Memoirs for your ears
Listen to these informative, vulnerable, entertaining audiobooks
With fiction books, I love a bound, physical copy to grip and consume. It helps me immerse myself in a different world, albeit while curled up on my couch.
With nonfiction, though, I prefer listening to an audiobook—good narration a prerequisite—while driving or cooking or cleaning up, letting my thoughts expand and revolve around the ideas in space. I love that audiobooks allow me to consume dense works of nonfiction that I wouldn’t otherwise have time to sit down and read.
My favorite audiobooks, by no small margin, are memoirs and autobiographies, ideally read by the author. I find listening to them like sitting with a fascinating person who’s telling their most intimate, personal stories, revealing how they learned from adversities and relationships, highs and lows. These audiobooks are rich with entertaining, touching, and relevant stories for those of us struggling through our own daily tribulations.
The best memoirs and autobiographies, in my opinion, share three crucial features:
Authenticity. Brené Brown said, “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” My favorite memoirs show the writer’s courage to be oneself, to come across as the person they truly are, with honesty and integrity.
Vulnerability. The literal definition of being vulnerable, according to Merriam Webster, is “being open to attack, harm, or damage.” When one has the courage to be vulnerable, they show up with all their flaws and baggage; they reveal their weaknesses and fears; they lay themselves open before others, risking judgement and condescension. But when people are vulnerable, they win our empathy and respect, because we recognize our own selves in their flaws. We relate to them and we feel seen, and don’t you agree that no better feeling exists?
Humility. I love listening to stories from the most successful and brilliant people, when I have no sense that they are bragging about their accomplishments. Rather, they share their achievements with a consistent sense of gratitude and awe, fully aware that luck and good fortune played a role in their accomplishments. They share the immense work and effort and grit that was required on each step along the way, giving readers and listeners hope that they, too, can do hard things.
Here are some of my favorite memoir and autobiography audiobooks; if you have any to mention, please share - I’d love to hear about them!
I believe this was the first memoir I ever listened to, and while Phil Knight doesn’t narrate the entire book, it felt like he did. The founder of Nike comes across as deeply humble as he shares the most challenging elements of Nike’s origins and growth. Knight worked with a ghostwriter who helped craft a gripping story that reads more like a novel than a business book; and while it certainly glosses over certain aspects of Nike’s business, it’s a fantastic listen.
This is another one that wasn’t read by the author, but was so powerful in its words that I forgot about the narrator. It’s also an autobiography as opposed to a memoir; I had to look up the difference, which is that autobiographies are comprehensive about one’s life from birth to present day, whereas memoirs can reflect a specific period or theme from one’s life.
Semantics aside, “Open” is a perfect title, as Agassi exhibits the ultimate vulnerability and openness that I’ve experienced from a book of this kind. The same ghostwriter who worked with Phil Knight, J.R. Moehringer, helped craft Agassi’s book, and he’s clearly a talented storyteller. Agassi had such a complex relationship with his father, and with others over the course of his life (Brooke Shields! Barbra Streisand!), not to mention an incredibly complex relationship with the game of tennis, and all of these and other challenges make his autobiography an un-put-down-able listen.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
It’s rare that I listen to an audiobook twice, but I did with Ina’s memoir. The thing about Ina is that she was born to entertain; and her memoir allows us to pull up a chair at one of her famed Hamptons dinner parties, and hear about how Ina became Ina. The narration feels so comfortable and natural as she shares tales of her complex childhood, her beloved Jeffrey, and her early days of running her original Barefoot Contessa business. As Ina would say, “How easy is that?”
A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout
One of the first books that come to mind when I think of a memorable audiobook is Amanda' Lindhout’s gripping memoir of abduction in Somalia and the journey that led to her freedom. Her story is terrifying, hard to believe, and brutally vivid in its detail. She’s an excellent narrator, and this listen flies by.
Hello, Molly! A Memoir by Molly Shannon
Listening to this book in my car, I found myself by turns crying, laughing, shouting and cheering for Molly, who became one of my all-time-favorite people after this audiobook. She is an incredible narrator, with such earnest and passionate and expressive reading that her energy is literally infectious. I was shocked to learn about a tragic childhood event, yet somehow Molly emerged as a strong, silly, joyful, loving soul who happened to make some of the funniest sketch comedy of all time. Even if you’ve not historically been a fan, I promise you, this book is worthy of your ears.
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne
Griffin Dunne is not a household name, but allow me to share some facts about him: 1. He directed the movie Practical Magic; 2. his aunt was Joan Didion; 3. he was best friends with Carrie Fisher; 4. he starred in a highly underrated Martin Scorsese movie; and 5. he grew up among Hollywood royalty, and is a hilarious storyteller. His memoir is filled with tidbits that felt like secrets I shouldn’t have been hearing, but desperately enjoyed. He also endured a tragic family event that he shares about openly and in heartbreaking detail.
If you like the movie Almost Famous, or if you’re a lover of music from the ‘70s, or if you simply love honest author-read audiobooks, you will love Cameron Crowe’s charming memoir about his real-life adventures in rock and roll. Crowe is a writer by nature and by profession, and that love of writing comes through in his sordid tales of rock journalism. I want to be Cameron Crowe when I grow up, and I could listen to this book again and again.
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There are many more titles I could list here, including works from Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Brandi Carlile, Bobbi Brown and Barbara Walters. Please share your favorites, if you have any!