Books like Happening
12 books with a reading profile close to Happening by Annie Ernaux. Deep, inward-looking and contemplative; a moderate read.
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1
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
by Dani Shapiro
Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative
In 2016, Dani Shapiro submitted a DNA kit for analysis, expecting to confirm her Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.
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2
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative
Jeanette Winterson’s memoir returns to her upbringing in a strict Pentecostal household in Northern England, expanding on the lived reality behind her debut novel.
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3
Heavy
by Kiese Laymon
Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative
In this memoir, Kiese Laymon addresses his mother to recount a childhood in Jackson, Mississippi, shaped by academic rigor and physical discipline.
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4
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Also inward-looking · memoir, narrative
Jeanette Winterson’s semi-autobiographical novel follows Jeanette, a young girl adopted into a strict Pentecostal household in Northern England.
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5
My Body
Also inward-looking · memoir, narrative
In this collection of personal essays, Emily Ratajkowski examines the commodification of female beauty through her career as a high-fashion model and actress.
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6
M Train
by Patti Smith
Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative
In this memoir, Patti Smith tracks her daily routines, centered on her singular habit of visiting the same Greenwich Village café to drink black coffee and write.
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7
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative
In August 2022, thirty-three years after the fatwa against him, Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua Institution.
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8
Paula
Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative
Isabel Allende began writing this chronicle in 1991 while sitting bedside in a Spanish hospital where her daughter, Paula, lay in a porphyria-induced coma.
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9
Everything Sad Is Untrue
Also inward-looking · memoir, narrative
Khosrou, called Daniel, is a twelve-year-old Iranian refugee living in a small town in Oklahoma.
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10
A Man's Place
by Annie Ernaux
Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative
Annie Ernaux recounts her father's life, from his childhood as a Norman farm laborer to his job in a factory and later running a café and grocery.
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11
Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice
Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative
In 1990, Liliana Rivera Garza was murdered in Mexico City by an ex-boyfriend who refused to accept the end of their relationship.
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12
The End of Eddy
Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative
Eddy Bellegueule grows up in a poor village in northern France, in a family where men are expected to be tough and unemployment and alcohol are common.
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