8 Memoirs That Will Change The Way You Live

Because sometimes reading about someone else's life is the best way to make sense of your own.

1. A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius

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In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (AHWOSG, if you will) Dave Eggers presents himself as your stereotypical 20-something college dropout: an immature semi-slacker who leaves the suburbs for a filthy apartment in the city, driven by a creative pursuit. The big difference? He is also the guardian of his 8-year-old brother Toph, having lost both parents to cancer in the span of six weeks.

It's a self-conscious memoir, as much an experiment in the genre (see: the hyperbolic title, the section of "Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of this Book") as it is a lesson about survival and personal growth in the wake of loss. It's also surprisingly hilarious.

2. Just Kids

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In Just Kids, punk legend Patti Smith recounts her lifelong friendship with soul mate and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, describing their journey from anonymity to fame in the late 1960s/early 1970s New York art scene.

The book is heartbreaking in its description of loss-- it opens in 1989, with the news Robert's AIDS-related death-- but also transcendent in its celebration of art and the people who sacrifice almost everything for it.

3. Fun Home

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Alison Bechdel has been a go-to name in the graphic novel discussion since she published this memoir in 2006. The "family tragicomic" focuses on Bechdel's relationship with her late father, using her down-to-earth voice and simplistic drawings to explore complex issues like sexuality and death. You'll be left thinking about the different ways in which we craft our identities, and how those choices affect the people we love.

(Fun fact: a musical adaptation of the book just opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater this week!)

4. Speak, Memory

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Vladimir Nabokov is mostly known for Lolita (which, sure, turns out if you write a hauntingly perfect love story about a pedophile, it's what you'll be remembered for) but this book is arguably even more captivating.

Focused primarily on his early life in Russia, it's filled with dreamy memories of childhood, first-hand accounts of emigration, and a more poignant description of butterfly-catching than you probably thought possible. Plus, his meditations on the very idea of memory and nostalgia will change the way you think about your own past.

5. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

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Cheryl Strayed completed a solo 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail when she was 26 years old, and as if that weren't inspirational enough, she then wrote a No. 1 New York Times Best Seller about the experience. Sure! No biggie!

Those familiar with Strayed's work-- whether through her personal essays or as advice-giver Dear Sugar at The Rumpus-- have fallen in love with her fierce, funny, no-nonsense voice, and in this book she turns its attention on everything that brought her to this journey: her mother's death, her drug use, and the dissolution of her marriage. It will simultaneously destroy and uplift you.

6. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

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Maya Angelou's 1969 autobiography-- the first in a seven-volume series-- describes growing up poor and surrounded by racism in the town of Stamps, Arkansas. The book broke ground not just for its portrayal of a young black girl exploring her identity, but also because its style blurred the line between autobiography and literature.

The book was banned by more than a few schools and libraries because of its depictions of rape and sexuality, but it's still considered a classic-- which is fitting, since one of its lasting messages is the power of language.

7. On Writing

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Equal parts autobiography and writing guide, Stephen King's On Writing isn't just for aspiring novelists (but for those aspiring novelists: consider this required reading).

It's professional advice from a master of his craft, couched in vivid memories of his childhood, his struggles to break into writing, his successes, and his comeback after a near-fatal accident. It's also a lot of tough love-- like when he warns, "Your days as a member of polite society are numbered"-- which can be exactly the motivation you're looking for.

8. Blue Nights

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Let's be real. Joan Didion is the reigning queen of the memoir. Call it New Journalism, creative nonfiction, or narrative reporting: Didion is the master when it comes to blending objectivity and humanity, a skill no more apparent than in the frank discussion of her daughter's untimely death.

Didion analyzes her mourning, incorporating fragments of memory and some of her own research on loss, leaving you thinking about what it means both to love and lose a person. Be warned: this one will take a lot out of you.