I loved We Could Make This Place Beautiful and have gifted it several times. And I love that you teach bestselling memoirs! In the MFA world, "bestselling" is a dirty word. MFA candidates are almost taught to think themselves superior to the bestseller lists.
While the bestseller lists do contain some books that aren't particularly well-written, many of the great works of literature have been bestsellers in their own time. When someone has only read "the classics" and has eschewed well-received contemporary literature, it shows in their writing, which is often bloated, burdened with insignificant detail, and lacking in narrative drive. Writers need to read widely, without pretentiousness, and part of that is reading books that have resonated with a large number of readers.
I'm reading my first memoir in a while. In "Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America," Helen Thorpe has spent months with these girls and is deep inside how our immigrant laws affect young people brought here as children. The book is full of scenes, side comments, and political analysis (she was married to Denver's mayor), and I can't put it down. She has my empathy at full blast and has upped my understanding about an important issue. Totally recommend.
Just signed up for the class. I'm not working on my memoir right now, but this sounds too good to pass up, and I know it'll inform everything I write. Can't wait.
This is exactly why in the memoir communities I teach, we read a new memoir every month and discuss it on Zoom. It makes my students such better writers and gives them permission to find their voice as they read all the differing voices of others. Plus, it’s fun!! Sometimes I can’t believe my luck at getting to read great memoirs and calling it ‘work’!
I loved reading this and will probably read it over from time to time. For me, it answered a question I’ve been asking repeatedly over the past three months of querying my debut: “why is memoir such a tough sell?” There is a prevailing attitude that I think your post speaks to, Brooke, but equally, I love the way you name what’s important and worthy about the genre. Thank you for this. I would take your class, having followed you and Linda Joy for many years (first through YouTube), but I am, coincidentally, in a writing group that runs at the exact same time.
What a great educational post! I'm with you on all this, as you know, and it's exciting to dig deeply into a writer's work, especially a book like Maggie's which truly got us all excited when it first came out, and there is still so much to learn from reading it and examining the layers-of risk, of challenges to form, the theme of boundaries and privacy and more. See you soon in class!
So good! I do love reading memoir, probably 75% of my reading, interspersed with something completely different when I need a break from real stories. So helpful to see different formats; tenses, vignettes like David Sedaris, celebrity versus formerly unknown people. And yes, I think it does make us better writers. Thank you for this great post!
For me, memoirs are an open road to the heart. What happened to you and why does it matter? No one asks us to write out our angst. I hope my memoir answers the questions of "why does it matter." Great piece!
I loved We Could Make This Place Beautiful and have gifted it several times. And I love that you teach bestselling memoirs! In the MFA world, "bestselling" is a dirty word. MFA candidates are almost taught to think themselves superior to the bestseller lists.
While the bestseller lists do contain some books that aren't particularly well-written, many of the great works of literature have been bestsellers in their own time. When someone has only read "the classics" and has eschewed well-received contemporary literature, it shows in their writing, which is often bloated, burdened with insignificant detail, and lacking in narrative drive. Writers need to read widely, without pretentiousness, and part of that is reading books that have resonated with a large number of readers.
I'm reading my first memoir in a while. In "Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America," Helen Thorpe has spent months with these girls and is deep inside how our immigrant laws affect young people brought here as children. The book is full of scenes, side comments, and political analysis (she was married to Denver's mayor), and I can't put it down. She has my empathy at full blast and has upped my understanding about an important issue. Totally recommend.
Oooh. Thanks for the rec, Terri!
I’m super excited about your class! They always make me grow! Between your podcast, classes and books you’ve made me a better writer. Thank you.
Thank you, dear Lisa.
Just signed up for the class. I'm not working on my memoir right now, but this sounds too good to pass up, and I know it'll inform everything I write. Can't wait.
This is exactly why in the memoir communities I teach, we read a new memoir every month and discuss it on Zoom. It makes my students such better writers and gives them permission to find their voice as they read all the differing voices of others. Plus, it’s fun!! Sometimes I can’t believe my luck at getting to read great memoirs and calling it ‘work’!
Agreed, Jennifer. I feel the same way! :)
"Too many memoirists still get it wrong" I'll read anything well-written. Even about macrame. What's macrame anyway : )
I loved reading this and will probably read it over from time to time. For me, it answered a question I’ve been asking repeatedly over the past three months of querying my debut: “why is memoir such a tough sell?” There is a prevailing attitude that I think your post speaks to, Brooke, but equally, I love the way you name what’s important and worthy about the genre. Thank you for this. I would take your class, having followed you and Linda Joy for many years (first through YouTube), but I am, coincidentally, in a writing group that runs at the exact same time.
Thanks, Mirella, yes to the prevailing attitude—which memoirists doing good work help us to overcome!
Wild was a huge influence on my own (award-winning) adventure memoir.
Me too—though on my teaching. Such an amazing and timeless book.
Tomorrow’s class can’t come soon enough!
Yeah! See you soon! :)
What a great educational post! I'm with you on all this, as you know, and it's exciting to dig deeply into a writer's work, especially a book like Maggie's which truly got us all excited when it first came out, and there is still so much to learn from reading it and examining the layers-of risk, of challenges to form, the theme of boundaries and privacy and more. See you soon in class!
So good! I do love reading memoir, probably 75% of my reading, interspersed with something completely different when I need a break from real stories. So helpful to see different formats; tenses, vignettes like David Sedaris, celebrity versus formerly unknown people. And yes, I think it does make us better writers. Thank you for this great post!
For me, memoirs are an open road to the heart. What happened to you and why does it matter? No one asks us to write out our angst. I hope my memoir answers the questions of "why does it matter." Great piece!