18 books like Becoming Maria

What to read after Becoming Maria — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Down Came the Rain Brooke Shields · 2005 · ★ 3.8 · 226p · ≈ 7h · Moderate When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis, into the world, a crippling depression followed. In DOWN CAME THE RAIN, Brooke writes about the tribulations, depression, and, ultimately, the triumphs that happened before and after the birth. With a knowledgeable voice and a self-deprecating sense of humor, Brooke discusses her battle with postpartum depression, a disorder that… Shares: Actors and actresses, Women, Biography & Memoir

A Certain Chemistry Mil Millington · 2003 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate "Brooding, self-loathing Tom Cartwright is a modestly successful ghostwriter whose ability to spell correctly and meet his deadlines has landed him the job of writing the autobiography of the wildly popular soap-opera star Georgina Nye. His imbibing, chain-smoking agent is swooning, and his offbeat, sweetly supportive live-in girlfriend of five years, Sara, is ecstatic?new carpets!Yet even as he… Shares: Television actors and actresses, Biography & Memoir

The Chronology of Water Lidia Yuknavitch · 2011 · ★ 4.2 · 296p · ≈ 9h · Moderate This is not your mother's memoir. In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch expertly moves the reader through issues of gender, sexuality, violence, and the family from the point of view of a lifelong swimmer turned artist. In writing that explores the nature of memoir itself, her story traces the effect of extreme grief on a young woman's developing sexuality that some define as untraditional… Shares: Childhood and youth, Family, Women, Biography & Memoir

The perfect gentleman Imran Ahmad · 2012 · ★ 3.6 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate "Imran Ahmad shares his story of life as a Pakistani Muslim growing up in England in this coming-of-age memoir"--Provided by the publisher. Shares: Childhood and youth, Coming-of-age, Biography & Memoir

The Fry Chronicles Stephen Fry · 2010 · ★ 3.7 · 448p · ≈ 14h · Moderate The popular actor, comedian, and writer traces his unlikely Cambridge education, his relationships with such contemporaries as Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, and his hedonistic rise to stardom. Shares: Television actors and actresses, Biography & Memoir

Ayyām Ṭāhā Ḥusayn · 1932 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Shares: Childhood and youth, Biography & Memoir

The Glory of Hera Philip Slater · 1968 · ★ 4.0 · 543p · ≈ 18h · Moderate Shares: Family, Women

I'm Glad My Mom Died Jennette McCurdy · 2022 · ★ 4.4 · 320p · ≈ 10h · Moderate A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life. Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a… Shares: Television actors and actresses, Biography & Memoir

Mosaic Holroyd, Michael. · 2004 · ★ 3.9 · 288p · ≈ 9h · Moderate A love story, a detective story, a book of secrets, a beautifully written journey into a forest of family trees. After writing the definitive biographies of Lytton Strachey and George Bernard Shaw, Michael Holroyd turned his hand to a more personal subject: his own family. The result was Basil Street Blues, published in 1999. But rather than the story being over, it was in fact only beginning. As… Shares: Childhood and youth, Family, Biography & Memoir

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman · 1980 · ★ 4.0 · 484p · ≈ 16h · Moderate from the front flap: "More than just an account of [Ingrid Bergman's] illustrious career, here is a totally candid self-portrait of a remarkable woman: her personal failures as well as her public successes." Shares: Actors and actresses, Biography & Memoir

Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt · 1996 · ★ 4.3 · 364p · ≈ 12h · Moderate "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish… Shares: Childhood and youth, Family, Biography & Memoir

My autobiography Charlie Chaplin · 1964 · ★ 4.0 · 528p · ≈ 17h · Moderate “Charlie Chaplin's own Story” is the first of Chaplin's two published autobiographies : being a faithful recital of a romantic career, beginning with early recollections of boyhood in London and closing with the signing, in 1916, of his latest motion-picture of a $670,000 contract. Shares: Actors and actresses, Biography & Memoir

Coming of Age in Mississippi Anne Moody · 1968 · ★ 4.4 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Born to a poor couple who were tenant farmers on a plantation in Mississippi, Anne Moody lived through some of the most dangerous days of the pre-civil rights era in the South. In this now classic autobiography, she details the sights, smells, and suffering of growing up in a racist society and candidly reveals the soul of the black girl who had the courage to challenge it. The result is a… Shares: Childhood and youth, Coming-of-age, Biography & Memoir

Quarto de Despejo Carolina Maria de Jesus · 1960 · ★ 4.5 · 182p · ≈ 6h · Moderate A first-hand account of life in the streets of Sao Paulo from 1955 to 1960, details the plight of an artist, writer and single mother of three children who, while living in a hovel, supported her family by digging through the garbage for paper and scraps to sell. Shares: Childhood and youth, Women, Biography & Memoir

Stand before your God Paul Watkins · 1993 · ★ 4.1 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Watkins re-creates the joy and pain of growing up as he recalls his own experiences at two of Britain's greatest boarding schools, Dragon and Eton. Shares: Childhood and youth, Biography & Memoir

Adolphe Benjamin Constant · 1816 · ★ 3.7 · 202p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Adolphe is a privileged and refined young man, bored by the stupidity he perceives in the world around him. After a number of meaningless conquests, he at last encounters Ellenore, a beautiful and passionate older woman. Adolphe is enraptured and gradually wears down her resistance to his declarations of love. But as they embark on an intense and tortured affair, Ellenore gives way to a flood of… Shares: Childhood and youth, Biography & Memoir

Les confessions Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1782 · ★ 3.6 · 674p · ≈ 22h · Demanding Je forme une entreprise qui n'eut jamais d'exemple, et dont l'execution n'aura point d'imitateur. Je veux montrer a mes semblables un homme dans toute la verite de la nature; et cet homme, ce sera moi. Moi seul. Je sens mon coeur, et je connais les hommes. Je ne suis fait comme aucun de ceux que j'ai vus; j'ose croire n'etre fait comme aucun de ceux qui existent. Si je ne vaux pas mieux, au moins… Shares: Childhood and youth, Biography & Memoir

Boy Roald Dahl · 1984 · ★ 4.1 · 187p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Boy is an autobiographical book by British writer Roald Dahl. This book describes his life from birth until leaving school, focusing on living conditions in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, the public school system at the time, and how his childhood experiences led him to writing as a career. It ends with his first job, working for Royal Dutch Shell. His autobiography continues in the book Going… Shares: Childhood and youth, Biography & Memoir

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