A Walk in the Woods

Subtitle: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

Author: Bill Bryson

What does it say about itself: "Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happend upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town."

So begins Bill Bryson's hilarious book A Walk in the Woods. Following his return to America after twenty years in Britain, Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Spring Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The AT, as it's affectionately known to thousands of hikers, offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes - and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to test his own powers of ineptitude, and to witness the majectic stillness of his fellow human beings.

My thoughts: Every so often a reader returns to an author that they had loved but never returned to. In the interest of full disclosure I would like to mention here that I didn't actually read this book per se, I listened to it on CD on a long drive, as read by the author. This is the manner in which I first discovered Mr. Bryson and memoirs in general. As best I can remember the first memoir I ever encountered in the realm of pleasure reading was Bryson's The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Bryson has a great wit and wonderful storytelling style that lends itself to his preferred mode of writing. Bryson is best known as a travel writer, and has written a handful of books about rediscovering America after returning to the states from Britain. Bryson grew up in Iowa, his childhood recounted in his memoir noted above, and moved to Britain as a young man. Travel writing is not technically memoir, however many travel books can be seen as memoir in that they focus on short, specific periods of time and discuss the changes in the self caused by the adventure.

This example is quite enjoyable, as the book jacket states Bryson weaves a hilarious story of hiking portions of the Appellation Trail (of course I would giggle to myself every time "hiking the appellation trail" was said, due to recent political scandals causing the phrase to become a euphemism). As someone from the decidedly western part of the country I never considered the Appellation mountains to be rather impressive or daunting, as the mountains in my area are higher and much more imposing on the sky line. Bryson's adventure is quite compelling, moving through the troubles of being completely unprepared for the physical demands of the AT to the comfort and realization of being a hiker and bonding with the trail as a whole. In general this is quite the composition of love to the trail, and anyone interested in travel writing or the AT should check out this little gem.

Grades
Quality of writing: 4
Entertaining: 4 (had some slow sections)
Compelling: 4
total: 12/15 - B

up next: A double feature! Waiter Rant - Steve Dublanica and Waiting - Debra Ginsberg

As it Happens Interview with Wayson Choy

Hi all.

No new book yet. If you want to know the next book will be "Waiter Rant" by Steve Dublanica which I just found out I must have bought on the first day the paperback was available. Hmm. The reason for the delay is I have taken on Great Gatsby for the time being.

Anyway the point of this post:

As it Happens did an interview with Wayson Choy about his memoir Not Yet a Memoir of Living and Almost Dying. The interview was great and talks about what he experienced and a bit about the writing process. The CBC book club has a blog post about it here. (at the bottom of the post is a audio file of it, and I'm sure it will be available on the podcast soon) It's definitely worth a listen.

read on friends.

Little Chapel on the River

Subtitle: A pub, a town and the search for what matters most

Author: Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds

Sub Genre: Major life shift, community, memoir of the place

How many pages: 278

What does it say about itself: "Forced from her downtown Manhattan apartment by the terrorist attack of September 11, journalist Wendy Bounds was delivered to Guinan's doorstep - a legendary Irish drinking hole and country store nestled along the banks of the Hudson River in the small town of Garrison, New York - by a friend.
Captivated by the bar's charismatic but ailing owner and his charming motley clientele, Bounds uprooted herself permanently and moved to tiny Garrison, the picturesque river town they all call home. There she became one of the rare female regulars at the old pub and quickly swept up into its rhythm, heartbeat, and grand history - as related by Jim Guinan himself, the stubborn high priest of this little chapel. Surrounded by a crew of endearing, delightfully colorful characters who were now her neighbors and friends, she slowly finds her own way home.
Beautifully written, deeply personal, and brilliantly insightful, Little Chapel on the River is a love story about a place - and the people who bring it to life."

My Thoughts: I have this tendency to buy books and not read them, they just languish in obscurity to my mind on shelves, taunting me and filling me with shame every time I see them. I thought this book was going to be one of those. I'm really glad it wasn't. There is something dubious about a book blurb stating something is "beautifully written" or something similar, one expects them to by lying. In this case the blurb does not lie. Bounds is a writer/editor at the Wall street Journal, a job which lends credibility to the quality of the writing. Because Bounds has spent most of her professional life recording and reporting her surroundings the observations found in this book are pointed and poignant. This is an interesting account of a time frame that is arguably the most news worthy of many of our lives. Bounds and her partner's proximity to those events of September 2001 add an interesting layer to this retelling. I found myself feeling really close to all the people in this story and the author. One reason I read is to add color to the black and white map of the world that is in my mind, to have accounts of small places in deep detail makes me feel like if I were to travel to these places I would be able to find my way around and feel comfortable in this foreign place. All in all this memoir brought up a whole lot of interesting character study and introspection about the relationship between the self and their community. I really enjoyed this one.

Another thing I love about contemporary memoirs is that in many cases the story doesn't end in the book and the author is still willing to share. You can generally find blogs by the author or websites giving more information on the subject. This book led me to Wendy Bounds' blog (featuring videos from the WSJ of her product testing tools for the home) and a blog about the chapel in general. I will let you find them yourself (just a quick google search will do the trick) but be warned that some spoilers can be easily found on these websites, or information which may change your perception of the book (which could be good or bad, you decide)

Grades: (All scores out of 5)
Quality of writing: 5 (WSJ should be proud)
Entertaining: 4
Compelling: 5
Total: 14/15 - 93% - A

Still Standing... ugh.

So this isn't a review (the review for Little Chapel on the River is coming, soon) but I wanted to say something about the news that Carrie Prejean has signed a book deal to write and publish her memoirs to be titled Still Standing. I've seen or heard a couple of news blurbs about this bit of "news" and thought I would write something about why I will NOT be reading this book.

Carrie is 22. This does not (NOT!) mean she cannot write a memoir at the age of 22, it's just that she seems to not have much to say other than the last six months. Six months can be really interesting to read about if treated in a more global scale. While Carrie, as a (former) pageant title holder, wishes for world peace (presumably) it is hard to imagine her using her own personal woes to create a more compelling piece. Perhaps she could examine society's obsession with celebrity and failure, or an insightful discussion on the right to personal opinions and society.

Rule number one is no celebrity memoirs. This includes those people holding on to their fifteen minutes of fame like it's the last lifeboat on the Titanic that is their public profile.

The publisher. Regnery Publications has given Prejean this book deal. Regnery seems to be an ideologue of a publishing company: (from their website) Welcome to the 62nd year of Regnery Publishing. Back in 1947, when Henry Regnery launched his bold adventure, the country was recovering from a World War, and a few brave souls were championing the start of the modern conservative movement. Regnery gave voice to that movement, publishing some of the most important conservative books of the age. I find it strange that the publisher has such a specific outlook. I checked the HarperCollins Publishers website (which seems to be a common memoir publisher btw) and couldn't find a single mention of the ideological bent of the publisher. Regnery has a "New and Noteworthy" section on their website that seems completely populated by books you find in the clearance section of your local barnes and noble. Notable titles from the publisher include, but are not limited to (text in parenthesis is from the website):

• Green Hell (Move over red, white, and blue, America is going green. Personal expression is fine, but this has much more sinister implications because going green is no longer a choice; it's a government mandate. In his shocking exposé, Green Hell, Steven Milloy unveils how the green movement is rapidly growing stronger—and more invasive—under our first green president.)
• Welcome to Obamaland (Does the election of Barack Obama fill you with dread, rather than elation? Do you feel like your country has been high-jacked by a bunch of liberal fruitcakes who have no idea how to fix the economy, but know exactly how to ruin your life? Then good news: you're not alone! )
• Boys Should be Boys (Boyhood used to be a time of freedom and fun—of catching bullfrogs, playing tackle football, and roaming the woods—but not anymore. Rambunctious, high-spirited boys—healthy boys—nowadays face an increasingly hostile world that doesn’t value the unique gifts of boys, that discounts their masculine virtues, and that undermines what boys need to become mature, confident, and thoughtful men. In Boys Should Be Boys, Meg Meeker, pediatrician and author of the critically acclaimed Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, unlocks the secrets of what parents can do to restore some of the magic of boyhood and help their son become the man they want him to be.)

I'm all about opening one's mind to differing opinions to their own, however the books published by this publisher seem to be completely opposite of my personal beliefs, and the logical foundations on which those beliefs are based. I like to read to relax and enjoy myself, not to raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels.

Do we really believe that Prejean will write in a competent way? Based on the few times I've seen video of her public speaking I do not hold out hope on her ability to write in a intelligent and well crafted way.

This memoir is slated to come out in November. It is currently July, this gives Prejean about 4 months to write the book, have it edited, change things for editor's notes and such. This seems rather truncated in the realm of publishing quality books.

I'm assuming this book will flop majorly. I had completely forgotten about Prejean until this info came out today (yesterday? I'm not sure, I get a lot of my cultural news on podcasts a day or so behind) and I bet people will have completely forgotten about her by November.

I hope you don't wait with bated breath for my review of Still Standing, because it will not be coming.

The Film Club

Author: David Gilmour

Sub-Genre: Narrative, memoir of the other, father/son relationship.

How Many Pages: 217

What does it say about itself: "When David Gilmour's fifteen-year-old son Jesse started flunking every subject at school, this father offered an unconventional deal: Jesse could drop out - not work, not pay rent - but there was a catch. He had to watch three movies a week of his father's choosing. And so week by week, side by side, father and son watched the world's best (and occasionally worst) films - and talked about movies and life. Then, as the Film Club moved toward its bittersweet but inevitable end, Jesse made a decision that would surprise even his father..."

My thoughts: I bet you can guess the ending. I started this thinking it would be an interesting look into a struggling father/son relationship with some movies put in there for some intelligent conversation. About half way through this book I started noticing that there seems to be something off about their relationship. I don't know anything about mental or learning conditions but it seems rather obvious that Jesse, the son, needs some professional help in his issues with learning and interpersonal interaction. The father, the author who apparently has won numerous awards, comes of as a self-centered jackass. The films are pretentious and rarely (if ever) venture into the realm of contemporary, it's clear that David is choosing these films from a narrow library of films he enjoyed earlier in his life. There is never a discussion of a film made in the last ten years, which is surprising because the majority of the book takes place between 2002 and 2005. The writing started out alright, but I began to tire of the over use of failed imagery, going so far as to mark every one I found after a certain point. It's an interesting book but I hope that not all parents would be so blind to the faults of their children and actually try to help them instead of appease them, the MO of this relationship.

Grades: (All scores out of 5)
Quality of Writing: 3
Entertaining: 3
Compelling: 3
Total: 9/15 - 60% - D

What's up next: Little Chapel on the River - Gwendolyn Bounds

Exile in Guyville

Subtitle: How a punk rock redneck faggot Texan moved to West Hollywood and refused to be shiny and happy

Author: Dave White

Sub-Genre: Epistolary - Gay, relocation

How many Pages: 246

What does it say about itself: "I really hope you haven't picked up this book thinking it's going to help you learn something about humanity or life or whatever. If that were the case, it would have tips or hints or something, maybe even one helpful bit of advice about how to make over your life with ease and grace, or, as in my case, make a cross-country move from a beloved hometown to a gay ghetto in a big city and how to fit in and not be constantly mortified. But it doesn't

"This book is simply the one-year diary of a man who grew up in a nomadic family, and who as an adult decided to make a stubborn fetish out of staying put. Then that man found himself uprooted in the middle of his life and dumped, panting and sweating, into an unfamiliar environment. That's when he sat and complained about it, all the while stuffing his face with doughnuts.

"My name is Dave. This is my story."

My thoughts: As you can probably gather from the blurb this book has a sarcastic wit that is quite enjoyable. The book came first as a series of e-mails to a group of friends and family left behind in Texas after Dave moves to West Hollywood. The mailing list grew as people started passing on the e-mails to friends and eventually they have been collected for this book. This is a great account of the culture shock of moving and the way that we latch on to the past. The main accounts are punctuated by sections at the end of the chapters which divulge random information such as celebrity sightings or anecdotes of horrible people around the author. The style of this book makes one feel like you are reading the letters of a friend (being that these chapters started as just that) allowing you to become emotionally connected to the characters. Deeply humorous and self aware this a fun quick read.

Grades: (All scores out of 5)
Quality of Writing: 4
Entertainment Value: 5
Compelling: 4
Total: 13/15 - 87% - A-

(This ends the seeding of the blog, I will in the future add books that I have read in the past and wish to share with the world, but this is good for now)

What's up next: The Film Club - David Gilmour

How I Learned to Snap

Subtitle: A Small Town Coming-out and Coming-of-age Story

Author: Kirk Read

Sub-Genre: Narrative - sexual issues, coming out

How many Pages: 228

What does it say about itself: "In his salty, laugh-out-loud memoir, gay and precocious Kirk Read will show you how it's done. Read comes of age in Pat Robertson's hometown as the youngest son in a large military family. Evan at his most rebellious, he keeps both his tart sense of humor and dignity intact while embracing sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. How I learned to Snap is a much a hilarious call to action as it is a touching call to acceptance."

My thoughts: It's funny, when I buy these books I read the back blurb to help make a choice but after reading the books I tend to be like "What?" This memoir is humorous but I wouldn't call it laugh-out-loud. There is an expectation with coming out stories that there will be a lot of external problems in the process. Surprisingly there are very few external issues in this particular story. The book sets up that there will be, flaunting that Kirk is from Pat Robertson's hometown, and that his father is a former Military man. Even in the moments you feel that something bad is going to happen it seems to twist into something less problematic, or even a positive experience. It is refreshing to see a coming out story that isn't all about being beaten up every day after school to come home to abusive parents who don't accept their child's homosexuality. This is more the story of the rebellious teenager that is Kirk Read rather than the homosexual Kirk Read.

Grades: (all scores out of 5)
Quality of the Writing: 3
Entertainment: 4
Compelling: 3
Total 11/15 - 73% - C

This Boy's Life

Author: Tobias Wolff

Sub-Genre: Narrative - Journey, coming of age

How many Pages: 288

What does it say about itself: "This unforgettable memoir of boyhood in the 1950's, a true modern classic, introduces us to the young Toby Wolff, by turns tough and vulnerable, crafty and bumbling. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move. As he fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff masterfully re-creates the frustrations, cruelties, and joys of adolescence. His various schemes - running away to Alaska, forging checks, and stealing cars - lead eventually to an act of outrageous self-invention that releases him into a new world of possibility"

My thoughts: This one is older than most memoirs I read. I was actually assigned this book in a class on memoirs (I know, I'm a huge dweeb), but this is a very interesting piece of literature. Based mostly in a small town in Washington state (just east of where I live currently) the book looks at the struggles of a mixed family through the eyes of one of the children. There is a common theme in many memoirs, that of abuse or neglect early in the life of the author, which makes sense as a form of sensationalism to sell books. The examples in this particular piece are not sensationalized in the way you expect. All in all this has an interesting life encapsulated onto the page.

Grades: (all scores out of 5)
Quality of Writing: 5
Entertainment Value: 3
Compelling: 3
Total: 11/15 - 73% - C

Dishwasher

Subtitle: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in all Fifty States

Author: Pete Jordan

Sub-Genre: Narrative - travel/adventure

How many pages: 353

What does it say about itself: "Dishwasher is the true story of a man on a mission: to clean dirty dishes professionally in every state in America. Part adventure, part parody, and part miraculous journey of self-discovery, it is the unforgettable account of Pete Jordan's transformation from itinerant seeker into "Dishwasher Pete" - unlikely folk hero, writer, publisher of his own cult zine, and the ultimate professional dish dog - and how he gave it all up for love."

My Thoughts: This is a great mindless type of read. There isn't much heavy discussion of the state of the world or discovery of self. A road book in the tradition of On the Road or Grapes of Wrath but with a much more modern twist. There isn't much to say about this book that isn't covered in the subtitle or blurb. It's a fun read.

Grades: (all scores out of 5)
Quality of Writing: 4
Entertainment Value: 5
Compelling: 4
Total: 13/15 - 87% A-

Jesusland

Author: Julia Scheeres

(going from worst to best.)

Sub-Genre: Narrative - religious issues

How Many Pages: 384

What does Booklist say about it: "In the name of religion, Scheeres and her adopted black brother, David, suffer cruel abuse, first in their Calvinist home in Indiana in the 1970s and then when their surgeon father and missionary-minded mother send the teens to a fundamentalist Dominican Republic reform school that is run like boot camp. The self-righteous sermonizing would be hilarious if it were not the justification for vicious punishment. The racism is open, from the other kids and from authority. Scheeres tries to find comfort in drink and in sex with a classmate ("His heat and his desire they comfort me. I shall not want"). What is unforgettable is the tenderness between sister and brother, as uplifting as any sermon. Their relationship is never sentimentalized: She is ashamed of the times she turns her back on him, tired of being called "nigger-lover . . . the black boy's sister," but they help each other through the worst with horseplay, humor, and courage. The writing is Dickensian in its blend of the tender, the brutal, and the absurd. Hazel Rochman"

My Thoughts: This is probably my favorite of the memoirs I've read. Whenever people ask me to recommend a book this is the one first off the tip of my tongue. The writing is superb, Sheeres' style is compassionate and raw. You spend most of the book in terror as to what may happen to David, the brother. This is a book as much about Julia's life as it is David's. The first section of the book deals with their time in Indiana, which is unsurprisingly difficult for the young black man and his sister. The real shock comes in the second portion of the book, when the two children are sent to a school in the Caribbean which uses religious indoctrination as a pretext for abuse. The length of this book became a non-issue due to the desire to continue reading. The reader never bores of the stories presented and long for more when the book ends.

Grades: (all scores out of 5)
Quality of Writing: 5
Entertainment Value: 4
Compelling: 5
Total: 14/15 - 93% A

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Author: Toby Young

(I'm starting with my least favorite memoir I've ever read so be warned)

Sub-Genre: Narative - I'm going to call it a "star fucker" memoir

How many Pages: 329

What does it say about itself: "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is Toby Young' hilarious and best selling account of the five years he spent looking for love in all the wrong places and steadily working his way down the New York food chain, from glossy magazine editor to crash-test dummy for interactive sex toys. A seditious attack on the culture of celebrity from inside the belly of the best..."

My thoughts: This is the most needless and masturbatory piece of writing I have ever read. At no point in this book does one feel a connection to Toby as a fellow human being. He is self indulgent and narcissistic. This was made into a movie (why? I don't know) which I will never see because I hated the book so much. The excessive length is a major detriment because the reader keeps expecting it to be better, and it never delivers. If you like books about unlikable people being highly successful and then falling (not very far I mean the guy is/was on top chef as a judge) this is one to read... but don't.

Grade: (all scores out of 5)
Quality of Writing: meh 2.
Entertainment Value: 1
Compelling: 1
Total score: 4/15 - 27% F

Welcome

This is my new blog about memoirs. I'm going to use this space to discuss the very specific genre of literature. But for the first post I'll answer some questions that would hypothetically be asked about this blog if I had readers.

Who are you? Just an avid memoir reader. I read memoirs like they're going out of style (too late) and read them almost exclusively. This obsession started my Sophomore year of college, and now I am a recent college graduate with lots more reading time. In that time I have read other books (fiction, text books, and such) most notably I took time off memoirs to read the entire Harry Potter series (late I know) and this winter I read the entire Tales of the City series (even later).

Why memoirs? I don't know, I'm just intrigued by them.

What is a memoir? I don't have a official definition but what I consider to be a memoir is as follows. A memoir is a type of autobiography. It differs from an autobiography because it is generally not just a factual account of the entire life of a person; it is more the realm of creative nonfiction. These books tend to take on much smaller spans of time and focus on a specific aspect of a person's life. There is an understanding that a memoir is more or less factual. It is not a requirement of a memoir to be factual, it is understood that some creative license has been taken while writing this account. This deviation from complete fact may be as benign as an incorrect memory or as large as completely fabricated portions (see the infamous Million Little Pieces fiasco). I have always been of the camp that believes that one shouldn't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

How do you rate memoirs? Memoirs tend to be one of the following: well written, entertaining (or shocking), or compelling. Most memoirs are one of these three things, good memoirs are two, and great memoirs are all three. I have read some really good memoirs and some really bad ones, both of which I will document here.

How often do you post? When I finish a memoir I will post about it. I'll seed the blog with a few starter posts about past readings. It may take me a day to read a memoir or weeks. I'll post what I'm currently reading at the end of the most recent post.

Are there rules/what are the rules? Ok, here we go.

1. No celebrity memoirs. Famous authors are the exception as they are not famous for anything other than their writing.

2. I will finish all books before they are reviewed.

3. Books will get scores on three sections: Writing, Entertainment Value, and How Compelling. These are completely arbitrary and my opinion.

4. I reserve the right to break any and all rules at any given time.


So I think that's it. Hope this blog is enjoyable to someone.