This Is Big by Marisa Meltzer made me think about what the role of an editor is in a memoir. Is it to press them to explore issues they gloss over or just to edit to work for clarity? It must be difficult to edit what is a living person’s account of their own life … Continue reading
Tag Archives: nonfiction
essays / memoir / nonfiction
Enough: Notes From a Woman Who Has Finally Found It by Shauna Ahern
I have to admit that a good bit of the reason I wanted to read this book is that I had read fellow (now former for her) food blogger, Ahern’s earlier memoir/self-help book, Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back…And How You Can Too ten years ago and in it, she hints … Continue reading
Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship by Kayleen Schaefer
Another mashup of memoir and some research, this time into female friendship, Text Me When You Get Home was a peek into a bit of a different world for me. I could not relate to the bulk of this book at all, the author was desperate for friends and acceptance in a way that I can’t … Continue reading
Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir by Jennifer McGaha
I really wanted to like the book more than I did. Her endless making herself out to be a victim was so tiresome. She seems to still be perplexed why the people she defaulted on (hundreds of thousands of dollars!) and whose house they did not maintain or repair would not want to talk to … Continue reading
Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman
I had to hurry on this one because it couldn’t be renewed and I’m headed to the beach for a few days and need to return it ASAP. I had some mixed feelings. I liked the eight flavors she chose because they were quite varied and reflected a lot of different cultures and regions. She … Continue reading
history / memoir / nonfiction
Spinster : making a life of one’s own by Kate Bolick
Another book I had mixed feelings about. It was a mashup of a memoir of a woman who never married and the profiles of 5 (6?) “spinsters” throughout history that Kate Bolick found inspiring. Looking at GoodReads, it seems like a lot of people liked the historical woman part and didn’t love the memoir bits. … Continue reading
essays / food / nonfiction
I’ll Have What She’s Having: My Adventures in Celebrity Dieting by Rebecca Harrington
Apparently, I’ll Have What She’s Having is based on a series of articles Rebbeca Harrington wrote in New York Magazine. That explains the choppiness and length of the chapters; they must have just compiled them and bound them. The premise of the book is cute, she tries various celebrity diets and reports back. Unfortunately, the … Continue reading
