Being Henry: The Fonz … and Beyond by Henry Winkler
Revelatory TV memoir
Henry Winkler’s 1950s greaser Arthur “the Fonz” Fonzarelli proved an instant hit with millions of viewers of 1970s sitcom Happy Days, quietly cool in his slick leather jacket. In this funny, self-deprecating memoir, the real Winkler is revealed as an anxiety ridden fanboy: an encounter with Mick Jagger, for example, leaves him feeling “lower than whale poop on the bottom of the ocean”.
While Winkler’s parents cruelly called him a “dumb dog”, an adult diagnosis of severe dyslexia finally explains his propensity to go off-script in auditions. Charming and heartfelt, Winkler honestly totes up the fallow years post-Happy Days, a chequered directing career and the glory of his first Emmy win – not for Fonzie, but as acting coach Gene Cousineau in the HBO series Barry. – Steve Dow
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Unvarnished, honest, wry
Friends actor Matthew Perry – forever iconic as Chandler Bing – passed away last year after a lifelong struggle with addiction. In this memoir, published in 2022, Perry tells the dual story of his rise to Hollywood as one-sixth of perhaps the most famous ensemble cast in the world; and his difficulties with substance abuse, starting from his first drink as a teenager.
This may not be easy reading, but it’s made memorable by Perry’s unflinching candour and defining dry wit: he couldn’t be any more honest. – Elle Hunt
The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown
Elevated celebrity gossip
There’s royal fatigue out there, and fair enough too. Tina Brown’s look at the life of Princess Diana is journalism that thrives on detail. This is the original exploration of celebrity culture – the tussle that still plays out between the media and those that both need and abhor its attention.
Plus it’s in that bygone, propulsive style of magazine writing that puts you in mind of faraway deadlines, town cars and long lunches. How nice for Tina, how sad for me. – Ariel Bogle
Open by Andre Agassi
Harper Collins Australia, $26.99
Sport but fun
Andre Agassi tells you on the first page of his memoir that he hates tennis “with a dark and secret passion, and always [has]”. Open was ghostwritten by JR Moehringer, who also ghost wrote Prince Harry’s Spare. The intense present tense of it, abundant metaphors, gossip, pettiness and summertime-sadness-energy mean this book totally takes over your mind.
I knew nothing about tennis, but I read it in one go at university, lying on the floor of my apartment. I had too much work, too many boyfriends and zero personality. This book fixed something, I’m still not quite sure how. – Helen Sullivan
Making It So by Patrick Stewart
A captain’s journey
Patrick Stewart is so much associated with Captain Jean Luc Picard and you won’t be disappointed by all his Star Trek tales, but it’s a fascinating insight into a world-class actor, his Yorkshire upbringing and acting life before he found massive success in his 40s.
There’s so much love in his friendships formed with Ian McKellen and the Star Trek crew, among others. The audiobook, read by Stewart, is a must, for his recitation of dialogue and his accents. – Josh Taylor
Down the Drain by Julia Fox
Wild-child memoir
Only 50 pages in Julia Fox’s memoir are devoted to recounting her two most high-profile roles – first, as the breakout actress in Uncut Gems and, later, as the girlfriend of Kanye West.
The other 260 is her gobsmacking life story, from growing up unsupervised in New York City through to the boyfriend on Rikers Island, her time working as a dominatrix and the heroin habit that almost killed her. It’s one hell of a ride; a Lana Del Rey song come to life. – Katie Cunningham
A Visible Man by Edward Enninful
Dishy fashion feelings
As a black man, Edward Enninful was two firsts in one when he became editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017. His ascent to one of fashion’s most powerful positions was controversial at the time, but his editorship has proved transformative well beyond Vogue’s glossy pages.
While his achievements (and friendship with Rihanna) are the reason to pick up his memoir, the real treat is in his come-up story, which he tells with honesty, heart and plenty of juicy details – qualities that are still all-too-rare in fashion. – Alyx Gorman
Life by Keith Richards
Bad-boy biography
One of the most startling things about Keith Richards is his extraordinary ability to recall the minute details of a life spent largely off his face. His famous capacity for drug-taking is on full display in this hilarious, joyful and brutally honest memoir. Keith has always rocked a “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” kind of vibe and it turns out this is exactly how he has lived – often going for days without it.
No punches pulled (including about his relationship with Mick Jagger), no details overlooked, no joke untold: Life is as entertaining as it gets. And you don’t even have to be a Rolling Stones fan. – Lucy Clark
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Family, food and fame
This droll and touching memoir from the frontwoman of indie pop band Japanese Breakfast is beautifully written. Named for the US supermarket chain that specialises in Asian groceries, Zauner’s memoir delves into her relationship with her late mother Chongmi, for whom food was a way of demonstrating love and culture.
Zauner recalls a childhood alternating between the spicy, exotic flavours of Korea – where her mother’s family was from – and whitebread America, where she grew up. You don’t even need to know Japanese Breakfast’s music – if you’ve lost a parent or just really enjoy food, you’ll love this. – Sian Cain
Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries by Alan Rickman
Lighthearted, easy and fun
Full of the kinds of detail about celebrities that we love to lap up, Alan Rickman’s diary entries are a true celebration of the minutiae of life. There are observations on Severus Snape and snippets from set for the Potter fans, book recommendations for the holidays, and name dropping galore (lunch with Ian McKellen here, a drink with Sigourney Weaver there).
Edited down by Alan Taylor, Rickman’s diaries reveal a life full of humour, frustration, sadness and adventure, to which we’re invited to pull up a chair. – Maddie Thomas
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
Teen idol tell-all
Come for the gossip, stay for the tale of how one of the world’s biggest pop stars ended up in a 13-year conservatorship. Blending juicy revelations and painful memoir, Britney reflects on how media pressure, bad boyfriends and a toxic family left her isolated. It’s an extraordinary tale with ordinary feelings many women will relate to.
The Woman in Me probably won’t win any literary awards, but it’s entertaining, sad and should be on your summer reading list. – Julia Hollingsworth
The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey
Diva gets real
Mariah (and co-writer Michaela Angela Davis) dives into her traumatic past – a violent childhood, controlling marriage, a 2001 breakdown – eloquently, detangling the effects of class, racism and sexism. But this is Mariah, dahling: even for all the darkness, the book’s filled with diva quips as if recited from her chaise longue.
Funny, moving and shade-filled, it’s as melismatic as Mariah’s music, melodramatic and sincere at once. And the audiobook is essential, as Mariah performs (and yes, sings) the hell out of it. – Jared Richards
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Get the audiobook
Trevor Noah was born into the dying decade of South African apartheid. His father was Swiss, his mother was Xhosa and their union was illegal. Who can – or must – you become when your existence is forbidden? That’s the question that beats at the heart of Noah’s remarkable memoir.
Big-hearted and escapade-rich, Born a Crime is the tale of a boy hiding in plain sight. It’s also a love letter to Noah’s indomitable mother, whose approach to life resounds in her son’s approach to comedy: “Don’t fight the system. Mock the system”. – Beejay Silcox
Just Kids by Patti Smith
One transformative friendship
Patti Smith met Robert Mapplethorpe on the day she moved to New York City in 1967. They were barely 20 – “just kids” – and fizzing with art-making energy. All wild hope and possibility. Their enduring, shapeshifting friendship would change the shape of pop culture on (at least) two fronts. This is its story.
Just Kids is not just one of the great rock-star memoirs – and there are a few – but one of the all-time greats. Smith’s book is part youthful rapture, part elegy, part artists’ handbook. And entirely sublime. – BS
Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller
Canongate Books, $27.95
A countercultural joyride
Told through nearly 50 vignettes, this collection charts the life and times of Mueller – actor, writer and legendary party girl – as she careens ever-quixotically through the madcap adventure that was her life. Mueller took her chaotic charisma on the road aged 18, enchanting a slew of creative luminaries along the way, including transgressive filmmaker John Waters and photographer Nan Goldin.
An intoxicating opus of a life lived both on the fringes of society and at the epicentre of counterculture, Mueller’s casual retellings bubble off the page like twisted American folk tales. Deadpan, often insightful and told with a wry humour. – Doosie Morris
