“Memoirs are the backstairs of history.”
—George Meredith

In the Books

MEMOIRS IN PIECES
Reading works by others to inspire our own writing is a humbling and essential practice. Last week I reviewed three books that use shorter vignettes to create a compelling portrait of the writers—I hope they inspire YOU!

TUCCI TIME
Actor and memoirist Stanley Tucci “traces his love of food to his family. His mother, an excellent cook, would send him to school with sandwiches made from the previous night’s eggplant parmigiana, while he jealously eyed his friends’ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Read an excerpt here.

SHOWBIZ LIVES OF YORE
Hollywood veterans Ron and Clint Howard were inspired to co-author their new memoir, The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family, when they were going through old family photos while preparing for their father’s memorial service:

Artifacts from the Past

HANDKNIT HEIRLOOM, STITCHED WITH LOVE
“‘You know what's in here?’ I blurted out to the shipping clerk—even though I could see he was busy and cranky and probably aching for his shift to be over. ‘I'm sending a family heirloom to my grandson in Europe. It’s my mother’s handknit sweater so he can give it to his child, my first great-grandchild!’”

THE LEGACY WE LEAVE
“We have all heard the saying, ‘success leaves clues.’ Speak of your successes and failures as a means of providing perspective to those who will ride on their ancestor’s coattails in the century ahead.” On leaving not just a financial legacy, but a legacy of meaning.

THAT OLD-SCHOOL VOICEMAIL
“I have an archive of everlasting audio that allows me to experience whatever memory I want, as many times as I want to. My loved ones’ voices will always be with me. Ready to be tapped on. Ready to make certain that I am never alone.” How her phone’s most annoying feature saved her life.

Transformative Words & Memories

“THE POWER OF BOOKS TO CHANGE LIVES”
“For me, telling and writing my story over and over was a part of healing,” memoirist Mondiant Dogon says of revealing his stories during two- or three-hour interview sessions with his cowriter Jenna Krajeski.

JOURNALING FOR ANXIETY
“When people use writing to express themselves, Dr. Wright said, they ‘increase emotional regulation, clarify life goals, find meaning, and give voice to feelings, which can help construct a meaningful story.’”

“HE DIED AMONG HIS MEMORIES”
“In one email he reminded us of what his grandmother whispered every time she kissed him goodbye: ‘Sciaddu miu’—Sicilian for ‘my breath.’’ Gina Rae La Cerva revisits her grandfather’s recipes along with her Sicilian heritage.

THE ETHICS OF ARTISTIC APPROPRIATION
“[With] a growing interest, in some publishing circles, in ‘own voices’ and ‘lived experience’…a premium is placed on authors’ personal familiarity with the worlds they summon. There’s a corresponding sense that the person who inhabited a story in real life should get the first crack at fictionalizing it.” If you’ve followed the controversy surrounding the “Bad Art Friend,” then this is a rather arresting read.

...and a Few More Links

• The 10 best biographies of 2021 according to Barnes & Noble

• How on earth do you distill an entire life in one single photo book?

• Man works to preserve photos his father shot of Pakistan’s people in the era of the country’s founding

• Virtual book talk: “How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish”

• An excerpt of In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale.

Short Takes