Memoirs (discussion July 10, 2007)
Compiled by Debbie Wordinger, Indian Prairie Public Library District

The Readers Advisory SIG met on July 10 to discuss memoirs.  These we found fell into a few categories.  We started by talking about childhood memoirs.  These fell into the rosy, nostalgic type we remembered from our childhood, things like Cheaper by the Dozen and represented now by The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson or, in a more literary way, Let Me Finish by Roger Angell. Many recent books are of the “I survived my childhood” type represented by The GlassCastle, The Liar’s Club, Tender at the Bone or Running with Scissors. These memoirs often include parents with undiagnosed mental illness or alcohol abuse. A third type of childhood memoir recognizes some hardship (usually poverty) in childhood but celebrates the adult(s) that made life good such as The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio or The Tender Bar. Memoirs about growing up in an immigrant household offer another perspective.

Other memoirs are about people with unique experiences such as an astronaut, a polio survivor, a boy soldier in Africa, or a man whose life is devoted to birding.

There are also memoirs about ordinary people going through an unordinary time such as Julie and Julia where a woman trying to find herself makes all of the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking or The House on Beartown Road in which a woman cares for her father who has Alzheimer’s. The River Queen is about a woman who travels down the Mississippi by boat to get over the loss of her father.

There are memoirs of people wanting to escape ordinary life who decide to return to the land or to move to some romantic or exotic location.

Food is often important in memoirs whether the book is about a love of food, the importance of sharing food with others, or the connection food makes to an immigrant family.

People read memoirs for the perspective they give on another’s life.  We discussed how accurate memoirs may or may not be, and we decided that since memoirs are based on memory, the truth of the experience to the writer is more important than any facts that might contradict the author’s memory.  We recognize that these are events seen through one person’s eyes, and another participant in the events might have a very different view.

Books we read:

Abu-Jaber, Diana, The Language of Baklava, 2005
The author grew up with an American mother and Jordanian born father.  Life was full of good food and good times with the many Jordanian cousins living close by in upstate New York. But the author’s father was a restless sort, moving the family often, once back to Jordan for a year.  As the author grew older and wanted the life of an American teenager her father’s old world ways came into conflict with his daughter’s.  Each chapter begins with a recipe for a Middle Eastern delicacy or typical American meal as prepared by the author’s mother, not a great cook.  This is a charming story about a close but not trouble-free family.  Appropriate for older teens and adults.
Debbie Wordinger, Indian Prairie Public Library

Angell, Roger, Let Me Finish, 2006
New Yorker fiction editor and baseball writer Angell has written an elegant memoir consisting of atmospheric and beautifully written essays on topics and people important to his childhood and young adulthood including his mother, an editor at The New Yorker, his father, a lawyer; and his stepfather, E. B. White.  Angell’s was a childhood of moderate privilege in New York City in the 1930s.
Debbie Wordinger, Indian Prairie Public Library

Beah, Ishmael, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider, 2007
When civil war broke out in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, even the young were recruited by the national army to fight the rebels.  The horrors of war seen through the eyes of a 13-year-old boy soldier include learning to maim and kill while high on cocaine supplied by his superiors.  That a tenderhearted boy can be transformed into a cold killer is a tragedy. That fate found a way to convert him back into a gentle, caring advocate for worldwide children's rights is an uplifting miracle, retold here by a gifted literary voice.
Lori, Sennebogne, Downers Grove

Bryson, Bill. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir, 2006
Bryson looks back on his childhood in 1950s Des Moines, Iowa, and how wonderful and scary it was to be a kid then, and how much has changed since then. Some humorous passages that you would expect from the author of A Walk in the Woods, but also quite a bit of reflection about American culture and values. His boyhood was not completely middle America; his mother worked full time and was not a good cook, and his father was a sportswriter who covered baseball and occasionally took Billy on trips where he met Stan Musial, Willie Mays and other. His adolescent years were full of fascination with girls, just getting by in school, and adventures with his juvenile delinquent friends.
Recommended for adults and young adults.
Booktalked by Brenda O’Brien, Woodridge Public Library

Cohen Van Pelt, Elizabeth, The House on Beartown Road: A Memoir of Learning and Forgetting, 2003
A sandwich-generation love story about the author, her baby Ava and her elderly Dad. Ava toddles through the world "sponge-like," absorbing everything in her orbit, while advancing Alzheimer's disease is chipping away at Grandpa's  memory.  Elizabeth cares for them both with courage and impressive good humor in a rural farmhouse in upstate New York. While the author is candid about the difficulty of the situation, she manages to convey love and warmth on every page.
Lori, Sennebogne, Downers Grove

Dornstein, Ken, The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky: A True Story, 2006.
David Dornstein, a 25-year-old aspiring writer, was among the 270 people who died in the PanAm Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. He left behind a younger brother, Ken, who years later, in a desperate attempt to come to terms with his loss, begins an excruciatingly detailed reconstruction of David’s life and death. In unvarnished prose, Ken describes poring over dozens of diaries and notebooks, studying documents from the crash investigation, visiting Lockerbie, and interviewing David’s college roommates and former girlfriends (one of whom, in a somewhat unsettling twist, Ken marries himself). The result is a story of obsessions, connections and the enduring nature of fraternal love.
Annabelle Mortensen, Hinsdale Public Library

Dumas, Firoozeh,  Funny in Farsi,  2003
In 1972 7-year-old Firoozeh’s father moved his family from Iran to America, where he had a temporary consulting job waiting in California.  Though the children quickly adapted to American life during their two year stay, the parents found it more difficult.  Even several years later, when they fled Iran during political upheaval and returned to the U.S. permanently, Firoozeh’s mother and father were both unwilling and unable to fully embrace their new culture, with hilarious results.  The author (who brought still more complexity to their lives by marrying a Frenchman) tells humorous tales about her extended family while showing the love and closeness they share as well.  For adults and YAs.
Debbie Darwine, LaGrange Public Library

Ginsberg, Debra, Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress, 2000
As anyone who ever has worked as a waitress/waiter knows serving the public is hard work.  The author writes about her experiences with candor and pathos.
Peggy Hanlon, Orland Park

Jones, Thomas. Sky Walking : An Astronaut’s Memoir, 2006
Four-time astronaut Tom Jones, a civilian scientist, tells all about astronaut selection, training, politics, and the wonder of his missions in space, including one of the first missions to construct the space station. He conveys how hard his job is for his wife, with his long hours, frequent travel, and the anxiety of the missions themselves. He flew on the Columbia  in 1996, making its tragedy upon reentry in 2003 even more poignant. While not blind to the politics of NASA and the International Space Station, Jones is an enthusiastic proponent of space travel and would like to see a manned mission to an asteroid as sort of a preview of a trip to Mars. This book is recommended for anyone who’s wondered what it’s really like to be in space.
Recommended for young adults and adults.
Booktalked by Brenda O’Brien, Woodridge Public Library

Kaufman, Kenn,  Kingbird Highway, 1997
Kaufman dropped out of high school when he was 16 because all he was interested in was birds – he wanted to get out of Kansas in search of North America’s 700+ species.  This was in 1970, when serious birding and list-keeping was just beginning among a new cadre of birders, and Kaufman was in on the new wave.  Hitchhiking all over the continent in search of birds, Kaufman met other serious birders and in 1973 was inspired to try for a Big Year – to see more species in 365 days than anyone else.  Living on less than a dollar a day, traversing the continent while sleeping wherever he could lay his head, Kaufman not only discovered his birds, he discovered himself.
Audience:  Adult and YA
Nancy Bent, Lagrange Public Library

Mee, Charles L., A Nearly Normal Life, 1999
Polio is a nearly forgotten scourge in America. The author experienced polio when he was fourteen years old and living in Elgin, Illinois. This book is an account of the effect of polio on his life.
Peggy Hanlon, Orland Park

Moehringer, J. R., The Tender Bar, 2005
Young J. R. grew up with only his mother in the home of his irascible grandfather.  The only male role models he found were the guys hanging out at the local bar.  Moehringer, now a successful correspondent for the L. A. Times, grew up in a working class family without much money.  He had to learn to appreciate what was given him by his working class neighborhood but then to know when to move on to college and a professional career.  The book has poignant scenes like the young Moehringer waiting for hours with his baseball mitt for his father to show up and take him to a Red Sox game and the very funny scene in which he attempts to lose his virginity on the side of a mountain in Arizona. 
Debbie Wordinger, Indian Prairie Public Library

Morris, Mary. The River Queen, 2007
Morris journeys down the upper Mississippi River on a houseboat with captain Jerry, mechanic Tom, and Tom’s dog soon after Hurricane Katrina. Spartan accomodations, an engine that often needs repair, iffy weather and numerous locks make for a challenging journey. Morris is mourning her 102-year-old father, who lived in Hannibal as a boy. The book is filled with descriptions of the boat, towns and docks visited along the way, along with the author’s memories of her father and the quest to visit places from his past.
Recommended for adults and young adults.
Booktalked by Brenda O’Brien, Woodridge Public Library

Mowat, Farley, And No Birds Sang, 1979.
Farley Mowat, better known for his seminal Never Cry Wolf and children’s classic The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, here pens his memoirs of World War II.  As a raw recruit in the Canadian Army he was sent to Italy at the age of 19.  The stories of early training and maneuvers shine with Mowat’s wry humor, but as the army grinds its way from Sicily towards Rome the horror and futility of war overtake the narrative.  This look at war from the inside makes for sober reading, but Mowat is such a fine writer that one cannot put the book down.
Audience:  Adult and YA
Nancy Bent, LaGrange Public Library

Murphy, Austin, How Tough Could It Be? The Trials and Errors of a Sportswriter Turned Stay-at-Home Dad, 2004
An amusing account of a sportswriter’s attempt of playing Mr. Mom for his two children for six months. 
Peggy Hanlon, Orland Park

Nguyen, Bich Minh, Stealing Buddha's Dinner: A Memoir, 2007
The author escaped the fall of Saigon with her father, sister, and grandmother. They relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, a white-bread city of blonde, mostly Christian conservatives. Nguyen's story of assimilation is a pop-culture tour of the
1980s, with special emphasis on her obsession with American food.  In her household, her grandmother Noi did the cooking and honored a small statue of Buddha by leaving him the choicest morsels she had to offer.  Bich, meanwhile, coveted Pringles potato chips, Betty Crocker bundt cakes and the other foods that "real people" ate.  Family relationships are explored through stories about her Mexican-American stepmother Rosa, and the reappearance of her mysterious birth mother.  A humorous multicultural coming-of-age story with wide appeal.
Lori, Sennebogne,Downers Grove

Obama, Barack.  Dreams From My Father, 1995
Written before he was famous – even before he was elected to the Illinois State Senate – this lyric memoir is a beautiful exploration of, as the subtitle says, “race and inheritance.”  The son of a white mother and a black Kenyan father, raised in Hawaii and then Indonesia, Obama’s multi-ethnic background led him to an introspective journey into his and his family’s past and its effects on his psyche.  Community activism gave him a taste for the politics of change, and the book ends with his decision to go to law school and give himself a stronger voice.  An absorbing lesson in what it means to be an American, and a must-read before the 2008 election.
Audience:  Adult and politically interested YA
Nancy Bent, LaGrange Public Library

Powell, Julie. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living. 2005.
Pushing 30, despairing over her inability to conceive and stuck in a dead-end job, Julie Powell one day distractedly picks up a dog-eared copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. One successful Potage Parmentier (potato soup) later, she’s hatched a plan to create a blog that chronicles her attempt to make all 524 recipes from Child’s classic cookbook in one year. What follows is the story of her ups (nailing Bifteck Saute au Beurre on the first try) and downs (the Charlotte Malakoff aux Fraises disaster, to name one), as well as several subplots about her personal life, family, coworkers and friends. Powell writes with wry, breezy humor that is reminiscent of the best of chick-lit, and includes a few imagined vignettes featuring Julia Child. Ultimately, Julia’s book teaches Julie a lesson: When life gives you lemons, take the juice, add salt, pepper and butter, and make some delicious Beurre au Citron.
Annabelle Mortensen, Hinsdale Public Library

Reichl, Ruth, Tender at the Bone, 1998
Restaurant critic Reichl explores her unusual upbringing and the development of her passion for cooking in this memoir.  From childhood, when young Ruth made it her duty to save her mother’s dinner guests from food poisoning, through her introduction to gourmet cuisine and subsequent jobs in restaurants, her obsession with good food remains strong, and her story fascinating.  Includes recipes.  For adults and older teens.
Debbie Darwine, LaGrange Public Library

Ryan, Terry, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, 2001
Saddled with an alcoholic husband who drank up most of each paycheck, 1950s housewife Evelyn Ryan had to find a way to take care of her ten children.  A combination of talent and luck enabled her to win many national jingle-writing contests, and supplied her family with money, appliances, toys…even a car.  Written by one of her daughters, this is a proud, affectionate tribute to a mom who found a creative way to save her family from poverty.  For adults and teens.
Debbie Darwine, LaGrange Public Library

Sheffield, Rob. Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time. 2007
Long before the iPod shuffle there were mix tapes, those plastic cassettes that legions of music lovers carefully compiled in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. For Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield, mix tapes aren’t just nostalgia—they are a way to keep alive the memory of his late wife, Renee. Love is a Mix Tape documents their relationship in part by listing the tracks of tapes that the couple made for one another in the early 1990s. Sheffield sweetly conveys Renee’s vivacious, free-spirited personality as well as their shared affection for all kinds of music, a passion that helped him work through the pain of losing his wife only five years into their marriage. Gen X-ers and fans of Nick Hornby and Chuck Klosterman should particularly enjoy this big-hearted memoir.
Annabelle Mortensen, Hinsdale Public Library