Category: Book Review
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Journals of Spiritual Awakening Turn into a Novel
How did Wendy Baez create such a moving story about a woman traveling, penniless, looking for handouts like a modern version of an ancient pilgrim? It sounds like the fever dream of a novelist driven to invent an extreme plot that would provide the backdrop for a modern Biblical story. But it wasn’t a fantasy.
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Memoirs that ask who is my father?
If you feel that your memoir writing journey is leading you toward this quest to make better sense of one or both parents, or you want to make better sense of people who have already written about that journey, here are some more examples.
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Grieving memoirs – a different slant
Although the story structure was unconventional, in the end, the book met my expectations after all, by offering me the two great gifts I expect from all satisfying memoirs: first, the life and mind of the author, and second, deep insight into a universal aspect of human experience.
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Two Fools at a Party: Serious Side of Humor
After considering both memoirs, my worry about their serious purpose began to evaporate. I could see that their fearless attitude fits perfectly with my understanding of the Hero’s Journey.
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A Cat Memoir Reveals Life’s High Stakes
Every writer searches for a voice that will linger in the reader’s mind, inviting imagination back to the story the way a good song plays out in memory long after the physical recording stops. Ann Kaier’s voice provokes thought, and it lingers. What is it about this voice?
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Interview with Memoir Author Julie Freed
I’ve made the mistake of checking email in the produce section over the asparagus and found myself weepy – a note about the real tears a stranger had reading my book, another empowered to make changes in her marriage, one woman struggling with an alcoholic husband. It’s been the ultimate gift. I’ve been able to…
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A Memoir About Not Falling Apart
To increase our resiliency, we practice self-help strategies such as using encouraging self-talk. We center ourselves through relaxed breathing and other meditative strategies of “being here now.” We reach out for support from others. We pray. And we read inspiring memoirs like Julie Freed’s Naked.
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Understand Self by Looking Back: Memoir of an Examined Life
Kathy Pooler was, in a sense, writing two memoirs at once. The book itself, “Ever Faithful To His Lead: My Journey Away from Emotional Abuse,” traces her journey as a young woman. Her blog covers the period past the pages of the book, chronicling her transformation from a nurse of physical health to her new…
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Your Memoir Teaches Recent Cultural History to Kids
So Karen Prior’s memoir, Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me resonates on multiple levels. It shares the experience of one woman’s coming of age. It offers a brief overview of intellectual history. It explores the role of books in the upbringing of children. And it shows how one woman is fulfilling her end of…
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Immersed in a Memoir about Life, Love and Loss
This strange bittersweet mix of criticizing her actions and admiring her willingness to examine them provides one of the most profound gifts of reading memoirs. Rather than looking at this clumsy mothering from outside and clucking my tongue in disapproval, I’m inside her mind, with her, trying to figure it all out.
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