Nonfiction book clubs keep picking the wrong kind of memoir

My club in Portland spent 3 months on celebrity memoirs and every single one turned into a group therapy session about childhood trauma instead of talking about the writing. Then we read a factory worker's oral history from Detroit, 1977, and suddenly people argued about class, labor, and narrative voice for 2 hours straight. The problem is we confuse "relatable" with "debate-worthy." A memoir about a famous person's recovery is comfortable, but a memoir about a system failing someone is where the real arguments live. Has anyone else had better luck pushing their club toward working-class or regional memoirs over the bestseller table?

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