I’m continuing my Fave Reads of 2014 series with Non-Fiction (Mostly Memoirs). I like to mix in some memoirs in the reading rotation, and there were some interesting titles this year.
2014 Favorites: Memoirs:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson – This National Book Award winner is powerful, poetic and lovely.
Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay – I loved this collection of essays about feminism, pop culture, politics and current events. Fabulous audiobook too!
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of SNL by Tom Shales, James Andrew Miller – This 2002 book got a 40th anniversary update with 100 new pages of content. It’s a fascinating read for fans of Saturday Night Live.
Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris – This creative memoir uses a “choose your own adventure” format, and also includes magic tricks, and food and drink recipes.
Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince – “Tomboy is fantastic, funny, relatable and relevant and should ring true for anyone who feels like they don’t fit into society’s gender stereotypes. Or really, anyone who feels left out for whatever reason.”
Yes Please by Amy Poehler – Amy Poehler! I miss Parks and Recreation already. Poehler narrates the audiobook and sounds like she’s talking to a friend, making this book an entertaining listen.
Brunette Ambition by Lea Michele – “The light, breezy tone, top-ten-list style and eye-catching photos make this a fast read for fans of advice lifestyle books or superfans of Lea Michele.”
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin – This book includes profiles of six transgender teens, giving readers to better understand the struggles transgender and gender-neutral teens face.
No Land’s Man by Aasif Mandvi – “In No Land’s Man, Mandvi talks about his experiences as a multicultural actor, leading up to his breakout role on The Daily Show. The audiobook is entertaining and made me want to check out more of Mandvi’s work.”
Some memoirs I didn’t get to read this year but still hope to get to next year are: Not My Father’s Son and The Opposite of Loneliness.
Did you read any non-fiction this year? What were your favorites?
I listened to As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales of the Making of The Princess Bride written and narrated by Cary Elwes (Westley). This was one of my favorite movies and listening to everything that went into the making only made me appreciate it more.
I love memoirs and have only read one of those. 🙁
[…] Memoirs […]
Nice surprise to see Lea’s book on here! I’m curious what she will do with her second. WHY IS SHE SO BEAUTIFUL.
Wait, NPH has a book? OMG how did I not know about this?! And Yes Please was so good, wasn’t it? I’m glad Amy did the narration. I bet she was fantastic! Maybe sometime next year I’ll have to listen to the audio. I already read her book but love hearing these great people narrate their writing! I’ve also had Bad Feminist on my radar for a little while; glad to see that it was a good read!