Believer, Beware selected by Jeff Sharlet, et al.

Faith lurks in many forms and practitioners.  Sometimes those who walk the road to faith are John Q. Public ordinary, and then on occasion, not.  Read up on some of the more unconventional types in this accessible collection of short memoirs and sketches.  Its casts of writers include a seeker of Sufis in war zones, fundamentalist Christian [...]

Writing Places: The Life Journey of a Writer and Teacher by William Zinsser

William Zinsser is best known as the author of On Writing Well, a perennial best seller in the genre of nonfiction writing.  In Writing Places, he recounts with fond memories his long tenure in the writing profession and the locales in which he has written.  He begins with a humorous essay on an office space [...]

The Cracker Queen by Lauretta Hannon

The Cracker Queen is several things packed into one – a childhood memoir, a self-help guide, and an anecdotal compilation extraordinaire.  It tells a story of kid-dom on the wrong side of the tracks that is totally lacking in self-pity, and an evolving adulthood perspective that grows stronger and larger from these childhood experiences rather than caving [...]

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron

The author wrote this short book, based on a 1989 lecture, years after the fame of Sophie’s Choice and The Confessions of Nat Turner made him a household name in literature circles.  I have not read either of the aforementioned books, nor am I sure that Styron will ever be an author that I will [...]

The Invisible Wall & The Dream: The First Two Memoirs of a Planned Trilogy by Harry Bernstein

The Invisible Wall  & The Dream: A Memoir
 
     Bernstein was born in 1910 in northern England; he was already in his 90s when he started writing a trilogy about his life.  After his beloved wife’s death, he faced a decision:  should he kill himself, or should he write his memoirs?  Readers can be glad [...]

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

     A newly hired restaurant critic for the New York Times maintains family life, work,  and her identity during the tumultuous ’90s, and gives the New York food critic world a much needed shot in the arm.  What a read – I wish I’d read this jewel of a book sooner.
     It took me up until recently to discover [...]

Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter, by Adeline Yen Mah

     Falling Leaves is the story of a real-life Cinderella and her cruel stepmother. After Adeline’s mother died, her father married a beautiful 17-year-old. Adeline and her older sister and brothers slept upstairs, receiving little attention, while her father and stepmother doted on the two children from their marriage. While the children from the first marriage ate [...]