These are some memoirs (and a couple fiction selections) I’ve read in the last few years – if you hover over the book my review or thoughts will pop up (if I’ve written any). I like to read other people’s stories, and am always curious about how or why they choose a certain style, how they recall memories from the past, and how they perceive events in comparison to how they really happened.
Many of these books helped shape my own vision for memoir writing.
If you’ve read a great memoir recently, please leave a comment and tell me why you liked it.
Have you read a great novel that reads like a memoir (see above notes on Secret Life of Bees & Davita’s Harp)? I’d like to hear about it!
I enjoyed Expecting Adam but the book was sort of ruined for me when I found out that she and her husband divorced. I found out in the Amazon reviews of the book!
I just finished A Year of Magical Thinking, and really enjoyed it. The Glass Castle is a memoir I read recently and loved it. Wanted to comment on your earlier post about the Poisonwood Bible, one of my favorite books ever. I think reading it from an evangelical perspective can be really insightful because we know so many people who are represented in the book . . . but I always placed myself as the powerless wife, and never thought about the fact that I can find myself in the angry, zealous father. Your perspective on that got me thinking . . . wondering where choosing to follow God has become a blind personal ambition. Really interesting, thanks for the insight.
Thanks for your comments, Jess. I just picked up The Year of Magical Thinking the other day and I’m really liking it! Will also check out the Glass Castle.
Sheila – I did not know that about the Expecting Adam author. Can’t remember the book very well, though – only that I liked it.
Stumbling Toward Faith – by Renee Altson
originally published in 2004, re-published in 2008. Zondervan // { isbn: 0310257757 }
i wrote it. 🙂 it’s about my struggle with faith and god after a lifetime of abuse in god’s name. i use poetry, imagery, and prose.
Gilead by Marylinne Robinson, I loved, loved, loved it! (Amy has a copy 🙂 )
(Hey! I’m posting on your blog! 🙂 )