Memoir Book Links

Here are links to the memoir excerpts that we read in class.

Dorothy Allison's writing was the one that seem to strike most of you, so here it is in full:

"Where I was born - Greenville, South Carolina - smelled like nowhere else I've ever been. Cut wet grass, split green apples, baby shit, cheap makeup and motor oil. Everything was ripe, everything was rotting. Hound dogs butted my calves. People shouted in the distance; crickets boomed in my ears. That country was beautiful, I swear to you, the most beautiful place I've ever been. Beuatiful and terrible. It is the country of my dreams and the country of my nightmares: a pure pink and blue sky, red dirt, white clay, and all that endless green - willows and dogwoods and firs going on for miles."

from her book Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.

The graphic novel/memoir was Blankets by Craig Thompson.

The book that I read a number of excerpts from and which was about memoir writing (an excellent resource), very well written with a number a great quotes and exercises is called Writing the Memoir: A practical guide to the craft, the personal challenges, and the ethical dilemmas of writing your true stories by Judith Barrington. Her memoir, which some of you read in class (she was looking at photos and remembering her time in Spain and eating tortillas with some male friends there) is called Lifesaving: A Memoir.

The excerpt that some of you read about the exchange student in Thailand who wrote very poetically about escaping her homestay family to go for a swim"in water so deep it's almost cold" in journal-like entries was by Karen Connelly called Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal. She wrote it when she was only 17 years old. I'm not sure if she rewrote it or if this is simply a reprint but there is a similar sounding book by her under another title called The Dream of a Thousand Lives.

The book which described a woman sitting tiredly on a wall watching some students and then turkeys walk by was by Kathryn Harrison about her journey on the Santiago de Compostela and is called The Road to Santiago.

Finally, the humorous excerpt about the brother's voice was by David Sedaris (one of the most well-known "funny" memoirists) from his book Me Talk Pretty One Day.

All of these writers are fabulous and it is well worth reading any of their work you come across.