6 Intimate, Powerful Memoirs to Read This Month

These excellent new memoirs examine creative expression, self-creation, and power structures.

‘Reading the Waves’ by Lidia Yuknavitch

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“Memories are conjurings,” writes Lidia Yuknavitch in this quicksilver, expansive exploration of grief and hauntings (the deaths of her former husband, mother, daughter, student), sexuality, storytelling, and more. (Riverhead)

‘Fearless and Free’ by Josephine Baker

$32 $30

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$32 $30

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Josephine Baker’s tale of performance and resistance has been translated from the French into English for the first time by Anam Zafar and Sophie R. Lewis, with an introduction by Ijeoma Oluo. (Tiny Reparations)

‘Bibliophobia’ by Sarah Chihaya

$29 $27

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$29 $27

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Sarah Chihaya unpacks a lifetime of books, including Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai, that have illuminated, complicated, and fundamentally shaped her worldview. (Random House)

‘Talk to Me’ by Rich Benjamin

$29

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$29 $27

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In 1957, Rich Benjamin’s charismatic maternal grandfather served as president of Haiti for 19 days before his leadership ended in a violent coup; through deep research, Benjamin plumbs secrets—both familial and national. (Pantheon)

‘Wild West Village’ by Lola Kirke

$29 $26

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$29 $27

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In uninhibited essays, country singer and Mozart in the Jungle star Lola Kirke sifts through a Manhattan childhood redolent with Joan Didion and Courtney Love, and a coming of age onscreen and through song. (Simon & Schuster)

‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This’ by Omar El Akkad

$28 $25

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$28 $26

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From the assault on Gaza to climate change, Egypt-born, US-based Omar El Akkad reckons with the West: symbol of freedom; longtime aggressor. (Knopf)