LITERARY MEMOIRS

 

Grealy, Lucy - Autobiography of a Face
(362.196 Gr) At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. She returned to school with a third of her jaw removed and faced the cruel taunts of her classmates. Grealy tells her story without sentimentality and with extraordinary wit, and offers readers insight into what it is like to be torn between the desire to be loved for who we are, and the longing to be perfect.

Schoenberger, Nancy - Dangerous Muse
(800.92 Bla) Lady Caroline Blackwood (1931-1996), with her wealth, fame, brilliance, eccentricity, dysfunction and illness, is an ideal subject for an absorbingly juicy (albeit tragic) biography. Perhaps best known for marrying painter Lucian Freud, then Aaron Copland's prize student Israel Citkowitz, then patrician poet Robert Lowell, the mysterious Blackwood was also a writer in her own right. Th0ose interested in the lives of artists and the sources of their creativity, will find much to enjoy here.

Sarton, May - Journal of a Solitude
(800.92 Sar) The author’s meditation on life, living alone, romantic love, and the creative process written over a period of twelve months while living in a small, rural New Hampshire village. A fallible human being shines through with clarity and honesty.

Koren, Yehuda - Lover of Unreason: Assia Wevill, Sylvia Plath's Rival and Ted Hughes's Doomed Love
(800.92 Wev) Known as the woman who lured Hughes away from Sylvia Plath, Wevill has until now remained a mysterious figure. Here we are given the story of her remarkable life and the seven years she spent with Hughes before killing herself and their daughter in a manner that recalled Plath’s suicide six years earlier.

Allende, Isabel - Paula
(800.92 All) Allende is a mesmerizing novelist writing nonfiction for the first time as she interweaves the story of her own life with the slow dying of her 28-year-old daughter Paula , This deeply affecting memoir leaves readers unexpectedly exhilarated despite the sorrow. A tour de force.

Winchester, Simon - Professor and the Madman
(423 Wi) Masterfully researched and eloquently written, this is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary

Thurman, Judith - Secrets of the Flesh: a Life of Colette
(800.92 Col) Keen yet affectionate portrait of the great French writer Colette (1873-1954). Although at times dishonest, selfish, and heartless, she comes off as an appealing, even heroic figure during her long and turbulent life. Colette and the social milieu of early 20th century Paris come alive here.

Nabokov, Vladimir - Speak, Memory
(800.92 Nab) No dry recital of dates, names, and addresses for this linguistic magician. Instead, Speak Memory is an impressionistic whirl through the author's family history, offering a lovely glimpse into Russia’s silver age.

Patchett, Ann - Truth and Beauty
(800.92 Pat) Tender but brutal, this portrait of unwavering commitment spotlights the author’s friendship with critically acclaimed and recently deceased writer Lucy Grealy. Unforgettable.

Lee, Hermione - Virginia Woolf
(800.92 Woo) Lee presents a richly human portrait of Virginia Woolf (1882-1941 ) free from clichés about madness. She makes brilliant use of the Woolf archives to let the writer speak directly to us,. Biographies don't get much better than this.

Didion, Joan - Year of Magical Thinking
(800.92 Did) Didion chronicles the experience of losing her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, to a massive coronary, just weeks after the two of them watched as their only daughter was put into an induced coma to save her life. This is a stunning exploration of personal devastation.

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