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If you were to look at my physical TBR, you’d see memoirs for days. I’m a sucker for a good memoir or personal essay collection. There’s just something about the form that draws me in and keeps me there huddled over their pages.
In 2025, there have been some top-tier memoirs hitting shelves. Arundhati Roy, Hala Alyan, Miriam Toews—we have been honored by some of the greatest writers working today. Here are a few that are on my TBR and that should be on your TBR, too.
The Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews
Miriam Toews is primarily known for her novels, like Women Talking and All My Puny Sorrows. But this time, she’s back with a memoir. After an organizer at a literary event asked her, “Why do you write?,” Toews had to pause and ponder the question. This memoir is her answer.
The Truce That Is No Peace meanders through her life, examining her family’s history and their grief of losing loved ones far too soon.
I’ll Tell You When I’m Home by Hala Alyan
After years of dealing with with infertility, poet Hala Alyan makes the difficult decision to become a parent through a surrogate. While she’s waiting for her child to enter the world, Alyan struggles with her marriage and reels from the news that Beirut, the city of her youth, is experiencing rising violence.
With lyrical prose, Alyan describes how in her time of crisis, she turns to the stories from her Palestinian family’s past to anchor her in the present moment.
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Legendary author Arundhati Roy writes about her experience growing up with a single mother in Kerala, India. Her mother, Mary, passed away in 2022, and Roy was startled by the depth of her grief. She began to write about her mother “to be able to continue to love her.”
Roy’s relationship with her mother was complicated, but this first memoir from the acclaimed writer is a stunning rumination of grieving and the messiness of truly loving someone.
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This Happened to Me by Kate Price
As an Appalachian gal, I’m always looking for more stories from the region. Kate Price’s new memoir gives us a snapshot of northern Appalachia as she knows it.
This Happened to Me follows Price’s childhood and young adulthood as she tries to break her family’s cycle of generational trauma.
You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave or over on Instagram @kdwinchester. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy Reading, Friends!
