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Memoirs: Books for Sad Ladies who used to be Just a Girl 🥲📚🌸🥀😸
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items Maybe you’re just a girl…or maybe you’re just a girl who grew up into a sad lady, like me. I’m obsessed with memoirs. Here’s my faves - written mostly by women looking back on transformative moments.
Sections
3
Genuinely Heartbreaking 💔
Sad + Humorous 🥲
Graphic “Novels” (Artistic Authors ✍️)
Genuinely Heartbreaking 💔
True story: an old-money lawyer discovers her husband’s affair, and he *promptly* leaves their 20+ year marriage just weeks after the start of COVID.
I found this impossibly sad and yet so cathartic and intriguing. The juxtaposition of a very privi...
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
A sad account of growing up with alcoholic parents who don’t pay bills and do the “skedaddle” when debtors come looking. Beautifully written and a spotlight on the love and distress of people dysfunctional families. They made it into a movie.
The Glass Castle
The only one on this list I haven’t read yet - but have been dying to! “Deeply Heartbreaking” as the first review says it all.
Crying in H Mart
Another one about alcoholic families - but here, she recounts becoming an alcoholic herself and the journey of undoing that legacy. Beautifully written.
Lit: A Memoir – Sobriety, Motherhood & Writing
There are so many themes in this one, but really it’s about trauma and it’s “aftershocks.” It’s so much more than that - life as a daughter of a UN diplomat plays a big part, as does a final move to NYC and movement through grief - definitely will ge...
Aftershocks: A Memoir
I read this over 10 years ago and am still so inspired by Malala’s drive, willpower, and wit. She is a treasure.
I Am Malala: Girl Who Stood Up for Ed
If you have any Irish Catholic family, you know the guilt and shame that is prevalent. You may likely know about the prevalent alcoholism too, but this really shines a light on how dour the times were just a generation ago. Brilliantly written.
Angela's Ashes
Does research count as a memoir? Usually not, but this is definitely one to get you into your sad lady mood. Over 40 years old, still relevant, and written with such wistfulness for a healthy environment it might as well be her ex. This is a classic ...
Silent Spring American Classics Edition
Sad + Humorous 🥲
If you don’t know “Girls” or Lena Dunham, this may not be for you - but if you do, it’s an incredible perspective. I remember being envious of her at the time - so young, so talented, why couldn’t that be me? - but her memoir reveals exactly how she ...
Famesick: A Memoir
Another self-aware queen who lives and loves an “alternate” lifestyle. I’m obsessed with how bold and authentic she is about her escapades, and she has a killer sense of humor. Also really enjoyed the show on VICE (RIP). Best as an audiobook, it’s re...
Slutever
An Anthropologist moves to the Upper East Side of Manhattan and integrates herself into the mommy cliques. I was shocked by how mean, competitive, and disappointing that seemingly glamorous life is and have this book to thank for it! My regular life ...
Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir
Hilarious and self-deprecating, yet honorable in its awkward truthiness. A good read for anyone that needs to learn how to laugh at themselves, with others. Randomly also helped drive my professional career into HR.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir
Graphic “Novels” (Artistic Authors ✍️)
This is technically a graphic novel but I so thoroughly enjoyed it - the analysis of a closeted father, her own coming out story, and the strange-but-true notion of her family’s funeral home business.
Fun Home: Deluxe Collector’s Edition
This is such a beautiful love letter to Alison’s mother. It has the same dark wit and self-awareness as Fun Home. It also struck a chord in me as someone whose mom has passed.
Are You My Mother?: A Poignant Graphic Memoir
One of the more uplifting memoirs on this list - we love a self-aware queen who strives to be herself and live an “alternate” lifestyle. Mind-opening.
Many Love: Memoir of Polyamory & Love(s)