Keri Blakinger — Corrections in Ink (Book Review)
Keri Blakinger tells her harrowing story about addiction to drugs and disordered eating in her memoir, Corrections in Ink. She lands in prison and reconstructs her experience from scribbled journals kept on purloined paper that miraculously survived the cruelty of...Qian Julie Wang — Beautiful Country (Book Review)
Qian Julie Wang (王乾) crafts a poignant immigrant memoir in her 2021 book Beautiful Country. She and her parents emigrated to the New York City metro area from China. Wang discusses her early school experiences, one with a more diverse student population than others....Rebecca Woolf — All of This (Book Review)
Rebecca Woolf creates a complex yet vulnerable tale in All of This: A Memoir of Death and Desire. How do these two topics intertwine, you ask? And Woolf answers this question in spades. Her marriage was far from perfect, but they stayed together. Then doctors diagnose...Melissa Gilbert — Two Memoirs about the Acting Life
Melissa Gilbert and I were born the same year—1964. So I relate to every pop culture reference in her books. We have similar perspectives about the world, despite our vastly different lives. She was a child actor on the long-running TV series Little House on the...Jamie Raskin — Unthinkable (Book Review)
Congressman Jamie Raskin bares his soul in Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy. This combination of memoir and political history covers topics related to the health of this country. One is the crisis of mental illness in this country,...Vanderbilt and Cooper: The Rainbow Comes and Goes (Book Review)
Gloria Vanderbilt grew up with every financial advantage a child in the early 20th century could want. Yet she didn’t have loving parents—one was dead and the other distant. Perhaps, as a result, having a close relationship with her youngest son, Anderson Cooper,...Elizabeth Alexander — The Light of the World (Book Review)
Elizabeth Alexander crafts an elegiac memoir and tribute to her late husband, Ficre Ghebreyesus, in The Light of the World. In many ways their marriage was typical. First, they had a meet-cute, then some dating and relocating, then wedding and kids. Still, the...Memoirs in Essay Form—Madden and O’Farrell (Book Reviews)
There’s nothing like sinking into a satisfying essay based memoir. Whether it’s following a cult survivor or a famous Hollywood star, slipping under another person’s skin is one of my favorite bookish pleasures. And sometimes memoirists step away from the simple...Genealogy — Personal, Societal, and Professional Perspectives
I recently read a few books that examine our individual and collective fascination with genealogy. At our house, we talk often about our ancestors and what we know or don’t know. Our son decided yesterday to start filming his dad when these discussions happen. Because...Lauren Hough — Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing (Book Review)
Lauren Hough shares her outspoken and unique voice in the essay collection Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing. It’s a memoir that wanders (in the very best way) through the various chapters of her life. Listening to the audio version, narrated by Cate Blanchett and the...Levi Vonk with Axel Kirschner — Border Hacker (Book Review)
Levi Vonk is a young anthropology student investigating migrant caravans in Mexico. Early in his process Levi meets Axel Kirschner, whose story includes time in the US, Guatemala, and travel through Mexico. Their experiences form the core of their book, Border Hacker:...Valerie Biden Owens — Growing Up Biden (Book Review)
Valerie Biden Owens offers readers insights into her family, political and otherwise in upcoming her memoir, Growing Up Biden. As the younger (and only) sister of President Joe Biden, she has a unique story to tell. At its heart is a deep trust between family members....Rachel Krantz — Open (Book Review)
The upcoming memoir from Rachel Krantz, Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy is raw and sometimes raunchy. It’s also a tale about control and gaslighting in relationships. As the memoir opens, Krantz is a twenty-something writer who doesn’t...Bakari Sellers — My Vanishing Country (Book Review)
Bakari Sellers addresses a few themes in his memoir, My Vanishing Country. Primarily, he talks about being a young black man in rural South Carolina. But his family is also intricately tied to the Civil Rights movement, so this connection influences him daily. He also...Hyeonseo Lee — The Girl with Seven Names (Book Review)
Hyeonseo Lee tells her harrowing story in The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story. Growing up in the Northern region of her country, the Chinese border was quite close. Her mother had connections there, and her father had some family. One day, Lee...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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