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The ReadDown

Best Audiobook Memoirs Read by the Authors Who Wrote Them

Reading a memoir is a fascinating literary experience. It’s an opportunity to take a peek into the life of another person, to hear the story as they would tell it. The best memoirs are intimate explorations of life – sometimes hilarious, sometimes painful, sometimes inspirational, but always authentic and vulnerable. There’s also something special about hearing a person tell their own story. That is why memoirs often make great audiobooks, and the authors who wrote them very often handle the reading.

  1. 1
    Know My Name Book Cover Picture
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    Know My Name

    by Chanel Miller

    Chanel Miller’s breathtaking memoir “gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter.” (The Wrap). Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.
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  2. 2
    Wow, No Thank You. Book Cover Picture
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    Wow, No Thank You.

    by Samantha Irby

    Irby is forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and has been friendzoned by Hollywood, left Chicago, and moved into a house with a garden that requires repairs and know-how with her wife in a Blue town in the middle of a Red state where she now hosts book clubs and makes mason jar salads. The essays in this collection draw on the raw, hilarious particulars of Irby’s new life. Wow, No Thank You is Irby at her most unflinching, riotous, and relatable.
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  3. 3
    Becoming Book Cover Picture
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    Becoming

    by Michelle Obama

    In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms.
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  4. 4
    Kitchen Confidential Book Cover Picture
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    Kitchen Confidential

    by Anthony Bourdain

    Anthony Bourdain’s unapologetic honesty, disarming wit, and ability to explore a culture from a place of humility and curiosity made him one of a kind. Kitchen Confidential is really where it all began. His no frills, brutally candid memoir is a descent into the dregs and triumphs of the culinary world and an early indicator of the Bourdain’s unpretentious, unrepentant, sincere style.
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  5. 5
    Untamed: Reese's Book Club Book Cover Picture
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    Untamed: Reese’s Book Club

    by Glennon Doyle

    In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us.
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  6. 6
    Eat a Peach Book Cover Picture
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    Eat a Peach

    by David Chang and Gabe Ulla

    Full of grace, candor, grit, and humor, Eat a Peach chronicles Chang’s switchback path. He lays bare his mistakes and wonders about his extraordinary luck as he recounts the improbable series of events that led him to the top of his profession. He wrestles with his lifelong feelings of otherness and inadequacy, explores the mental illness that almost killed him, and finds hope in the shared value of deliciousness. Along the way, Chang gives us a penetrating look at restaurant life, in which he balances his deep love for the kitchen with unflinching honesty about the industry’s history of brutishness and its uncertain future.
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  7. 7
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    Here for It

    by R. Eric Thomas

    In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Thomas reexamines what it means to be an “other” through the lens of his own life experience. Here for It will resonate deeply and joyfully with everyone who has ever felt pushed to the margins, struggled with self-acceptance, or wished to shine more brightly in a dark world.
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  8. 8
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    Between the World and Me

    by Ta-Nehisi Coates

    With Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the history of race in America by taking readers through a series of profound, painful, and deeply intimate personal experiences — experiences that defined both his conception of self and the place of people of color in society.It is a landmark work, particularly in our current political climate, and echoes James Baldwin in its eloquent and piercing insight.
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  9. 9
    Save Me the Plums Book Cover Picture
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    Save Me the Plums

    by Ruth Reichl

    Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the job (and the risk) of a lifetime when she entered the high-stakes world of magazine publishing. In Save Me the Plums, she chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet.
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