HALLIE EPHRON: Last week so many of you shared the titles of meoirs you've read and enjoyed and recommend.
First, sharing Mary Karr's observation on what separates fiction from memoir... 
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Growing Up by Russell Baker
A Lady's Life in the Rockies by Isabella L. Bird
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
All About Me by Mel Brooks
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck
Too Pretty to be Good by Lindsay Byron
An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter
Cher: The Memoir by Cher
What Happened by Hillary Clinton
The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper
Every Day is a Gift by Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron
Necessary Trouble by Drew Gilpin Faust
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
In Pieces by Sally Fields
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
Tell me Everything by Minka Kelly
On Writing by Stephen King
The Tao of Equus by Linda Kohano
We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant’s Story by Simu Liu
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
The Color of Water by James McBride
The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph by Oksana Masters
Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell
It’s a Long Story by Willie Nelson
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Drawn from Memory by E. H. Shepard
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough
Dimestore by Lee Smith
Making it So by Patrick Stewart
My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Educated by Tara Westover
Becoming Henry by Henry Winkler
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
This Time Next Year We Will Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
As I look at the list, I'm struck by the titles these writers and personalities chose for their tell-alls (or "tell-somes," as the case may be). "Drawn from Memory" is the autobiography of an illustrator. "Tender at the Bone" a food writer. "Making It So" is the directive from actor Patrick Stewart's imperious Star Trek captain Jean-Luc.
So my question for today: If you were writing your own memoir, what title
might you give it? My working title has been THE OTHER SISTER. It worked when I was writing 20 years ago. Now, not so much.
The first thought I had for a title was "The Twins" . . . .
ReplyDelete"The Eternal Aspirant" ~~my life in 3 wds.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was “Only Child”
ReplyDeleteIf "The Other Sister" is perfect for the time of life you are describing, I would use it. I was a close friend of the daughter of a movie star whose first child was severely disabled. The older child and his needs were the focus of her parents' emotional lives. Sadly, she absorbed by osmosis the idea that she could have no needs and deserved only cursory attention. She was far too polite to be bitter but she was wry. She once told me that if she wrote a memoir (which of course she never would) she might title it "They Also Had a Daughter," because this phrasing was used in every single article about her celebrated parents. I think you should use a title that fits your emotional reality. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteNo title and no plans for a memoir since my life is pretty boring to the point that, if a biography were written about me, it would probably be serialized in DIARRHEA MONTHLY: THE REGULAR JOURNAL OF IRREGULARITY.
ReplyDeleteWhat a challenge. The one I did write was called "A Year in Ougadougou" - and it remains unpublished. Maybe mine should be "She Finally Got There" to reflect my happily returning to write fiction after a lifetime of other kinds of writing.
ReplyDeleteMy title would be Goody Two Shoes.
ReplyDeleteI've been working on one for years. The title is "Recalculating".
ReplyDelete