I must admit that I haven’t given much thought to the finer distinctions between life stories, memoirs, autobiographies, and personal essays until I came across Sharon Lippincott’s fine blog The Heart and Craft of Life Writing . In a January post she loosely defines an array of life writing approaches: … Read more.
Posted in Life stories, Memoirs, Personal historian, Tips, Writing
Tagged autobiography, life narratives, life story, life writing, memoir, What's the difference?
I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories, or have never done anything worth remembering. ~ Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde’s wit could well apply to many of today’s memoirs. But the truth is that among the deluge of memoirs published every year there are some gems.
In a previous post I compiled 15 Great Memoirs Written by Women. One of my readers suggested I give men equal time and bring together a list of memoirs written by male authors. So here it is – a totally subjective listing but all terrific reads. What’s a favorite memoir of yours that I haven’t included?
___________________________________________________
Experience: A Memoir by Martin Amis
“The son of the great comic novelist Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis explores his relationship with this father and writes about the various crises of Kingsley’s life. He also examines the life and legacy of his cousin, Lucy Partington, who was abducted and murdered by one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers. Experience also deconstructs the changing literary scene, including Amis’ portraits of Saul Bellow, Salman Rushdie, Allan Bloom, Philip Larkin, and Robert Graves, among others.” ~ from Amazon.com
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
“In 1929 Robert Graves went to live abroad permanently, vowing ‘never to make England my home again’. This is his superb account of his life up until that ‘bitter leave-taking’: from his childhood and desperately unhappy school days at Charterhouse, to his time serving as a young officer in the First World War that was to haunt him throughout his life.” ~ from Amazon.com
Dispatches by Michael Herr
“American correspondent Herr’s documentary recalls the heavy combat he witnessed in Vietnam as well as the obscene speech, private fears and nightmares of the soldiers. “Herr captures the almost hallucinatory madness of the war,” said PW. “This is a compelling, truth-telling book with a visceral impact, its images stuck in the mind like shards from a pineapple bomb.” ~ from Publishers Weekly
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
“In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school. From caring for his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads to dealing with uncooperative owners and critically ill animals, Herriot discovers the wondrous variety and never-ending challenges of veterinary practice as his humor, compassion, and love of the animal world shine forth.” ~ from Amazon.com
Wordstruck: A Memoir by Robert MacNeil
“People become writers, in large part, because they are in love with language. Wordstruck is the story of one such writer’s unabashed affair with words, from his Halifax childhood awash with intriguing accents to life as a traveling journalist who “delighted in finding pockets of distinctive English, as a botanist is thrilled to discover a new variety of plant.” ~ from goodreads.com
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
“Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood,” writes Frank McCourt in Angela’s Ashes. “Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” Welcome, then, to the pinnacle of the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America.” ~ from Amazon.com
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Donald Miller
“Miller, the accidental memoirist who struck gold with the likable ramble Blue Like Jazz, writes about the challenges inherent in getting unstuck creatively and spiritually. After Jazz sold more than a million copies but his other books didn’t follow suit, he had a classic case of writer’s block. Two movie producers contacted him about creating a film out of his life, but Miller’s initial enthusiasm was dampened when they concluded that his real life needed doctoring lest it be too directionless for the screen.” ~ from Publishers Weekly
Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story by Paul Monette
“… poetic yet highly political, angry yet infused with the love of life–is what transforms Becoming a Man from simple autobiography into an intense record of struggle and salvation. Paul Monette did not lead a life different from many gay men–he struggled courageously with his family, his sexuality, his AIDS diagnosis–but in bearing witness to his and others’ pain, he creates a personal testimony that illuminates the darkest corners of our culture even as it finds unexpected reserves of hope.” ~ from Amazon.com
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
“[Nabokov] has fleshed the bare bones of historical data with hilarious anecdotes and with a felicity of style that makes Speak, Memory a constant pleasure to read. Confirmed Nabokovians will relish the further clues and references to his fictional works that shine like nuggets in the silver stream of his prose.” ~ from Harper’s
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters by John Steinbeck
“Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck was a prolific correspondent. Opening with letters written during Steinbeck’s early years in California, and closing with an unfinished, 1968 note written in Sag Harbor, New York, this collection of around 850 letters to friends, family, his editor and a diverse circle of well-known and influential public figures gives an insight into the raw creative processes of one of the most naturally-gifted and hard-working writing minds of this century.” ~ from Amazon.com
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
“A meditation on Styron’s ( Sophie’s Choice ) serious depression at the age of 60, this essay evokes with detachment and dignity the months-long turmoil whose symptoms included the novelist’s “dank joylessness,” insomnia, physical aversion to alcohol (previously “an invaluable senior partner of my intellect”) and his persistent “fantasies of self-destruction” leading to psychiatric treatment and hospitalization.” ~ from Publishers Weekly
Self-Consciousness by John Updike
“Updike’s memoir–it is by no means an autobiography, but rather, as the title brilliantly suggests, a thoughtful communing with past selves–is, as expected, wonderfully written. It is also disarmingly frank about certain aspects of the writer’s life,” maintained PW. Updike discusses his psoriasis and stuttering, his parents and failures as husband and father, his politics, the ways in which God permeates his life, and his profound commitment to writing.” ~ from Publishers Weekly
Night by Elie Wiesel
“In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life’s essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel’s lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.” ~ from Amazon.com
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff
“In PEN/Faulkner Award-winner Wolff’s fourth book, he recounts his coming-of-age with customary skill and self-assurance. Seeking a better life in the Northwestern U.S. with his divorced mother, whose “strange docility, almost paralysis, with men of the tyrant breed” taught Wolff the virtue of rebellion, he considered himself “in hiding,” moved to invent a private, “better” version of himself in order to rise above his troubles.” ~ from Publishers Weekly
Black Boy by Richard Wright
“Autobiography by Richard Wright, published in 1945 and considered to be one of his finest works… From the 1960s the work came to be understood as the story of Wright’s coming of age and development as a writer whose race, though a primary component of his life, was but one of many that formed him as an artist.” ~ from The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Photo by kim fleming
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Posted in Book reviews, Memoirs
Tagged best, Book reviews, Memoirs, reviews, Women's memoirs
Disclosure. I’ve contributed one small item to this book but I will not be receiving any renumeration from its sale.
I’ve just finished Jennifer Campbell’s recent book Start and Run a Personal History Business published by Self-Counsel Press. If you’re thinking of making personal histories a business, you owe it to yourself to get this book. Jennifer knows her stuff. She’s been a professional personal historian since 2002 and prior to that had a 25 year career as an editor, writer, and interviewer.
This 180 page book is packed with the kind of information I wish I had when I was starting out. The 16 Chapters cover:
In addition, the book comes with a CD-ROM which includes all of the sample templates used in the book as well as resources to help you in your business.
If you buy Personal History Business for nothing else than the chapter on pricing, it’s well worth the investment. For personal historians who are starting out, determining what to charge clients is a challenge. Jennifer’s detailed step-by-step approach will give you the help you need to ensure that you keep your business profitable.
What struck me about the book is that Jennifer makes it clear that running a personal history business takes more than just a love of people and their stories. Her book is like a splash of cold water. After reading it, if you’re still enthusiastic about establishing a personal history business, you’ll go into it with your eyes wide open. A word of caution. Don’t become overwhelmed by the content. There’s a lot to digest. Read it through once for an overview and then come back to chew on smaller portions.
I like Jennifer’s candor. For example, on business plans she says, “Like a lot of small business owners, I resisted doing a business plan for a long time. I think it was a psychological block…I finally got some serious business coaching…” In my eyes, her honesty makes her more credible because I know that she’s writing from personal experience.
The book is also sprinkled with useful tips. They’re terrific. And I wish she’d included more of them and highlighted them so they stood out from the surrounding copy. This brings me to my only real concern and that’s the overall layout and design of the book.
My personal preference is for some breathing space around blocks of text. I found the information on the pages visually congested. I longed for more white space, bolder titles, and little sidebars with tidbits of information, like her “tips”. I would have found it easier to absorb the wealth of material with more visual help. Having said this, I’m aware that there are production costs to consider when designing a book. And Self-Counsel Press, the publishers, probably have a standard layout from which there can be little deviation.
Layout and design aside, this is an excellent book. If you’re serious about establishing a personal history business, you need to do two things - buy a copy of Start & Run A Personal History Business and join the Association of Personal Historians.
Posted in Home Office, How to, Interviewing, Life stories, Marketing, Memoirs, Personal historian, Publishing, Resources, Self-employed, Tips, Writing
Tagged family stories, free resources, Home Office, How to, Personal historian, personal histories, personal history business, self employed, small business, start and run, Tips, Writing
I don’t know about you but I find a friend’s assessment of a book is often as good, if not better than, that of some of the reviewers. That’s why I wanted to share with you this list, compiled by some of my colleagues in the Association of Personal Historians. Here are fifteen gems to add to your list of summer reading.
What’s your favorite memoir written by a woman? I’d love to hear from you.
An American Childhood. Annie Dillard. Harper Perennial; 1st Perennial Library Ed edition (July 20, 1988)
“Dillard’s luminous prose painlessly captures the pain of growing up in this wonderful evocation of childhood. Her memoir is partly a hymn to Pittsburgh, where orange streetcars ran on Penn Avenue in 1953 when she was eight, and where the Pirates were always in the cellar.” From Publishers Weekly
Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. Annie Dillard. Harper Perennial Modern Classics (October 28, 1998)
“The book is a form of meditation, written with headlong urgency, about seeing. A reader’s heart must go out to a young writer with a sense of wonder so fearless and unbridled…There is an ambition about her book that I like…It is the ambition to feel.” Eudora Welty, New York Times Book Review
Balsamroot: A Memoir. Mary Clearman Blew. Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 1, 1995)
“Blew mines the repository of her aunt’s memoirs and diaries, uncovering near-revelations that suggest Imogene’s life was far from what it appeared to be.
The memoir is energized by the search and by the author’s connectedness to a Montana heritage.” From Publishers Weekly
Bone Deep in Landscape: Writing, Reading, and Place. Mary Clearman Blew. University of Oklahoma Press (September 2000)
“I cannot reconcile myself to the loss of landscape, which for me often is an analogy for my own body…. And yet I know that I have never owned the landscape.” In her second collection of essays (after All but the Waltz), Blew again demonstrates her artistry and strong connection to the Western terrain of her past and present homes in Montana and Idaho.” From Publishers Weekly
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana. Haven Kimmel.Broadway; Today Show Book Club edition (September 3, 2002)
“It’s a cliché‚ to say that a good memoir reads like a well-crafted work of fiction, but Kimmel’s smooth, impeccably humorous prose evokes her childhood as vividly as any novel.” From Publishers Weekly
The Leopard Hat: A Daughter’s Story. Valerie Steiker. Vintage (May 6, 2003)
“In this finely etched memoir, Steiker relives her childhood the family apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side,
the Parisian escapes with her mother, the family holidays in India and Nepal in delicious, Proustian detail.” From Publishers Weekly
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression. Mildred Armstrong Kalish. (Bantam Books, 2007)
“Simple, detailed and honest, this is a refreshing and informative read for anyone interested in the struggles of average Americans in the thick of the Great Depression.” From Publishers Weekly
Lazy B. Sandra Day O’Connor.Modern Library; First Edition edition (November 1, 2005)
“A collaboration between O’Connor and her brother, the book recounts the lives of their parents “MO” and “DA” (pronounced “M.O.” and “D.A.”) and the colorful characters who helped run the Lazy B ranch.” From Publishers Weekly
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. Maxine Hong Kingston. Vintage; Vintage International Edition edition (April 23, 1989)
“The Woman Warrior is a pungent, bitter, but beautifully written memoir of growing up Chinese American in Stockton, California.” From Amazon.com Review
Personal History. Katharine Graham.Vintage; Reprint edition (February 24, 1998).
“This is the story of a newspaper’s rise to power but also of the destruction of a marriage, as Philip Graham slid into alcohol, depression, and suicide, and of Katharine’s rise as a powerful woman in her own right.” From Library Journal
Some Memories of a Long Life [1854-1911]. Malvina Shanklin Harlan. Modern Library (July 8, 2003)
“These memoirs by the wife of a noted Supreme Court justice, John Marshall Harlan, first appeared last summer in the Journal of Supreme Court History…. Justice Harlan, though a former slave-holder, is remembered for his lone and eloquent dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, the case that established the doctrine of “separate but equal.” From Publishers Weekly
The Road from Coorain. Jill Ker Conway.Vintage Books; First Vintage Books edition (August 11, 1990)
“At age 11, Conway ( Women Reformers and American Culture ) left the arduous life on her family’s sheep farm in the Australian outback for school in war-time Sydney, burdened by an emotionally dependent, recently widowed mother. A lively curiosity and penetrating intellect illuminate this unusually objective account of the author’s progress from a solitary childhood–the most appealing part of the narrative–to public achievement as president of Smith College and now professor at MIT.” From Publishers Weekly
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. Terry Ryan. Simon & Schuster (August 30, 2005)
“Married to a man with violent tendencies and a severe drinking problem, Evelyn Ryan managed to keep her 10 children fed and housed during the 1950s and ’60s by entering–and winning–contests for rhymed jingles and advertising slogans of 25-words-or-less. This engaging and quick-witted biography written by daughter Terry… relates how Evelyn submitted multiple entries, under various names, for contests sponsored by Dial soap, Lipton soup, Paper Mate pens, Kleenex Tissues and any number of other manufacturers, and won a wild assortment of prizes, including toasters, bikes, basketballs, and all-you-can-grab supermarket shopping sprees.” From Publishers Weekly
Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir. Doris Kearns Goodwin. Simon & Schuster; First Paper edition (June 2, 1998)
“Goodwin recounts some wonderful stories in this coming-of-age tale about both her family and an era when baseball truly was the national pastime that brought whole communities together. From details of specific games to descriptions of players, including Jackie Robinson, a great deal of the narrative centers around the sport.” From Library Journal
A Romantic Education. Patricia Hampl. W. W. Norton & Company; 10 Anv edition (June 1, 1999)
“A now classic memoir, described by Doris Grumbach as “unusually elegant and meditative,” once more available with an updated afterword by the author. Golden Prague seemed mostly gray when Patricia Hampl first went there in quest of her Czech heritage. In that bleak time, no one could have predicted the political upheaval awaiting Communist Europe and the city of Kafka and Rilke. Hampl’s subsequent memoir, a brilliant evocation of Czech life under socialism, attained the stature of living history, and added to our understanding not only of Central Europe but also of what it means to be engaged in the struggle of a people to define and affirm themselves.” From Product Description
Photo by Kathryn
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Keepsake by Marilyn Koop is a must-have for your library. A friend gave me a copy the other day and I’ve been totally captivated by it. Each page contains a photograph of time-worn hands cradling a loved keepsake. On the page opposite is a cameo history of the person, a brief story behind the keepsake, and words of advice. There are twenty portraits in the collection. All save two were of people living at the Wellington Terrace, an assisted care residence near Fergus, Ontario.
"This little cup and saucer was given to me by my great-grandmother on my second birthday when we were still in England. My mother used to threaten me: "What might happen to your little cup and saucer if you don't behave?" Winifred Banbury
Marlene Creates, a Newfoundland environmental artist and poet has written of the book:
When objects are keepsakes, they relate most to our hands and our sense of touch. In Marilyn Koop’s photographs, hands are as eloquent as faces. On first glance, many of the cherished objects being held by these elderly people seem quite modest … But on reading these elders’ stories, it turns out that…[these keepsakes] are important not because of their monetary value but because of their history and meaning. I am struck by the profound human caring and gratitude in these stories. The keepsakes are stand-ins for lost loved ones and times past. Through Marilyn Koop’s photographs and the brief life stories she has gathered, we are given the real value of these keepsakes.
"Henry carved this bar of soap on our honeymoon night in Niagara Falls." Agnes Koop
As a personal historian, I see a number of ways Keepsake can be of value:
Contact Marilyn Koop directly at: [email protected]
Price: Cdn $24.00 includes postage and handling.
_________________________________________
Images by permission of Marilyn Koop Copyright 2009
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Posted in Book reviews, Life stories, Memoirs, Personal historian
Tagged elders, family keepsake, Keepsake, Marilyn Koop, memories, photo book
This past Saturday I attended the Canadian premiere of Joan Didion’s play The Year of Magical Thinking, based on her book by the same name. Both her book and play are extraordinary. The Chicago Sun-Times has said:
Unforgettable…Both personal and universal. She has given the reader an eloquent starting point in which to navigate through the wilderness of grief.
Didion’s work is a stark reminder of the frailty of life. In a heartbeat we can be alone and bereft. And as she points out, this will happen to us all. I believe that personal historians are involved in important and soulful work. We make it possible to preserve the memories of those who will inevitably die. We create legacies that can be a part of the healing process for those left behind. Didion’s opening words to her book are achingly observant:
Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.
If you haven’t read The Year of Magical Thinking, I urge you to do so. If you have an opportunity to see the play, don’t miss it. If you haven’t yet started on your life story, begin today.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Posted in Book reviews, End of life, Memoirs
Tagged grief, Joan Didion, memoir, Personal historian, reflection, The Year of Magical Thinking
Sometimes I encounter an adult son or daughter who’s had no success in convincing a parent to record a life story.
My experience has been that if people are really reluctant, it may be very hard to nudge them into documenting their lives. I hope these tips may be of help.
In a previous post, 6 Reasons Why Writing Your Life Story Matters, you’ll find some other good arguments to help convince your parent to record a life story. Good luck!
Photo by protoflux
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Posted in How to, Life stories, Memoirs, Personal historian, Tips
Tagged How to, Interviewing, life story, parent's life story, Tips
An exercise I particularly like to use in workshops is the six-word memoir. This is based on Smithmag.net and their popular six-word collections. For more information click here.
The idea is rumored to have started with Ernest Hemingway. He was challenged to write a six-word story and he wrote:
Baby shoes for sale, never worn.
I think the six-word memoir is a great way to get your creative writing juices flowing. Having trouble starting your life story? Why not write a six-word memoir and use it as the title for your book. Alternatively, turn it into the introduction to your story. These mini memoirs can be intriguing and often call out for a fuller explanation.
To give you some inspiration, here are a few of the six-word gems from the participants in my recent Dawson Creek workshop.
Here’s mine: Learned much. Much more to learn. What’s your six-word memoir? Jot it down in the comment box below.
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Posted in How to, Life stories, Memoirs, Personal historian, Presentations, Tips, Writing
Tagged contest, free help, How to, life story, six-word memoir, Tips, Writing
