Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Funniest Memoirs

Memoirs are one of the most frequently requested genres at the library. When you're looking for a laugh, go to these hilarious memoirs!

Dry by Augusten Burroughs: An advertising executive remembers his childhood with an eccentric foster family and his early adult experiences of trying to forge an independent life for himself.

Bossypants by Tina Fey: The breakout star of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock gives a humorous account of her life as well as behind the scenes stories from her hit shows.

Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanna Darst: A memoir of having grown up in an eccentric family of faded wealth and gentility in which the father's faded dreams of being a famous writer puts his family in the poor house.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher: Based on Fisher's one woman show, this memoir covers growing up with celebrity parents, her early success in Star Wars, her battle with addiction and mental illness, turbulent romances, being a single mother, and her struggle for recovery and healing.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson: A memoir of growing up in rural Texas, awkward high school years, and the author's relationship with her long suffering husband.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Funniest Memoirs

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