MEMOIRS

I believe that memoirs are the most popular of all the various forms of non-fiction including biographies and essays.  Memoirs are the thoughts and recollections of the writer. They are usually associated with an emotional experience or feeling. Autobiographies are the complete story of the writer’s life.

I recently read a terrific memoir, one of the best I ever read. It was recommended by President Obama and called Educated by Tara Westover.  The protagonist is Tara, a young woman who writes about her life growing up in a family of survivalist Mormons. Survivalist refers to their belief that they will be the only people left after the “end of days”. Tara was born in the small family home in the mountains of Idaho and like her siblings was home schooled and forced to work in her father’s scrap business. Despite these hardships, she was able to graduate from BYU, earn a Master’s degree form Harvard and a Ph.D. from Cambridge.

There are numerous lists on line of memoirs considered to be essential reads. The memoirs described below are those that I have read and really enjoyed. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot is the intriguing story of two Irish veterinarians and their patients. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen describes an aristocratic woman’s experience on a coffee plantation in darkest Africa. Deserted by her husband, she falls in love with a white hunter and becomes involved in schooling the natives and a war. Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes is filled with the author’s anecdotes of his early life in poverty stricken Limerick, Ireland and living in New York City with an alcoholic father. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom recounts the touching visits of a former student with his dying professor. Walden by Henry David Thoreau is the classic story of a non-conformist philosopher who abandons city life to camp alone for a year near Walden Lake in Massachusetts. One of his oft repeated thoughts are “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away . . .”

One of my memoirs is called Thursday Nights at Bloomies describing humorous experiences during my visits as a divorced professor to a famous New York department store. It can be found in my collection of short stories Bright Figures, Sinister Shadows.

I would welcome questions or comments from my readers who may remain anonymous if they wish. I promise to respond.