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SevenPonds / Books to Lend Insight / Biographies & Memoirs Books

Biographies & Memoirs Books

Real stories from real people who’ve faced loss, illness, and life’s hardest moments. These personal accounts remind us that resilience is possible and that others have survived what feels impossible today.

"The End of Normal"

By Stephanie Madoff Mack

At first glance, Stephanie Madoff’s Mack’s The End of Normal grabs our attention solely because she’s the wife of one of…

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"Mortality"

By William Knox

In his book “Brief History of Gilead, and Prose and Poetic Writings,” George W. Chapman related a story as told to him b…

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book two women walk into a bar

“Two Women Walk Into A Bar”

By Cheryl Strayed

With a book title that alludes to a punchline to follow, “Two Women Walk into a Bar” by Cheryl Strayed is certainly no j…

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"Stay True"

By Hua Hsu

“Stay True” is a memoir by Hua Hsu, a well known writer for The New YorkerandThe Atlanticon issues of race, multicultura…

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“The Faraway Nearby”

By Rebecca Solnit

In “The Faraway Nearby,” writer and activist Rebecca Solnit weaves storytelling and memoir together with philosophical m…

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“Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir”

By Natasha Trethewey

The terrain of grief and loss is challenging enough on its own. But when a loved one’s death is shrouded in trauma, thes…

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"Dear Life" by Rachel Clarke

"Dear Life"

By Rachel Clarke

In her memoir “Dear Life,” Rachel Clarke recounts the unusual journey that led to her work as a palliative care physicia…

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Wave book cover

"Wave"

By Sonali Deraniyagala

On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, set in motion a series of deadly tsuna…

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"Black Widow"

By Leslie Gray Streeter

While “Black Widow” lives up to its subtitle — “A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books wi…

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"Last Things: A Graphic Memoir of Loss and Love"

By Marissa Moss

Marissa Moss, an award-winning author and illustrator, is best known for her children’s series, “Amelia’s Notebook.” Wit…

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"Council of Dads"

By Bruce Feiler

Bruce Feiler was a successful author at the height of his career when doctors discovered a malignant tumor in his leg. T…

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“Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving”

By Mo Rocca & Jonathan Greenberg

In “Mobituaries,” TV and radio personality Mo Rocca explores the unusual lives and oft-forgotten deaths of unappreciated…

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"They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us"

By Hanif Abdurraqib

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Hanif Abdurraqib has made a name for himself as both a poet and a music critic. Fittingly, his …

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Cover of An Exact REplica of a Figment of My Imagination

"An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination"

By Elizabeth McCracken

There is no single English word for a stillborn baby. The title of Elizabeth McCracken’s memoir, “An Exact Replica of a …

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Book cover of "Once More We Saw Stars"

"Once More We Saw Stars"

By Jayson Greene

“Once More We Saw Stars” by Jayson Greene describes agonizing pain, the difficulties of grief and the impact that love h…

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Cover of Joan Didion's Blue

"Blue Nights"

By Joan Didion

As husbands and wives age together, it is inevitable that one spouse will outlive the other. Burying one’s child, howeve…

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“Taking Turns: Stories from the HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371"

By MK Czerwiec

Deaths in the Midwest due to the AIDS epidemic reached an all-time high in 1995. One year prior, in 1994, MK Czerwiec, a…

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"The Unwinding of the Miracle"

By Julie Yip-Williams

“Dying has taught me a great deal about living,” says Julie Yip-Williams in her book, “The Unwinding of the Miracle: A M…

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"The Best of Us"

By Joyce Maynard

“The Best of Us” is a sad story transformed into an inspirational one because of the author’s belief that this tragedy m…

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"The Dead Moms Club"

By Kate Spencer

Kate Spencer’s mother, Martha, died from pancreatic cancer when Kate was 27 years old. “The Dead Moms Club” is the 2017 …

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"Becoming"

By Michelle Obama

As 2018 draws to a close, “Becoming” by Michelle Obama tops the New York Times’ non-fiction best-seller list. Deep withi…

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"Confessions Of A Funeral Director"

By Caleb Wilde

Caleb Wilde is a sixth-generation funeral director who was initially leery about following in his father’s footsteps and…

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"Promise Me Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose"

By Joe Biden

Former Vice-president Joe Biden and his family were forced to mourn publicly when his 46-year-old son Beau died of a bra…

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"The Queen"

By Stephen Frears

The movie “The Queen,” released in 2006, follows the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death in a car crash. While much of t…

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"In-Between Days: A Memoir About Living with Cancer"

By Teva Harrison

A cancer diagnosis affects everyone differently. Some people choose to spend the remaining years of their lives travelin…

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Image of the book cover of "The Education of a Coroner," by John Bateson.

"The Education Of A Coroner"

By John Bateson

“The Education Of A Coroner: Lessons In Investigating Death” by John Bateson tells the fascinating story of Ken Holmes’ …

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"A Shining Season"

By William Buchanan

In “A Shining Season: The True Story of John Baker,” William Buchanan tells the story of what appears to be an overwhelm…

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"Sugar Cookies and a Nightmare"

By Carol Kearns, Ph.D.

When Carol Kearns lost her 7-year-old daughter Kristen to a rogue wave in 1976, she thought her life had come to an end….

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"Wild and Precious Life"

By Deborah Ziegler

By now, almost everyone has heard the name Brittany Maynard and knows the story of her tragic death from a brain tumor a…

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"Bodies in Motion and at Rest"

By Thomas Lynch

Thomas Lynch is both a published poet and funeral director, and these two facets of his persona are on full display in …

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"Love Is A Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time"

By Rob Sheffield

“Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time” is music journalist Rob Sheffield’s tribute to music, love and h…

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"A Moveable Feast"

By Ernest Hemingway

I’d never meditated on “A Moveable Feast”’s relationship with death. Sure, I’d thought of Ernest Hemingway’s classic as …

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"Inside the Now"

By Thich Nhat Hanh

“Inside the Now” is a rare and beautiful book. Written by the Buddhist monk, poet and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, it is …

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"A Story Lately Told"

By Anjelica Huston

It’s easy to understand why actress, model and 70s “It Girl” Anjelica Huston has divided her memoir in two. The first ha…

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A Man Without a Country

By Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is undeniably funny, and so is A Man Without a Country. But Vonnegut’s sort-of-memoir goes beyond wry witt…

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"Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?"

By Roz Chast

Many people might recognize Roz Chast’s cartoons from the New Yorker, where they have appeared since 1978. Personally, m…

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"The Last Lecture"

By Randy Pausch

Professor Randy Pausch didn’t see his struggle with pancreatic cancer as special. Almost 49,000 people are diagnosed wit…

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Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical…

By Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J. Mitchell

Judy Melinek’s Working Stiff is the kind of memoir that reads like a season of the TV show “CSI”. In her book, she write…

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"Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without"

By Natasha Josefowitz

The book, “Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without,” is visually written to appear like poetry, but it’s not real…

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My Foreign Cities

By Elizabeth Scarboro

What if, as a teenager, you fell in love with a peer who was already facing their middle age years as well as dealing wi…

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"Lucky Me: My Life with — and Without — My Mom, Shirley MacLaine"

By Sachi Parker

The title of Sachi Parker’s autobiography, Lucky Me: My Life with – and Without – My Mom, Shirley MacLaine is imbued wit…

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"A Very Easy Death"

By Simone de Beauvoir

The most remarkable thing about Simone de Beauvoir’s A Very Easy Death (1964) is its author’s deft choice to seek the or…

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"Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story"

By Carol Burnett

Many people think of Carol Burnett as a lively and beloved comedian and entertainer best known for her long-running vari…

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"Unremarried Widow"

By Artis Henderson

Falling in love is tough. You must open yourself up and allow yourself to be vulnerable for another person. But falling …

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"Holding Silvan, A Brief Life"

By Monica Wesolowska

Few books offer a journey so intimate and overwhelming that we witness the author’s experience as though we were there. …

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"Wild"

By Cheryl Strayed

A few weeks ago, I was very pleased to find a book had magically downloaded on my Kindle.  I forgot I’d preordered it mo…

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"Dying to Be Me"

By Anita Moorjani

I imagine most cancer survivors don’t feel as though their disease was meant to be, or that they deserved it. Not Anita …

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“The Year of Magical Thinking”

By Joan Didion

An interview with actress Michelle Williams about the sudden death in 2008 of her partner, actor Heather Ledger, reveals…

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“Undertaker Please Drive Slow”

By Jo Ann Beard

In December 1997, Cheri Tremble made the decision to engage in assisted dying, with the help of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Seve…

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Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

By Anna Quindlen

Let’s put it simply: I’m still young.  I have no concept of what it means to age.  I do know, though, that it can’t be t…

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"Man's Search for Meaning"

By Victor Frankl

Through Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl offers a compelling glimpse into the human psyche. The Doctor of psyc…

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Kayak Morning

By Roger Rosenblatt

In his 2010 memoir, Making Toast, Roger Rosenblatt tells his story about loss after losing his daughter, Amy, unexpected…

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"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"

By Dave Eggers

Through his popular memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, San Francisco author Dave Eggers chronicles his e…

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"I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl"

By Kelle Groom

Author Kelle Groom draws on her award-winning poetry-writing skills to craft this haunting memoir. With little concern f…

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"Imperfect Endings"

By Zoe Fitzgerald Carter

Zoe Carter’s busy life on the West Coast with her husband and daughters and an unfinished mystery novel are put on hold …

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"Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter"

By Antonia Fraser

From a distance, the marriage of Antonia Fraser, a notable British biographer and author, and the late Harold Pinter, th…

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