An indispensable book by writers who have experienced firsthand the rewards and challenges of crafting a memoir and Eileen Simpson on Poets in Th...
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reviews
May 12, 2008
Wendy
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There are a few gems here -- the latter part of Annie Dillard's "To Fashion a Text" and Toni Morrison's excellent guide to the history of African American memoir: "The Site of Memory." The bibliography is also fascinating, to see what writers were reading as they wrote their memoirs. Otherwise, this book hasn't quite made the transition from spoken presentations to published essays, and the product is neither solid craft advice nor strong personal essay.
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Jul 28, 2010
Megan
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I read this in preparation for a unit I'm planning on memoir and autobiography for a tenth grade high school class. Almost all of the essays collected here are exceptionally thoughtful, but especially the ones by Toni Morrison, Annie Dillard, Jill Ker Conway, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Morrison essay is probably the best--it touches on something that I find particularly interesting yet unexplored about the genre, which is the line between fiction and memoir, between "truth" and "
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Aug 31, 2010
Kony
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Nine modern writers reflect on the joys, struggles, and surprises of memoir writing. I plunged into this book expecting to be stimulated and inspired, and I wasn't disappointed.
No in-depth tutorial of the genre here. Just a peek into the hearts and minds of a mix of writers who share a way with words, an impulse to craft stories of memories, and little else. Transcribed from talks, so the tone is conversational, but the insights are as sharp and elegantly couched as if they were pen More...
No in-depth tutorial of the genre here. Just a peek into the hearts and minds of a mix of writers who share a way with words, an impulse to craft stories of memories, and little else. Transcribed from talks, so the tone is conversational, but the insights are as sharp and elegantly couched as if they were pen More...
Sep 07, 2008
Nancy
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I love Zinsser. I love his writing, his thought process and his mind. His writing (included in this anthology) is planted on earth, graspable. He's an awesome editor as shown in this work. The collected essays deal with the many considerations inherent in memoir. This anthology includes the work of Dillard, Baker, Kazin, Morrison and Thomas. Dillard suggests that the re-writing of a memory will implant the edited version in the mind of its maker (71). Zinsser says, "Memoir is a window
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Mar 15, 2011
Kate
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For the last several weeks, this book and I have become companions in our journey through our advanced memoir workshop.
Like any anthology there were some sections that influenced or stood out more than others and for me my inspiration came from the introduction, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The way our class was set up was that we'd read an excerpt from the memoir itself, then we'd read the commentary on how the author came to write his/her More...
Like any anthology there were some sections that influenced or stood out more than others and for me my inspiration came from the introduction, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The way our class was set up was that we'd read an excerpt from the memoir itself, then we'd read the commentary on how the author came to write his/her More...
Feb 23, 2009
Sharon
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Zinsser's introduction promises more than the book delivers. I enjoyed a few of the commentaries on process, but I thought less of Dillard after reading her comments on her own writings. Also, a few were very self-congratulatory. But, what did I expect from a book with authors talking "about" their writing rather than reading their actual writing?
Feb 08, 2010
Anj
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Nine authors explain their individual process of writing their memoirs. A good resource book for anyone attempting to write their own memoir. I especially enjoyed reading the chapters for Frank McCourt, Russell Baker, and Eileen Simpson.
Apr 22, 2009
Leslie
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I read this book expecting a lot and I wasn't disappointed. The introductions, which are usually long and boring and something I skip half the time, was excellent and informative, and each chapter was like a different facet of the whole memoir writing experience--motives, process, results, consequences. My favortite chapter was by Frank McCourt, and I got a lot from Annie Dillard's chapter even though her approach, philosophy and just about everything she said is different than mind. I really
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May 01, 2008
Hurston
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This is a good complement to Zinsser's classic "On Writing Well." I was hoping for the magic sauce that would make my life interesting enough to write a book about it and get rich and retire, so I was disappointed. It's really a collection of writings from several very successful memoir writers and each tells, in the writer's own words, how they went about getting their memories down on paper and into a logical, coherent form. It's very well written and interesting. If you're going to
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Oct 17, 2009
Kate
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10 authors give their take on memoir writing and what drove them to tell their own life stories.
Jun 10, 2007
IN the last two weeks, I just tackled the task of committing the letters of a 25 year friendship to a scripted presentation. I was inspired and educated to read these reflections by major authors - of fiction and nonfiction - of their process of actually writing about their own lives in the first person.
In one selection Annie Dillard reflects that once you commit something of your own life to written text, the act of writing ( and refining), the text-experience can overshadow the More...
In one selection Annie Dillard reflects that once you commit something of your own life to written text, the act of writing ( and refining), the text-experience can overshadow the More...
Mar 31, 2009
Lenore
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I used this text in a college writing course, Approaches to Teaching Writing. It's a great sampling of various authors' approaches and tensions in the writing of memoir.
Jul 30, 2008
Linda
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This isn't a "how to" book. It's basically a book of essays by successful memoir writers. They each tell something they think is important regarding how or why they wrote their memoirs. I found it interesting and comforting that these very successful writers felt and experienced the same things I have, and I gleaned some ideas to try with my own writing.
Aug 09, 2007
Jenni
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Good. A book of essays by nine different memoirists including: Russell Baker, Frank McCourt, Annie Dillard, and Toni Morrison. I highlighted something in every essay. Some are better than others.
Jan 03, 2008
Stephanie
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Interesting book about writing your own memoir. Each chapter is by a famous author who has written a memoir and the decisions and consequences of having done so. Helpful for anyone considering writing a memoir.
Oct 06, 2011
Michael
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Just getting started (after a very profitable book buying journey to Powell's a couple of days ago), and am very pumped to read this, which includes pieces by some of my favorite authors.
Oct 20, 2010
Steve
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A very good source for anyone who wants to write memiors or just likes to read them.
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