Every audiobook listener is different. While I typically prefer listening to nonfiction, I’ve discovered that memoir reliably works for me on audio. I love listening to memoir, especially when the author reads their own story. It’s not a guarantee that every memoirist will narrate their own audiobook but it makes sense that so many are. It’s a uniquely personal writing form and there’s something special about hearing it brought to life in the author’s own voice.
When you’re listening to a memoir, you might hear the author laugh or get choked up or even add an aside that wasn’t in the original book. It can feel like you’re having a conversation with a new friend and learning more about their life—and also listening to really great stories. A good memoir makes me feel deeply seen and encouraged, while also giving me a window into someone else’s world and allowing me to contemplate my life from a new vantage point.
I enjoy a good celebrity memoir on audiobook but today’s list features memoirists who are wonderful writers and also who live their lives outside the spotlight. I happened to notice that this list has a strong focus on familial relationships, which is unsurprising for any list featuring my personal favorites because I gravitate so strongly to that theme in my reading.
There were so many more I could have included on this list, and so many more I hope to read in the future—so I hope you’ll share your favorites (NOT by a celebrity) in the comments.
7 memoirs read by the author
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The Light of the World: A Memoir
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Southern Table
How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir
Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me
Congratulations, The Best Is Over!: Essays
How to Say Babylon
Do you have any favorite memoirs read by the author (who isn’t a celebrity)? Please share in the comments.
P.S. 20 celebrity memoirs read by their authors, 15 MORE celebrity memoirs read by their authors, and 10 literary fiction audiobooks narrated by their authors.
58 comments
I adored Stanley Tucci’s “Taste.” I struggled between choosing to read it and let my eyes devour the beautifully chosen words, or to listen to him tell his story and hear his voice. It went to the top of my favorite memoirs list!
Yes!!!
I agree, the audio was fantastic!
YES!
Solito by Javier Zamora. This was a very moving memoir made even more impactful by hearing the author narrate it.
Tyler Merritt’s I Take My Coffee Black is one of the BEST audiobooks ever. He’s got this great voice and style but also adds so much to the story as he reads it. I love memoirs and his is one of the absolute best. Can’t recommend enough.
I loved that audiobook, too. I’ve recommended a few times.
Loved Tyler Merritt’s book!
Ooh! Arbitrary Stupid Goal is my favorite memoir read by an author. It
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Exactly what I thought too. Trevor Noah tells his story and adds the dialects from the different people around him. He learned all their languages so that he would have friends at school. It brought the story to life for me.
Came here to say this! He reads so well, his life and the politics surrounding it are interesting (to say the least) AND you get to hear Noah speak several languages.
I cannot recommend Brandi Carlisle’s memoir Broken Horses enough. It was my book of the year for 2023, and I bought a hard copy to go back and underline passages I originally listened to. I wasn’t even a fan of her music before reading this but now I’m one for life. She sings at the end of each chapter!
Hot tip! I have five credits to use and this convinced me to grab this one.
Agreed! I loved Brandi’s memoir, too.
Her book isn’t only a memoir, though it is also that, but I love Fiona Hill’s There Is Nothing For You Here, which she reads.
Taste by Stanley Tucci is not just my favorite memoir, but probably in my top five audiobooks ever!
Currently listening to Ann Leary read her book “I’ve Tried Being Nice.” You know I loved “The Good House” so when I saw this release I had to give it a go. So far it’s been a quick, entertaining read.
I read, rather than listened to “I’ve Tried Being Nice” but I really enjoyed it too. I also became a fan of Ann’s after “The Good House.”
I was not aware of the new release but just put it on hold through Libby. Thanks! I loved “The Good House” on audio as well.
I add my high opinion of ‘Taste’, and Minnie Drivers ‘Managing Expectations’. ‘I am I am I am’ by Maggie O’Farrell. ‘Hillbilly Ellegy’ ‘Gay Girl Good God’ so many good memoirs. They are my favorite on audio book too.
The last line of I Am, I Am, I Am! It still makes me tear up!
Jennette McCurdy reads her own “I’m Glad My Mom Died” and Michelle Zauner reads “Crying in H Mart.” Both novels are so beautiful and so sad and both authors are also performers (actor, musician respectively) and it was these listening experiences that prompted me always to first check out memoirs as audiobooks.
I listened to both of these this summer and agree that hearing their words from them made the experience so much better.
I loved Crying in H Mart on audio, too.
Totally different vibe but Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights is fantastic to listen to him read!
Just finished Sam Neill’s “Did I ever tell you this?” audiobook. I enjoyed the behind the scenes glimpses but the over-arching cancer battle was a little depressing.
Just listened to JD Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” – read it back when it came out and was picked as a Goodreads Choice winner but liked it better as an audio book. Not political at all – he just tells his story. I think I expected an offering of solutions when I read it and was disappointed. But with the audio it was clear he did not intend to do that – just share his own story.
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore is more of a collection of essays about experiences she’s had, but oh my gosh, can that book make me cry! It’s so beautifully done and will make you fall in love with Drew if you’re not already.
Viola Davis, “Finding Me”. She narrates the audiobook in her beautiful resonant voice. And, she won a Grammy for it in 2023, making her the rare EGOT artist.
I just finished “Finding Me” and I am still thinking about her journey. Such a beautiful, unflinchingly honest and raw account of her life. Both tragic and hopeful and just incredible!
This is my absolute favorite of all the memoirs and I LOVE a good memoir read by the author! Made me want to go back and find everything she has ever been in.
Leslie F*ing Jones is the number one listen to book! Her story is very interesting, moving at times, and she adds comments while she is reading. I fell in love with her after listening to this and have recommended it to many friends, who also have all given it a thumbs up.
I listened to the audio version of “Know My Name” read by the author Chanel Miller and thought it added so much to hear her story in her own voice.
Second this! One of the best books I read last year, and her reading of it added 5 stars to an already 5 star book.
YES. Definitely one to read via audiobook!
My two favorite memories read by the authors are “Where the Light Fell,” by Philip Yancey, and “Everything Sad Is Untrue,” by Daniel Nayeri. Both so good I relisteneded that same year.
Yes! I came here to recommend Daniel Nyeri- it’s a top audiobook for sure! I’ll have to give the Phillip Yancey one a listen!
Bono’s “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story” is by far the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to!
I came into Bono’s music late (mid-50’s), so I got the book to learn more about him. If I had read it in print, I would’ve given up before the halfway point. Good God that book is long. Listening on audio let me break it up into smaller pieces and that worked for me. In the end it felt more like a love story than memoir.
The audio version was great for the snippets of songs he’d sing throughout.
To Be Honest: A Memoir by Michael Leviton
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life by Michael Caine was outstanding! Such an upbeat guy
A couple of under-the-radar memoirs I listend to this summer that I can’t stop thinking (or talking!) about:
1. Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa is set in the 1970s and 80s in the southwest; exploration of what it means to be Native American during that time period + a good dose of historical context. Fascinating and so well-written.
2. The Mango Tree by Annabell Tometich; first generation Philipino-American family story with plenty of tragedy AND humor.
Not sure if Stanley Tucci qualifies as a non-celebrity, but I loved his Taste on audiobook
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey. What a powerful and moving story on audio. She is an amazing poet and her story is such a lyrical work of art.
Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys? Billy Crystal.
My favorite!!
“Angela’s Ashes” read by Frank McCourt is amazing!! Hearing him tell his story in his rich Irish brogue far outweighs reading the book silently to oneself.-
Currently listening to and loving Griffin Dunne’s reading of his “The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir”. Also loved “”Enough,” written and read by Cassidy Hutchison.
I would add Fire Shut Up in My Bones, by Charles M. Blow, to this list.
I’m currently listening to Leslie Jamison read Splinters and enjoying it!
Listening to a book as opposed to reading it often makes me more aware of less polished and less skilled writing. Memoirs are particularly prone to this in my experience. Finding a well written and well read memoir is a delight. Unfortunately JD Vance’s book was repetitious and A DNF for me years ago.
Not My Father’s Son read by Alan Cumming is a joy to listen to, even though the story of his early life is not a happy one.
Walking with Sam by Andrew McCartney is delightful. It’s a memoir of his time on the Camino with his son. Andrew does everything but Sam’s dialog and Sam does that. I didn’t want it to end.
Beth Moore’s All My Knotted Up Life was amazing! I’m going to listen again.
One of my top reads last year! This one shines on audio. Beth is an excellent writer and narrator.
Driving Miss Norma: One Family’s Journey Saying “Yes” to Living by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle. Tim’s mom, Norma (age 90), is diagnosed with cancer, and chooses to forego treatment and “hit the road”.
In addition to some memoirs already mentioned, I really loved Dave Grohl’s memoir, The Storyteller, on audiobook. It’s excellent, even if you’re not a huge fan of his music. I was impressed not only with his writing style, but his ability to remember details from the past. He really nailed the 90s and 2000s music scene and culture, in addition to coming across as a good human in this world. 5 stars!
In case you are taking recommendations: My wife — who is a voracious reader — was awe-struck by the memoir “The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between” by Hisham Matar. According to her, it’s emotional impact together with the beauty of its writing, were simultaneously devastating and gorgeous.
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