Books like

Books like Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

12 books with a reading profile close to Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro. Inward-looking and contemplative; a moderate read.

1

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

by Jeanette Winterson

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.
2

Happening

by Annie Ernaux

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In 1963, when abortion remained illegal in France, Annie Ernaux, then a university student, discovered she was pregnant.
3

Paula

by Isabel Allende

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.
4

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.
5

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

by Jeanette Winterson

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.
6

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?

by Roz Chast

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Roz Chast uses a mix of cartoons, sketches, and personal photographs to document the final years of her aging parents, George and Elizabeth.
7

Heavy

by Kiese Laymon

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In this memoir, Kiese Laymon addresses his mother to recount a childhood in Jackson, Mississippi, shaped by academic rigor and physical discipline.
8

The End of Eddy

by Édouard Louis

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.
9

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

by Salman Rushdie

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

In August 2022, thirty-three years after the fatwa against him, Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua Institution.
10

Truth & Beauty

by Ann Patchett

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Ann Patchett narrates the decades-long friendship between herself and the writer Lucy Grealy, beginning at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
11

My Body

by Emily Ratajkowski

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.
12

Wat ik nooit eerder heb gezegd

by Celeste Ng

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

Set in 1970s Ohio, the narrative begins with the death of Lydia Lee, the favorite daughter of a mixed-race couple.

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