I’ve never really felt any interest in memoirs whatsoever, but maybe 10 years ago while walking past a book store I saw Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks by Mick Foley. I had a brief period where I was enthralled by wrestling and couldn’t believe/conceive that this guy, who I’d watched get beat to hell in ways that were more like a train wreck than entertainment and didn’t exactly strike me as the literary type to be polite, had written a book. Needless to say, I snapped up a copy without thinking all the while hearing that little voice saying “yeah, this will last about 10 pages, why am I wasting my money.” Wow, was I wrong, ~750–800 pages later I was impressed, not simply by his story, which was certainly more interesting than I had credited, but with the fact that he had put it all to paper himself and the depth and insights he had discovered along the way.
IMO it’s definitely an “open mind” book because most would probably dismiss it as I almost did, but once you get started it’s hard to stop.
As an aside, the other two auto/biographies/memoirs on my pile right now are Hollywood Monster by Robert Englund because of my love for horror films and The Rommel Papers by Erwin Rommel because I’ve always found him to be one of the most fascinating figures of an era filled with innumerable tales. Having not yet cracked them, I can’t recommend them but I would certainly not hesitate in suggesting them.
What ever you choose, happy reading!