The Tamesis
The celebrity memoir boom is here to stay: From Britney Spears to Prince Harry, Ina Garten to Cher, it seems like just about everyone is spilling their secrets via book deal.
At their best, celebrity memoirs provide unusually candid portraits of the “real person” behind the public persona—and they don’t skimp on the dirty details. (At worst, they can be ghostwritten fluff.) A recent crop has erred on the side of revelatory: Over the last few years, Al Pacino let us in on his life from childhood in the South Bronx to his big break in 1970s Hollywood, while the long-gestating memoirs of Lisa Marie Presley came through as a posthumous release written with her daughter Riley Keough. Whether offering vibrant vignettes of iconic periods in time or shining a light on grief, explosive relationships, and the sinister underbelly of showbusiness, these books (and others) have given fans plenty to talk about.
Ahead, Vogue rounds up the best of the genre for your reading pleasure.
So Gay For You: Friendship, Found Family, and the Show That Started It All by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey (2025)
So Gay For You: Friendship, Found Family, and the Show That Started It All by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey
If you’re a proper The L Word devotee, you likely already know that the actors who portrayed rebellious queer lust object Shane and peppy bisexual blogger Alice are real-life BFFs. Still, reading this account of their young-adult years in New York, their time filming in Canada, and their gradual adjustment to the weirdness of Hollywood will make you feel like you just spent a few hours gossiping with them over wine. —Emma Specter
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten (2024)
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Ina Garten—the Barefoot Contessa, bestselling author of 13 cookbooks, Food Network face, and one of my favorite Instagram follows—is a cultural icon. Be Ready When the Luck Happens traverses an expansive terrain: from her difficult childhood to her love story with her husband, Jeffrey; selling Dunkin’ Donuts to students in college and a stint in nuclear energy policy at the White House. And that was all before she started her first business, the hallowed Barefoot Contessa—and with no experience in the food industry. From there, she made magic happen. It is an abundant and absorbing read, full of warming advice, romance, camp, and dishy gossip. I laughed out loud at the anecdote in which she was offered cocaine as a tip for her catering order—she‘d never sliced salmon so fast. —Anna Cafolla
Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher (2024)
Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher
This is a memoir magnum opus. Several chapters in, the singer, actor, gay icon, and soundbite machine Cher has only just reached adolescence. Four hundred and twenty pages in, and Part One wraps in the ’80s. But what a gift it is to meet a young Cheryl Sarkisian and learn of her formation in such vibrant, full-bodied detail. It’s thrilling, stuffed with high-octane stories of hanging out with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, snogging Warren Beatty as a teenager, and how ‘I Got You Babe’ came to be. The flower-power era is also gently unfurled in darker stories, covering the tumult of her marriage and her “faulty emotional thermostat.” Roll on, Part Two. —A.C.
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) by Bethany Joy Lenz (2024)
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) by Bethany Joy Lenz
An unnerving and fascinating read for fans of One Tree Hill or otherwise. In the early ’00s, Bethany Joy Lenz was a burgeoning young star on one of the world’s hottest shows. But her upward career trajectory intertwined with her other life—one where she was being groomed and recruited into a cult. This is the story of the web of manipulation and abuse that kept Lenz trapped in the Big House Family cult for years. The tactics and techniques to keep her (and her finances) under their control are deeply disturbing, but the story of Lenz’s escape and the resumption of her identity and autonomy is told with triumph. —A.C.
From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough (2024)
From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough
Lisa Marie Presley picked up and put down the task of writing her memoir for years. Then, in 2022, she asked her daughter, actor Riley Keough, to partner with her to finally finish the book. A month later, Presley had passed away, and Keough was left with just her mother’s tapes discussing her life in short episodes. From Here to the Great Unknown is a delicate intertwining of both Presley and Keough’s voices, with story after story touching upon addiction, grief, healing, motherhood, Elvis, and Graceland. —A.C.
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna (2024)
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna
This is the story of the voice behind feminist anthems “Rebel Girl” and “Double Dare Ya,” who buoyed generations of disenfranchised youth with her art and politics. Riot Grrrl icon Kathleen Hanna takes us from her childhood in Olympia, Washington, to her frothy college years and chaotic first shows in a punk “girl band” fighting misogyny from every angle. She relays exhilarating, formative friendships and encounters with people like Kim Gordon and Kurt Cobain, her love story with Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock, and her battle with Lyme disease. But it’s in her candid, honest origin story of the Riot Grrrl movement where things really jump off the page. A scripture for your own creative and political revolution. —A.C.
Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (2024)
Al Pacino’s voice is gruff and charming, chatty and delectably eccentric in a book that preserves all those Al Pacino-isms. He breezes through his key roles and collaborations, chronicling his childhood in the South Bronx and odd jobs to support his dreams with crisp detail. I could read his candid and expansive thoughts on his turns in The Godfather movies again and again. —A.C.
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (2024)
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
Kelly Bishop—a.k.a. Emily Gilmore—narrates 60 decades, reaching back long before Amy Sherman Palladino’s generationally beloved Gilmore Girls. We meet Bishop as a young ballet dancer and a Broadway mainstay, following her through career highlights like A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, All My Children, and, of course, her time in Stars Hollow, which she writes about in rich detail with juicy little titbits from set. Just so you know, she’s Team Logan. —A.C.
Down the Drain by Julia Fox (2023)
Down the Drain by Julia Fox
In her book, Julia Fox—a woman who’s lived multiple lives—documents her messy, tumultuous ascension to cult-phenomenon status. She navigates tragedy, the loss of many friends to addiction and crime, and twisted, controlling partners, all with the affronting, matter-of-fact prose she’s known for. We find her at one of her lowest points when filming Uncut Gems—but Fox also hopscotches the glittery, sticky corners of the New York she adores, the realities of motherhood, and the raw friendships with women and queer people she prizes over everything. —A.C.
My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand (2023)
My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand
Ruminative and dishy, funny and smart, Barbra Streisand’s nearly 1,000-page memoir deftly captures the voice that first bewitched American audiences in the early 1960s—plus her weird dynamic with Marlon Brando, the nightmare of making Yentl with Mandy Patinkin, her lifelong fondness for baked potatoes, and other delicious bits. —Marley Marius
Pageboy by Elliot Page (2023)
As a trans celebrity who was very much in the public eye prior to his transition, Page has an extremely unique story. He more than does justice to it in Pageboy, which chronicles everything from his struggles with body image to his relationship to masculinity and his relationships with various Hollywood stars. —E.S.
Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton (2023)
Paris: The Memoir by Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton’s 336-page book takes an in-depth look at the many labels she’s adorned and shed over the decades. Unpacking her childhood, episodes of teenage rebellion, and experience with verbal and physical abuse, she creates a place for readers to understand the origins of her pink paradise—and the strength it took to withstand years of extraordinary public pressure. —Gia Yetikyel
Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (2023)
Even for those who don’t keep up with the Royal Family, the central themes of grief, love, and creating a home apart from everything you’ve known in Prince Harry’s shockingly intimate Spare make it a story very much worth reading. —G.Y.
Thicker Than Water by Kerry Washington (2023)
Thicker Than Water by Kerry Washington
This New York Times bestseller beautifully traces the outlines of Scandal star Kerry Washington’s life, from her childhood in the Bronx (during which she first experienced life-defining trauma and began to have panic attacks) and the abortion in her 20s that led to her becoming a lifelong advocate for reproductive autonomy to starting her family life with her husband Nnamdi Asomugha. —E.S.
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (2023)
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
Emerging from the shadows of a past marked by paparazzi harassment and betrayal by the people she trusted, Britney Spears finally speaks her truth in this highly anticipated—and then much celebrated—memoir. With a blend of deep sincerity and good humor, Spears fearlessly asserts her autonomy, leaving no doubt about who is truly in control of her life. —G.Y.
Finding Me by Viola Davis (2022)
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Davis relays the topsy-turviness of her life’s circumstances with a compelling mix of emotional honesty and grace, tracing how a Rhode Island childhood marked by trauma and abuse gave way to an adulthood in the spotlight as one of the most recognizable actresses in Hollywood. —E.S.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry (2022)
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir by Matthew Perry
In his book, the late actor delves into his early life and rise to fame amidst an intense struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is written in such a way that you can imagine Perry speaking it to you—his voice is comforting, heartbreaking, and oh-so-familiar to the many of us who grew up watching him in the 1990s and early 2000s. —G.Y..
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022)
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
This bestselling memoir is hardly lighthearted fare, revolving as it does around child star McCurdy’s years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her fame-obsessed mother, but the rush to purchase it was no empty fanfare; it really is that good. —E.S.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (2021)
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
This memoir about Japanese Breakfast musician Zauner’s Korean-American identity and her complex, emotionally resonant relationship with her mother should be taught in every how-to-write-personal-narrative master class. Her description of her grief after her mother’s death from cancer is impossible to forget once you’ve read it. —E.S.
Rememberings by Sinéad O’Connor (2021)
Rememberings by Sinéad O’Connor
“In many ways, Sinéad O’Connor’s memoir is as you’d expect: all sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. There’s the global outrage that followed when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live. The wild story behind her recording of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Episodic and matter-of-fact descriptions of time spent with the era’s biggest icons. Yet in the tales of her childhood (including memories of her time in Ireland’s disgraceful, nun-run Magdalene Laundries), her ever-evolving spiritual journey, and the tumult of being a mother in the music industry, we find her at her most intimate, humored, and clear-eyed. As much as I loved reading this, I’d also recommend the audiobook, which Sinéad herself narrates. Anything to keep her around as long as possible.” —A.C.
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl (2021)
The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl
Not to stereotype straight white men over 30, but all the ones I know happen to love Dave Grohl, making this memoir—which focuses on the Nirvana and Foo Fighter musician’s years on the road—an absolutely smashing birthday or holiday gift when another coffee mug just won’t do. —E.S
Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (2021)
Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
If your appetites lie squarely in the food-memoir zone, look no further than this sweet, wide-ranging, and all-around heartwarming reflection from actor Stanley Tucci about how food has shaped his life. Come for the endless pasta rhapsodies, stay for the reminiscences from the sets of classic movies like Julie & Julia and Big Night. —E.S.
You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union (2021)
You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union is known for not holding anything back, and that virtue is on full display in this memoir, which includes a moving letter that Union wrote to her Bring It On character Isis, apologizing for not having done more to flesh out Hollywood’s one-note interpretation of what a young Black cheerleader could be. “You were only in about a third of the movie, and now I would know to fight for equal time to tell your story,’” Union tells Isis. —E.S.
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (2020)
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Based on decades’ worth of his own diary entries (which also included poems, photographs, prescriptions, and many, many bumper stickers), Matthew McConaughey’s memoir discusses his personal philosophy for handling life’s challenges, and what it means to keep catching the green lights through hardships. —G.Y.
One Life by Megan Rapinoe (2020)
One Life by Megan Rapinoe
Olympic medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe shows a whole new side of herself in this memoir, in which she recounts coming out as gay in 2011—well before inclusivity in sports was widely discussed, let alone prioritized—as well as her experience of taking a knee alongside former NFL player Colin Kaepernick to protest racial injustice and police brutality. For those who prefer their celebrity memoirs with a side of romance, Rapinoe also dishes on her courtship with her now-wife, WNBA champion Sue Bird. —E.S.
Open Book by Jessica Simpson (2020)
Open Book by Jessica Simpson
I went into Open Book expecting a light, fun read from one of my favorite reality stars (remember Newlyweds?) of all time—instead, I was blown away by an honest, funny, and touching memoir, which is so rarely the case with celebrity “tell-alls.” Simpson candidly discusses her recovery journey after years of struggling with drugs and alcohol abuse; she also examines the darker side of her early-fame days as a singer, when she was constantly—and at times, brutally—compared to her counterparts like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. It was my favorite book of 2020, and I recommend it to any pop culture fan, Simpson fans or not. —Christian Allaire
Dear Girls by Ali Wong (2019)
If you’ve ever teared up from laughter at Ali Wong’s stand-up (and really, who hasn’t?), you’ll find plenty to adore in Dear Girls, a memoir that takes the form of letters from Wong to her two young daughters about all she’s learned—and, crucially, all that she still has left to absorb from her new Hollywood milieu—over the course of her life and career. —E.S.
Horror Stories by Liz Phair (2019)
Horror Stories by Liz Phair
The first of a planned two-part set (the second of which will be titled Fairy Tales), Horror Stories is less of a traditional memoir and more of a series of vignettes that tackle some of the “small indignities that we all suffer daily, the silent insults to our system, the callous gestures that we make toward one another.” Most of us won’t suffer the indignities of an anesthesiologist asking for our autograph during labor (we’re not all Gen X rock stars, after all), but we can wince at the, yes, horror, and relate to the rest of Phair’s not-so-tall tales. —Danny Feekes, former managing editor at Goodreads
I.M. by Isaac Mizrahi (2019)
Mizrahi is well-known as a man of many talents, so adding ‘writer’ to the list isn’t a stretch. Still, the quality of his memoir, I.M., is notable. He talks schmattas and sex with typical sass, but what makes this book memorable is that Mizrahi’s coming-of-age and coming-to-terms tale is bigger than fashion. —Laird Borelli-Persson, Vogue archive editor
Me by Elton John (2019)
Honest, charming, and all too real, Me follows the extraordinary life of Elton John from his origins in a London suburb to his rise to fame, legendary friendships, struggles with drug addiction, and philanthropy work. —G.Y.
Touched by the Sun: My Friendship With Jackie by Carly Simon (2019)
Touched by the Sun: My Friendship With Jackie by Carly Simon
Simon’s first book, Boys in the Trees, is what all celebrity memoirs should aspire to be, toggling between childhood struggles, musical stardom, and a highly publicized marriage to James Taylor with plenty of wit and revelations sprinkled throughout. Touched by the Sun is more scaled back, focusing on the iconic singer-songwriter’s unlikely but enduring friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Detailing the lunches, movie dates, and nights out on the town that the two women shared before Onassis’s death in 1994, Simon highlights the woman beneath the public persona. —Keaton Bell
Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)
Becoming by Michelle Obama
For months after reading this, I had to stop myself from thinking of Michelle as my friend. After spending a week (or, let’s be honest, an entire weekend under a blanket) reading a celebrity’s memoir, you feel as though you’ve spent time with them. It makes them more accessible and reminds you that at the end of the day, everyone is still human. I’m coming to grips with the fact that Michelle Obama is not actually my friend Michelle, but Becoming is still one of the best books I’ve read. —Grace Atwood, founder of TheStripe.com
In Pieces by Sally Field (2018)
Sally Field took her sweet time with In Pieces, her first memoir, written over seven years without the assistance of a ghostwriter. To call Field’s writing vulnerable doesn’t give enough credit to the way she recounts with crippling honesty the highs and lows of her personal and professional lives. She’s always been beloved as a performer, but In Pieces shows there’s so much more to admire about Field than the trophies on her mantle. —K.B.
Just the Funny Parts by Nell Scovell (2018)
Just the Funny Parts by Nell Scovell
The second female Letterman writer and creator of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scovell brings all the humor of Bossypants but with the added bite of coming up in the mighty sexist man’s world of TV. Scovell names names and calls it like she sees it. —Michelle Ruiz, Vogue.com contributor
This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps (2018)
This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps
A pitch-perfect example of the genre, Philipps serves up a funny and unflinching look at being a woman in Hollywood. She dives into her days as a Barbie spokes-kid and, bravely, her abortion as a teen, before moving on to her best friendship with Michelle Williams, details of James Franco’s douchey-ness on Freaks and Geeks, and struggles in her marriage. The best celebrity memoirs are as unsparingly honest as Philipps’ is. —M.R.
The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown (2017)
The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown
Perhaps more of a memoir of brushes with celebrity than actual celebrity memoir, Tina Brown’s Vanity Fair Diaries is nonetheless a phenomenal read, for the journalism nerd or anyone else who is interested in the inner workings of glossy magazine-making in its heyday. The book recounts the British editor’s years as the editor in chief of the storied magazine, the feathers she unapologetically ruffled in pursuit of a more lively publication (the rates she paid Martin Amis for a single story would make a 2020s editor swoon!), the glamor of the gig, the grind of being a working mother. Brown kept meticulous notes when she occupied this role, and it shows; this is a book in which the delicious dirt is in the details. —Chloe Schama
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (2016)
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
When Noah was born under apartheid in South Africa, his parents’ interracial union was, literally, a crime, punishable by five years in prison. That’s just the beginning of The Daily Show host’s remarkable story. At turns harrowing and hilarious, it’s perhaps best consumed via audiobook, read by the author. —M.R.
In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero (2016)
In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero
Co-written with Michelle Burford, this memoir explores Orange Is the New Black breakout star Guerrero’s experience growing up as an American citizen with undocumented Colombian parents who were deported (along with Guerrero’s older brother) when Guerrero was only 14, leaving her to finish out her high school years in Boston staying with friends and family. Moving, thoughtful, and genuinely enraging, this book should be required reading for anyone terrified about the current ICE-raid status quo. —E.S.
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (2016)
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
All three of Fisher’s memoirs reflect her trademark cool demeanor and self-deprecating nature, but her final release is my favorite. The beating heart of the book is the story of teenage Fisher’s secret three-month-long affair with Harrison Ford, then 33 and married with two kids. Fisher was hopelessly, naively in love with him, and Ford took advantage of the situation. You won’t find much behind-the-scenes Star Wars intel, but you will find an honest, painful account of Fisher’s experience as a young woman in love and at the mercy of so many patriarchal forces. —Cristina Arreola, director of publicity and marketing, Sourcebooks
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (2016)
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
This collection of comedic essays from Twilight, Up in the Air, and Pitch Perfect star Kendrick takes the reader from her childhood in Maine to her Broadway days and her Hollywood era, all with the actor’s signature aplomb. “I always knew that it would be easier to start talking about where I came from, and end with, I’m still crazy,” Kendrick told Vogue of her memoir in 2016, adding: “Because to have attempted to say, Here’s what I learned, that’s why I’m better now, would be total bullshit.” —E.S.
Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham (2016)
Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham
If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to have to memorize all of Lorelai Gilmore’s rat-a-tat, mile-a-minute, pop-culture-reference-laden dialogue, look no further than this memoir from the woman who so successfully embodied her onscreen: Lauren Graham. Graham’s tales from award shows, the Project Runway guest judge’s table, and the Gilmore Girls reunion special are well worth catching up on. —E.S.
Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker (2015)
Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker
Parker’s 2015 memoir has really stayed with me. Written as a series of letters to men she’s encountered, imagined, or loved, it’s a formal experiment, a wonderful portrait of an established artist claiming new territory. She’s not really in the tell-all business, but what she’s written reveals plenty. —Julia Felsenthal, Vogue contributor
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein (2015)
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
Sleater-Kinney musician and Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein puts it all out there in this account of her rise from youthful-nerd beginnings to the top of the underground feminist punk-rock scene in the ’90s (if, indeed, that defiantly anti-hierarchical scene could be said to have a “top”). The memoir, which is named for a Sleater-Kinney lyric, proves that Brownstein is as gifted at narrating her own life as she is at writing songs. —E.S.
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore (2015)
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
If you’re a completist, start with Drew’s first memoir, the propulsive Little Girl Lost (out of print but easy to find secondhand), which she wrote when she was 14. It recounts a young Barrymore’s stratospheric rise and quick drug-fueled descent, while Wildflower finds an older, more assured Barrymore looking back at a larger-than-life existence, one in which she emancipated from her parents, forged out on her own, and paved her distinctive path. As Drew writes, “I wanted to rescue myself. And I did.” —D.F.
I Don’t Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star by Judy Greer (2014)
I Don’t Know What You Know Me From by Judy Greer
You know Judy Greer? The best friend in that movie? Well, she knows you know her that way—and this memoir about her experiences playing “the other one” in films including Jawbreaker, 27 Dresses, 13 Going on 30, and What Women Want proves she’s more than in on the joke (and very adept at telling a few of her own). —E.S.
Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang (2013)
Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang
This memoir by the celebrity chef behind New York’s Baohaus inspired the ABC show of the same name—but the book version is far less fuzzy. Huang gives an unapologetically real look at his upbringing in a hardworking and often strict Chinese-American family. And his sumptuous descriptions of food make you really, really hungry. —M.R.
Bossypants by Tina Fey (2011)
If you haven’t read Fey’s 2011 memoir yet, you’re sleeping at the wheel. It follows her journey to stardom and is filled with amazing behind-the-scenes stories from her time on Saturday Night Live. Candid, self-deprecating, funny (duh): the perfect before-bed read. —Cristina Arreola
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling (2011)
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling holds a rarefied position in Hollywood these days, but the writer, actress and director’s bestselling 2011 memoir proves that her ascent to the top wasn’t always an easy one. In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Kaling recounts her growth from the shy, bookish child of immigrants to off-Broadway sensation to the youngest writer on the staff of the hit NBC sitcom The Office; what’s most notable about the memoir, though, is the way Kaling’s singular voice shines through, lending even the wildest of L.A. tales a crucial degree of relatability. —E.S.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe (2011)
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
Nearly 20 years later, I’m still crushed by Sam Seaborne’s departure from The West Wing, so I couldn’t resist Lowe’s memoir. It’s packed with plenty of sordid stories from his wild days as part of the Brat Pack, but also has so many great behind-the-scenes memories from some of my favorite TV shows and movies. While it wasn’t going to win a Pulitzer, any fan of ’80s rom-coms will still find this delightful! —Becca Freeman, co-host of the Bad on Paper podcast
Just Kids by Patti Smith (2010)
Smith’s National Book Award–winning memoir is a portrait of a place and time—New York, Summer of Love—and a love letter to a bygone era that produced two iconoclasts: poet and musician Smith, and late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The story follows the duo’s trials and tribulations as they traverse Brooklyn, Coney Island, and Times Square, before settling at the infamous Chelsea Hotel. Smith has said that she didn’t write the book to be cathartic, but to fulfill a vow she made to Mapplethorpe on his deathbed. Ultimately, it’s the reader who reaps the rewards of that request. —D.F.
Life by Keith Richards (2010)
You might not think of Keith Richards as an elegant truth-teller, but his Life is a bracing tonic—straightforward but exciting, glamorous but heartfelt. I’m not a regular rock memoir reader, but this is a book that transcends whatever you might think the genre entails. Just go along with the music and don’t think too hard about it. —Chloe Schama
Open by Andre Agassi (2009)
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
We’ve all read (or carefully avoided) the triumphal sports-star memoir: The thousands of solitary hours spent in pursuit of excellence while stoically avoiding everything else, leading up to that magical breakthrough when everything was deemed to be Worth It. This isn’t that memoir: Agassi, arguably the best player of his generation and certainly the flashiest and most-visible, is remarkably frank here about how much he seemed to loathe the entire experience, which was foisted on him by a kind of ur-Tennis Dad. Thankfully, we also get the other side of that: A late- career resurgence, followed by a blissful second marriage and a philanthropic turn that’s both heartfelt and, for the underprivileged children it focuses on, life-changing. For the king of neon and acid-washed jeans who became even more famous for saying “image is everything,” this book is a tragic opera with a happy ending. —Corey Seymour
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin (2007)
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin
When it comes to comedic memoirs, can you really top Steve Martin’s? Born Standing Up chronicles the legendary comedian’s early life, his first jobs at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, his stand-up, and the story behind the trademark white three-piece suit he long performed in, also delving deep into Martin’s fraught relationship with his father and with the concept of fame itself. —E.S.
My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (2005)
My Life So Far by Jane Fonda
I’ve been reading this in fits and starts for about a decade, and I’ve still yet to encounter another life story so dutifully (and beautifully) re-examined. It’s easy to take Fonda’s cool self-assuredness—even in handcuffs!—for granted these days, but before Firebrand Jane there was “plain Jane,” woefully uncomfortable in her skin and desperate for outside validation. To chart her path from then until now (and to think of all that’s still to come) is something I wouldn’t mind doing for another 10 years. —M.M.
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Motley Crue (2001)
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee
I never thought that one of my favorite books of all time would have a cover featuring a lady in a G-string whose disembodied form we see dancing inside a whiskey bottle. But at least you’ve been warned: What you see is what you get in this group memoir from the glam metal band. The sheer magnitude of debauchery at their peak in the 1980s is too compelling to look away. —Maris Kreizman, author of The Maris Review newsletter
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (2000)
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Granted, Bourdain wasn’t yet a mainstream star when he published this book based on an essay he wrote for The New Yorker; one could argue that the confrontational, extremely funny tone of Kitchen Confidential is what made him one of the best-known figures in the food world. But if you only know Bourdain from his various and sundry TV appearances and haven’t yet made time to read this book yet, I implore you to do so (if only so you never order restaurant seafood on the wrong day of the week again). —E.S.
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama (1995)
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
The world rightfully knows Obama as a brilliant orator. But even before he was president (or even state senator), he wrote the hell out of this 1995 memoir (later re-released to great fanfare) about his upbringing in Hawaii and Kansas; his solitary, scholarly Columbia years; and his distant relationship with his dad. —M.R.
Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton (1994)
Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton
Before picking up Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, take a peek at Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business from the 1990s. Get to know the rhinestone-studded, smooth-talking country singer as she discusses her personal philosophies, marriage, and her transformation from a music-loving teenager into one of the world’s most iconic women. —G.Y.
You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again by Julia Phillips (1991)
You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again by Julia Phillips
Not sure she’s a straight-up A-list celeb, but Phillips made the A-list celebs. The Hollywood producer’s story is so full of wild pleasures and OMG moments that it’s easy to overlook the sheer brilliance that’s on offer. —Lauren Mechling, Vogue contributor and author of How Could She
