Books like I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

A coming‑of‑age epistolary novel that follows introverted teen Charlie through his freshman year in a 1990s Pittsburgh suburb as he navigates high school, friendship and the challenges of adolescence.

A historical novel that follows a young woman’s journey from a fishing village into the refined, yet perilous world of Japanese geishas, exploring the rituals, social pressures, and personal ambitions that shape her life.

Turtles All the Way Down follows sixteen‑year‑old Aza Leonard, who battles obsessive‑compulsive disorder while searching for her missing friend and confronting the pressure to fit in at high school.

Two teens on the brink of heartbreak and despair find an unlikely friendship that turns their worlds upside‑down, teaching them that hope can bloom even beside the darkest thoughts.

The Bell Jar is the sole novel by Sylvia Plath, a psychologically intense and autobiographical look at a young woman’s decline into mental illness.

Between the World and Me is a memoir‑essay in letter form, where Ta‑Nehisi Coates addresses his teenage son about the history, violence, and ongoing reality of being Black in America.

"Crying in H Mart" chronicles Michelle Zauner’s intimate journey through family, food, grief, and identity as an Asian‑American woman and Korean‑American singer, revealing how her mother’s cancer prompted a profound reconnection with Korean culture and culinary heritage.

Teen gamer Anda navigates friendship, ethics, and global inequality when her virtual ally turns out to be a poor Chinese gold farmer, exploring the blurred line between online play and real‑world livelihoods.

A chilling memoir detailing Solomon Northup's harrowing experience as a captive on a Louisiana plantation for twelve years, from 1841 to 1853.

Turtle Alveston, a fourteen‑year‑old survivor of a painful home life, finds hope when she meets Jacob, a wholesome high‑school boy who invites her into a world beyond the wilderness and her abusive father.

Mildred Kalish shares her childhood on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression, blending humor, family traditions, and practical lessons about farm life, recipes, and resilience.

Helen Knightly's lifelong devotion to family is shattered when she crosses a personal line, forcing her to confront the fragile bonds of motherhood, marriage, and self‑identity within a single, intense twenty‑four‑hour day.

From Kay Redfield Jamison - an international authority on manic-depressive illness, and one of the few women who are full professors of medicine at American universities - a remarkable personal testimony: the revelation of her own struggle since adolescence with manic-depression, and how it has shaped her life. Vividly, directly, with candor, wit, and simplicity, she takes us into the fascinating and dangerous territory of this form of madness - a world in which one pole can be the alluring dark land ruled by what Byron called the "melancholy star of the imagination," and the other a desert of depression and, all too frequently, death. A moving and exhilarating memoir by a woman whose furious determination to learn the enemy, to use her gifts of intellect to make a difference, led her to become, by the time she was forty, a world authority on manic-depression, and whose work has helped save countless lives.

Grace Jones shares a candid, autobiographical tour of her groundbreaking career as a model, singer, and actress, revealing the evolution of her iconic persona and the cultural impact she made from the 1970s to today.

The Bright Hour is a moving memoir in which poet Nina Riggs chronicles her life with terminal breast cancer, exploring how to live fully amid death, illness, and the emotional landscape of being a mother and patient.

A father‑daughter duo in Atlanta dreams of football glory while navigating family secrets, celibacy vows, and campus intrigue in this American sports romance.

A candid memoir in which celebrated African‑American actress Cicely Tyson shares her journey through the world of film and stage, reflecting on her career, convictions, and the evolving landscape of American entertainment.

Memoir detailing Marie Yovanovitch's diplomatic career in the United States, including her role as an ambassador to Ukraine and her experience with the 2019 impeachment of Donald Trump.

Sachi Parker, the only child of actress Shirley MacLaine, tells the vivid, intimate story of her extraordinary childhood and the unique bond she shares with her famous mother.

Tracy K. Smith’s memoir traces her coming of age, grappling with African‑American identity, family history, and her mother’s cancer death, while exploring the meaning of home and the bond between mother and daughter.