I was recently asked at work what my favorite genre of book to read was, and my answer was “chaotic memoirs”. Some of my favorite books are real stories from people who lived unconventional and fascinating lives and were brave enough and focused enough to write it all down. So, here’s some that I recommend:

Molly’s Game by Molly Bloom
This was such an interesting book and also movie! Molly had a lot of luck in life, but instead of using it to play poker, she gambled in bigger ways and started running the games herself. Her story has lots of twists and turns, and ultimately the movie gives you the ending the the book leaves off on – her sentencing. Such a unique story, I really enjoyed reading this.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Most people likely know this from the cult classic movie with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, but the book was definitely worth the read as well! I loved this so much, and I can understand why the movie resonated with such a wide audience. The characters are captivating, alluring, and interesting, although also misunderstood. We have an unreliable narrator who is attempting to explain her own diagnoses, and it’s just a wonderful ride. It’s very quick, but every word felt important. Loved it!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Glass Castle movie was released in 2017 and quickly became one of my absolute favorites. The book starts out with similar stories that we see in the movie, but the book goes into more detail about how evil the parents really were. Maureen also has a harder time in the book version than the movie, although most is very similar. However, by the end of the book, I absolutely hated both the mom and the dad. You certainly go through a lot of emotions while hearing her retelling of stories, which is much how you feel while watching the film. Truly one of my favorite books and movies of all time.

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
This was heavy in a way that I was not expecting; it really hurt my heart to read. It’s so uniquely written, and I thought that the use of second person added a lot to the memoir – putting you directly into the story and the feelings and all that. The story is sad, covering the timeline of an abusive, queer, toxic relationship, but I’m glad that the story was told none the less. I really commend Carmen Maria Machado for sharing the journey in a format that I have never seen before – it was vulnerable, real, scary, and so many other emotions. I get the hype – very important piece of sapphic literature.

Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
I’ve read this before, maybe a couple of times, but in those reads I was closer in age to how old Augusten was during when the book takes place. Reading this as an adult was quite another story… It’s wild to see what inappropriate items your young brain does not pick up on that your 30 year old self can’t ignore. I still think this is a strange, silly, but enjoyable story about an unstable childhood, and the movie is still really good as well. But what I once thought was adventure and scandal, I now realize was more like neglect and assault. So, read ahead, but with a huge trigger warning.

Uncultured by Daneilla Mestyanek Young
Please let me first say that this book is NOT for the faint of heart. There needs to be the world’s biggest trigger warning for SA and pedophilia. That being said, I don’t think I could stomach reading this book again. Hell, I could hardly get through it the first time. But her story is real, having grown up in one of the largest cults to exist. She grew up with evil rules made to suppress women and give men full power – physically, emotionally, mentally, everything. The horrors that she endures in even the first 6 years of her life are things I would not wish on any living thing. However, she is able to escape the cult and attempt to live a normal life. Through joining the army, she realizes this is never truly possible, but is reflective enough to give us her thoughts on her experiences as well as cults overall. It was a fascinating, tough read.

High On Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips
This book was really fucked up and is also now one of my favorites. Mackenzie’s life has been chaotic and traumatic and she is so vulnerable in her recounting of experiences. This book needs to have the biggest trigger warning for rape and incest, and often left me feeling truly sick. It’s so heartbreaking to see her defend her abuser through everything, but I imagine she has to find peace somehow, even if that means dimming the evils of your monster. I appreciated the immense insight into life of extreme addiction and the darkest corners that she was willing to shed a light on. I know that this book is filled with just so much bad that has happened to her, but I just like Mackenzie so much that I couldn’t help but enjoy her story. It’s so sad but so powerful and I know I’ll be rereading it in no time.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
This was a really hard story to read for multiple reasons. The adults and authorities completely failed Jaycee after she was kidnapped and held captive for years, but Jaycee also failed herself. There was so much psychological manipulation happening, but I cannot understand how Jaycee could spend 18 years with the two people who kidnapped her at 11 years old. The book was definitely written like an 11 year old, which just shows how much really was taken from her. But still, the story was interesting and appalling, if not also shocking and unbelievable.

Have You No Shame? by Rachel Shukert
I absolutely loved this book even more than I was expecting to. I’m not Jewish, so the insight into Rachel’s experience was especially fascinating to me. I loved to hear about her young obsessions and compulsions written in her very witty and upbeat yet cynical style. Each chapter was a new set of creativity and such a cool insight into her brain. Easy to read, easy to enjoy, yet so complex and deep. Couldn’t recommend it more honestly.

Greedy by Jen Winston
This was one of the most relatable things I’ve read in a long time, and I love Jen for it. For people who are sexually fluid, it’s often hard to find true representation and Jen set out to create just that. It’s written very cleverly, an easy but witty read that spoke to me as a 30 year old millennial. I think most queer people would be able to see a version of themselves reflected back in this book, creating a wonderful validation to the readers. Highly recommend this one, and super excited to see what else Jen creates.

I Had A Miscarriage by Jessica Zucker
This was a tough read but WOW was this so very important. The author details her at-home miscarriage experience, that she had while working as a therapist for women experiencing events just like that one. She then covers all the aftermath feelings, and provides amazing insight into an experience that unfortunately unifies so many women. I really commend how real, raw and vulnerable this was. The writing was easy to read, even if the content was not.

Screw Cancer; Becoming Whole by Molly Kochan
Before Molly passed of cancer, her friend Nikki Boyer was able to document her unique and intriguing stories through a podcast called Dying For Sex. The podcast is a 10 episode series that journeys Molly’s sexual escapades as she simultaneously entered a terminal cancer diagnosis. In addition to the podcast, Molly also did some writing as her health declined, which Nikki was able to turn into a book about a year after her passing. Once getting her second cancer diagnosis, it’s like she dove headfirst into the insight of her life and decided actively on how she wanted to spend the rest of it. Her strength is admirable – both in her reflections and in her struggles through cancer. The way that Molly writes is real, raw, and contains incredible clarity. *Update: This is now an FX Original Series!*

Not The Type by Camilla Thurlow
After binging Love Island, I couldn’t help but fall in love with dear, sweet Camilla, which led me to her memoir. Camilla has such unique life experience after her work with HALO, where she helped to disarm and clear post-war areas that were still affected by war weapons such as land mines. She worked on teams that helped advocate for and advance the communities that lived around these dangerous places, all over the world. As if that wasn’t interesting enough, she then ended up meeting her now husband and father of her children on season 3 of Love Island, which is my favorite season. Camilla’s life has been filled with unexpected adventure and she shares those details along with her experience with anxiety – all of which I really appreciated and enjoyed reading.

Diary Of A Drag Queen by Daniel Harris
This genuinely felt like a diary, written at the end of each day or week by a person whose relationships exceed gender. I found the commentary on gender to be thought provoking and evocative, as well as ideas around sexual desire, social norms, relationships, and so much more. There is a wide variety of life that is exposed to this “trick”-turner, but each individual is treated carefully and thoughtfully, and I love the level of compassion that the mainstream doesn’t get to see.

Zami: A New Spelling Of My Name by Audre Lorde
I am a big big fan of Audre Lorde’s poetry, but I haven’t read much besides her collections of poetry until now. Her prose is still very lyrically and carefully written, and she finds meaning in small moments of her life shared in the memoir. I felt things were a bit slow to start, but once she got into her sapphic drama era, I was kinda here for it. This was published in the 80’s and Audre lived as a black lesbian through the 50’s and beyond, so there’s a lot of important experiences that she documented into sapphic history.

Confessions Of A Bisexual by Charmeé Taylor
I’m such a big fan of Charmee’s and this was such a fun and interactive memoir and how-to for young queer people!! While this might not be as chaotic as the others, there are several prompts included in the interactive journal that it could get as chaotic as you’d like! I love the way she breaks down the intersectionality of her identity and how the religious trauma played a role in her queer experience. I will definitely be recommending this to any young queer person!! (Get your copy here!)

Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi
This was unlike almost any other book that I’ve read, and I think it’s so important. I guess you could qualify this as a memoir, although it’s so poetically written that it almost feels more like a lyrical diary. The subjects are deep – specifically around sense of self, gender, image and so many more explorations just waiting to be consumed. While some of this was intimate to the point of uncomfortable, it’s so honest and raw and real that you understand the vulnerability. I enjoyed this so much the first time and will definitely be reading this again in the future.

Stash by Laura Cathcart Robbins
This was a really unique look into someone’s journey on coming to terms with their addiction and a cry to get help. You can feel the battle that she feels within herself, wanting both to give in and stay strong at the same time. I think her divorce was a bigger part of the book than I expected it to be, but it did intertwine with her path to sobriety, so I get why it was so integral to the story. It took me a while to get through this, not because it wasn’t good, but it did feel sad and heavy a lot of the book. It was a great read though and it’s one that I would recommend.

While You Were Out by Meg Kissinger
This is a deep dive into a family that suffered from extreme mental illness while growing up in a time where mental illness was not talked about nor recognized. There are major cases of depression in many family members, and often further diagnoses are just a guess due to the time period that they grew up in. I will say that I found this to be more factual rather than based in story-telling, which made some chapters just naturally more interesting than other as a result. I definitely applaud the whole family for allowing such a raw, real and vulnerable recount of their very sensitive family history.

Heretic by Jeanna Kadlec
As a queer person who grew up in a Catholic a family, there was a lot of this that resonated. Now, Jeanna definitely had a much more extreme experience than I, and she explores her journey of leaving the church and getting a divorce as she also comes to terms with her queerness. Her storytelling was non-linear, which I didn’t always love at times, but I also understood why it was organized this was in the end. Lots of great info, but I would have liked more story.

Dyke Delusions by Samantha Mann
I wanted to love this one so bad – partially because of the name and cover, but also because I saw the author speak at a burlesque event and I have a signed copy. However, it was only okay. Some of the essays were funny, like about her exposing herself as a kid. Some of them seemed random and irrelevant? I think the title was a little misleading, and I think that the author was writing from a place of unoriginality but thinking it was all original. It wasn’t awful, but it was a little meh.

Tastes Like War by Grace M. Cho
Okay, so kind of a weird story behind this one. The book itself is okay – it’s about a seemingly bisexual woman discussing her mother’s schizophrenia after her passing. The family is Korean-American, and many family secrets are uncovered. However, there’s a chaotic nature behind this book because family members have spoken out against this book and the validity of the claims made by the author. It’s hard to know what to believe, but I could probably believe that some of the events were dramatized, and also that siblings experience different versions of their parents. Who knows!

Dinner For Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz
I could have put this under the celebrity memoir section, but it was honestly so chaotic that I had to put it here. Joy was on the TV show One Tree Hill while also in an extreme bible study group turned cult. This felt like reading a journal that she had to write in therapy, and it made me feel bad for her naivety. I want to validate her experience, but I also cannot comprehend the need to fit in with a certain group of people so badly. Definitely an interesting read and cautionary tale!

Untamed by Glennon Doyle
There was a lot of things that I like about this book, specifically how much it challenged that arbitrary and harmful guidelines that society puts on us. I think parents could learn so much from her stories of the real meaning of “bravery”, and how young boys need to be reminded they are allowed to be gentle and girls need to be reminded they can be strong, and so many other ways to navigate today’s world. I also appreciate her late-in-life coming out, and the strength it must have taken to leave a marriage; the dynamic she has created in her family with her ex-husband, her wife, their children, and so much love is truly inspiring. My criticism of the book is that it was often a little to Christian and God-like for me, and a bit self-righteous at times. I also thought a few of the themes could have been better tied in and tied up at the end. So.. I’d recommend about 75% of this book overall, but I see why it got so much hype.

Like I said, this is my favorite genre of books, so I will always be reading more soon.

Thanks for reading! (Last Updated: August 2025)