Book #19 of 2021: A Promised Land by Barack Obama This memoir is a solid but not spectacular inside look at Barack Obama’s political career, from his earliest run for Illinois State Senate through his ordering of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound midway into his first presidential term. (That’s a fairly arbitrary cutoff …
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Book #12 of 2021: The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty An interesting but digressive text, blending personal memoir and genealogical research with an effort to trace the roots of southern cuisine through enslaved and free black traditions. Author Michael W. Twitty’s passion for …
Book #11 of 2021: Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford [CW: sexual assault. I’m not sharing the cover of this book, out of concern that it may be triggering.] Author Lacy Crawford’s first nonfiction title offers powerful testimony on the way she was treated as an underage girl at a prestigious boarding school in …
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Book #286 of 2020: I Want To Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom A short but funny memoir / comedy essay collection from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend creator and star Rachel Bloom. It’s not as entertaining as that show, and contains fewer behind-the-scenes stories than I would have hoped, but the author is refreshingly …
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Book #272 of 2020: Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey A short but disturbing read, focused partly on author Natasha Trethewey’s experiences growing up mixed-race in the segregated Deep South and partly on her abusive stepfather threatening, beating, stalking, and ultimately murdering her mother. It’s obviously a deeply personal account, but it’s also …
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Book #245 of 2020: The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager This title is a firsthand account of author Sara Seager’s experiences with death — primarily that of her young husband to cancer, but also those of her father, a dog, and two cats — as well as a look at …
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Book #221 of 2020: Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T. E. Lawrence This 1926 memoir was the inspiration for the classic movie Lawrence of Arabia, about a British soldier’s experiences aiding the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks. I haven’t seen the film, and I also don’t know a whole lot about that …
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Book #205 of 2020: A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost An entertaining if rambling celebrity memoir, which I’ve found most interesting for its backstage look at the production of Saturday Night Live. But there’s also a surprising amount of gore in the descriptions of author Colin Jost’s more memorable injuries and infections, and some …
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Book #202 of 2020: How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones The difficulty with millennial memoirs is that for the most part, our generation has not yet reached a stage where we can honestly put the arc of our lives into a complete coherent narrative for ourselves or others. Such is the case …
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Book #187 of 2020: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Although this free-verse memoir captures some great impressionistic snapshots of author Jacqueline Woodson growing up amid the dawning Civil Rights movement, it’s overall a tad short and disjointed for my tastes. I’d still recommend the title for younger readers, especially those interested in a black …
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