10 Must-Read Memoirs by Women That Will Inspire You
Whether overcoming adversity, shattering glass ceilings or finding strength in unlikely places, these unforgettable memoirs illuminate the incredible determination of women.
Here are 10 must-read memoirs that will inspire you.
1. Educated by Tara Westover
(4.47/5 ⭐️)
Emerging from a survivalist family in rural Idaho, an extraordinary woman’s quest for knowledge transforms her life through sheer tenacity and brilliance, liberating her from oppression to earn a Ph.D. from Cambridge University.
“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.” ― Tara Westover, Educated
2. Becoming by Michelle Obama
(4.46/5 ⭐️)
An intimately powerful and inspiring journey of a woman breaking boundaries, this memoir reveals the former First Lady’s upbringing, struggles, triumphs and profound reflections on navigating life’s challenges with courage, grace and resilience.
“Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child — What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming
3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
(4.31/5 ⭐️)
A captivating tale of an eccentric nomadic family’s unconventional odyssey through poverty resonates as a poignant celebration of fortitude in the face of adversity, uniting humor and hope within shared humanity.
“Things usually work out in the end.”
“What if they don’t?”
“That just means you haven’t come to the end yet.” ― Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
(4.29/5 ⭐️)
Rendered in exquisite prose, this seminal memoir illuminates an indomitable spirit’s metamorphosis from a sharecropper’s childhood marred by trauma into a luminary poet and civil rights activist through the transformative power of language.
“Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.” ― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
5. West with the Night by Beryl Markham
(4.15/5 ⭐️)
An aviator’s daring adventures in East Africa during the pioneer days of flight unfold as a lyrical homage to a vanished era, vividly capturing the mystique of soaring over the savanna’s immense landscapes from an eagle’s perspective.
“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.” ― Beryl Markham, West with the Night
6. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
(4.08/5 ⭐️)
In a harrowing yet inspirational medical mystery, a vibrant young reporter’s descent into insanity from a rare autoimmune disease catalyzes a race against time to rescue her from the abyss of her brilliant mind trapped within a failing body.
“Sometimes, Just when we need them, life wraps metaphors up in little bows for us. When you think all is lost, the things you need the most return unexpectedly.” ― Susannah Cahalan, Brain on Fire
7. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
(4.06/5 ⭐️)
Devastated by unimaginable grief, a woman embarks on a grueling 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, emerging with an electrifying tale of self-discovery, resilience and the restorative power of nature’s magnificence.
“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.” ― Cheryl Strayed, Wild
8. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
(4.00/5 ⭐️)
Told through a darkly whimsical lens, this profoundly moving memoir unravels an orphan’s quest for love and belonging amidst abuse and eccentricity, confronting life’s brutal realities with raw candor and hard-won wisdom.
“I know now, after fifty years, that the finding/losing, forgetting/remembering, leaving/returning, never stops. The whole of life is about another chance, and while we are alive, till the very end, there is always another chance.” ― Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
9. The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
(3.94/5 ⭐️)
Cast in vivid, almost brutal vignettes, a triumph of language captures a visceral childhood in a dysfunctional Texas family, transcending dysfunction through strikingly poetic and fiercely honest storytelling powered by resilience.
“Sure the world breeds monsters, but kindness grows just as wild…” ― Mary Karr, The Liars’ Club
10. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
(3.93/5 ⭐️)
In terse yet searing elegance, an iconic writer confronts shattering loss through a masterfully restrained memoir exploring life’s profundities and the paradoxes within mourning’s all-consuming wilderness with wrenching authenticity.
“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.” ― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
The women whose life stories we’ve explored remind us that setbacks are inevitable, but revolutionaries persist. We’d be wise to carry their indomitable spirits with us always!
