New biographies

A life story can be read for escapist pleasure.

New biographies

But at other times, reading a memoir or biography can be an expansive exercise, opening us up to broader truths about our world. Often, it’s an edifying experience that reminds us of our universal human vulnerability and the common quest for purpose in life.

Biographies and memoirs charting remarkable lives—whether because of fame, fortune or simply fascination—have the power to inspire us for their depth, curiosity or challenges.

This year sees a bumper calendar of personal histories enter bookshops, grappling with enigmatic public figures like singer Joni Mitchell and writer Ian Fleming, to nuanced analysis of how motherhood or sociopathy shape our lives—for better and for worse.

SEE ALSO: The Best Addiction Memoirs for the Sober Curious

Here we compile some of the most rewarding biographies and memoirs out in 2024.

There are stories of trauma and recovery, art as politics and politics as art, and sentences as single life