Kindle
$15.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$12.65
Paperback
$16.59
Kindle Price: $15.99

Save $13.01 (45%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $17.05

Save: $4.06 (24%)

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Martha Wainwright
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Stories I Might Regret Telling You: A Memoir Kindle Edition

by Martha Wainwright (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 219 ratings
See all formats and editions

A singer-songwriter's heartfelt memoir about growing up in a bohemian musical family and her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, the music industry, and more.

Born into music royalty, the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to the highly-acclaimed and genre-defying singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with such incomparable folk legends as Leonard Cohen; Suzy Roche, Anna McGarrigle, Richard and Linda Thompson, Pete Townsend, Donald Fagan and Emmylou Harris. It was within this loud, boisterous, carny, musical milieu that Martha came of age, struggling to find her voice until she exploded on the scene with her 2005 debut critically acclaimed album, Martha Wainwright, containing the blistering hit, "Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole," which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of that year. Her successful debut album and the ones that followed such as Come Home to Mama, I Know You're Married but I've Got Feelings Too, and Goodnight City came to define Martha's searing songwriting style and established her as a powerful voice to be reckoned with.

In Martha's memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, Martha digs into the deep recesses of herself with the same emotional honesty that has come to define her music. She describes her tumultuous public-facing journey from awkward, earnest, and ultimately rebellious daughter, through her intense competition and ultimate alliance with her brother, Rufus, to the indescribable loss of their mother, Kate, and then, finally, discovering her voice as an artist. With candor and grace, Martha writes of becoming a mother herself and making peace with her past struggles with Kate and her former self, finally understanding and facing the challenge of being a female artist and a mother. Ultimately, Stories I Might Regret Telling You will offer readers a thoughtful and deeply personal look into the extraordinary life of one of the most talented singer-songwriters in music today.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    246 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Hachette Books
  5. Publication date
    March 29, 2022
  6. File size
    29496 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

From the Publisher

Stories I Might Regret Telling You

Stories I Might Regret Telling You

Stories I Might Regret Telling You

Stories I Might Regret Telling You

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A beautiful and clear-eyed memoir, full of music, friendship, love and heartache. Somehow at once sizzling and wise, as undeniable as the singer who wrote it.” —Sean Michaels, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novelist and founder of Said the Gramophone

“Stories I Might Regret Telling You made me feel like I was sitting in a corner of one of [Wainwright’s] New York apartments, reading her private diaries under a blanket with a flashlight. Martha writes like a soldier in the trenches sending word home, not knowing whether she will live or die, bringing uncomfortable, sometimes unbearable, honesty to bear. I was sucked in from the first page, though occasionally I winced because it was all so relatable. A casual sadness strings itself through her story of becoming herself, taking no prisoners, casting regret aside like a cigarette. I kept rereading certain sentences thinking they would make such wonderful songs. This entire memoir is a song. I turned the last page and felt like I had made a new friend, the kind you wish you were cool enough to have but never had the courage to pursue.” –Jann Arden, singer, songwriter, TV star and bestselling author
 
“With disarming candor and courage, Martha tells us of finding her own voice (one, in my opinion, without peer) and peace as a working artist and mother. Her story is made more unique because of the remarkably gifted musical family she was born into.”
—Emmylou Harris
 
“What a wonderful gift this book is! Martha Wainwright has opened the door to let us into the fabled glamorous family that is the McGarrigle-Wainwrights and reveals what it is like to be the black sheep of the bunch, the glorious earnest under-achiever who has always been the most loveable of them all. Her warm, rich writing displays the sweetness her songwriting possesses and, at the same time, is filled with the humor, panache and gutsy feminism of her live performances. Wainwright shows us how a big, dysfunctional brood can also be a blessing, filled with gifts that make the heart grow bigger. A surprising and brilliantly relatable book.”
—Heather O’Neill, bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel

“Stories I Might Regret Telling You [is] a freewheeling tell-all the likes of which we rarely see in the age of publicist-muzzled celebrities. . . . [A] deep gash of a memoir.” —Reader’s Digest Canada

“[T]he tenor of [Stories I Might Regret Telling You is] acerbic, often hilarious and more candid than it should be. . . . But that’s Wainwright, and her transparency is the book’s golden ticket. . . . To the initiated, she is one of a kind, greatly admired for her blood-letting autobiographical songs and adventurous one-offs. . . . In short, she has had a life worth documenting. At the end of 244 remarkable pages, she signs off with a typically self-effacing line: ‘Perhaps I am someone whose luck gets better halfway through. That would be good.’ It would be good, and she would deserve it.” —The Guardian 

“You might not apply the words cool and casual to Stories I Might Regret Telling You by Martha Wainwright, but only because it’s like reading extremely private diary entries through your laced fingers. From page one, chapter one, Wainwright pulls no punches. . . . It continues with equal measures of directness and poignancy. . . . Neither the industry in which she works nor her family gets off lightly, and that includes Wainwright herself, who is to candid self-reflection as a moth is to a flame. . . . Confessional and contemplative to the nth degree, you won’t regret reading it.” —The Irish Times

About the Author

Martha Wainwright is an internationally renowned singer-songwriter, with over two decades of industry experience. Critically-acclaimed for the rawness and emotional honesty of both her vocals and lyrics, her albums include: Martha Wainwright (2005); I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (2008); Come Home to Mama (2012); the JUNO-nominated Songs in the Dark (2015), a collaboration with her half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche; and her latest album, Goodnight City (2016). She is also an actress and was featured in Martin Scorsese's Aviator and the recent HBO special, Olive Kitteridge.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096RT4YQ9
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hachette Books (March 29, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 29, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 29496 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 246 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 219 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
219 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

AGoldin
5.0 out of 5 stars Stories You Might Regret Reading
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
Well, not really. Horrified at the early stories of excessive drugs & drinking, saddened by the stories of her mother’s death and her own divorce. But I already loved Martha because of her music and now I just love her even more for sharing all this with me. I wish her nothing but the best.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Emotional life story
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2022
Verified Purchase
Very emotional life story of Martha wainwright. Alternating with self destructive behavior & self discovery, at times not an easy read. Her dynamics with her family/friends are disturbing, but ultimately Martha wainwright finds the ability to love herself & those closest to her. Her’s is an exhausting but exhilarating journey.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
tim violette
5.0 out of 5 stars lots of dirt, lots of fun
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
A lovely trip down Martha's memory, with a bit of dirt and tons of fun along the way. Probably the most truthful and self-deprecating Memoir I have ever read. She doesn't just leave things out, she tells you why she is leaving things out, which is quite refreshing. A wonderful book!
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Scott Pimley
5.0 out of 5 stars A natural who has had an extraordinary life
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
Martha W is a natural….the good, the bad, and the ugly are handled with honesty and bravery….a human life as it really is! Bravo
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Steve Kohn
3.0 out of 5 stars Girls just wanna have fun
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2022
I suppose I read "Stories..." because I'm the number one fan of the McGarrigle sisters. All I knew of Martha, though, was her appearance in "The McGarrigle Hour" and in the haunting song "Matapedia."

Now that I've finished the book, I wish I could say I was Martha's number one fan, too, but I just can't get there. She's pleasant to look at, not so much to listen to. Songs like "BMFA" [look it up] don't help.

Young girls, it seems, just wanna have fun. I think especially of Mary Karr. (Now there's a memoirist.) But drugs and alcohol and an abortion before you turn 19? I didn't see, beyond her parents' divorce, justification for all the self-destruction, just a lot of self-pity and do-what-feels-good.

Maybe most important for me was that "Stories..." didn't tell enough about the people I was most interested in. Not nearly enough about Anna. Never mentioned, that I recall, is how good she is on piano and guitar (and accordian and banjo). Father Loudon is a terrific songwriter, though you'd hardly know it from "Stories...."

Speaking of songwriting, most inexplicable in "Stories..." is no mention of Emmylou Harris' unbearable song, "Darlin' Kate."

It pained me to read in the last chapters about Martha's disastrous divorce from Brad. I'm sure we're hearing only one side of the story, but I'm also sure Martha deserved better.

For all my reservations, I look forward in another 40 years to the rest of her life's story. (Of course I look forward to it: I'll be 115.) I liked her straight-forward style that keeps us reading. If she'll add more detail, she'll have a great sequel.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Spyrocker
5.0 out of 5 stars Inelegant, exceptional!
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2023
Martha is not an elegant writer which just adds realness to this book. I have followed her career forever. I think she's the best musician in the family, but she's always had this odd aura about her. Now I understand why. She describes normative behaviors for herself that were not as self-destructive as they were completely without boundaries. Yet you always get the feeling she will get through it just fine. Martha is an incredibly generous person. She seems finally to be in her prime and is making the best of it. Go girl!
Helpful
 Report
detroitbabe
5.0 out of 5 stars sincere and interesting
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2022
Loved the book - the stories were great and honest. Well-written with great editing. Tight and emotional Al and hard to put down. Loved Louden W3 and Kate McGarrigle and loved how she wrote about them.
Helpful
 Report
caetano-sf
2.0 out of 5 stars Missing the point
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2022
Verified Purchase
Martha comes from an illustrious family, and she has stories to tell about all of them. The problem is she so often misses the point. For instance, she makes a point of saying HER wedding was greater than Rufus' even though she then goes on to admit his MARRIAGE was better. What does it matter how great your wedding was if the marriage ends in an acrimonious divorce? And let's not forget at her wedding she encouraged everyone to have sex, and not necessarily with the person they were married to. Is it any wonder the marriage failed? As the book progresses, she gets increasingly harder to like--until, admittedly, the very final chapter when she finds true love. But it's a case of too little, too late. Maybe we should just wait until Rufus writes his book. Or Rufus' daughter. Or Martha's sons. It's bound to happen.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

macsimize
5.0 out of 5 stars Boy, Can She Write!
Reviewed in Canada on December 28, 2022
Verified Purchase
I can’t personally relate to a lot of Martha
Wainwright’s stories: I’m not a partier, enfant
terrible, from a famous family, or a gifted songwriter, but did I love hearing about it! You will, too.
Report
Verity Reads Books (a lot of them)
5.0 out of 5 stars She's not kidding with the title!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2022
Verified Purchase
Martha Wainwright is a singer songwriter who has had a special place in my heart for a long time now. In the book she describes her self as a "child of... twice over" as both of her parents are well known musicians, and added to that her brother Rufus had mainstream success at a time when she was also trying to make it in the music business. This memoir looks back at her life and the decisions she's made and the people she knows. She comes from a fiercely competitive family, with lot of competing egos and careers and it is very, very interesting to get the inside scoop on all that - from her point of view at least.

And the title isn't joking - she's probably already regretted some of this, as an earlier manuscript of the book was used in her divorce. It's probably the most honest and unvarnished memoir I've read since Viv Albertine's first book. Wainwright is fairly self aware and with the benefit of time, can see patterns in her own life and how things have affected her. And of course her music has always been the same way - but there's a difference between a three minute song and a 200 page piece of extended writing. As well as the career and her relationships with her siblings and parents, it also looks at the pressures of juggling a career and motherhood - which is not exactly new, but it does feel a bit different because the arrival of her oldest son was unexpected and traumatic and came at a really difficult time in her life - as her mother was dying of cancer - and when she was in the UK rather than at home in Canada. All in all, a really interesting read for a fan like me - and I suspect there's enough here for people who aren't fans too.
9 people found this helpful
 Report
David Mennier
5.0 out of 5 stars An antithesis to most 'rock star' autobiographies: honest details and juicy dirt minus the ego.
Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
Courageously honest; effortless, flowing writing style; excellent insight into what it means to be a working, independent artist in today's music world. Wonderful juxtoposition of being immeresd in the unreality of showbiz with the daily grind of being a mother, lover and sister/daughter within a highly dysfuntional, yet immensely creative family of singer-songwriters.
One person found this helpful
 Report
David 48
5.0 out of 5 stars The McGarrigle / Wainwright circus moves from song to book, with the same results
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
You probably need to be a fan of the work of the McGarrigles, Wainwrights and assorted others to want to read this book, but once that proviso is out of the way it is a wonderful account of the circus as the author often calls her own family, one used to skewing each other melodically but who evidently can also do it at extended length. Martha always feels slightly in the shadow of her more acclaimed big-character brother Rufus, commitment-phobe father Loudon Wainwright 3, and waspish mother Kate McGarrigle, her various scrapes recounted as she seeks her own path, happily found by the end, and all told with a sense of fun. I'd say she was more like her father than mother, but there's really enough material for plenty of psychology studies. Or a soap opera, or musical. Which possibly is where they head next. Why stop now, since they seem to enjoy the turmoil?
4 people found this helpful
 Report
todd-o
5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining and puts herself out there!
Reviewed in Canada on July 11, 2022
Verified Purchase
Very entertaining and very honest, she definitely puts herself out there for scrutiny!
Seems to be a fair assessment on her part of her life and relationships. Well worth the read.
Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report