This year brought with it a stellar lineup of memoirs and nonfiction. From celebrity exposés to nonfiction that had our jaws on the floor. We cried, we healed, we grew and we fell in love with these real-life portrayals through 2023.
The She Reads audience cast their votes for their favorites, and here’s what you chose. For the Best Memoir of 2023, it’s none other than… Britney b*tch:
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
June 2021 saw the world riveted as Britney Spears spoke openly in court. Her voice and truth made an indelible impact, reshaping her life and many others. In this book, she unveils her remarkable journey, spotlighting the unyielding resilience of one of pop music’s greatest icons. With remarkable candor and humor, she aims to shine a light on the enduring influence of music and love. It underscores the significance of a woman sharing her narrative, on her own terms, for the first time.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Congrats Britney!
And for your favorite Nonfiction title of 2023, you all voted on this beautiful book about bodies by Chrissy King:
The Body Liberation Project by Chrissy King
The Body Liberation Project examines a framework of connected systems of prejudice that influence diet culture and set harmful body and beauty standards. Chrissy King demonstrates the powerful concept of body liberation—a crucial step beyond body positivity and acceptance. Body liberation acknowledges that no one is free until everyone is free. King discusses the importance of finding strength and freedom within your body by discovering healthy habits that work for you, with the goal of understanding that we are so much more than how we appear.
Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Congrats Chrissy!
Make sure you check out a few more of our editors’ top picks for the best memoirs and nonfiction of 2023.
A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung
After fleeing from her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown to an East Coast university, Nicole Chung finally found a sense of community she’d always wanted as an Asian American adoptee. But as her life progresses, the middle-class world she begins to raise a family in—large homes and disposable income—is much different from what she thought was her middle-class childhood, where people often live paycheck to paycheck and safety nets are hard to come by. When a family death and cancer diagnosis brings up deep feelings of rage at the lack of accessibility to health care and financial instability, Chung explores class, inequality and grief in this searing memoir.
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Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
In his landmark book, sociologist Matthew Desmond explores how systemic factors in the United States perpetuate poverty, illustrating how the affluent knowingly and unknowingly contribute to keeping the poor disadvantaged. Desmond argues for a collective effort to dismantle these structures, urging readers to become “poverty abolitionists” and envision a future marked by shared prosperity and true freedom.
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Spare by Prince Harry
In this honest and powerful memoir, Prince Harry shares the story of his life after the death of his mother, the beloved Princess Diana. Only 12 years old at the time, millions mourned alongside Harry and wondered how he and his brother would cope with this loss—and what it would mean for their futures. Insightful, compelling, and unflinchingly truthful, Harry’s story is a poignant depiction of love, grief and resilience.
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Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
This unforgettable memoir by actress/model Pamela Anderson reveals personal truths about her life before superstardom, her rise to fame, and her time in the spotlight. Growing up in Vancouver, Pamela was initially a shy girl with a deep love of nature and a powerful imagination—which is what eventually led to her glamorous life in Hollywood. But along with the glamour came the struggles of maintaining her image during a time when paparazzi was determined to destroy it. Resolute and resilient, Pamela continued to push through the dark side of fame, seeking comfort in art and literature. Now a devoted mother, activist, and Broadway performer, Pamela is sharing her journey of growth and self-discovery.
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How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair
As a child, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a passionate reggae artist and devoted follower of a strict Rastafari sect, became preoccupied with safeguarding her purity. He particularly feared the corrupting influences of the Western world, or Babylon, and believed obedience was the highest virtue for women. For years Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly under her father’s rigid beliefs. But despite her mother’s loyalty to his rule, Safiya was introduced to books, particularly poetry. She then used education to empower her voice and break free, leading to clashes with her increasingly violent and paranoid father. Her story glimpses into the Rastafari world many know little about.
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Pageboy by Elliot Page
Elliot Page was on the brink of discovering himself as a queer person when the massively successful movie, Juno, came out. Forced to play the role of glossy, young starlet both on and off the screen, Elliot found himself suffocating. Where acting once had been an outlet for his imagination, it soon became a bitter reality, and Elliot felt those dreams of finding himself as a trans person become further out of reach, until enough was enough. With Hollywood behind-the-scenes and personal insights, Pageboy is a winding journey of what it means to be ourselves when society is trying to create a different version of us.
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Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H
Born in South Asia, Lamya H has always felt out of place in the Middle East. When she realizes she has a crush on her female teacher at age fourteen, she does everything she can to hide her feelings. Lamya learns the story of Maryam in Quran class, and how she insisted she had never been touched by a man, and yet was pregnant. From that moment, Lamya wondered if they were similar. She soon uses other famous stories from the Quran, making sense of her life and her choices by owning her queerness, and figuring out what it means for her to be a devout Muslim immigrant.
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Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby
Finally, Samantha Irby has made it. Walking the red carpet with famous actresses, offers from Hollywood, all the glitz and glam one can imagine—but still, Samantha is just trying to keep her life together. Providing a true portrait of her life, Samantha tells stories about her own teeth poisoning her, therapy, diarrhea, Reiki and crystals. An outrageously funny offering that once again shows how Irby has become the beloved writer that she is.
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The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin
Lara Love Hardin is the perfect cul-de-sac housewife, but she’s got a dark secret. At least, she did. She is the last person people would expect, but she’s been funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors credit cards. Convicted of 32 felonies, she begins to learn the ins and outs of jail, it’s power systems, and it’s similarities to the old PTA life she was used to, and finds ways to heal unloved women. When she gets out, she becomes a successful ghostwriter, legally co-opting other’s identities and getting to meet the likes of Oprah. But shame itself can be a prison, and one that Hardin is still figuring out as she begins to see her worth.
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