Must-Read Memoirs from the Year’s Most Fascinating People

Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries, by Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen, host of Watch What Happens: Live and executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise, is the sort of celebrity you fervently wish were your best friend. His hilarious, unfiltered, and self-deprecating take on the world of celebrity and reality TV he lives in are consistently entertaining. Told with a refreshing lack of self-importance, Cohen follows up his wildly successful first memoir with another collection, this time detailing his tour around the country promoting his book with “sidekick” Anderson Cooper, meeting other famous people, and very frequently saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. Once again Cohen charms as a regular guy with the sort of access to Hollywood and celebrities we all wish we had, at least every now and then.

Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen is one of the last great rock and rollers standing—still making great music, still touring, still breaking records for live shows. After watching him entertain just about everyone for more than 40 years, it’s easy to forget he’s a man with a personal story to tell, who knows struggle just like everyone else. Displaying the same command and love of language that made him one of the most quoted lyricists in the business, Springsteen tells an honest story about growing up poor in New Jersey, how rock music changed his life, his initial struggles for success, and how the album Born to Run changed not just his fortunes but his musical style. Along the way he spins story after story, introduces us to the people who would help define his public and private life, and bravely admits to a battle with depression. Leave it to Springsteen to pen a memoir that’s as captivating and poetic as his songs.

Scrappy Little Nobody, by Anna Kendrick
Everyone is fascinated by Hollywood and the celebrities who make up one of the world’s most fascinating businesses. Hyper-likable Kendrick offers up a memoir that takes us on a funny, warm journey from her childhood in Portland, Maine, through her early career to her life now as one of the most in demand and recognizable actresses on the planet. Kendrick writes with biting humor and a refreshingly clear sense of who she is as a person, and fans of her performances will walk away from the book liking her even more, something we didn’t know was possible. In other words, her memoir is as entertaining as she is, which is a remarkable achievement.

Around the Way Girl: A Memoir, by Taraji P. Henson
Evenly balanced between straightforward memoir and inspiring acting manual, Henson—an immensely popular actress currently tearing it up as Cookie Lyons on the hit show Empire—writes with an easy, engaging style that makes her book feel like a lengthy letter from a good friend. She tells her story, of course, beginning with growing up raised by a single mother, then takes on her journey to becoming a single mother herself. But she also offers insight into her acting method, telling interesting, absorbing stories about how she “becomes” her characters. She also addresses the realities of the business, discussing how she’s aware of being typecast as a certain type of character and how she has dealt with such frustrations. Henson is a brilliant actress finally getting the attention she deserves, and this memoir is as entertaining as any role she has ever played.

Just Getting Started, by Tony Bennett
We should all be so lucky to be as vibrant and productive as Tony Bennett is when we’re 90 years old. Still creating and still living, Bennett has already published a memoir (2012’s Life is a Gift) detailing his journey through life. In his new book, Bennett concentrates on the people who affected and influenced him along the way. The stories are small-scale despite the big names involved, and Bennett’s acknowledgment that he had help on the way up is touching and fascinating. Simultaneously funny and illuminating, Bennett shows how everyone he has known in his life had their impact on his music and his path. Bonus: as you read you’ll inevitably hear the words in Bennett’s own warm and instantly recognizable tones.

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, by Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer hit a new, rarefied level of celebrity in the last few years, and, as this non-memoir proves, it’s no fluke. Collecting more than 30 hilarious essays, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo shows off Schumer’s sharp wit, self-deprecating style, and perceptive grasp of the issues and politics of the day. Reading it is like having a wine-soaked lunch with your absolutely hilarious best friend, a woman who chemically transforms experiences into jokes. Although she is adamant this isn’t a memoir, Schumer does tell some of her story, and offers up an incredible essay about her career, detailing the struggles women face in a business that’s already extremely tough on everyone. With humanizing forays into some of the more serious issues she has faced in life, including the long-term illness of her father, Schumer’s book is both triumphant and funny and the sort of book you wind up enjoying for years, reading any time you need a lift.

Muhammad Ali Unfiltered, by Muhammad Ali
There will almost certainly never be an athlete, a man, or an entertainer like Muhammad Ali. Brilliant in the boxing ring, adamant about his political, religious, and other beliefs, and heroic in the way he faced down a debilitating disease that took decades to bring him down, Ali is an American icon. Paired with his own words and the passionate words of his widow, Lonnie, the hundreds of photographs in this book are both artistically powerful and stark reminders of the passion and talent the world lost when we lost Ali. He had both a formidable physique and a great face—both of which served his outsized personality and fiery showmanship well. His words, including his famous “Getting Ready to Meet God” speech, serve as a reminder that in his heyday people enjoyed listening to Ali almost as much as they enjoyed watching him exercise the sweet science of boxing.

Settle for More, by Megyn Kelly
The anchor of the most watched show on FOX News, The Kelly File, offers up a memoir that looks back over her career in journalism, including plenty of surprising revelations and insider stories. Kelly, who has been at the turbulent center of the 2016 presidential campaign almost since the beginning, doesn’t skimp on details regarding her encounters with Donald Trump and other political players, but she also goes back to the beginnings of her career and recounts the hard work she has put in, the challenges she has overcome, and the lessons she has learned. There’s little mystery to why this is one of the most anticipated memoirs of recent years, and Kelly takes the opportunity it affords to underscore her principles, her journalistic philosophy, and her sense that she’s just getting started. Whether you’re fascinated by the inside baseball of today’s politics or the story of a trailblazing woman in journalism, this book will be a water-cooler must-read.

A Life Well Played: My Stories, by Arnold Palmer
This year we lost not only one of the greatest athletes of all time, but also the man who invented one of the greatest beverages of all time. Arnold Palmer was beloved not just because he was easily one of the greatest golfers of the modern era, but also because he was a charming, easygoing presence on television and in real life. That warmth and intelligence carries over to this book, his final gift to the world. In it he shares not just golf lessons—although there are plenty of those—but also stories from his personal life and career that are inspiring and entertaining, offering insight into one of the most successful careers in golf or any other venue. Palmer will be sorely missed, of course, but this final book will be of some comfort to his fans; it’s like having his voice right there in easy reach at all times.

Forward: A Memoir, by Abby Wambach
Wambach, one of the most accomplished pro athletes of our time, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist as well as a FIFA Women’s World Cup champion. Through her exploits on the field she has brought fans hours and hours of entertainment, thrills, and drama—but her bracingly honest memoir reveals the endless struggle she has also waged behind the scenes—a struggle against herself. She pitilessly identifies a pattern of discipline and achievement followed by a relaxation and coasting that in turn inspired bouts of depression and alcohol and prescription pill abuse. This pattern eventually led to a very public DUI arrest—a moment that inspired her to get sober. Learning that one of the most celebrated athletes of our time struggled like this shows not only the dark side of the entertainments we consume, but also the inspiring fact that everyone has demons, no matter their natural talents.

Nasty Galaxy, by Sophia Amoruso
The author of #GIRLBOSS returns with some tough-love inspiration. Less a memoir than a life instruction manual for anyone seeking to learn how to stand up for themselves, their personal style, and their unique experience, Amoruso’s book combines striking visuals in a scrapbook style with lessons she has learned on her journey to becoming one of the most influential and successful retailers in a very harsh business. Straightforward and unvarnished, Nasty Galaxy offers honest glimpses into Amoruso’s personal life and low points, but always returns to a fundamental message: you gotta be you. At the same time there’s plenty of practical business insight and advice for anyone seeking to follow Amoruso’s steps into the business world.

Zayn, by Zayn
To say that Zayn Malik is a superstar is an understatement. After five years with epic band One Direction, Zayn left the group and released a solo album that shot straight to number one in several countries. At 23 Zayn has lived more than most—and this intimate book offers a glimpse into the life of one of the biggest artists in the world. Personal photos, drawings, handwritten lyrics, and Zayn’s own words paint a picture of what it’s like to be Zayn—singer, Muslim, young man—as his star continues to rise, making this not only a must-have for 1D and Zayn fans, but a fascinating look at a lifestyle most of us will never have the chance to experience.