Memoir genre books (330)
171.
My Invented Country : A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile by Isabel Allende EN
Country: South America / 
Peru
Peru
Description:
The author explores the landscapes and people of her native country; recounts the 1973 assassination of her uncle, which caused her to go into exile; and shares her experiences as an immigrant in post-September 11 America.
172.
My Life as a Traitor by Zarah Ghahramani EN
IranDescription:
It was part youthful zeal and part teen crush that led Zarah Ghahramani to join a student protest movement. But dabbling in student politics was to lead to disaster when one day she was bundled into a car and taken to Tehran's most notorious prison: Evin. Far from her comfortable middle-class home, Zarah had to find refuge from her ruthless interrogators in a windowless concrete cell. Day after day she was humiliated and viciously beaten until all she wanted was simply to die, her spirit broken. In My Life as a Traitor, Zarah tells the story of her horrifying ordeal and her eventual release, a... continue
173.
My Past Is a Foreign Country : A Muslim Feminist Finds Herself by Zeba Talkhani EN
Country: Asia / 
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Description:
'Brilliant and brutally honest, this memoir ropes you in with every page. The intimacy that Zeba evokes will remind you of your own sister opening her heart to you.' Meena Kandasamy, author of When I Hit You, shortlisted for The Women's Prize 28-year-old Zeba Talkhani charts her experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia amid patriarchal customs reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale, and her journey to find freedom in India, Germany and the UK. Talkhani offers a fresh perspective on living as an outsider and examines her relationship with her mother and the challenges she faced when she experienced h... continue
174.
Night by Elie Wiesel EN
RomaniaDescription:
Presents a true account of the author's experiences as a Jewish boy in a Nazi concentration camp.
175.
Nine Moons by Gabriela Wiener EN
Country: South America / Peru
Peru
Description:
From the daring Peruvian essayist and provocateur behind Sexographies comes a fierce and funny exploration of sex, pregnancy, and motherhood that delves headlong into our fraught fascination with human reproduction. Women play all the time with the great power that's been conferred upon us: it's fun to think about reproducing. Or not reproducing. Or walking around in a sweet little dress with a round belly underneath that will turn into a baby to cuddle and spoil. When you're fifteen, the idea is fascinating, it attracts you like a piece of chocolate cake. When you're thirty, the possibility a... continue
176.
No Friend But the Mountains : Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani EN
Description:
"Our government jailed his body, but his soul remained that of a free man." -- From the Foreword by Man Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan In 2013, Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani was illegally detained on Manus Island, a refugee detention centre off the coast of Australia. He has been there ever since. This book is the result. Laboriously tapped out on a mobile phone and translated from the Farsi. It is a voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric first-hand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait of five years of incarceration and exile. Winner of the Victoria... continue
177.
Notes on a Foreign Country by Sally Hansen EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
'Deeply honest and brave . . . A sincere and intelligent act of self-questioning . . . Hansen is doing something both rare and necessary' - Hisham Matar, New York Times In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen was enjoying success as a journalist for a New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events and the response at home took on pressing urgency for her. Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines, she moved to Istanbul. Hansen arrived in Istanbul with romantic ideas about a ... continue
179.
Oblivion : A Memoir by Héctor Abad EN
Country: South America / 
Colombia
Colombia
Description:
Now the basis for the acclaimed film Memories of My Father, directed by Fernando Trueba. "An irreplaceable testimony of the struggle for democracy and tolerance in Latin America." —El País Héctor Abad's Oblivion is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written memorial to the author's father, Héctor Abad Gómez, whose criticism of the Colombian regime led to his murder by paramilitaries in 1987. Twenty years in the writing, it paints an unforgettable picture of a man who followed his conscience and paid for it with his life during one of the darkest periods in Latin America's recent history.
180.
Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard by Mawi Asgedom EN
EthiopiaDescription:
Read the story that has inspired millions The desert, I remember. The shrieking hyenas, I remember....I remember playing soccer with rocks, and a strange man telling me and my brother Tewolde that we had to go on a trip and Tewolde refusing to go. The man took out a piece of gum and Tewolde happily traded it for his homeland.... So begins the remarkable true story of a young boy's journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. Following his father's a... continue