100 Memoirs

E. Ethelbert Miller spoke to Krista Tippett recently on her American Public Media program “Speaking of Faith.”  Tippett described the conversation as a “jazz riff,” and I think you will agree that Miller, who is poet, spiritual seeker, memoirist, and director of the Afro-American Resource Center at Howard University, weaves together a beautiful cloth melody [...]

Edward Short’s review of Mary Karr’s Lit (which I also reviewed here), contains a few paragraphs very relevant to all memoir writers. I invite you to read the complete review here. Short’s insights are brilliant.
Here are the four most relevant paragraphs to our concerns as we seek to understand the power of memoir to go beyond [...]

If you want to spring out of bed tomorrow morning, saying, “Good!” I suggest you read this book the night before. And if you want a role model for how to age with zest and enthusiasm, even to the extent of looking forward to death as the last great adventure, Huston Smith is your man.
I [...]

Forrest Church’s voice rings in my head today. I finished his memoir last night, and  many of his themes are ones deeply embedded in my own life.  His 2008 book, Love & Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow, published by Beacon Press, focuses on the two big ideas of the title, especially [...]

Now that Dr. Gerald L. Miller’s memoir, A Hundred Camels: A Mission Doctor’s Sojourn & Murder Trial in Somalia, has been published, and you can buy it at Amazon.com, I will share with you the foreword I contributed to the book which I hope can do double duty as a book review.
This book contains an [...]

My Lenten season reading this year includes Marilyn Chandler McEntyre’s extended meditation on the prayer of St. Patrick. I have written about Marilyn in previous blogs and have read several books of her poetry.  My appreciation continues to grow for her spiritual and literary wisdom as I read more of her work.
Christ, My Companion [...]

Parker Palmer turned 70 years old today.  I celebrated his birthday by re-reading his book Let Your Life Speak.  I took the memoir lens in hand and went searching for how Parker uses his life story in this book. The code on the back jacket cover says “spirituality/work life” not “memoir.” But what if we [...]

This morning, as is our habit, my husband and I attended Skyridge Church of the Brethren.  Our pastor Debbie preached about healing, using as a lectionary text Psalm 30, the one that promises, in the majestic language of the King James Bible, that “weeping endureth for the night but joy cometh in the morning.”  This [...]

My husband Stuart gave me a book for Christmas I did not know existed–a pleasant surprise indeed.  Helen Alderfer, an early woman leader in the Mennonite Church and someone I have long admired, has published a book in her 90th year.  I have always loved reading about people who keep achieving their dreams well into [...]

I will cut to the chase on the last night of the year 2008.  I loved this book.  I read it nearly in one sitting, fascinated by the straightforward telling of an incredible story.  Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist working at the Brain Bank at Harvard University, woke up one morning with a headache [...]