The best memoirs to celebrate Pride
As we look forward to celebrating Pride in June, we’ve been thinking about the new memoirs that we love—including Pageboy by the award-winning actor Elliot Page—and the ones that have stuck with us over the years. Here are some of our favorites, which include memoirs by celebrities, athletes, humorists, literary luminaries, Pulitzer Prize winners, and more.
Elliot Page burst onto the national spotlight as a quirky teen in Juno, earning him an Oscar nomination and a place among Hollywood’s coveted A-list. Thirteen years later, he came out as a trans man. Now, Page is sharing that journey, in his own words. This is sure to be a searing and visceral read and we can’t wait for Pageboy to publish on June 6. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
There’s something about books set in Florida that get me, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Anne Hull’s memoir is no different. She conjures the heat of the sun, the dusty dirt of orange groves, the hum of bulldozers making way for Disney Land, and how the wilds of Florida, family, and society flung her far from the place she called home. Hull longed to be seen by her parents—an ability they were largely incapable of—and as she developed her own sense of self, ambition, and wanderlust, the oranges of her childhood gave way to a world beyond. Hull writes intoxicatingly, lovingly, and thoughtfully about her past, bringing the same rigor to the external world as her own internal one, which proves to be a richly rewarding reading experience. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
This is a bold, brave, and quietly page-turning memoir about one woman’s examination of her life and sexuality through the lens of understanding and studying the Quran. Navigating the liminal spaces between being too Muslim for some and too queer for others, Lamya’s essays wrestle with the push and pull of identity in luminating, searching prose. Weaving stories from the Quran throughout, Lamya’s willingness to intimately offer her questioning, pain, and wonder is both thought-provoking and satisfyingly affirming. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Billie Jean King loved sports at a young age, but the world of sports did not love female athletes back, as she learned time and time again—first watching boys on the club tennis team get their expenses paid while girls had to raise money to travel to matches, and later seeing the massive pay disparities between the top female and male players. While her famous match against Bobby Riggs will be what draws many readers, King’s drive to overcome any obstacle thrown in front of her powers this memoir. In scene after scene, she knocks down the barriers before her and others—even as she secretly wrestles with her sexuality. Billie Jean King’s strength, energy, and personality shine on every page of this gripping autobiography that will inspire tennis and non-tennis fans alike. —Adrian Liang, former Amazon Editor
Glennon Doyle’s latest memoir is her most personal yet. One day, Doyle looked across the room at a conference and fell instantly in love. With a woman. While Doyle was married to her husband, whom she wrote about in her best-seller Love Warrior. This love-at-first-sight moment allowed Doyle to acknowledge her own unhappiness, and follow a path toward a more authentic—and untamed—self. Get your pen ready—this book is full of poignant lines that will inspire women to embrace happiness and freedom. —Sarah Gelman, Amazon Editor
In many ways this book reads like a punch (which is why we named it one of the Best Books of 2021): It’s hard-hitting, unflinching, and written with the unfettered gusto of a fist in motion. Brian Broome did not have it easy growing up poor, gay, and Black in Ohio in the late ’70s and early ’80s. His memories of the horrors of racism, homophobia, and addiction that he lived through are wretched—I can almost guarantee that your eyes will prick with tears, your stomach will turn in knots, and your jaw will clench in anger as you read. But throughout this memoir, Broome’s humor and grace is a beacon of light, and his willingness to investigate his own personhood and let it shine is a real joy. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
I stumbled upon R. Eric Thomas’ brilliantly clever (and laugh-out-loud) writing in Elle years ago, and eagerly ordered his book of essays in the dark days of the pandemic, when we all could have used a good giggle and some hope. Thomas’ memoir delivers both—and so much more. Through quick-witted storytelling and epic asides, he deftly navigates everything from flirting and pop culture, to growing up gay and experiencing racism. It’s the epitome of, “If we don’t laugh, we cry!” You’ll be left in stitches reading about how he met the pastor he’d go on to marry, and his awkward young adult years. There’s a lot of joy wrapped up in this hugely-relatable book that will make you guffaw a lot, tear up a little, and quite possibly rediscover your love for Whitney Houston. As you might imagine, we’re eagerly awaiting the August publication of his new essay collection, Congratulations, The Best Is Over! —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
Billy Porter is an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner, and a best-selling author. But before he graced red-carpets, dazzling fans, the media, and everyone else, he was a Black gay kid in Pittsburgh, ridiculed for being different. In Unprotected, Porter shows us his chops—how he discovered himself, creativity, and artistry, despite the trauma he survived. As Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote, “he is blazing a trail where none existed.” In other words, he is an icon, and one who is just as magnetic on the stage and screen as he is on the page. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Witty and lionhearted, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, is not the first of Winterson’s books to broach her fraught upbringing under the “care” of a religious zealot who couldn’t abide her daughter’s bent towards “unnatural passions.” She did that in her brilliant debut novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Of her decision to initially process this traumatic chapter of her life in fiction, Winterson said: “I wrote a story I could live with. The other one was too painful. I could not survive it." Luckily, she eventually figured out that you don’t, in fact, have to be normal (whatever that means) to be happy. Here’s to everyone who has come to this courageous conclusion, and especially those who haven’t quite yet. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Awaeke Emezi’s writing is effervescent; it’s dreamlike, concrete, and entirely fresh. Emezi’s written four novels (The Death of Vivek Oji, Freshwater, the young adult novel Pet, and most recently, You Make a Fool of Death with Your Beauty) and a memoir, Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir. I underlined this book like mad when I first read it—Emezi dazzles and investigates everything from their childhood in Nigeria, to the surgeries they had to “fit my spiritself”, to the spell they use to write and work. Emezi’s memoir feels vital and ferocious—just like their fictional writing and in offering up their identity, they offer a guide to creativity and the importance of discovering the self. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Naturally Tan is two delightful books in one. First, it’s a memoir recalling how a South Asian boy from a conservative immigrant family grew up in South Yorkshire, England, navigating multiple issues: parents pushing him to become a doctor or lawyer though he knew his passion was for fashion, the occasionally violent racism of his working-class neighborhood, and being gay (a fact he kept from his parents until he was 34)... Being both “gay and brown” exposed Tan to bigotry early on, and the breezy way he sidesteps, ignores, or eviscerates racists, bigots, and shallow people, pointing out that their behavior says much about them and nothing about him, is inspiring. And that’s the second book: one that not only says “it gets better” but illustrates what Tan did to make it get better. Filled with witty anecdotes, Tan’s dos and don’ts of first dates, a note on the representation of people of color in media, and advice on how to be the version of gay that you want to be, this pairing of fashion with compassion has never been a better match. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
