Ashley Holstrom

About love, grief, sociopathy, ambition, religious violence, and betrayal

Hi, friend.

Welcome to another edition of Crooked Reads, a collection of bite-sized reviews about books on a theme. Today we’re looking at some fabulous memoirs coming out this year that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

First, some realness and a programming note: I’ve been struggling with feeling like my work here is worthwhile and valuable for readers—and also for myself. The creator economy is exhausting. I want to do work that is fulfilling, so things will change around here. Posts will be less frequent, as I’ll only pop in your inbox only when I have something I’m really excited to talk about. It won’t necessarily be my standard books on a theme, because sometimes, like right now, my reading slows down and nothing fits a theme.

Hence, this list of anticipated memoirs.

A few months ago, I was chatting with some friends who said they don’t know many other people who gravitate toward reading memoirs. Say what? Oftentimes, when I’m browsing bookstores, memoir is the first place I look. And they’re most often the books that I want to keep on my shelf after I read them. They’re the perfect form: Personal and autobiographical, but often with a blend of the bigger picture beyond.

If you, too, are a memoir lover, or need some recs, dig in to these picks.

The books

Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison (February 20)

The brilliant Leslie Jamison gives us her first memoir, about the end to her marriage and endless love for her daughter. In Splinters, she covers the roles women must adhere to—mother, lover, teacher, artist—while also maintaining their own humanity.

The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir by Susan Lieu (March 12)

In a memoir that goes beyond grief, trauma, and body image, Susan Lieu examines what it means to be a child of refugees trying to reach the American Dream. When her family escaped the Vietnam War, her mother set up two successful nail salons in California. And then she died from a botched tummy tuck. In the years since, Lieu has searched for answers about her mother’s life.

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne (April 2)

Patric Gagne always knew she made people uncomfortable. She didn’t feel things like others did—she felt nothing, actually. For years, she tried to conform to the world, but it was painful. She stole and lied and sometimes got violent. And then she got a diagnosis of sociopathy. But she wasn’t a monster, and she wants to prove that to the world.

Ambition Monster: A Memoir by Jennifer Romolini (June 4)

After years of workaholism, Jennifer Romolini reached the peak and had people clamoring to know the secrets to her success. Underneath it all, though, was unresolved trauma and chronic overworking, waiting to blow everything to smithereens. Ambition Monster is about the addictive nature of achievement and capitalism, and how to find yourself amid it all.

The Lucky Ones: A Memoir by Zara Chowdhary (July 16)

A survivor of anti-Muslim violence, Zara Chowdhary weaves family and political histories to tell the tale of religious extremism in India and the world. The Lucky Ones focuses on the stories of women who hold the world together while everything around them falls apart.

The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite (July 30)

While mourning the sudden death of her husband, Jessica Waite stumbled upon secrets—affairs, drugs, an addiction to porn—that upended everything she thought she knew about the man she loved. The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards is an exploration of grief, single parenthood, betrayal, and the reality of love stories.

The links

• The whole list of 2024 Anticipated Memoirs is up on my Bookshop.

• Cassie at Reading Under the Radar got all us Bookstackers together to talk about our most anticipated reads of the year. My pick is Alicia Thompson’s The Art of Catching Feelings, because you can never go wrong with a sports romance about a pro player and his heckler.

I just got an ARC of Sociopath and I’m so stoked to learn more about this personality disorder beyond the usual tropes of serial killers and other monsters.

The backlist

In case you missed ’em, or want to peep the archives: