Amy Dickinson's 6 favorite books

Amy Dickinson is author of the memoirs The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Story of Surprising Second Chances and Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home. She writes the syndicated advice column, “Ask Amy,” which is carried in over 150 newspapers and read by an estimated 22 million readers daily.

One of her six favorite books, as shared at The Week magazine:

Growing Up by Russell Baker

When I first read this book, published in 1982, I was fresh out of college, and the author's wisdom — "Make something of yourself" — sliced through me. Baker's pastiche of memories contains unforgettable female characters (mother, aunt, wife), up-and-down luck (the Depression, World War II), plus humor and pathos.

Read about another entry on the list.

Growing Up is one of Calvin Trillin's five favorite memoirs.

--Marshal Zeringue