Magical Memoir Moments

Here's a Quick Way to Discover Great Books: Six Lists That Get to the Heart of Memoir

I love lists. Don’t you? Lists save us time. They help us visualize our goals. They inspire us. They appeal to our sense of completion with a beginning, middle, and end. Book lists are the best of all. I first enjoyed lists I found on Amazon. Then Goodreads offered me the chance to see the…

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Memoir First Lines–A Contest for Readers of this Blog

Recently I had an inquiry from a writer who asked if I had a list of excellent first lines from memoirs. That sounded like something I should have. First words contain the vital “hook” that overcomes the reader’s resistance and skepticism. Think about how you challenge a book to speak to you when you gaze…

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Shirley's Top Ten Memoirs

“Which memoirs do you like best?” That’s the most frequently asked question when someone hears about this blog. Having now read at least 100 memoirs, I am ready to offer my own top ten list for your inspection. The ten books fall into three categories: Memoirs written before the current trend–books that first drew me…

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Mary Karr's Secret–Humility and Confidence–Interview in the Paris Review

Mary Karr has done it again. Maybe I should say that Amanda Fortini has done it–meaning that the interview Fortini published in The Paris Review with Karr as a subject is wonderful. If you haven’t read any of Karr’s poetry or her three memoirs, you will want to do so after reading the interview. If…

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Memoirs for High School Students: Do You Have a Suggestion or List?

Last weekend three of my college friends and I met in the beautiful home of my friend Tina in Virginia. We first spied each other in September, 1966, when we played hookey from college orientation sessions and walked to the local pizza shop instead. We have remained in each other’s lives ever since. Tina is…

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Top Ten Memoir List from Mary Karr

As you know, the goal of this blog is self-education in public.  I am trying to learn about memoir by reading and reviewing great examples of the genre, books about the genre, and offering some mini-memoir on the way. When readers search for good memoir reading lists, I want them to find this blog. What…

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