Memoir Book Club

Driving with Dead People: A Memoir

I've read many books and memoirs, but few as memorable and gripping as Monica Holloway's Driving with Dead People: A Memoir. It begins like many before it. The author introduces you to herself as a youth and the strange family and surroundings that are imprinted in her mind. The difference is that while there are plenty of books that point out a family's eccentricities not many compare to Holloway's.

Her father's bizarre hobby of video taping local tragedies and disasters, of which her neighborhood seemed to have more than a fair share, mixed with a history of abuse and parental indifference leads Holloway to an obsession with death. Befriending a mortician’s daughter, her playground is a casket room and later her job, a driver that picks dead bodies up from the airport. As adults, she and her older sister recover repressed memories of being sexually abused as children. And despite the soul-rocking realities of her young life, she becomes a remarkable, successful driven woman.

This book is shocking, not only because of the tragic, disturbing story, but also Holloway's grace and even humor as she reveals what would leave many a quivering mess. Her mother's selfish immaturity. Her father's sick obsessions. Wondering if she were better off dead. Read more about Driving with Dead People: A Memoir

Still Love in Strange Places: A Memoir

Marrying someone means marrying his or her family. We've all heard it before, and for most Americans, that means accepting quirks, and sometimes frustrations, of their in-laws. But what if you have to leave the familiar confines of our country's borders to really get a sense of and understand where your beloved spouse came from and what made him who is?

Author Beth Kephart shares the experience of understanding her husband's roots by traveling to his native country, El Salvador, in Still Love in Strange Places: A Memoir. This brilliant work is like few memoirs because Kephart's accounts are written in such a poetic, gripping way. Her descriptions of the foreign, war-torn, beautiful land of her husband's people is just as captivating as the tale itself.

Considering herself a “white-bread,” “risk-averse” American woman didn't stop the passion felt for wanting to dig into a deeper understanding of her husband's history. Because of her love for him, she was compelled to travel to his family's coffee farm in the jungles of El Salvador, despite the risks, to gain a deeper sense of the youth that made him into the man he was to become. Read more about Still Love in Strange Places: A Memoir

Life Itself: A Memoir Of Roger Ebert

I remember watching Siskel and Ebert at the Movies when I was a kid. In my youth, I found it interesting to listen to these famous movie critics sound off on what they thought of the movies of the day, and always looked forward to their inevitable thumbs up or thumbs down. It was like a sentence being passed down by official judges. Pure awesome.

As I got older and could better understand and judge the integrity and enjoyability of movies for myself, I often found myself at conflict with my movie critic heroes' judgments. Still, I always valued their critiques and loved to read them anyway, even if I couldn't challenge their verdicts in person.

When I came across Roger Ebert's memoir, Life Itself, I was compelled to pick it up. After all, I grew up watching the man every single week and idolizing him for what seemed like the coolest job on the planet.

The book chronicled his life from his charmed childhood in central Illinois to his wins and losses as an adult, both in his career and personal life. He discussed his life in the entertainment industry and the ups and downs of being in the public eye along with how he coped with life after his battle with thyroid cancer. Read more about Life Itself: A Memoir Of Roger Ebert

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands

Comedian Chelsea Handler has never been to shy away from critics or conflict in both her professional and personal life. Read more about My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands

Is Your Life Worthy of a Memoir?

I have often wondered how some of the vacuum brained starlets and trust fund celebrities get the gumption to write memoirs in their early 20s. I mean, isn't the whole point of a memoir to show off your life experience.

Unless you grew up in a third world country and was drafted into the army at age 3, odds are you haven't done enough in your life at the age of 21 to warrant an actual memoir. What about all of you? Do you think your life is good enough to be featured in a memoir that people will actually want to read.

The problem is too many of us lead rather mundane and uninteresting lives. You spend your days working your 9-5 job and come home to a loving family. It's the Leave It To Beaver Life and everyone wants that, but it sure doesn't make for good reading material. I don't think I could sit through an entire book about Tuesday family nights and Wednesday meatloaf. Read more about Is Your Life Worthy of a Memoir?

Growing Up Amish

Ira Wagler's memoir

I've always been interested in various cultures and the Amish communities sprinkled about the U.S. are among some of the most fascinating. Read more about Growing Up Amish

Christmas with Paula Deen: Recipes and Stories from My Favorite Holiday

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without shared memories. One of the best things about spending time with family and friends during the holidays is hearing about their most treasured Christmas stories and traditions. It gives the season a personal, cozy tone that doesn’t come from flashy decorations or overpriced gifts.

My wife, who enjoys the Christmas season more than anyone else I know, shares in my enjoyment of family Christmas memories. She also loves to cook new decadent dishes each year to make holiday meals even more special. That’s why I bought her the Food Network star Paula Deen’s book, Christmas with Paula Deen: Recipes and Stories from My Favorite Holiday last Christmas. It’s the perfect combination of memoir and kitchen companion, and really, who doesn’t love downhome southern cooking?

Michael Buble: Onstage, Offstage

"Counting a celebrity memoir out, based on age alone, is an opportunity to miss a good story"

I always find it interesting when a celebrity under the age of 50 writes a memoir. Seriously, what could they have possibly got to share, especially when they’re only in their mid-thirties? Then I look at my own life. I’m in my early thirties and have seen and lived through more than many of my elders.

Everyone’s life is a twisted maze of choices, experiences and stories that deserve to be told, no matter how old the individual is. The important thing about a memoir is that it’s that person’s unique story, shared with those who want to know more.

When I heard that 36-year-old crooner, Michael Buble, had written a memoir, my initial reaction was that of puzzlement. He’s so young, I thought. His career, while successful, has really only just begun. What could he have to share already?

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?

Anyone who's loves rock and roll knows Aerosmith's front man, Steven Tyler. Or, at least they think they do. Most are aware of his bands tumultuous and infamous history with sex, lots of drugs and decades of full-on rock and roll, but they've never heard the dirty details like they will if they read Tyler's memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?

This mesmerizing memoir is 150% Tyler and once you start reading, there's no way you could possibly put it down. Told in his truly unique and unapologetic voice, he delivers his history with the band in a shockingly honest way, you'd absolutely expect from the music icon. Filled with expletives and bizarre, but completely entrancing rhymes, this book is like walking around in the head of an entertainment genius, that lived the life and amazingly enough, actually remembered most of it.

American Apparel CEO Dov Charney Might Just Be Telling All

But do we really want to know?

Local Seattle authors Kerry Coburn and Worick run a series of ongoing workshops focusing on how to get publishing contracts; I haven’t yet had the pleasure of attending any of their workshops yet, but I am guessing that “act like an asshole” isn’t one of the pair’s recommendations on how to get published. Yet, the asshole strategy seems to work for several authors including Tucker Max and Dick Cheney. The latest rumored writer/asshole to land a book deal is the CEO of American Apparel, Dov Charney.