Best Graphic Memoirs
Title↕ | Author↕ | Year↕ | Subject↕ | Notable Awards↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Maus | Art Spiegelman | 1986 | Author's father surviving the Holocaust as a Polish Jew | Pulitzer Prize 1992 (Special Award) | Jews as mice, Nazis as cats, first graphic novel to win Pulitzer |
Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi | 2000 | Growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution | Angouleme Prize, Harvey Award | Stark black-and-white style, Oscar-nominated animated film |
Fun Home | Alison Bechdel | 2006 | Bechdel's closeted gay father and her own coming out | Eisner Award, Lambda Literary Award | Tony-winning musical adaptation, literary references on every page |
Hyperbole and a Half | Allie Brosh | 2013 | Author's childhood, dogs, and crippling depression | Goodreads Choice Award | Crude-style drawings belying emotional depth, viral blog origin |
Blankets | Craig Thompson | 2003 | Evangelical childhood and first love in rural Wisconsin | Harvey, Eisner, Ignatz Awards | 592 pages, one of the first 'graphic novels' to get mainstream literary reviews |
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? | Roz Chast | 2014 | Caring for aging parents through their final years | National Book Critics Circle Award | New Yorker cartoonist's painfully funny caregiving memoir |
Stitches | David Small | 2009 | Childhood cancer, lost voice, and a silent dysfunctional family | National Book Award finalist | Eerie watercolor wash, child's-eye horror of 1950s medicine |
Epileptic | David B. | 1996 | Growing up with a brother suffering severe epilepsy | Ignatz, Eisner Awards | Dense ink-black surreal imagery, French BD masterpiece |
The Best We Could Do | Thi Bui | 2017 | Vietnamese refugee family and their escape to America | American Book Award 2018 | Watercolor illustrations, intergenerational trauma |
March: Book One | John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell | 2013 | Rep. John Lewis's life in the civil rights movement | Coretta Scott King, Eisner Awards | Congressman's life story, Book Three won the National Book Award |
Are You My Mother? | Alison Bechdel | 2012 | Bechdel's fraught relationship with her mother, therapy, Virginia Woolf | Judy Grahn Award finalist | Psychoanalytic follow-up to Fun Home |
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters | Emil Ferris | 2017 | Girl obsessed with monsters investigates a neighbor's murder in 1960s Chicago | Eisner, Ignatz, Harvey Awards sweep | Drawn in ballpoint pen on notebook paper, debut at age 55 |
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen | Lucy Knisley | 2013 | Growing up with a chef mother, food as family language | Harvey Award nomination | Illustrated recipes, sweet confectionary style |
Displacement | Lucy Knisley | 2015 | Cruise caring for elderly grandparents | ALA Alex Award nominee | Tender tragicomic caregiving memoir at sea |
Good Talk | Mira Jacob | 2019 | Conversations with her biracial son about race in Trump-era America | National Book Critics Circle finalist | Photo-collage style, conversations with a curious six-year-old |
Spinning | Tillie Walden | 2017 | Teen years in competitive figure skating and coming out | Eisner Award 2018 | Youngest Eisner winner at age 21, icy purple palette |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Frequently asked questions
How is the Best Graphic Memoirs list ranked?
The Best Graphic Memoirs list is currently sorted by the source data's default ordering. Community voting is not enabled on this dataset.
How many entries are in this Best Graphic Memoirs dataset?
This dataset contains 16 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
Can I download the Best Graphic Memoirs data?
Yes. The download buttons at the top of the page give you the full 16-row dataset as CSV, JSON, or Excel. Use of the data is permitted under a Creative Commons Attribution license — credit dtbse.com when you republish.
Related Datasets
More in Books
Best Graphic Novels & Comics
Most-published graphic novels, manga, and comic book collections.
Best Food Memoirs
Kitchen Confidential, Tender at the Bone, Heat or Blood Bones and Butter - whose kitchen memoir best serves up a life?
Comic Book Heroes
20 iconic comic book heroes — who's the ultimate superhero?
Best Essay Collections
Sontag, Didion, Baldwin, Wallace - whose mind is sharpest when turned loose on the page?
Best Physics Books for General Readers
Hawking, Feynman, Greene, Rovelli - which popular physics book makes the cosmos click?
Best Espionage Novels
Le Carre's moles, Fleming's martinis, Ludlum's amnesiacs - which spy novel is the greatest of all time?
Best Maritime Novels
Moby-Dick, Master and Commander, The Old Man and the Sea or Treasure Island - which saltwater tale rules the waves?
Best Children's Books
Most-published children's books and picture books loved by generations.
Best Indigenous Fiction
Erdrich, Orange, Wagamese or Silko - whose Indigenous novel best captures First Nations experience?
Best Latin American Magical Realism
Garcia Marquez, Allende, Cortazar or Esquivel - whose magical realism best blurs wonder and reality?
Sci-Fi Books
20 essential sci-fi novels — which book imagined the future best?
Best Prison Literature
From Solzhenitsyn's Gulag to Mandela's long walk - which book written behind bars or about life inside resonates most?