Category Archives: memoir

Chasing Me To My Grave: An artist’s memoir of the Jim Crow South by Erin Kelly

07 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by in Biography, History, memoir, United States

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

WINNER OF THE 2022 PULITZER PRIZE IN BIOGRAPHY

On January 18, 2023 at 7 PM, the author Erin Kelly and Lillian Rembert one of Mr Rembert’s daughters, will come to Weston for a program celebrating Winfred Rembert’s life and art. 

This memoir describes the incredible life and art of Winfred Rembert, an African American man who survived a lynching attempt in Georgia during the civil rights movement. He later became an artist who created stories of his youth using leather tooling skills. While the memoir does include chapters describing the violence he survived, the book is also full of love, laughter, stories, art, and humanity.

“This is a book like no other, from Winfred Rembert’s unique and uniquely powerful autobiographical paintings to his disturbing and courageous life story . . . Rembert recounts diabolical abuse and violence with rare candor and precision . . . By using carved, tooled, and dyed leather as the medium for vibrantly patterned scenes from his life, Rembert turned the scars on his body and soul into artworks of clarion witness and reckoning. With a foreword by Bryan Stevenson and superb color reproductions, Rembert’s self-portrait in word and image belongs in every library.” – Donna Seaman, Booklist, starred review, “Best Books of the Year”

“Frank and compelling . . . An ultimately uplifting journey from the ugliness of virulent racism to the beauty of art.” – Kirkus, starred review

“Visually and narratively stunning . . . Rembert’s artistic talent was a gift; his use of that talent to create memorable images―of an era before modern cameras were ubiquitous―is a gift to history.” – Library Journal

Find this book

Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? : a Memoir by Séamas O’Reilly 

19 Friday Aug 2022

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, memoir

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

This memoir is narrated by Séamas O’Reilly, who was five when his mother died and left behind a husband and eleven children. While this tragic event is the focus of the book, it is also a really funny, uplifting story about how the siblings and their dad carried on, living in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. 

“I laughed out loud reading Did Ye Hear Mammy Died, especially at the bits that recalled for me the way my own family laughs to keep from crying…It’s rare to read about good fathers in memoirs, and O’Reilly’s portrait…is hilarious and moving….It is this thread of refusal to be pitied, to have what happened to his family reduced to ‘a tawdry bit of sentimental fluff for people to tut along to and say how sad,’ that makes Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? so rousing. That it is also deadly funny is an extra treat.”―NPR

“Northern Ireland in the time of the Troubles is often cast into a narrative that doesn’t allow room for joy or delight…O’Reilly’s recollection is a splendid paradox, both cheery and heartbreaking.”―Booklist, Starred

“In this joyous, wildly unconventional memoir, Séamas O’Reilly tells the story of losing his mother as a child and growing up with ten siblings in Northern Ireland during the final years of the Troubles as a raucous comedy, a grand caper that is absolutely bursting with life.”―Patrick Radden Keefe, NYT bestselling author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain

Find this book

Crying in H Mart: a Memoir  by Michelle Zauner

01 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, memoir

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

“Michelle Zauner has written a book you experience with all of your senses: sentences you can taste, paragraphs that sound like music. She seamlessly blends stories of food and memory, sumptuousness and grief, to weave a complex narrative of loyalty and loss.” —Rachel Syme

“I read Crying in H Mart with my heart in my throat. In this beautifully written memoir, Michelle Zauner has created a gripping, sensuous portrait of an indelible mother-daughter bond that hits all the notes: love, friction, loyalty, grief. All mothers and daughters will recognize themselves—and each other—in these pages.” —Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance

“Crying in H Mart is a wonder: A beautiful, deeply moving coming-of-age story about mothers and daughters, love and grief, food and identity. It blew me away, even as it broke my heart.” –Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me

“Poignant . . . A tender, well-rendered, heart-wrenching account of the way food ties us to those who have passed. The author delivers mouthwatering descriptions of dishes like pajeon, jatjuk, and gimbap, and her storytelling is fluid, honest, and intimate. When a loved one dies, we search all of our senses for signs of their presence. Zauner’s ability to let us in through taste makes her book stand out—she makes us feel like we are in her mother’s kitchen, singing her praises.”  —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Find this book large print

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad

16 Monday May 2022

Posted by in 20th century, meaning of life, memoir, Non-fiction, United States

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,


Just after graduating college and starting a new job in Paris, Suleika Jaouad is diagnosed with leukemia. This beautifully written, powerful memoir explores her illness, treatment, and the loneliness of being a young person battling cancer, along with how it impacts her relationships with her family and friends.

“When the life we had is snatched away, how do we find the conviction to live another? Between Two Kingdoms will resonate with anyone who is living a different life than they planned to live. This is a propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude—and an intimate portrait of one woman’s sojourn in the wilderness between life and death.”—Tara Westover, author of Educated

“A beautiful, elegant, and heartbreaking book that provides a glimpse into the kingdom of illness . . . Suleika Jaouad avoids sentimentality but manages to convey the depth of the emotional turmoil that illness can bring into our lives.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies

“Jaouad does a beautiful job of writing from this place of ‘dual citizenship,’ where she finds pain but also joy, kinship, and possibility.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“This is a deeply moving and passionate work of art, quite unlike anything I’ve ever read. I will remember these stories for years to come, because Suleika Jaouad has imprinted them on my heart.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

Find this book

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

24 Monday Jan 2022

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, cuisine, Humor, memoir

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

While Stanley Tucci is known for his films, this memoir focuses primarily on his love of food. Raised in an Italian family with a mother who loved to cook, his interest in food continued as he began cooking and exploring cuisines and restaurants around the world. Along the way, we learn more about his life and family, with many recipes – particularly for Italian dishes – sprinkled throughout the book. Guaranteed to lift your spirits! I highly recommend the audiobook, read by the author himself, which adds to the warmth and humor of his story.

“An instant classic, Stanley Tucci’s TASTE is as captivating, simple, charming and insanely moreish as the best Italian food. Take it to bed with you and you will fall asleep dreaming you’re in Italy. But take it to the kitchen and you will find yourself using it as often as a pan or a peeler.” –Stephen Fry

“The man, the myth, The Devil Wears Prada legend Stanley Tucci has blessed our hungry souls with a food memoir to feed our mounting appetite for the actor and cook’s wit, warmth and, let’s face it: tight polo shirts. He divulges some of his most treasured memories and stories behind favourite recipes — prepare to feel bereaved when it’s over.”—Joanna Taylor, Evening Standard

“Through food and scenes of family life, Stanley Tucci shares both his personal story and his celebration of all-things taste. With tales from peanut butter sandwiches to lobster in Maine, with recipes from the perfect Negroni to his wife’s roast potatoes, he draws us to his table. Come hungry for the food, the cocktails, the gossip and the fun. Just never, ever, cut up your spaghetti.”  –Yotam Ottolenghi

Find this book large print spoken cd’s

Memorial Drive : a Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey

16 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, memoir, United States

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Pulitzer Prize–winner Natasha Trethewey was U.S. Poet Laureate in 2012 and 2013.  While this is a compelling memoir of her immutable love for her mother with whom she traveled down the same road of horrible outcome and of her delicate straddling of the white/black worlds they both shared, it’s her choice of words, her rhythm, her pacing through a “too-short” 211 pages that registers in the reader’s heart and mind. This makes it a superior read.

“Natasha Trethewey has composed a riveting memoir that reads like a detective story about her mother’s murder by a malevolent ex-husband. It reads with all the poise and clarity of Trethewey’s unforgettable poetry—heartrending without a trace of pathos, wise and smart at once, unforgettable. The short section her mother penned as she was trying to escape the marriage moved me to tears. I read the book in one gulp and expect to reread it more than once. A must-read classic.” (Mary Karr, author of The Liars’ Club; Cherry; and Lit)

“Beautifully composed, achingly sad…This profound story of the horrors of domestic abuse and a daughter’s eternal love for her mother will linger long after the book’s last page is turned.” (Publishers Weekly)

“In Memorial Drive, Natasha Trethewey has transformed unimaginable tragedy into a work of sublimity. There’s sorrow and heartbreak, yes, but also a beautiful portrait of a mother and her daughter’s enduring love. Trethewey writes elegantly, trenchantly, intimately as well about the fraught history of the south and what it means live at the intersection of America’s struggle between blackness and whiteness. And what, in our troubled republic, is a subject more evergreen?” (Mitchell S.  Jackson, author of Survival Math)

Find this book large print

What We Carry: a Memoir by Maya Shanbhag Lang

05 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, memoir, Non-fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

If our family stories shape us, what happens when we learn those stories were never true? Who do we become when we shed our illusions about the past? (Amazon)

“A gorgeous memoir about mothers, daughters, and the tenacity of the love that grows between what is said and what is left unspoken.”—Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

“A profoundly moving memoir about secrets and trauma . . . In exquisite prose, Maya Shanbhag Lang writes about her extraordinary mother and the cruel circumstances that complicate their relationship. At its heart, What We Carry is about one of the greatest gifts any parent can give a child: the power to save yourself.”—Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club

 “Part self-discovery, part family history. . . [Lang’s] analysis of the shifting roles of mothers and daughters, particularly through the lens of immigration, help[s] to challenge her family’s mythology. . . . Readers interested in examining their own family stories . . . will connect deeply with Lang’s beautiful memoir.”—Library Journal (Starred Review)

Find this book

A Most Beautiful Thing : The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team by Arshay Cooper

11 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by in 20th century, Biography, History, memoir, Non-fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

This is the inspiring true story about the most unlikely band of brothers that form a family, and forever change a sport and their lives for the better.  How did they even make it to age 14 growing up in Chicago’s Westside in the 90’s?  Peppered with humor, guaranteed to inspire anyone ……even if you know nothing about the rowing sport….neither did Arshay!

Here’s all you need to know: “A Most Beautiful Thing” lives up to its name….Cooper masterly makes you feel a part of the team…. take their losses to heart. Be proud of the changes they’ve made… This is the feel-goodest of feel-good books, and you should have it now.” ―The Bookworm

“Arshay’s remarkable story reminds us of the life-changing power of will over hopelessness, of belief over despair, and shows us what it looks like when we stop listening to demons and start honoring our own potential. This is the story of rising from the ashes stronger, faster, and focused ― not in spite of the circumstances of birth but because of them. Arshay’s refusal to let his life story be written for him is a testament to the resilience and beauty of the human spirit, and his eagerness to succeed, on the water and in life, is an inspiration.”―Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love 

“Uplifting and always enlightening…. [A Most Beautiful Thing] is a coming-of-age story told with the benefit of adult insights and mature hindsight…. This book is less about this specific sport than how that sport becomes transformative, empowering some kids, giving others a direction.”
―Chicago Tribune

Find this book

A Long Way Home : a Memoir by Saroo Brierley

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by in Biography, memoir

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

This book is recommended by a Weston library patron.  It was made into the 2016 movie, Lion which received six nominations at the Academy Awards.

“I literally could not put this book down..[Saroo’s] return journey will leave you weeping with joy and the strength of the human spirit.”—Manly Daily (Australia)
 
“We urge you to step behind the headlines and have a read of this absorbing account…With clear recollections and good old-fashioned storytelling, Saroo…recalls the fear of being lost and the anguish of separation.”—Weekly Review (Australia)

Find this book           large print               audio cd’s                playaway

Travel Light, Move fast by Alexandra Fuller

10 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Biography, memoir, Non-fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

This is her 4th memoir about her eccentric English family growing up in Africa.  I recommend all the earlier ones: Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, and Leaving Before the Rains Come.  This one is her good-by to her father.  Try them all.  Gutsy, humorous, not a bit sentimental.

“Travel Light, Move Fast is a sensitive, meticulously wrought portrait of one family’s sometimes-challenging dynamics, set against an unforgiving African backdrop. Fuller’s beautiful prose juxtaposes the grieving process with the lessons she learned from the man whose adventures shaped her.” —BookPage

“[Fuller’s] family remains endlessly fascinating and delightful companions for long-time readers and new ones alike. . . A gorgeously written tribute to a life well lived and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable loss and grief.” —  Booklist, starred review

“[Fuller] sifted through a lifetime of memories in order to pen this celebration of the man whose profound influence helped shape her own worldview. [She]writes gracefully about embracing grief as an indelible part of the human experience. Another elegant memoir from a talented storyteller.” — Kirkus Reviews

Find this book