Life Story Links: February 18, 2025
“If writing seems too onerous…just making a voice memo on your phone every now and then, wherever you are, just saying some random memory, I guarantee that in two years you won’t regret having those recordings to listen to.”
—Anderson Cooper
Vintage Valentine’s postcard depicting an illustrated cherub, from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Preserving memories for posterity
GIFTS GALORE
I am a big proponent of anytime gifts—why should we wait for a birthday or holiday to show those we love just how much they are cherished? Last week I shared a carefully curated guide of my favorite sentimental gifts at every price point.
REVISIONIST HISTORY?
“In child-rearing, like in memoir writing, there’s something to be said for controlling the narrative. ‘You owe them the truth,’ he says of kids and readers, ‘but not all at once.’”
‘STORIES ARE MADE OF MOMENTS’
Wisconsin–based personal historian Sarah White shares how to turn simple memories into compelling stories by understanding “the difference between an always and a once.”
A SERIOUSLY LUCKY PEN PAL
I’m a sucker for a book preserving interesting correspondence, and when it’s fabulously illustrated correspondence by the likes of Edward Gorey, I’m all in. Discover unique graphic excerpts from the book From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey:
BEYOND THE PERSONA
“Part of my job is to make connections between things [my subjects] have done…in their early life…and challenges they might have as adults.” Listen in as celebrity ghostwriter Nick Chiles discusses the process of writing in someone else’s voice (this episode isn’t new, but worth sharing):
LAST WORDS
“What is the last word of a dying person? It amounts to some final articulation of consciousness (and not just a word, by the way) that passes through a closing window of interaction.”
Extraordinary lives, extraordinary stories
A PROFILE IN SIX ACTS
Denzel Washington “breaks it all down, in his own words, to the moments that mattered and the experiences that made him.” This as-told-to magazine feature is a great example of letting a person’s voice shine through.
DIARIES OF A MONTY PYTHON VETERAN
“People ask me, ‘What do you want on your tombstone?’ I want one that says, ‘Gone to lunch.’ To be silly after I’m dead—that’s quite important, I think.”
REFLECTING HER GENERATION’S HISTORY
Listen in as New York Times bestselling writer Francine Prose talks about her first work of memoir, 1974: A Personal History:
‘GRIPPING STORY OF SURVIVAL’
A Child in Berlin shares the true story of a young girl and her mother during the fall of Nazi Germany. “Today at 88 years old, that young girl still recalls it all in vivid detail, including the final days of the war, and surviving on her own in a bombed-out apartment building.” Author Rhonda Lauritzen and subject Heidi Posnien on the five-year journey of capturing her story:
Short takes
