I noticed a few years ago that, even among the people I knew who didn’t read books often, memoirs were especially intriguing. When we were finalizing our huge list for the best nonfiction books of the century so far , there were so many memoirs that had been nominated—and many still that made the final list. Perhaps surprisingly, the most popular memoirs are not always by people who are already known. Some people debut with a memoir, thus starting an illustrious writing career.

I think the popularity of memoirs boils down to there just being something that we love about viewing other people. And the people in the books below all have lives that you will want to witness—from history-making actors to bestselling novelists to Muslim teens growing up in the Midwest.

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