Books like

Books like Stay True

12 books with a reading profile close to Stay True by Hua Hsu. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and open-ended; a moderate read.

1

Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice

by Cristina Rivera Garza

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.
2

Blue Nights

by Joan Didion

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative

Joan Didion examines the illness and 2005 death of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, while confronting her own physical decline.
3

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

by Salman Rushdie

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.
4

The White Album

by Joan Didion

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative

Joan Didion’s collection of essays documents the fragmentation of California life during the late 1960s and 1970s.
5

My Twentieth Century Evening and Other Small Breakthroughs

by Kazuo Ishiguro

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, narrative

This book contains the formal lecture Kazuo Ishiguro delivered upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature.
6

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.
7

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.
8

Happening

by Annie Ernaux

Also deep and inward-looking · memoir, narrative

In 1963, when abortion remained illegal in France, Annie Ernaux, then a university student, discovered she was pregnant.
9

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.
10

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.
11

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.
12

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.

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