Category Archives: Book review
Three Cups of Tea (and truth in memoir)
A fight has broken out over whether mountaineer Greg Mortenson made up portions of Three Cups of Tea, his memoir about building schools in Pakistan that he leveraged into major public donations. If this is news to you, catch up … Continue reading
Book Review “Farm City” or–Living vicariously through memoir
I’m reading Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. I am sure there are plenty of people reading this book in preparation for building their own raised beds on a vacant nearby lot, ordering their own box of mixed … Continue reading
Book review: A Week at the Airport
By happy coincidence, I had Alain de Botton’s A Week at the Airport on my reading stand at the same time April Manning posted on her blog a fantastic musing on how she loves the airport. I love airports too. My ears … Continue reading
“Five Stages of Memoir”
Reading the New York Time’s Book Review from Sunday, March 20, I came across this sentence written by Susan Cheever, the opening line of her review of John Darnton’s Almost a Family. “We are all familiar with the five stages … Continue reading
Book review: Jeannette Walls’ “Half Broke Horses”
This weekend I finished reading Jeannette Wall’s Half Broke Horses. Good book. Walls captures Lily’s voice, the sound of the person she describes as “a tough, leathery, woman who always yelled…” The tone of voice in the novel, written in … Continue reading
Book review: Patti Smith’s “Just Kids”
I just finished reading Patti Smith’s memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, which began in 1967 when she was 19. Just Kids takes us from their first “meet-cute” to his dying breath, March 9, 1989. I’m not a big … Continue reading
NY Times’ Neil Genzlinger vs. Jill Ker Conway
An article in January 30th’s New York Times Book Review set off a wave of polite indignation on the Association of Personal Historians‘ listserv. In “The Center of Attention” staff editor Neil Genzlinger waxed peevish about the number of mediocre … Continue reading
Do you keep a journal?
Susan Albert Wittig, author and founder of Story Circle Network, has kept a journal for decades. I have not. I’ve never been clear on what a person is supposed to write in a journal, if that person is not 20-something … Continue reading
Book review: Rhoda Janzen’s “Mennonite in a Little Black Dress”
Just finished this book. I was drawn to it because the Mennonite Church figures in my family history–my mother’s people would relate with pride (if pride were allowed) the role of my distant ancestors in the good works of that … Continue reading
Book review: Carlos Eire’s “Waiting for Snow in Havana”
Occasionally the challenge of moving around in time comes up in my writing workshop. We write essays triggered by themes, rather than strict chronology, so naturally we end up with a crazy quilt of pieces about different times, places, and … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 