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A creative writing professor at a third-tier college in upstate New York is on his way home from a summer fellowship in France, where he’s spent the last three months loafing around Bordeaux, tasting the many varieties of French wine at his disposal, and doing just about anything but actually working on his long overdue novel. A stopover in Brooklyn to see his and his wife’s closest friends—John, a jaded poet-turned-lawyer with a dubious moral compass, and Sophie, a once-promising fiction writer with a complicated past and a mysterious allure—causes further trouble when he and Sophie wind up sleeping together while John is out serenading Brooklyn coeds with poems instead of preparing legal briefs. But instead of succumbing to his failures as a teacher, writer, and husband, an odd freedom begins to bubble up. Could a love affair be the answer he’s been searching for? Could it offer the escape he needs from the department chair, Chet Bland, who’s been breathing down his neck? Relief from the gossip of colleagues and generational tension with students? Respite from embarrassment with his wife, Debra Crawford, and her meteoric rise as a novelist? His escapades might even make the perfect raw material for an absolutely devastating novel, which would earn him tenure, wealth, and celebrity—everything he needs to be set for life. If only he could be the one to write it. A brilliant case of art imitating life, Andrew Ewell’s “sharp, witty” (Richard Russo, author of Straight Man) debut is a poignant tour de force that asks who owns whose story, skewers the fictions created from our lives and others’, and brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “publish or perish.” [Publisher's Blurb]
posted by chavenet on Aug 27, 2024 - 2 comments

In her midthirties and newly free from a terrible relationship, Tabitha Lasley quit her job at a London magazine, packed her bags, and poured her savings into a six-month lease on an apartment in Aberdeen, Scotland. She decided to make good on a long-deferred idea for a book about oil rigs and the men who work on them. Why oil rigs? She wanted to see what men were like with no women around. [more inside]
posted by latkes on Jun 22, 2024 - 0 comments

"Studies show that nearly 70 percent of divorces are initiated by women--women who are tired, fed up, exhausted, and unhappy. We've all seen how the media portrays divorcées: sad, lonely, drowning their sorrows in a bottle of wine. Lyz Lenz is one such woman whose life fell apart after she reached a breaking point in her twelve-year marriage. But she refused to take part in that tired narrative and decided to flip the script on divorce." (From Bookshop.org) [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes on May 2, 2024 - 5 comments

"Full of intimate stories, from chasing down secret love affairs to battling body image and struggling with familial strife, Pageboy is a love letter to the power of being seen. With this evocative and lyrical debut, Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world." -- MacMillan [more inside]
posted by johnofjack on Dec 23, 2023 - 1 comment

"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."--Hannah Gadsby, Nanette (CW: assault, molestation, rape, injury, isolation, suicidal ideation, body image or other mental health difficulties) [more inside]
posted by winesong on May 20, 2023 - 6 comments

Stand up comedian Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she's had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. This is a story of how being female can get in the way of being autistic and how being autistic gets in the way of being the 'right kind' of woman.
posted by ellieBOA on Feb 23, 2023 - 4 comments

An international bestseller—the extraordinary memoir of a German-Nigerian woman who learns that her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the brutal Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler’s List. [more inside]
posted by johnofjack on Jan 14, 2023 - 2 comments

If you are writing a memoir before you are 30, you are either deluded, or you have seen some shit. Emi Nietfeld has seen some shit. Abusive parents. Divorce. Suicide. Institutionalized. Foster care. Homeless. Harvard.
posted by COD on Dec 27, 2022 - 0 comments

I'm Glad My Mom Died is a memoir by American former actress and singer Jennette McCurdy based on her one-woman show of the same name. The book is about her career as a child actress and her difficult relationship with her abusive mother who died in 2013. [from wikipedia] [more inside]
posted by phunniemee on Dec 27, 2022 - 9 comments

When Tom Hart and Leela Corman's young daughter Rosalie dies suddenly, Hart writes a graphic memoir to articulate his and his wife's on-going search for meaning in the aftermath of her death. [more inside]
posted by johnofjack on Dec 12, 2022 - 2 comments

In Soft Lad, for the first time, Grimmy will share his outlooks, surprising obsessions and personal experiences with the world, in book form. From his move from Oldham to the bright lights of London, to his 14-year career climbing to the helm of the Radio 1 breakfast show, he'll discuss everything from his love of music through to self-care and partying, Red Nose Day, coming out, dogs, family, ADHD, Catholicism, and all that he's seen in between.
posted by ellieBOA on Nov 16, 2022 - 0 comments

2005, from the back jacket: In this unusually personal book from the star of many beloved and classic film comedies-- from The Producers to Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles to Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory-- Gene Wilder writes about a side of his life the public hasn't seen on the screen. [more inside]
posted by winesong on Oct 6, 2022 - 1 comment

This is the weighty (literally, it's 400-plus pages) memoir of the two years that Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) worked on the Alberta oil sands to pay off her college loans. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan on Sep 15, 2022 - 10 comments

Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near—and very queer—future. [more inside]
posted by ellieBOA on Sep 3, 2022 - 0 comments

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. [more inside]
posted by johnofjack on May 19, 2022 - 1 comment

"When her twenty-five-year marriage suddenly falls apart, journalist Florence Williams expects the loss to hurt. But when she starts feeling physically sick, losing weight and sleep, she sets out in pursuit of rational explanation. She travels to the frontiers of the science of “social pain” to learn why heartbreak hurts so much—and why so much of the conventional wisdom about it is wrong." [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes on May 5, 2022 - 3 comments

"Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart. For those of you who don’t know, H Mart is a supermarket chain that specializes in Asian food. The “H” stands for han ah reum, a Korean phrase that roughly translates to “one arm full of groceries.” H Mart is where parachute kids go to get the exact brand of instant noodles that reminds them of home." Michelle Zauner's memoir, Crying in H Mart (NPR; Goodreads) explores identity, family relationships, shared meals, grief, and memory in a clear-eyed and compassionate telling. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes on Jul 27, 2021 - 2 comments

Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Are You My Mother?, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For) creates another autobiographical graphic novel, this one covering her entire life and examining it from the perspective of her lifelong quest for physical fitness and its effect both on her body and her mind, and how it has changed (and changed her) as she's grown older. [more inside]
posted by Halloween Jack on May 28, 2021 - 5 comments

“Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider. Perhaps it results from an illness or a life event such as a bereavement or the birth of a child; perhaps it comes from a humiliation or failure....However it arrives, wintering is usually involuntary, lonely, and deeply painful.” Katherine May's memoir, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, reflects on what she has learned about this life season: not avoidance, but acceptance of its inevitability, and the ways she has found to soften its impact. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes on Feb 15, 2021 - 2 comments

A grieving widow discovers a most unexpected form of healing—hunting for mushrooms. [more inside]
posted by progosk on Jan 31, 2021 - 0 comments

"Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter account reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media." Real But Also Not Real: An Excerpt From Becoming Duchess Goldblatt [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes on Jan 23, 2021 - 2 comments

An essay collection from Samantha Irby about ageing, marriage, settling down with step-children in white, small-town America.
posted by ellieBOA on Sep 10, 2020 - 7 comments

Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. They make a venom so toxic it can kill a human in three minutes. Their sting—microscopic spears that pierce with five million times the acceleration of gravity—is the fastest known motion in the animal kingdom. Made of roughly 95 percent water, some jellies are barely perceptible virtuosos of disguise, while others glow with a luminescence that has revolutionized biotechnology. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science, and they remain among the most poorly understood of ocean dwellers. More than a decade ago, Juli Berwald left a career in ocean science to raise a family in landlocked Austin, Texas, but jellyfish drew her back to the sea. Recent, massive blooms of billions of jellyfish have clogged power plants, decimated fisheries, and caused millions of dollars of damage. Driven by questions about how overfishing, coastal development, and climate change were contributing to a jellyfish population explosion, Juli embarked on a scientific odyssey. She traveled the globe to meet the biologists who devote their careers to jellies, hitched rides on Japanese fishing boats to see giant jellyfish in the wild, raised jellyfish in her dining room, and throughout it all marveled at the complexity of these alluring and ominous biological wonders. Gracefully blending personal memoir with crystal-clear distillations of science, Spineless is the story of how Juli learned to navigate and ultimately embrace her ambition, her curiosity, and her passion for the natural world. She discovers that jellyfish science is more than just a quest for answers. It’s a call to realize our collective responsibility for the planet we share.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis on Jan 14, 2020 - 1 comment

The two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter behind the groundbreaking album Exile in Guyville traces her life and career in a genre-bending memoir in stories about the pivotal moments that haunt her. When Liz Phair shook things up with her musical debut, Exile in Guyville—making her as much a cultural figure as a feminist pioneer and rock star—her raw candor, uncompromising authenticity, and deft storytelling inspired a legion of critics, songwriters, musicians, and fans alike. Now, like a Gen X Patti Smith, Liz Phair tells the story of her life and career in a memoir about the moments that have haunted her most.
posted by Chrysostom on Oct 24, 2019 - 1 comment

Tillie Walden's graphic memoir about being a mid-level competitive figure skater and queer teen in Texas. Spinning captures what it’s like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.
posted by dinty_moore on Sep 28, 2019 - 4 comments

Nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work: You want to know about the struggle of growing up poor, black and female? Ask any girl from any hood. You want to know what it takes to rise above your circumstances when all the cards are stacked against you? Ask me. [more inside]
posted by rue72 on May 10, 2019 - 1 comment

A young woman confronting her fears and finding home in the North. Blair Braverman fell in love with the North at an early age: By the time she was nineteen, she had left her home in California, moved to Norway to learn how to drive sled dogs, and worked as a tour guide on a glacier in Alaska.
posted by dinty_moore on Jan 2, 2019 - 6 comments

An Amazon Best Book of the Month! The space between life and death is a moment. But it will remain alive in me for hundreds of thousands of future moments. One phone call. That's all it took to change Stephanie Wittels Wachs' life forever... [more inside]
posted by elsietheeel on Feb 27, 2018 - 4 comments

Two comedy giants this week. First, Jesse talks to Chris Rock about what it was like to become one of the world’s best stand-up comics in the 1990s. Rock’s got a new movie out. It’s called Top Five. Then, Jesse sits down with Monty Python member John Cleese. They’ll talk about his early life and about what Cleese really thought about the recent Python reunion. Cleese’s new memoir is called So, Anyway. Plus, we ask Scott Aukerman what piece of culture he wishes he had made. His answer? Twin Peaks. Lastly, Jesse tells you about a TV show that lets people just be people.
posted by ocherdraco on Dec 10, 2014 - 9 comments