Hi,
I'm running on fumes, how are you? Let me tell you a story about my five-year-old. Last night, he got out of bed at midnight to inform me that he was bored. I was still up folding laundry, so I let him play with a magnet set next to me on the couch while he settled down, and we both went to bed around 1 a.m. To say it was hard to get going this morning is a massive understatement. Have you ever tried to dress a squirmy kindergartener when you're both half asleep? He waited until we were on our way out the door to notify me that he wanted a waffle with a ketchup swirl on it, his go-to food lately. So I went back into the kitchen and popped a frozen waffle in the toaster. When I presented the finished waffle to him, he was aghast at my ketchup swirl. It wasn't swirly enough! There was too little ketchup!You don’t have to be the parent of a five-year-old to know that life can get emotional sometimes, and that those same moments can also be some of the most hilarious. It’s moments like these that make me love memoirs. You don’t always have to go to far flung galaxies or alternate realities to go on an emotional journey—every day of real life is a journey! And sometimes we just want ketchup on our waffles.
The best memoirs of 2019!
It was beyond hard to pick the five best memoirs of 2019 when this year's bench was so deep, but we did it! Our picks all have one thing in common: they show us that we're not alone when we're trying to make sense of difficult times. After you check out the top memoirs of the year, make sure to explore the rest of Audible's Best of 2019 feature to see our top 10 overall listens, the most entertaining trends (like Minnesota
—yes, it's a trend!), and more.
Explore the List
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The Carroll Shelby Story
- By: Carroll Shelby
- Narrated by: Chris Abernathy
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 286
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 237
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 236
Carroll Shelby wasn’t born to run. He was born to race - some of the fastest cars ever to tear up a speedway. The exciting new feature film Ford v Ferrari - starring Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as fellow racer Ken Miles - immortalizes the small-town Texas boy who won the notorious Le Mans 24-hour endurance challenge and changed the face of auto racing with the legendary Shelby Cobra. But there’s much more to his high-velocity, history-making story.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but not what I expected
- By Pablo Puente Jr on 01-01-20
The true story that inspired Ford v Ferrari
I just love a good male bonding story, don’t you?? One of my favorite scenes of all time is from Jaws when Quint and Hooper bond over their respective battle scars in the cabin of their little boat; it sizzles with friendship and intimacy. So I’m super psyched about The Carroll Shelby Story, which is the basis for the new movie starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale. In this memoir, underdog car designer Carroll Shelby teams up with driver Ken Miles to build a revolutionary race car for the notorious 24-hour Le Mans race in 1966.
A Need for Speed
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Space Between
- Explorations of Love, Sex, and Fluidity
- By: Nico Tortorella
- Narrated by: Nico Tortorella
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 148
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
Younger star and LGBTQIA+ advocate Nico Tortorella investigates love, sex, gender, addiction, family, fame, and fluidity through their personal story and the lens of their nonbinary identity. Expanding on themes explored on their popular podcast, The Love Bomb, Nico shares the intimate details of their romantic partnerships, the dysfunction of their loud but loving Italian family, and the mingling of their feminine and masculine identities into one multidimensional, sexually fluid, nonbinary individual.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I both laughed and cried y’all!
- By Christi Humbertson on 09-23-20
A conversation with nonbinary activist Nico Tortorella
In their new memoir Space Between, Nico Tortorella says they weren’t born in the wrong body,
they were born in the wrong world.
I recently talked to the actor and queer activist about the ever-evolving nuances of their nonbinary and polyamorous life, what it’s like to be on set for The Walking Dead, and where their mom found inspiration for that amazing name. (Hint: it was less The Velvet Underground, more Steven Seagal.)
Listen In
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Nerves of Steel
- How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings, and Faced My Greatest Challenge
- By: Captain Tammie Jo Shults
- Narrated by: Tammie Jo Shults - introduction, Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 474
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 422
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Story5 out of 5 stars 421
Nerves of Steel is the captivating true story of Tammie Jo Shults’ remarkable life—from growing up the daughter of a humble rancher, to breaking through gender barriers as one of the Navy’s first female F/A-18 Hornet pilots, to safely landing the severely crippled Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 and helping save the lives of 148 people.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Impressive
- By Jean on 10-29-19
I want to be Tammie Jo Schults when I grow up
After growing up on a humble cattle and hog ranch, Captain Tammie Jo Shults served as one of the first female F/A-18 Hornet pilots in the US Navy. Years later, she would save the lives of 148 people by landing a Boeing 737 after a catastrophic engine failure caused an explosion and punctured fuel lines. Hear the full story in her new memoir, Nerves of Steel.
A Life of Service