Bibliography

Underpinnings

These are some of our favorite books, useful in shaping a philosophical and practical background to the challenge of memoir writing and producing. They ponder questions such as, What is truth in memoirs? How does the "act" of reading function on emotional, spiritual, physical, and intellectual levels? Why do we need to preserve and pass along our histories?

Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies. The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age. Fawcett Columbine. 1994. $10.50. Fascinating exploration distinguishes between the acts of reading and viewing, the physicality of holding a book, the differences between exploring a linear, unchanging book and exploring a never-ending, web-based presentation.

Goleman, Daniel. Vital Lies, Simple Truths. The Psychology Self-Deception. Simon and Schuster. 1985. $12.00. Denial is analyzed as an important survival mechanism, although it can also be a destructive habitual pattern.

Hirsch, Marianne. Family Frames: Photography, Narrative, and Postmemory. Harvard University Press. 1997. Although Hirsch holds to the academic vocabulary and grammar, she manages a fascinating query into the power and deception of photographs that is well worth considering if you ever find yourself under the spell of old photos.

Moore, Thomas. Care of the Soul. A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life. HarperCollins. 1992. $12.00. Helpful in keeping your memoir grounded.

Riemer, Jack and Nathaniel Stempfer. So that your values live on - Ethical Wills and how to prepare them. Jewish Lights. 1991. $17.95. The old tradition of ethical wills is resurrected here by Riemer and Stempfer. Caution: You need convictions to write an ethical will.

Smith, Sidonie and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography, A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. University of Minnesota Press. 2001. This book, by and for academics, bandies about terms like “components of autobiographical acts” and “subjects of inquiry,” but it’s informative. I adore its neatly alphabetized “Fifty-two Genres of Life Narrative,” beginning with “Apology” (“A form of self-presentation as self-defense against the allegations or attacks of others, an apology justifies one’s own deeds, beliefs, and way of life,” etc.) and ending with “Witnessing,”(“As an act of being present to observe or to give testimony on something, witnessing is relevant to issues of how subjects respond to trauma,” etc.).

Stone, Richard. The Healing Art of Storytelling. A Sacred Journey of Personal Discovery. Hyperion. 1996. $12.95. This is a must-read for background on what we call "amnesis" or "cultural amnesis" (story loss) and he calls "destorification." Perhaps his is the better term.

Zinsser, William, editor. Inventing the Truth. The Art and Craft of Memoirs. Houghton Mifflin. 1995. $10.95. Great book uses excerpts from well-known memoir writers on the question of whether your own memory/story is the best truth.

Also:

Call of Stories by Robert Coles (Houghton Mifflin)

Doing Oral History by Donald A. Ritchie (1995) (Simon and Schuster Macmillan)

Family Secrets: How Telling and Not Telling Affect Our Children, Our Relationships, and Our Lives by Harriet Webster (Addison Wesley)

Process of Change: How Is It Affected by Autobiography? by Jennifer Ire, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts

Stories Lives Tell edited by Carol Witherell and Nel Noddings (Teachers College Press)

Tales and Transformations: Stories in Families and Family Therapy by Janine Roberts (Norton)

Tolstoy's Dictaphone: Technology and the Muse by Sven Birkerts (Graywolf Press)

Memoirs

My Several Worlds by Pearl S. Buck (1954) (Day). I was utterly fascinated by this book and its wealth of information and insights into China as well the international community there. Pearl S. Buck has a keen eye, deep perspective, and page-turner writing style.

It's Always Something (Avon) by Gilda Radner. A serious yet very funny memoir of comedienne Gilda Radner's experience with cancer, made poignant by her later death when the illness unexpectedly returned.

The Road from Coorain (Vintage), and True North (Vintage), and A Woman's Education (Knopf) by Jill Ker Conway. An autobiography in three parts (a framework that works well and could be emulated). Conway's books wrench themselves away from the traditional, acceptable women's autobiographical genres. Instead, they deal intellectually and emotionally with concepts not considered appropriate for women's memoirs, such as intellectual and spiritual development. Not that they ditch emotions and relationships! As a Smith College alumna, I especially loved her review and send-up of her time as its president.

Becoming Brothers by Howard Waskow and Arthur Waskow. A good treatment of differing points of view, as each brother contributes his perspective on their lives together and apart.

Hilary and Jackie by Hilary due Pre and Piers du Pre. (Ballantyne) The book is ludicrously superior to the movie. It also provides a good example of the use of multiple first-person voices, as well as letters and journal entries.

Plain Speaking, An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman, as told to Merle Miller (Berkley Books). This book helped clarify quite a lot about Truman and the post-World War II era. It is also a good example of supplementing as-told-to text with outside commentary.

The Color of Water by James McBride (Riverhead Books)

Dance of the Blue Jay by Louise Erdrich, a nicely written composite of the year after giving birth -- a dynamic duo with Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, A Journal of My Son's First Year (Fawcett Columbine)

Drinking the Rain by Alix Kates Shulman, a beautifully crafted paean to solitude and aging (at fifty) and being one with nature. Shulman finds herself enjoying life by herself (without food or supplies) in a small, isolated cabin. Eventually, she returns to Manhattan, whose bounty and energy she also enjoys.

The Gifts of the Body by Rebecca Brown (Harper Collins), very beautiful stories of patients Brown helped in their last months.

In My Mother's House: A Daughter's Story by Kim Chernin (Harper Colophon)

Paula by Isabelle Allende (Harper Collins), a family history written while Allende's daughter was in a coma

Also:

This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (Simon and Schuster) Approaching Eye Level by Vivian Gornick (Beacon)

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwige Danticott (Vintage)

Bubbe Meisehs by Shayneh Maidelehs edited by Leslea Newman (HerBooks)

About Writing (Including Memoirs)

Dill, Barbara. The Journalist's Handbook on Libel and Privacy. (Free Press) This will go a long way towards clarifying issues of invasion of privacy, libel, and slander, always important to be cognizant of.

Rainer, Tristine. Your Life as Story. Discovering "New Autobiography" and Writing Memoir as Literature. Tarcher Putnam. 1997. $14.95. Rainer, a former writer of TV scripts, is able to energetically dissect plot, character, and movement, and provide extremely useful formulae for action-packed memoirs with memorable characters.

Lamott, Ann. Bird by Bird; Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anchor Books. 1994. $12.95. People who are uptight about their writing and need to laugh more will benefit tremendously; others will benefit hugely.

Wakefield, Dan. The Story of Your Life. A step-by-step approach to exploring your past and understanding your present. Beacon Press. 1990. $12.95. Several good writing exercises that will get you writing thoughtfully.

Also:

Art and Craft of Feature Writing, based on The Wall Street Journal Guide, by William E. Blundell (Plume Books)

The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters by Tony Barnstone and Chou Pink (translators)

For All Time, A Complete Guide to Writing Your Family History by Charley Kempthorne

Your Life as Story and The New Diary by Tristine Rainer (St. Martin's Press). These are especially recommended.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Writing Your Life, Putting Your Past on Paper by Lou Willett Stanek (Avon)

The Story of Your Life: Writing a Spiritual Autobiography by Dan Wakefield (Beacon Press)

Turning Memories into Memoirs: A Handbook for Writing Lifestories by Denis Ledoux (Soleil Press)

Starting from Scratch by Rita Mae Brown (Bantam)

The Writer as an Artist: A New Approach to Writing Alone and with Others by Pat Schneider

The Writer's Desk by Jill Krementz (Random House)

Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala), and The Wild Mind (Bantam) by Natalie Goldberg

Writing from the Heart: Inspiration and Exercises for Women Who Want to Write by Leslea Newman (The Crossing Press)

Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn G. Heilbrun (Ballantine Books)

Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner Worlds by Deena Metzger

Keeping Family Stories Alive, Discovering and Recording the Stories and Reflections of a Lifetime by Vera Rosenbluth (Hartley and Marks)

Self-Publishing, Finding Agents, et cetera

The Copyeditor’s Handbook, A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn. University of California Press. 2000. $19.95. I love this book because it’s so practical. A commonsense approach to never-ending copy editing questions. The answers herein are usually based on subjective decisions about using technical (literary) conventions or keeping the style of conversation. Far easier to use than the Chicago Manual of Style.Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents by Jeff Herman. Prima Publishing. 2002. 892 pages. $24.95. If you want an agent or publishing company to invest in your manuscript, this is the first place to shop. It’s available at local bookstores and you should thoroughly explore its thorough annotated listings, many of which are fleshed out by the agents and publishers themselves. Also included are useful how-to chapters on writing good book proposals, deciding where to send them, proceeding after rejection, and so on. Also on CD-Rom. Go to www.primapublishing.com

Publishing Basics, A Guide for the Small Press and Independent Self-Publisher by Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. Eighty concise, informative pages, clearly written, and with examples of page shades, scanning techniques, and more. A terrific introduction, and free because it’s a great marketing tool for the author’s print brokerage, RJ Communications (New York, NY). ISBN 0-9700741-1-5.