The best memoirs and biographies of the month, as chosen by Amazon Editors
The best biographies and memoirs of June offer stories that are harrowing and inspiring, game changing and surprising. From intimate memoirs of Hollywood actors to biographies on Hollywood con artists, to those that love birding and those who investigate death professionally, there is something for every type of reader on our list. Here are some of our favorites of the month, but be sure to check out our full list here.
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. Pageboy reads like a collection of essays that alternate between protective armor and searing vulnerability. No topic is off the table though, including his sex life (he details steamy affairs with a Juno co-star and other celebrities). Readers can viscerally feel how uncomfortable he is with himself before he comes to terms with his truth. His wounds are fresh, his day-to-day existence is hard-fought despite the privilege stardom brings (which does not go unacknowledged). There is a beautiful chapter where Page finally finds some peace after undergoing long-awaited top surgery, but he doesn’t end the book there. Instead, Page drills home the message that his freedom and happiness is tenuous, just as it is for so many (trans) people. —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 World, 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
Meet Barbara “f**king” Butcher, a recovering alcoholic who is the second-ever woman death investigator in New York City. She's a tough lesbian who can hold her own with the macho cops (you can almost hear her Brooklyn accent as you read). But behind her hard-as-nails façade is a deeply empathetic human who knows we’re all just one unlucky move from ending up as one of her cases. Butcher is funny, sarcastic, and honest, with stories that could only happen in a metropolis as sprawling and frenetic as New York. Readers are on a wild ride, following Butcher (yes, that’s her real name) to murder scenes both devastating and dumb, to Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, and to a personal reckoning as she unravels under the heavy weight of her day job. Butcher is the expert called upon to offer her real-life experience to shape dramatized crime novels and TV series. But her truth is better than fiction. —Lindsay Powers, Amazon Editor
The Con Queen of Hollywood is a riveting tale about a demented impostor/ master manipulator—think shades of Anna Delvey does Hollywood—one who knew which buttons to push to get his victims chasing their Hollywood dreams across the globe. The saga begins in 2017, when an ambitious filmmaker racked up almost $50,000 in credit card charges and ATM withdrawals, flying to and from Indonesia to film for a backer he only ever talked with via phone: Amy Pascal, head of Sony Pictures. Only when his credit lines were exhausted did Caleb question the identity of “Amy.” And then he discovered he was far from the only victim. Author Johnson puts psychopathy under the lens from both directions, asking how psychopaths succeed and why we let them. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
I think it’s fair to say that the pandemic inspired, for many of us, a greater connection to the natural world and all that surrounds us—including chirping birds outside of our windows. In Better Living Through Birding, Christian Cooper—the Central Park birder whose video went viral when a white woman falsely accused him of threatening behavior—shares his experience of falling in love with birding, traveling the world in pursuit of his passion, and ultimately finding self-acceptance as a gay, Black man. Charming and engaging, this memoir will make you appreciate Cooper’s view on the natural world. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
