That’s what I’m thinking, but I’m open to suggestions. I would love to steer clear from, I don’t know, cancer, death, war, insanity, child abuse, genocide, and things that blow. That would be my only request. I’ll read about someone with a difficult mother, but only if at the end everyone is in a relative state of happiness. I hunted around Goodreads to see what memoirs everyone is enjoying, and it looks like food ones are always good. Homesteading and chickens seem a popular choice, too.
I’m thinking maybe a food one or a homesteading one. My goal is to close the book and say something as important as, “That recipe for aspic sure looks swell!” or “I don’t know about you, but Australorps are my favorite egg laying hen, hands down.”
p.s. Yesterday was awesome. Thanks for having such an interesting conversation with me regarding mythology, violence, whether to monitor our kids reading, and how books can be both addictive and disturbing.
I’m stuck reading a depressing memoir for my local book club simply b/c the author is coming to town and will speak in English (!). I’m having a really hard time finishing it because -and maybe I’m such a cynic for saying this- it’s so predictable. Maybe it’s only predictable to me b/c I have experience with troubled youth, that could be my problem.
Yet I have a problem with memoirs in general, and it’s that so many of them come across as navel-gazing as opposed to telling me a/their story. I feel that’s a fine line with memoirs, but as soon as they cross that line they have a hard time getting me to turn another page. What a tricky genre!
As a rule, I don’t read memoirs! And yet, it’s weird, because a lot of the popular memoirs I have read. I make no sense, even in my own head. I debated Bossypants and that other one that came out, but as much as I dislike memoirs, I dislike celebrity ones even more!
I have to say, after reading through the comments I’m kind of excited about a food-genre memoir. I’m definitely adding a few of the suggestions below to my Amazon wish list. The Molly Wizeman/Orangette book never appealed to me, mainly because I’d read her blog practically since its inception. When the book finally hit the stores lots of people who’d read the blog were saying it was a re-hash, but otherwise lovely. It seems to be the way of many bloggers-to-book authors. But if you never read the blog you might just like the book!
Ruth Reichel and Julia Child;s books are now on my to-read list and I’m wondering what took me so long. Politically-oriented food ones aren’t; I find they are often filled with splashy statements with no bibliography citing empirical data and that bugs me (Barbara Kingsolver, cough). I’m liking the book discussions Jules!
You know that I’m still undecided about “The Dirty Life”, but have you ever considered reading “My Life in France” by Julia Child? I read it two years ago and LOVED it. Just another suggestion to throw in the pot. :-)
Yes, that should be in one of the links above! The only problem is that on Goodreads it seems that a lot of people from the club have already read it!
I read “A Sweet Life in Paris” and liked it… not my absolute favorite, but enjoyable, and gave a nice glimpse onto life in France, which I maybe enjoyed more than the parts about food. I’ve also read “Season to Taste,” which again, just wasn’t my favorite, but which I think you might enjoy because of it’s research/science component. A chef loses her sense of smell, so the book is memoir focused on her overcoming that challenge, but it actually delved a lot into the science of the nose, which is interesting or boring, depending on who you are. :) The food memoir I most recently truly enjoyed was “A Homemade Life” by Orangette blogger Molly Wizenburg. Even if you don’t read it for book club, I’d recommend reading it at some point. Basically, she writes a short personal story, then a recipe. (For example, a story about her father — now deceased — and the first time he made her pancakes, followed by the recipe for pancakes.) I’m no cook — though, heaven help me, I try — but I loved the format of the book. I thought the recipes looked doable and attainable, and Molly was a lovely narrator: funny and clever, the book just the right amounts of sweet and smart.
Also recommend: “Bittersweet” and “Cold Tangerines” by Shauna Niequist. They’re books of essays centered around food and life and spirituality. I loved her writing style so much; again, I’d recommend these even if you don’t choose them for your book club.
Cold Tangerines is on my list of books to read. You had a quote on your blog a while back that I loved.
I was just coming to recommend A Homemade Life. Love it – and it sits with my cookbooks because that chocolate cake recipe (the one they made for their wedding) is an all-time favorite! And I have been planning to read Season to Taste.
My friend Tristan has been trying to get me to read that book forever!
I’ve been wanting to read Molly’s book! I have a long list of food memoirs I’m working through right now. I adored Niequist’s Bittersweet and cannot wait for Bread and Wine to come out. (Cold Tangerines is still on the ever expanding To Read list.)
This one’s a new one to me–I must be slipping. I did pop out and read a few reviews, a couple of which said they laughed as much as they cried. So, that’s something. I’m probably not the best person to ask about Memoirs, as I read maybe one a year. And the ones I love are the likes of Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid–memoirs that make you look back and laugh at the absurdity of it all . . . only to tug your heartstrings at the end. Or the likes of James McBride’s The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother–books that tell a story with the flow of poetry and stay with you long after the closing page.
Sigh.
See? I do love a good memoir! I should read more; certainly this will be good for me . . .
I said I didn’t have any ideas, but I do – all of Ruth Reichel’s memoirs are fabulous. I would start at the beginning, Comfort Me With Apples.
N.B. I haven’t read any of the comments above but as I glance I see some other great recommendations, so looks like you’ll have a lot to choose from!
Ruth Reichel’s one of the ones I’m considering! I’m actually not a memoir person, but I feel like I have to do something different since I picked such a depressing read last month AND I read HG! O_o
Ooh, Ruth Reichel sounds fun. I always loved her letters from the editor in Gourmet. I’m curious to see how she does with a whole book. (off to my Amazon wish list…)
I highly recommend My Life In Paris by Julia Child, or As Always, Julia, which are the letters between her and Avis DeVoto. I also loved Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life. Or we could really delve into food politics with Michael Pollan or Mark Bittman! Oooh, the possibilities.
I so wanted and expected to love ” A Homemade Life”. But I didn’t even finish it.
If you still have it, even if you don’t want to read it, skip to the end and make the chocolate cake. :)
I liked Comfort Me with Apples also. Two of my very favorite food-related memoirs are by Laurie Colwin – Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. And her recipes are fantastic – I actually changed our generations-old brisket recipe based on her books (which in my family was a big deal, but I’m now the official brisket-maker for the family). The books are a little poignant to read, because she died unexpectedly at 48 right before the second was published. (When I went to look this up I discovered she wrote half a dozen novels, so yay for finding more books to read!)
Susan, Laurie Colwin is one of my very favorites. Her novels are warm & wise and yet a little tart, too. And I also loved her food books.
I just ordered all her novels from Amazon. :) They will be here by Friday, which means all the productive things I had planned for this weekend probably won’t be happening!
Good grief. Now you have me wanting to read Laurie Colwin.
:) Compulsive readers love nothing more than company.
Jules…it’s your club, don’t pick a memoir if you they don’t appeal to you!
I for one am a big fan of memoirs, but I prefer them to be literary vs. easy celebrity reads (like Bossypants, which I haven’t read, but “everyone” seems to love it.) If you want something artsy and different, how about “Just Kids,” by musician Patty Smith. I also think you’d really like “The Gift of An Ordinary Day”…about a mom dealing with her 2 boys getting older, and finding her place, etc. I reviewed it on my blog a couple months back. http://www.thereadingnest.com/2012/01/reading-gift-of-ordinary-day.html
Anway, as usual I look forward to what you decide…and for what it’s worth, that book by Jeannette Winterson looks right up my alley!
I like the food memoirs! I’ve read an Anthony Bourdain one once, and it was good. (My best friend has a HUGE crush on him.) The only thing I don’t like is when the life is just ridiculously tragic (ala The Glass Castle) or anything that even smells of Eat, Pray, Love. I can’t express how much I loathed that book.
See, I liked “Eat, Pray, Love,” and quite a lot. Interesting that you loathed it, but I know others who feel the same. And “The Glass Castle” was compelling, although I thought her writing could’ve been much better. The Julia Child book is good. The Julie Powell book was pretty good. I didn’t like the Molly Wizenburg as much as everyone else seems too…thought it felt like a blog-in-a-book. I also liked the Ruth Reichel books a lot. There’s lots of food books out there, but I’m drawing a blank on more!
Lol. Oops! I should have read the other comments first!
I do get the blog thing with Molly W’s book – I wouldn’t have liked a really long version of that.
Jules – I’m another EPL non-fan in a weird way. I enjoyed the reading of it in the sense it kept me entertained and interested, but overall I thought it was SO self-indulgent. And the second one – even more! Blech!
Ruth Reichl! She used to be the editor of Gourmet magazine. She has written a few foodie memoirs : Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples. I think Tender at the Bone is the first one. I really enjoyed them all.
Haha, no problem, Kathy ! :)
Many years ago my husband bought me ” Miriam’s Kitchen”. It’s about a woman growing up, having a family of her own and understanding the history in the recipes and food of her family. It was heartwarming.
Jules, I’m going to put in a plug for Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan. I compulsively read food memoirs and I feel like this one is unique. It’s mixed in with her family’s story of immigrating during after the Iranian revolution and a lovely tribute to the author’s mother. I’m halfway through and I really like her voice. Along with many other I was a huge fan of Molly Wizenberg’s book too but Donia’s book is much newer(came out last fall) and probably a lot less people have already read it. Here’s the amazon summary: For Donia Bijan�s family, food has been the language they use to tell their stories and to communicate their love. In 1978, when the Islamic revolution in Iran threatened their safety, they fled to California�s Bay Area, where the familiar flavors of Bijan�s mother�s cooking formed a bridge to the life they left behind. Now, through the prism of food, award-winning chef Donia Bijan unwinds her own story, finding that at the heart of it all is her mother, whose love and support enabled Bijan to realize her dreams.
From the Persian world of her youth to the American life she embraced as a teenager to her years at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris (studying under the infamous Madame Brassart) to apprenticeships in France�s three-star kitchens and finally back to San Francisco, where she opened her own celebrated bistro, Bijan evokes a vibrant kaleidoscope of cultures and cuisines. And she shares thirty inspired recipes from her childhood (Saffron Yogurt Rice with Chicken and Eggplant and Orange Cardamom Cookies), her French training (Ratatouille with Black Olives and Fried Bread and Purple Plum Skillet Tart), and her cooking career (Roast Duck Legs with Dates and Warm Lentil Salad and Rose Petal Ice Cream).
An exhilarating, heartfelt memoir, Maman�s Homesick Pie is also a reminder of the women who encourage us to shine.