Sign in with Facebook
Favorite Memoirs/Autobiographies
True life stories that kept you riveted.
Comments Showing 1-50 of 85 (85 new)
message 1:
by
Lobstergirl
(new)
Jun 10, 2009 08:46PM
Um, "1984" is not a memoir.
reply
|
flag
HEY, ME AND MY BFF, SAMANTHA, ARE ABOUT TO POST AN AMAZING STORY. SO IF YOU’RE INTO VAMPIRES, ROMANCE, MYSTEREY, AND ACTION ROLELD INTO ONE. CHECK IT OUT. YOU’LL BE ABLE TO FIND IT UNDER MY PROFILE SOON. I’LL UPDATE YOU ALL WHEN IT’S OFFICALLY POSTED. I’D LOVE FO EVERYONE TO READ IT. IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE ACCESSING IT WHEN IT’S POSTED SEND ME A FRIENDS REQUEST AND READ ON! I SWEAR IT WILL BE GREAT! ONLY TWO CHAPTERS ARE DONE SO READ BEOFRE MORE IS POSTED! I WILL POST THE TWO CHAPTERS ON THIS WEBSITE IN A COUPLE OF DAYS! PLEASE SUPPORT US AND CHECK IT OUT! REVIEW IT AND COMMENT! IT’LL BE UP SOON. ENJOY!
Lobstergirl wrote: "Um, "1984" is not a memoir."Really? But it's so realistic! :)
I just removed it.
Jessie wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Um, "1984" is not a memoir."Really? But it's so realistic! :)
I just removed it."
Jana wrote: but it is proof that time machines existed)"Jessie wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Um, "1984" is not a memoir."Really? But it's so realistic! :)
I just removed it."
Yes, Little Women is fiction, so I'm removing it.
Am I reading this correctly that people actually posted Twilight, Eragorn, and Harry Potter, among others? So frustrating.Also a shame that The Liar's Club isn't higher on the list, it was one of the memoirs that brought the genre to mainstream. It gets my vote!
Removed for being fiction:New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Stuck Rubber Baby, by Howard Cruse
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks
The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
Eragon, by Christopher Paolini
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner
I am also under the impression that "Shiloh" is a novel. Is this correct?
Yes, I believe it is. Thanks for cleaning up the list, Susanna!
And removed Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, also for being fiction.No problem.
I just joined Goodreads. I love memoir, and thus, this list! Thanks to Susanna for keeping it updated.
What's the general opinion about the "Little House" books being on here?
My two cents: I've always considered them fiction, based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, but made "nice" by her writer daughter, Rose, for a depression-era audience ready for something uplifting. Kind of a reversal of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.
And also, aren't' they children's books? I read them when I was around nine years old. Or does that matter?
Yeah, I've always considered them very much fictionalized memoir. Little House on the Prairie in particular.
"Into the Wild" isn't an autobiography or memoir. It's a biography.
Memoirs of a Geisha is fiction, despite the title. Additionally, I would consider "The King's Speech" more of a biography than autobiography/memoir, since it's written by Lionel Logue's grandson.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks isn't a memoir or autobiography, as well.
You add books to the list at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."
You go to the tab next to "all votes"; it's called "add books to this list." You'll find options to search your own bookshelves, or to do a more general search.
A tree grows in brooklyn, isn't that fiction?
Indeed it is. Removed.
The Little House series is fictional. The ISBN of each volume of the series will confirm this. When confronted about the impossible nature of the supposed chase of Pa by wolves, Ingalls sniffed,"I wasn't aware I was writing history. I thought I was writing stories for children". The series, wonderful though it is, should be stricken from the list.
If they're on your personal shelves, they should be available at the tab next to "all votes."
And those are both biographies, not memoirs or autobiographies, from the look of them.
To remove a vote from your list: either click the "x" next to the name of the book on the list on the right hand side (your own personal list), or click "remove" where "vote for this book" was on the book description, before you voted for it.To remove a book from your bookshelves: go to "my books" link at the top bar of GoodReads, type the name into the search form, and you can click an 'x' to remove it.
If the books you want to add to a Listopia are not on an existing list already, go to the tab next to "all votes," and you'll find an option to either vote for books from your shelves, or to do a general site search. (Caveat: the book must already be in the database.)
There's a "help" link if you click the arrow next to your portrait/screen ID at the top right of GR pages. If that's not helpful enough, or you have bugs, try the group "GR Feedback." It's prominently listed if you click "groups" at the top bar on any GR page.
Was the list you tried to create "Collected Speeches by One Individual"? Because I see such a list, with 11 works on it.
Don't know if you can, if you're not a GR librarian. (I know list creators can do some things on the edit page, but I don't know if they can remove books. If you see an "edit" link at the end of the list description, "remove books" should be the last option at the bottom of that page - if you can do it.)
"Suite Française" is a wonderful book, but it's a work of fiction and should probably not be on this list. (Everyone should read it though and I love this list overall- so many good choices.)
Removed for being fiction: Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is historical fiction, though it is based on some of Ingalls Wilder's experiences as a child. Yep, I double-checked it.
Ditto the rest of the "Little House" series by Ingalls Wilder. These include: By the Shores of Silver Lake; On the Banks of Plum Creek; Little House on the Prairie; The Long Winter; Farmer Boy; These Happy Golden Years; and The First Four Years, all by that author, all fiction. I left Laura Ingalls Wilder's farm journalism title alone because I suspect it is fine but did not confirm; the others were confirmed as fiction, so I zapped them. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is for real, and it stands.
On a more positive note: thank you to the many people who recommended The Glass Castle. I saw the overwhelming number of people that liked it, went and read it, agreed, and came back to vote for it. Very satisfying, and I can honestly say I wouldn't have looked at it twice if it hadn't come up on a listopia.
While the Bounty trilogy is not an autobiography, it is non-fiction and all 3 books Mutiny On the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn Island by Nordoff and Hall, should be included.
Then add them. Use the tab at the top of the page. I can't add them, because to do so I have to vote for them, and I haven't read them. But every Goodreads member can add books to the list. Go for it!
Mr. Slack, you don't vote for books down here in the comments section; you vote at the top of the page, at the tab next to "all votes."Also, you can claim your GR author's page at the bottom of this page, at "Is this you?": http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/... .
Removed:Into the Wild
Immortal Life, Skloot
Fast Food Nation
Roots
Maus
She Said Yes
All the President's Men
He's Just Not That Into You
Mopped up my own mess: how embarrassing. Tempting to stay quiet, but I think we are supposed to note anything we removed. Abraham Lincoln: Commander in Chief is (obviously, what was I thinking?) not a memoir or autobiography, but a biography. Also, though Du Bois's John Brown was a brilliant biography, John Brown ALSO did not live to write his own story. In both cases, only I had been dumb enough to vote for these, so the harm was minimal. I vow not to visit this site once I have taken my sleeping pills!
I think that A Street Cat Named Bob and How He Saved My Life is the same book as its earlier release, A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets. is there a way to combine the two votes for each under one title? I think this is a call for (trumpet sounds):
a SUPER-LIBRARIAN!!!
If it were just my vote, I'd be happy to go in and zap "my" title (I added the former w/o seeing the latter) and my vote and then vote for the other incarnation, but I can't kill mine without taking another person's vote with me.
What a great list! I did notice one book that is a biography and not a memoir - I believe Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand shouldn't be on the list.Thanks!
Question for the supers: what do we do with something that calls itself a memoir, but is written by someone other than the subject? In other words, "...a Memoir of My..." (mother, sister, father, country, gerbil, whatever). I would think it would become a biography, but this is tricky territory, and I don't want to touch anything if it may prove to be a mistake.
Why is "A Million Little Pieces" on this list? The discredited author admitted in 2006 that much of the book was fiction
Janet wrote: "Why is "A Million Little Pieces" on this list? The discredited author admitted in 2006 that much of the book was fiction"
I go by the Goodreads catalog, and there, it is still listed as memoir. If one of the employees feels bold enough to step in and axe it, that's fine with me, but I would not hazard to do so as a volunteer...
Donna wrote: "Janet wrote: "Why is "A Million Little Pieces" on this list? The discredited author admitted in 2006 that much of the book was fiction"
I go by the Goodreads catalog, and there, it is still list..."
Donna, please pass along this link to the employees; it's a compelling reason to remove the book from this list (and to change the info in the catalog):
Author Is Kicked Out of Oprah Winfrey's Book Club http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/boo...
#60, Unbroken, isn't a memoir#95 and #126 - 84, Charing Cross Rd - are duplicates
Judith wrote: "Blue Poppies: A Spiritual Travelogue from the Himalaya"If you want to add a memoir, use the tabs above the list to do so. This comment section is provided for technical issues like the ones mentioned by Janet.
Janet wrote: "Donna wrote: "Janet wrote: "Why is "A Million Little Pieces" on this list? The discredited author admitted in 2006 that much of the book was fiction"
I go by the Goodreads catalog, and there, it ..."
If you know who the Goodreads employees are, you can do that yourself. I am a volunteer, and my contributions are my reviews and assisting with lists such as this one.
Related News
Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...
Anyone can add books to this list.
