The #1 nonfiction book on the New York Times Bestseller list for a couple of months is I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy. Ballsy title. Perfect for the Mommy Dearest Crowd, could alienate the Hallmark crowd. I hadn’t heard of the actress or the show she was on for years as a kid. I read it because I was genuinely curious why it was a #1 bestseller and because I like to stay current with the genre. Mama drama. Friends, I devoured it.I didn’t realize that the A story describes a lifelong struggle with bulimia, largely due to McCurdy’s stage mother who taught her how to keep her body from developing so she’d land more kids’ parts. It’s also a story about an over the top stage mother. Visceral, acerbic wit, honest, real. Finally, it’s about the struggle for self-acceptance. At 62, I’m not even close.
What’s your favorite memoir?
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Betsy Lerner 
Oh for heaven’s sake. Deference to a psycho? Nah, that title’s just demanded satisfaction rightly fulfilled. Hm, favorite memoir. Tossup of a bunch, but I’ll go with Stephen Fry’s “Moab is My Washpot” (“‘This PLACE!’” … ha!).
Yeah, books like these are too psycho for me
I liked WILD by Cheryl Strayed.
Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas
“What’s your favorite memoir?”
I don’t know. I would like to think it was my own, that was published a decade ago, but I haven’t read it since. I’m not sure I could stand to. It’s a matter of spending the remaining time.
I’ve never been big on reading memoirs. I think I’ve liked the several I have read. The Bridge Ladies, I liked that. The Liars’ Club, too. Its structure was very useful to me in crafting the memoir I referred to above. Also, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. I found that one structurally useful. But others? There are The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. That one I read out of historical curiosity. Same with the Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman.
But back to the question. I’m not sure I have a favorite memoir, per se. Those that I’ve read, I’ve done so out of other motives. I’ll leave it at that.
I have this book – and haven’t read it yet, but like you, I had to get it to see what all the hype was about. Hype sometimes gets me to buy a book. A recent post of yours still couldn’t bring me to buy any of the books. I considered the audience, and I’m just not a fit, and there’s too many other books to read.
My favorite memoir . . . actually, I loved Bettyville. If you want to put life into perspective, try The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I think that one goes to the top for me – forever.
Ralph Glasser Growing up in the Gorbals. Lucy Grealy, Autobiography of a Face is also up there. I also read this book. jennette-mccurdy-2022-im-glad-my-mom-died.
Oh my goodness. I edited Autobiography of a Face. Thank you for mentioning it here. I loved Lucy and miss her especially when I walk by Grammercy Park.
Her work stands true. Yours does too.
I loved The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison. So dark but so well written.
Loved Another Bullshit Night in Suck City!
But my favorite memoir is H is for Hawk.
Alright book, great title, Groucho and Me, by Groucho Marx.
I have always loved what I refer to as my trifecta of favorite memoirs: Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face, Ann Patchett’s Truth and Beauty, and Elizabeth McCracken’s An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
John C. Krieg:
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (2000) by Janisse Ray.
She’s honest, tough as nails, knowledgeable and dedicated to preserving as much nature as she can. Like me, she likes trees better than people. A marvelous book.