scissors). I think Memoir belongs in a netherworld between fiction and nonfiction.
Posted by: Donna | 12 October 2011 at 02:02 PM
Nan,
Okay, two votes for Duke of Deception. I must get that one.
I hear you on the Didion. You definitely have to be in the mood, and you have to be ready to read about grieving. I've been lucky in my life, but even I have lost people, so actually, it's one of my favorite "types" of memoirs. I've always been fond of C.S. Lewis's "Surprised by Joy," as well. You'd most likely not care to know, then, that Didion has a new memoir coming out about her daughter's death--Blue Nights. Even I don't know if I'm up for that one.
And excellent point re: the long-term viability of a lot of these titles. That's why "all-time" lists are so hard. Frankly, I could come out with a list of 100 great NF titles ever year (maybe), so narrowing it down even to this century is just too broad a field.
Venta,
You know I LOVED both those titles. I did think of both of them but I just didn't have enough spots. I may have to list Joe Bageant's Deer Hunting with Jesus as a sociology pick, though. Maybe the Fist Stick Knife Gun one too!
Donna,
Agreed on the Bryson! Travel.
Do you think you'll be up for Didion's new memoir about her daughter?
Yes, trust is always a sticking point in this category. I sidestep the whole issue by taking most memoirs with a massive grain of salt (they're so subjective, after all) but I too am annoyed when it's proved that they've simply been fabricated from whole cloth. This is why I didn't feel any qualms about listing the Maclean book--I won't say memoirs are fiction, but they're not really fact, either. We need a new category.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 12 October 2011 at 03:17 PM
This Boy's Life - Tobias Wolff
Boy - Roald Dahl
My Life in France -Julia Child
The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
Posted by: Bybee | 15 October 2011 at 10:11 PM
I forgot to include Kitchen Confidential. I remember the day I bought it: I wandered over to the cookbook/food writing section of Barnes and Noble and a girl was sitting there in the cramped aisle, reading. I said excuse me, I just want to find Kitchen Confidential...she jumped up and plucked it off the shelf. "You HAVE to read it," she said. "It's really REALLY good." She was helpful and she was right.
Posted by: Bybee | 15 October 2011 at 10:19 PM
Bybee,
Excellent choices, all!
Funny about the girl who helped with the Bourdain. Did she work there or was she just reading there? Actually, I've read Bourdain's first crime novel, Bone in the Throat, and liked that too. I think he's got a nice way with both prose and character development. And of course with food descriptions. And of course I think he's an actual smokin' hottie, literally. Although he may have quit smoking now, I can't remember.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 16 October 2011 at 07:25 PM
Huh. I always see "Black Boy" in the fiction section.
I looked over TIME's entire list, and then I yawned. Is this what literary discourse has come to? Just listing books for the lowest common denominator? TIME seems to be pointedly staying away from controversy. No "Mein Kampf," no "Das Kapital," not even a lightweight like "The Communist Manifesto." I wouldn't expect the LCD to slog through Hitler or "Das Kapital," but I think "The Communist Manifesto" is doable. But no. With the economy in the toilet, the political process completely broken, and the occupy Wall Street thing, we don't want to fan the flames of anti-capitalist sentiment by "encourging" the LCD to rise up, "Manifestos" clutched in angry, upraised fist. Best to just wander through Barnes & Noble and list the titles from their stacks and call it a day.
I'm going to be such a crank when I become an old man.
Posted by: Brandon | 17 October 2011 at 03:44 PM
Brandon,
"When you become an old man"? You're not a crank now?
You know I had to say it.
Actually, I'm very appreciative when you comment, because I always pick on you when you do. I just can't help myself.
I totally agree with you that the Time list is a total yawner. And no list that suggests both Milton Friedman and Dale Carnegie is going to have you take a crack at the Communist Manifesto, much less Das Kapital. But it's a nice thought.
Thank god capitalism is working so you don't even have to think about which bookstore to wander through to compile the list--B&N it is, since Borders wasn't up to market competition, obviously. And soon all brick and mortar stores will be gone, dust before Amazon, the ultimate capitalist company, and one that has the balls to argue about charging its customers sales tax. (When of course all independent bookstores have to. Fair marketplace indeed!)
I'm a crank NOW. I can own it.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 17 October 2011 at 05:57 PM
The Bourdain fan seemed to be a customer.
Posted by: bybee | 21 October 2011 at 02:23 AM
I was looking at this for some inspiration, because, really, Yahoo answers does not help. Some of these title sound very interesting. Could you help me come up with ideas? Thanks.
Posted by: LittleStarkid | 23 April 2012 at 08:20 PM
I'm smiling at Brandon's comment. I think he's being sarcastic about the "when I become an old man". Certain kinds of books have always been banned or held down- whether they encourage people of a minority race to stand up and be counted, or look at another way of building a strong economy.
They are held down because they contain thoughts that would change the established order. I don't want to guess too much but it seems too that people are quite content to rely on the recommendations of a few when it comes to their reading material.
Posted by: Spreadshirt | 16 February 2013 at 10:26 AM