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Thinking About Memoir (AARP) 7 reviews
Abigail Thomas
Sterling, 2008
A excellent start on memoir writing
"What is memoir? How do you write one? What if you can't remember anything, or worse, what if you remember it all?"
AARP has started publishing an "Art of Living" series, and this passage is the begins Abigail Thomas's excellent contribution. She shares lessons about how to get started and stay motivated in writing your own personal history.
Thomas helps wannabe writers find a "side door" ...
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Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac 14 reviews
Gabrielle Zevin
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2007
A review of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
There are several reviews that sum the book up very well, so I won't take a lot of time doing it. The short version is that high school junior Naomi Porter takes a fall down her school's stairs and the resulting bump causes her to lose the past four years' worth of memories. The book is divided into three sections, pertaining to Naomi's memories (or lack thereof), her attitude towards life, and ...
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On Writing791 reviews
Stephen King
Pocket, 2002
A must read for aspiring and accomplished writers - everywhere.
I found King's book on writing both helpful and highly entertaining. One of the greatest storytellers of our time allows us an insight into the do's and dont's of being a professional writer.
This book is masterfully blended with useful information, and an autobiography of King's life from childhood memories to today. His own life is as fascinating and complex as many of his novels.
I class ...
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Manic: A Memoir54 reviews
Terri Cheney
William Morrow, 2008
Terry Cheney is a True Hero
I applaud Terri Cheney for the courage she has shown in living and surviving a personal nightmare of a life with manic-depression. By the end of the book, she seems to have found medications that keep her mostly stable, and I hope that continues. Ms. Cheney's prose is vivid and powerful. It makes me wince to think she actually went through all of this mental and physical turmoil. Hopefully, ...
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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier387 reviews
Ishmael Beah
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008
A disturbing, but fascinating, look into Africa
A Long Way Gone chronicles the life of a young teen in Sierra Leone who is fleeing the Rebels who are wreaking havoc in villages throughout the region. He falls in with a group of boys trying to survive, but since everyone is suspicious of groups of boys, they live a hard life. Eventually they, between the ages of 14 and 17, are conscripted into the Army to fight the Rebels.
The book is very ...
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Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure40 reviews
Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser
Harper Perennial, 2008
Tell your story. Make it brief.
In November 2006, Smith Magazine challenged readers to write their memoirs in six words--no more, no less. One thousand of the submissions are printed here, with more to be found on their website. Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure is not an easy book to review, so don't think of this as an actual review; think of it a challenge. Here is a sampling of ...
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365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy28 reviews
Charla Muller, Betsy Thorpe
Berkley Trade, 2008
more than i thought
This book is very much like watching Charla Muller on the shows promoting 365 Nights.Her personality really comes through.I really related to her life experiences even though i am closer to her mother's age. This is a great book to read and a great book to give as a gift.
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A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons69 reviews
Robert M. Sapolsky
Scribner, 2002
An All Time Favorite
This book is hard to classify: Is it autobiography? Primatolgy? Travel adventures? Humanist philosophy? Humor? Basically it is all of these and more. It is a real page turner. Sapolsky has a truly marvelous sense of humor that includes knowing how to laugh at himself. I rank it with in the top 10 favorite books I've ever read. Bravo!
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Memoirs of a Geisha2475 reviews
Arthur Golden
Vintage, 2005
beautiful
The author does an incredible job at keeping the reader "hooked." i could not bring myself to put it down....when i finished the book, i wanted to learn more about geishas and their cultures.....this is a must read.
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Books: A Memoir6 reviews
Larry McMurtry
Simon & Schuster, 2008
For the love of books, and the love of collecting
Larry McMurtry (now age 72) has a long-established and well-honored career as an author and Hollywood screenwriter (including winning an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain"), but for some reason it had never occurred to him that people might want to read about his joy of and for books, and collecting them. That has finally corrected with this book.
In "Books: A Memoir" (259 pages), McMurtry brings ...
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The Memoirs of Cleopatra: A Novel259 reviews
Margaret George
St. Martin's Griffin, 1998
A Profound and Stunning Work of Literature
This book was absolutely spectacular! Margaret George takes you through the life and times of the larger-than-life Cleopatra. I became so attached to the characters in this book that I was actually sad to end it. Alexandria and Rome are brought to life before us--George's prose is so minutely detailed that I felt transported to this tumultuous era in history. Before reading this book (which ...
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A Vietcong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath18 reviews
Truong Nhu Tang
Vintage, 1986
Extremely enlightening.
Troung Nhu Tang was a true freedom fighter to liberate Vietnam from colonial slavery and unite Vietnam for Vietnamese. As an integral part of the North Vietnam political cadres, he gives a unique perspective into the human motives, internal struggles, and bitter resolution to the war. Dismayed at the heavy-handed approach of the Viet Cong, the economic incompetence and the eventual communist ...
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Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, Second Edit27 reviews
Judith Barrington
The Eighth Mountain Press, 2002
A must-read if you want to write a memoir
Judith Barrington's Writing the Memoir is an invaluable tool kit if you're about to tackle telling your own life's stories. For starters, she defines what memoir is and isn't--not chronological autobiography--and you discover in the first few pages why it has become such a popular genre in recent years. If life is stranger than fiction, memoir allows you to write about it in a way that feels ...
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Modern American Memoirs 4 reviews
Harper Perennial, 1996
The Art of the Personal
This wonderful collection of autobiographical pieces is extraordinary in the variety of lives that are represented. I cover my eyes from Wallace Stegner's Saskatchewan dust and then I open them to witness the East River sunset from Barry Lopez' window. I sneak books out of a Memphis library with Richard Wright and then I'm with Cynthia Ozick digging out of a crate from the Traveling Library. The ...
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Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison66 reviews
T.J. Parsell
Da Capo Press, 2007
Incredible!
I read a great review of this book on a writer's blog & couldn't wait to read it! It truly is a courageous story and I admire Parsell for sharing such difficult memories. Bravo!
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Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp16 reviews
Stephanie Klein
William Morrow, 2008
Great Read
The book definitely shed some light on what overweight children go through. I think Ms. Klein is admirable for not being afraid to expose every detail regarding what she went through at this time in her life.
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Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir8 reviews
William Zinsser
Mariner Books, 1998
So you want to write a memoir?
Memoir writers Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, Toni Morrison, and Lewis Thomas share their thoughts on writing memoir. The chapters are taken from a series of talks given on the subject. The authors point out that memoir is not biography. The hardest thing about writing memoir, they agree, is not deciding what to put in, but what to leave out. They point to Emerson, Thoreau, Twain, ...
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Brighton Beach Memoirs8 reviews
Neil Simon
Plume, 1995
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Brighton Beach Memoirs is a play about a fourteen-year-old boy growing up in 1937. The boy's name is Eugene Jerome. The play is divided into two acts. The first act is one night in Eugene's house. The second act is a week later in his house. Eugene is growing up in a hectic and eventful household of seven family members. He writes memoirs in his journal about his family and different events ...
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The Glass Castle: A Memoir1073 reviews
Jeannette Walls
Scribner, 2006
What a GREAT book!
I borrowed this book from a friend's bookshelf and could not put it down. Yes, even with 11 month old twin daughters, I was still able to read the entire book in 3 days -- it's that good! Fascinating story that would have made great fiction. The fact that it's a memoir makes it truly amazing. Loved it!
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Home: A Memoir of My Early Years47 reviews
Julie Andrews
Hyperion, 2008
After "Home" by Julie Andrews, we eagerly await Volume 2 of this great star's autobiography!
"Home," Julie Andrews' superbly written autobiography of her earlier years, simply makes the reader eagerly await a second volume, covering the subsequent years of this great star's life. The book is written in a frank and interesting manner, revealing the happenings in a performer's life before and after the curtain is raised and lowered. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
--Ron Howe (a.k.a., Toby Martin II) ...
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