Memoirs and autobiographies dominate nonfiction shelves every year, and for good reason. A well-told personal story can inspire, devastate, or even change the way we see the world. But let’s be honest, not every life story deserves a book deal. For every gripping, profound memoir, there are dozens that are… well, mostly wasted paper.
In this post, we’ve sifted through 2024’s releases to bring you the real standouts, 20 of them, to be exact. Whether you’re craving a celebrity tell-all, a harrowing survival story, or a heart warming journey of self-discovery, this list has something worth reading. No fluff, no filler, just the best memoirs and autobiographies of the year. Let’s dive in.
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20 of The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies from 2024
Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung
Published in September 2024
The trailblazing journalist pulls back the curtain on her groundbreaking career with equal parts wit and candor. From battling sexism in CBS’s boys’ club to making history as the first Asian woman to anchor a major news program, Chung’s story is as unflinching as her reporting, packed with Watergate scoops, network showdowns, and the sharp humor of a woman who refused to be sidelined.
Sonny Boy: A Memoir by Al Pacino
Published in October 2024
The man who was Michael Corleone, Tony Montana, and Serpico finally drops the act, but don’t expect a polished Hollywood fairytale. This is pure, unfiltered Pacino: the South Bronx streets that raised him, the chaotic genius of his early theater days, and the meteoric rise that nearly burned him out. With gritty charm, he revisits the roles that rewrote cinema (yes, Godfather gossip included) and the demons that chased him off-camera.
A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings
Published August 2024
A gut-punch of a memoir, Levings exposes the suffocating grip of the Quiverfull movement with razor-sharp clarity. Behind the facade of “godly submission” lay a world of control, violence, and silent survival. When the threat to her children became undeniable, she staged a heart-stopping escape, rewriting the script of devotion into one of defiance.
Here After by Amy Lin
Published in March 2024
Amy Lin’s memoir is a piercing elegy for her husband, Kurtis, whose sudden death at 32 leaves her untethered. With unflinching honesty, she traces their whirlwind romance, the medical crisis that followed his passing, and the messy, nonlinear reality of grief.
An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Published in January 2024
Goodwin and her husband, Dick, speechwriter for JFK, LBJ, and RFK, unpack 300 boxes of memorabilia in his final years, reviving the idealism and clashes of the 1960s. Part love letter, part revisionist history, this memoir grapples with legacy through their fiery debates about Kennedy’s charisma, Johnson’s paradoxes, and the era’s unfulfilled promises.
The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne
Published in June 2024
Dunne spins gold from the whiplash between privilege and pain, swimming with Sean Connery one moment, mourning his sister’s murder the next. With Carrie Fisher as his roommate and Joan Didion as his aunt, his memoir dodges celebrity fluff, instead dissecting family’s messy grip.
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There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib
Published in March 2024
Abdurraqib’s memoir pulses with the heartbeat of 90s Columbus, where LeBron’s rise mirrored his own hunger to belong. Basketball becomes his lens—for fatherhood, failure, and the fragile hope of “next year.”
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg
Published in May 2024
Before the EGOTs and the View, there was Caryn Johnson—a girl shaped by her mother’s relentless love in a New York City housing project. Goldberg peels back the curtain on her origin story: the Christmas miracles, the unspoken sacrifices, and the quiet trauma behind her mother’s magic.
From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough
Published in October 2024
When Lisa Marie’s sudden passing left her memoir unfinished, daughter Riley pressed play on her mother’s tapes—unearthing raw confessions between Graceland’s ghosts. Elvis’ golf-cart pranks, Michael Jackson’s quiet kinship, addiction’s grip, and that haunting bathroom scream when the King fell.
Cher: The Memoir, Part 1 by Cher
Published November 2024
The Goddess of Pop finally writes her own myth, and it’s wilder than you dreamed. From dyslexic kid in chaotic Hollywood-adjacent poverty to accidentally conquering music history, Cher spills secrets with that signature rasp and zero f**ks given.
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show by Bethany Joy Lenz
Published in October 2024
While One Tree Hill fans watched Haley James’ sweet small-town life, Bethany Joy Lenz was living a real-life horror story. This gripping memoir exposes her double life: by day, a beloved TV star; by night, a prisoner in a cult’s Pacific Northwest compound, where “faith” meant forced marriage, stolen millions, and basement interrogation sessions.
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Published in April 2024
The ultimate irony: Rushdie was mid-speech about protecting writers when the blade struck. This isn’t just an account of the 2022 attack. With brutal clarity, he dissects the moment, the decades of threats preceding it, and the harder fight: reclaiming language after trauma tried silencing him forever.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Published
Before the cosmos martinis and Hamptons charm, Ina Garten was a White House nuclear policy analyst who bet everything on a tiny gourmet shop. Her memoir peels back the curtain on the hustle behind the “effortless” Contessa persona, proving luck favors those who prep like hell.
Sociopath by Patric Gagne
Published in April 2024
Gagne’s razor-sharp memoir dissects her sociopathy with chilling clarity, the childhood thefts, the lock-picking phase, the eerie void where fear or guilt should be. But when love cracks her armor, she wages a war to redefine the disorder
Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself by Crystal Hefner
Published in January 2024
A former Playmate’s memoir revealing the toxic, controlled life inside the Playboy Mansion. Crystal Hefner details her loss of identity as Hugh Hefner’s wife and her subsequent journey to reclaim her self-worth after his death and the crumbling of his glamorous facade.
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
Published in September 2024
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop was awarded Goodreads best memoir of 2024.
Actress Kelly Bishop recounts her six-decade career, from A Chorus Line and Dirty Dancing to her iconic role as Emily Gilmore. This warm, witty memoir shares her personal journey through love, loss, and landmark achievements on stage and screen.
Coming Home by Brittney Griner
Published in May 2024
Basketball star Brittney Griner’s memoir details her harrowing ten-month detention in a Russian prison after being arrested for cannabis oil. It recounts her ordeal, the global campaign for her release, and the profound personal journey that led to her eventual freedom and homecoming.
The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour and Jude Dobson
Published November 2024
The posthumous memoir of Pippa Latour, the last surviving British female spy from WWII. It details her dangerous undercover missions in Nazi-occupied France, her ingenious methods of espionage, and her decades-long silence about her heroic, decorated service.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
Published in April 2024
Amy Tan’s illustrated journal chronicles her discovery of birdwatching as a refuge from a divisive world. Through daily observations and sketches in her backyard, she finds profound peace and connection in the quiet, intricate lives of birds.
Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison
Published in December 2024
A clueless office worker’s humorous memoir about impulsively buying a dilapidated, off-grid cabin. With zero skills, he chronicles his six-year journey of renovation, discovering a profound love for the process and the possibilities of a simpler life in the woods.
And there you have it—20 life stories that are anything but wasted paper. From front-line espionage to back-yard birdwatching, these are the memoirs that truly delivered on their promise: to captivate, illuminate, and remind us of the incredible stories living all around us.
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