Books like Born Standing Up

01

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King · Memoir

On Writing is Stephen King's memoir of the writing life combined with a practical toolkit for writers.

Both dig into craft.

02

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

Mason Currey · Biography

Daily Rituals is Mason Currey's compilation of the working habits of 161 writers, artists, composers, philosophers, and scientists — from Beethoven to Darwin, Kafka to Freud, Maya Angelou to W.H.

A kindred memoir read.

03

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

Phil Knight · Memoir

Shoe Dog is Phil Knight's account of the first two decades of Nike, from the $50 loan he borrowed from his father in 1964 to fund his first shipment of Japanese running shoes to the company's IPO in 1980.

A kindred memoir read.

04

Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen · Memoir

Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run is among the most substantive rock memoirs written, in part because Springsteen is a better prose writer than his public image suggests and in part because he chose to write about the things that actually shaped him rather than the things that made him famous.

Shares ambition and family with Born Standing Up.

05

Open: An Autobiography

Andre Agassi · Memoir

Andre Agassi's autobiography opens with one of the most famous confessions in sports memoir: he hates tennis.

A kindred memoir read.

06

Bossypants

Tina Fey · Memoir

Bossypants is Tina Fey's memoir and comic essay collection about her upbringing in suburban Pennsylvania, her years doing improv comedy in Chicago, her time as a writer and head writer at Saturday Night Live, her creation of 30 Rock, and the experience of being a woman in charge in show business.

Shares comedy and ambition with Born Standing Up.

07

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Anthony Bourdain · Memoir

Kitchen Confidential began as an essay in The New Yorker in 1999.

Shares craft and ambition with Born Standing Up.

08

Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story

Arnold Schwarzenegger · Memoir

Total Recall covers three separate American careers in a single life: Arnold Schwarzenegger became the greatest bodybuilder in the world before age 25, became the highest-paid movie star in the world before age 40, and became Governor of California for two terms in his fifties.

Shares ambition and success with Born Standing Up.

09

Yes Please

Amy Poehler · Memoir

Yes Please is Amy Poehler's memoir-ish collection of essays about her life, career, and the things she's figured out along the way.

Shares comedy and ambition with Born Standing Up.

10

10% Happier

Dan Harris · Memoir

10% Happier is Dan Harris's account of discovering meditation after a panic attack live on Good Morning America in 2004 forced him to confront an anxiety problem he'd been managing with cocaine and a punishing work schedule.

Both dig into ambition.

11

A Moveable Feast

Ernest Hemingway · Memoir

A Moveable Feast is Hemingway's posthumously published account of his years in Paris during the 1920s, when he and his first wife Hadley lived cheaply in Montparnasse while he apprenticed himself to the work of becoming a writer.

Both dig into craft.

12

Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt · Memoir

Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's memoir of a catastrophically impoverished Irish Catholic childhood, first in Brooklyn and then in Limerick, during the 1930s and 1940s.

Both dig into family.