The Lonely City

True North: A Memoir

Jill Ker Conway

The first female president of Smith College describes her move from Australia to America and her academic career in the 1960s.

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The Argonauts

Maggie Nelson2015

A memoir of the author's relationship with her partner and her pregnancy. It mixes personal narrative with academic theory on gender and family.

Same meditative register, still memoir

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Doktor Faustus

Thomas Mann1948

A composer trades his soul for musical genius as his life and the rise of Nazi Germany are chronicled by a concerned friend.

meditative → elegiac

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The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.

meditative → bleak, still memoir

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Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Jesse Q. Sutanto2023

An elderly tea shop owner finds a corpse and decides to investigate the suspects herself. She uses cooking and mothering to extract information.

meditative → warm

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Modern Romance

Aziz Ansari2015

A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.

meditative → playful

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Untamed

Glennon Doyle2020

A woman recounts leaving her marriage and rebuilding her life after falling in love with another woman. It is a series of personal manifestos.

meditative → earnest, still memoir

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Pillow Thoughts

Courtney Peppernell2016

A collection of short poems and prose pieces organized by emotional state. It focuses on themes of heartbreak, healing, and loneliness.

meditative → tender

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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Neil deGrasse Tyson2017

A summary of the origin of the universe, the laws of physics, and the nature of space and time.

meditative → playful

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Steal Like an Artist

Austin Kleon2012

A series of short, illustrated principles for creative work. It focuses on remixing existing ideas and establishing productive daily habits.

meditative → playful

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The Education of Henry Adams

Henry Adams

A man writes a sardonic third-person account of his life and his failure to adapt to the technological shifts of the late 19th century.

meditative → sardonic, still memoir

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No Archive Will Restore You

Julietta Singh2018

The author examines the history of her own body through the lens of race, desire, and pain. It is a collection of fragments and academic theory.

Same meditative register, still memoir

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Confessions

Augustine of Hippo

A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

Same meditative register

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Wasted

Marya Hornbacher1998

A detailed memoir of the author's decade-long struggle with anorexia and bulimia. It documents hospitalizations and the physical decay of the body.

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A House in the Sky

Amanda Lindhout2013

A freelance journalist is kidnapped in Somalia and held for fifteen months. The memoir details her captivity and the conditions she endured.

meditative → tense, still memoir

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A River in Darkness

Masaji Ishikawa2018

A man describes his thirty-six years living in North Korea after moving there from Japan. He recounts extreme poverty and his eventual escape.

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