Most Fav Memoir?

Peachnuts · Oct 10, 2008

I love a good memoir.
These are my favs that I have read lately, please add your own so I can learn of others!

Eat Pray Love
A Three Dog Life
Driving with Dead People
Sickened

I'm sure I'm missing some classics... fill me in people

jerrywaxler · Oct 13, 2008

Couple of favorites

Possibly the best book I've read (actually listened to) in years was the classic memoir "West with the night" by Beryl Markham, a fascinating story of a woman who grew up in colonial Africa in the mid-twentieth century.

Another is "Here if you need me" by Kate Braestrup, a book of grieving and philosophy, very uplifting. I read it three times.

A quirky one that i really loved was the bicycle racing child-abuse memoir "Ten Points" by Bill Strickland, incredibly deep and compassionate.

The list goes on. Those happened to cross my mind.

Have fun. (And stop by my blog. I review and write about memoirs all the time.)

Jerry

Peachnuts · Oct 13, 2008

Thanks Jerry. I will stop by.

jennifer75 · Oct 13, 2008

I'm reading Eat Pray Love and love it...ha. I loved The Only Girl In The Car, you really get into the MC (does calling it a MC fly in Memoirs?)

Anybody read The Liars Club? I have it and got a few pages in and maybe just couldn't concentrate, but it wasn't grabbing me by the hair and pulling me in as I thought I would.

triceretops · Oct 13, 2008

David Niven's The Moon's a balloon, and Bring on the Empty Horses.

MichaelAlbright · Oct 16, 2008

I'm not one hundred percent sure what my favorite is, but my list would include Running With Scissors for sure.

madderblue · Oct 17, 2008

A lot of good suggestions here. I just read This Boy's Life (Tobias Wolff) and adored it!

Ritergal · Oct 17, 2008

The co-authored memoir, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promoto Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin gets my vote. Several people mentioned it to me, but it was Jerry Waxler's review that got me reading. The book should be required reading for anyone involved in international politics!

Another remarkable story is also co-authored: The Turkey Farm - Behind the Smile, by Jennifer Keefe and Cheryl Archer has received much less notice. Beyond the tale of Jennifer's survival of a super-rough childhood that I detail in a blog post, this story about an otherwise ordinary nurse who works on an Alheimer's unit is remarkable because it's such a strong tribute to the healing power of writing, and the dedication of a life-long friend in helping bring this healing about.

Jen lived the story, Cheryl explored it to find the story in the life and get it on paper. It took them over fifteen years to finish writing, and during that time, the story deepened and matured and became a journey to forgiveness and healing as well as a tribute to survival of body and spirit.

pollykahl · Oct 19, 2008

Loved Running With Scissors and that author's brother's book, Look me In The Eye. Also, The Glass Castle. Just re-read Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, which was even better this time since I'm older and not being made to read it for high school English. Also recently read Night which was incredible. I also adored Howard Dully's My Lobotomy. I loved it so much I found him on myspace and interviewed him for my blog. Go here if you want to read the two-part interview (scroll down for Part I.)

Ritergal · Oct 21, 2008

My most recent read was The Turkey Farm - Behind the Smile. It's about Jennifer Keefe's experience growing up on a turkey (and produce) farm, raised by the hippie her mother never got around to marrying after she divorced Jen's alcoholic father. Her mother was brutally murdered by a drug-crazed farm employee shortly before Jen turned 11. Ultimately the book is about her journey to peace and forgiveness. Her best friend Cheryl stuck with her through the nearly twenty years it took to make this journey and write the book together. They self-published with it. I especially appreciate that it is not a celebrity memoir - besides being best friends since grade school, Jennifer and Cheryl Archer work together as nurses on an Alzheimer's unit, and they could be anyone's neighbor. You can find the book here.

VeggieChick · Oct 27, 2008

The Kiss, about the author's affair with her own father. Really powerful.

payitforward · Nov 2, 2008

jennifer75 said:
I'm reading Eat Pray Love and love it...ha. I loved The Only Girl In The Car, you really get into the MC (does calling it a MC fly in Memoirs?)

Anybody read The Liars Club? I have it and got a few pages in and maybe just couldn't concentrate, but it wasn't grabbing me by the hair and pulling me in as I thought I would.

I had trouble getting into the The Liars Club too, but it was well worth it in the long run. Now it's one of my favorite memoirs besides Running with Scissors.

I also love "On Writing," by Stephen King. He calls it a "memoir of the craft," but it's also a mini memoir of his life.

"A" Is For "Agent" · Nov 15, 2008

payitforward said:
I had trouble getting into the The Liars Club too, but it was well worth it in the long run. Now it's one of my favorite memoirs besides Running with Scissors.

I also love "On Writing," by Stephen King. He calls it a "memoir of the craft," but it's also a mini memoir of his life.

Yes yes yes. Great book!

Name All the Animals by Alison Smith

Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg

Prevostprincess · Nov 21, 2008

Angela's Ashes, The Tender Bar, A Walk in the Woods.

Ritergal · Nov 22, 2008

I just finished CrazyLoco Love, by Victor Villaseñor. His passionate writing tends to the dramatic, laced with Spanish and ALL CAPS in places, but it feels authentic. Is this book a parable? Perhaps, but perhaps his life is a parable.

Wayne K · Dec 5, 2008

Running With Scissors

jerrywaxler · Dec 6, 2008

Alan Alda's Never Have your dog stuffed

Alan Alda's memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed. I"m about half way through, and so far it's been up there in my top ten.

Also I wrote an essay on my blog about Gary Presley's "Seven Wheelchairs" - an amazing story, well-written about a person who happens to be bound to a wheelchair.

Jerry

Poetic_Justice · Dec 28, 2008

jennifer75 said:
Anybody read The Liars Club? I have it and got a few pages in and maybe just couldn't concentrate, but it wasn't grabbing me by the hair and pulling me in as I thought I would.

I enjoyed the Liar's Club very much. Originally I had to read it for my Intro to Creative writing class. I think I am biased though because I got to meet Mary Karr, and she also signed my book. I was also able to meet Claudia Emerson in the same Literary festival that I met Karr at. Though Emerson, I don't believe, writes Non-fiction. (Though her poetry from her book The Late Wife was autobiographical in nature)

jerrywaxler · Jan 7, 2009

Bill Ayers' Fugitive Days

Since I'm reading all sorts of memoirs, I figured I would give this one a try. It turns out to be quite interesting, a wild testimonial to the anti-war movement at its most intense in the 60's. Since this affected a huge number of people (including me) reading the book is a way to get in touch with a forgotten piece of our collective past as well as my individual past. And well written. I'm about half way through.

Jerry

Kirsten I · Jan 8, 2009

I've especially enjoyed Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Teheran, Leila Ahmed's A Border Passage, and Russell Baker's Growing Up. Ahmed's book is probably the least well known, but I found it hypnotic from the first page--where she speaks of "the profound, unsurpassable quiet of the desert."

KTC · Jan 8, 2009

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.

TerzaRima · Jan 8, 2009

The Kiss, about the author's affair with her own father.

Powerful, but I wanted to shower after I read it. Repeatedly.

Most Fav Memoir?

Peachnuts

jerrywaxler

Peachnuts

jennifer75

SupahStah!

triceretops

MichaelAlbright

madderblue

Beagle Lips.

Ritergal

pollykahl

Ritergal

VeggieChick

payitforward

Muppet Girl

"A" Is For "Agent"

Big Meanie Head

Prevostprincess

Ritergal

Wayne K

jerrywaxler

Poetic_Justice

Pondering affirmation

jerrywaxler

Kirsten I

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

TerzaRima

Absinthe O'Malice