Recommended Memoirs in the BEHS Library

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Recommended Memoirs in the BEHS Library
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Overcoming Obstacles Books About People With
Problems
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Life is So Goodby George Dawson

• What makes a person, a happy life? In this
  remarkable book, George Dawson, a 101-year-old
  man who learned to read when he was 98, reflects
  on the philosophy he learned from his father-a
  belief that "life is so good." He offers
  valuable lessons in living and a fresh, firsthand
  view of America during the twentieth century.

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Augusta, Goneby Martha Tod Dudman

• Have you ever read GO ASK ALICE? Well, this is
  the memoir Alices mother might have written.
  Martha Tod Dudmans teenage daughter completely
  rebelledignoring all of the rules her mother
  set, staying out all night, running away, and
  eventually ending up in a residential treatment
  center for teens who couldnt follow rules. This
  is hr mothers story, howeverhow she tried to
  cope with and help her daughter before she hurt
  herselfor worse.

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Living at the Edge of the Worldby Jamie Pastor
Bolnick and Tina S.

Tina S. describes the year she spent trying to
survive as a homeless teenager in the tunnels
beneath New York Citys Grand Central Stationand
how she was eventually helped out.
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Up and Running by Jami Goldman

• After being trapped in a car in freezing weather
  for many days, Jami Goldman somehow survivesbut
  not completely intact. Her legs have suffered
  severe hypothermia and must be amputated.
  Nevertheless, the young woman triumphs over this
  disability, and after being fitted and trained to
  use special athletic prosthetic legs, she becomes
  an accomplished competitor.

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Stolen Lives Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by
Malika Oufkir

• In 1972, Malika Oufkir and her five siblings
  were exiled after their father, was arrested and
  executed after attempting to assassinate the King
  of Morrocco. For fifteen years, the exiled
  siblings barely survived in an isolated penal
  colony, spending the last ten years of their
  imprisonment in solitary cells. Eventually, the
  Oufkirs managed a heroic, amazing escape.

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You Remind Me of You A Poetry Memoir

• A startling autobiographical account of a young
  woman¹s battle with eating disorders that put her
  in and out of hospitals over a span of four years
  and led to her own parents fighting for the right
  to commit her. When her last source of support,
  her boyfriend, attempts suicide and ends up in a
  coma, she is forced to find strength from within.
  A courageous story about the strange paths we
  take to recovery.

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In Sickness and in HealthLiving With and
Overcoming Illness
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Needles A Memoir of Growing Up With Diabetesby
Andie Dominick

• As the title suggests, the author is graphically
  frank about the medical necessities of living
  with juvenile-onset diabetes, and squeamish
  readers may find her memoir harrowing. In its
  essence, however, this is a story of emotional
  growth and healing. Diagnosed at 9 by her older
  sister Denise, who is herself a diabetic, Andie
  Dominick spends her adolescence rebelling against
  her condition "dieting" by skipping shots, other
  reckless behavior.
• When, at 21, Andie discovers 33-year-old Denise
  dead in the house they share, she begins to
  reexamine the reckless lifestyle that killed her
  sister and threatens her as well. The discovery
  three years later that she has diabetic
  retinopathy, which could lead to blindness, helps
  Dominick realize she cannot follow her sister's
  path "Denise always told me having the disease
  didn't have to change my life. But now it has ...
  because I am finally facing who I am." (review
  from Amazon).

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Wasted A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimiaby Marya
Hornbacker

• The author reflects on her 14-year battle with
  the two eating disorders, and describes how they
  have impacted her self-image and her life.

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Model Patient by Karen Duffy

• Model/actress Karen Duffy tells how her
  whirlwind celebrity life came to an abrupt end
  when she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a
  disease that causes the soft parts of the body to
  harden and discusses her decision to react to
  the disease with courage and humor.

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Stick Figure A Diary of My Former Selfby Lori
Gottlieb

• Lori Gottlieb spent several years of her
  childhood trying to become the skinniest girl in
  her school. Pressured by her mother and by
  messages from the media, Gottlieb was convinced
  that she was fat. Eventually, her anorexia landed
  her in the hospitalat age eleven.

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Angelhead My Brothers Descent into Madnessby
Greg Bottoms

• In a terrifying memoir of a family held hostage
  by a son with schizophrenia, Greg Bottoms
  chronicles the events that kept his family in
  fear of his brother, Michael and eventually led
  to Michael's psychotic breakdown and his
  admission to the psychiatric wing of a maximum
  security prison.

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Girl, Interruptedby Susanna Kaysen

• At age 18, Susanna Kaysen was sent to a mental
  institution for an undefined mental
  problemprimarily that she wouldnt conform to
  the rules and expectations of her parentsand she
  spent several years living among the mentally ill
  before finally being released.

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The Last Time I Wore a Dressby Daphne Scholinski

• Daphne Scholinski lived in mental institutions
  from the time she was fifteen until her 18th
  birthday, committed because she was ruled an
  "inappropriate female," a teenage tomboy whose
  lack of interest in make-up and other "feminine"
  things was ruled a mental problem. For those who
  also enjoyed "Girl, Interrupted," this story of
  life in a mental institution and a sane girl's
  attempt to escape the expectations of those
  around her will appeal to all readers.

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Around the WorldTrue Stories of Travel and Life
in Other Cultures
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A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

• In this humorous travel memoir, Bryson shares
  his experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail with
  a childhood friend. The two encounter eccentric
  characters, a blizzard, getting lost, and rude
  yuppies along the way, and Bryson includes
  fascinating and unusual facts about the
  Appalachian wilderness, the construction of the
  trail, and the fates of some of the travelers who
  have made the hike.

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Blue HighwaysWilliam Least Heat Moon

• The author buys a van and outfits it for a
  long-distance trip, and then travels across
  America. He only drives on the blue highways,
  howeverthe small, offbeat roads that lead
  through rural towns and steer him away from the
  bigger cities. He discovers a much different,
  much more interesting America.

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French Lessonsby Alice Kaplan

• The author describes her lifelong fascination
  with the French culture and language.

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Under the Tuscan Sunby Frances Mayes

• A chronicle of the author's first four years in
  Italy, describing her purchase and restoration of
  an abandoned villa in the Tuscan countryside, her
  transformation of the overgrown gardens, and her
  discovery of the many links between the food and
  culture of the region.

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The Faith of Our FathersMemoirs About Religious
Upbringing and Experience
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In the Wilderness by Kim Barnes

• In the mid-1960s, as mechanization and the
  forests' depletion drove many loggers into the
  cities,Kim Barnes's parents turned to
  fundamentalism to sustain their increasingly
  difficult life. The author struggled to live by
  this religion's exacting tenets, but her chilling
  descriptions of the harsh punishments meted out
  for lapses make us understand why she ultimately
  had to leave it behind. Yet she conveys
  understanding and love for the rigid yet secure
  world of her youth in this haunting memoir of
  faith and loss in the Idaho woods.

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Blue Windows A Christian Science Childhoodby
Barbara Wilson

• A memoir in which the author discusses growing
  up as a member of the Christian Science faith and
  the effects of the religion on her and her
  mother, who had a mental breakdown before dying
  of cancer.

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Chasing Grace Reflections of a Catholic Girl,
Grown Upby Martha Manning

• One woman's humorous account of how being raised
  in a Catholic home and attending parochial
  schools affected her.

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Salvation on Sand Mountain Snake Handling and
Redemption in Southern Appalachiaby Dennis
Covington

• Chronicles the trial of snake-handling preacher
  Glendel Buford Summerford who was convicted of
  attempted murder after forcing his wife to stick
  her arm in a box of rattlesnakes, and details how
  the author was drawn into the lives and religion
  of the people of The Church of Jesus with Signs
  Following in southern Appalachia.

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Traveling Mercies Some Thoughts on Faith by
Anne Lamott

• The author describes the lifelong process
  through which she came to believe in God,
  discussing the battles she fought with alcohol,
  food disorders, and the loss of loved ones, and
  following her search for the spiritual path in
  this often funny memoir.

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Another Day, Another DollarUnusual and
Interesting Careers
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Special Agentby Candice DeLong

• The author, retired after 20 years in the FBI,
  recounts her experiences as an investigator in
  some of the organization's most memorable cases.
  She's tailed gangsters, gone undercover, trailed
  terrorists, and was one of the agents chosen to
  carry out the manhunt for the Unabomber.

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My Life as a Ten-Year-Old Boyby Nancy Cartwright

• Nancy Cartwright has an unusual job she is a
  cartoon voice. For years now, she has been the
  voice behind Americas most lovable brat Bart
  Simpson. In her memoir, she describes the
  cartoon-voice process, some inside secrets about
  the creation of The Simpsons, and other details
  about her life in the business.

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The Immortal Class Bike Messengers and the Cult
of Human Powerby Travis Hugh Culley

• A career bike messenger in Chicago, Culley
  writes about living your life on two wheels
  changes (and in his mind, improves) your outlook
  on the world. A powerful account of an unusual
  career and an interesting, thought-provoking book
  about bicycling.

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The Blood of Strangers Stories from Emergency
Medicineby Frank Huyler

• The author, a poet and emergency room doctor,
  tells of the most unusual encounters he has had
  with people and illness in the emergency room.

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Fighting Fireby Caroline Paul

• The author shares her experiences as one of the
  first women to join the San Francisco Fire
  Department, discussing the factors that led her
  to attempt to qualify for the traditionally male
  profession, and revealing why she has decided to
  remain on the force.

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Good SportsStories of Athletes and Athletic
Achievement
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Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth by Martin
Dugard

• The author, a freelance journalist, describes
  his experiences as a reporter and participant in
  the Raid Gauloises, an annual eight- to
  twelve-day race designed to test the limits of
  human endurance.

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Hawk Occupation Skateboarderby Tony Hawk

• World-class skateboarder Tony Hawk tells the
  story of how he became one of the most recognized
  athletes in the sport.

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Driving Myself Crazy Misadventures of a Novice
Golferby Jessica Maxwell

• A beginning golfer writes humorously of her
  attempts to perfect her skills.

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The Oldest Rookie by Jim Morris

• Jim Morris escaped the desolation of his youth
  by dreaming of pitching in the major leagues.
  But it was just a fantasy, made more impossible
  because of the injuries he suffered in his early
  twenties. He becomes a teacher and high school
  baseball coach instead, and is encouraged to try
  out for the big leagues in his mid-thirties by
  members of the team he coaches.

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Its Not About the Bikeby Lance Armstrong

• Three-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong
  chronicles his life as a bicyclist and his
  triumph over cancer.

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Rocket Boysby Homer Hickam

• An entertaining and extraordinary memoir of
  Homer Hickam's life in Coalwood, West Virginia-a
  town where the only things that mattered were
  coal mining and high-school football. After
  watching the Soviets launch Sputnik in 1957,
  Homer and his friends took the future into their
  own hands, changing their lives and their town
  forever by turning scraps into rockets and
  launching their futures as NASA scientists.

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Within Reach My Everest Storyby Mark Pfetzer

• The author describes how he spent his teenage
  years climbing mountains in the United States,
  South America, Africa, and Asia, with an emphasis
  on his two expeditions up Mount Everest.

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Guts The True Stories Behind Hatchet and The
Brian Booksby Gary Paulsen

• The author relates incidents in his life and how
  many inspired parts of his books about the
  character, Brian Robeson, who appears in the
  novels Hatchet, The River, Brian's Winter, and
  Brian's Return.

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The Way of the River Adventures and Meditations
of a Woman Martial Artistby BK Loren

• An autobiographical account of the author's
  experiences with various forms of martial arts
  and how they have helped her develop patience and
  wisdom.

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Ice Time A Tale of Hockey and Hometown
Heroesby Jay Atkinson

• When Jay Atkinson grew up in Massachusetts in
  the 1970s, hockey was the passion and pasttime of
  himself and his friends. As a high school senior,
  he played on his school's first varsity team.
  Twenty-five years later, he returns to his high
  school as a volunteer assistant coach and follows
  the team through a season, reporting on the
  team's tempermental star, the lovesick goalie,
  the rookie whose father is battling cancer, and
  the "old school" coach.

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War and PeaceSurvivors of Hatred and Violence
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In My Hands Memories of a Holocaust Rescuerby
Irene Gut Opdyke

• As a teenager, the author, who is Polish, helped
  hide Jews during the war and protected them from
  certain death at the hands of the Nazis.

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After Long Silenceby Helen Fremont

• Helen Fremont chronicles her struggle to
  discover her parents' true religious history and
  discusses how she felt when she realized that her
  parents had lied about their Catholic upbringing
  because of their experiences during the Holocaust.

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First They Killed My Father A Daughter of
Cambodia Remembersby Loung Ung

• From a childhood survivor of Cambodia's brutal
  Pol Pot regime comes an unforgettable narrative
  of war crimes and desperate actions, the
  unnerving strength of a small girl and her family
  and their triumph of spirit.

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Desertion In the Time of Vietnamby Jack Todd

• After completing basic training, Jack Todd's
  ambivalence about the American role in Vietnam
  led him to desert the Army and travel to Canada,
  where he has lived as a journalist ever since. In
  this memoir, he describes his decision to desert
  as well as his life in Canada and his reasons for
  remaining there.

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The Coalway Wayby Homer Hickam

• In this follow-up to his first memoir, Rocket
  Boys, Homer Hickam recalls the events of his
  senior year of high school.

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More that Playdates and Pokemon Stories of
Interesting and Unusual Childhoods
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Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers

• Author Walter Dean Myers weaves the details of
  his Harlem childhood in the 1940's and 1950's a
  loving home with adoptive parents, Bible school,
  street games, and the vitality of his
  neighborhood.

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Blackbird A Childhood Lost and Foundby
Jennifer Lauck

• Laucks account of her childhood, during which
  her mother was terminally ill and eventually
  died, recalls her fathers remarriage to a
  Scientologist who forced her two new stepchildren
  to become involved in the religion and mistreated
  them in numerous other ways. The memoir has
  caused some controversy. Since its publication,
  her stepbrother has stepped forward and claimed
  that much of the story Lauck tells is false.
  Read it for yourself and see what you believe!

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Fallen Leavesby Adeline Yen Mah

• Born in 1937 in a port city 1000 miles north of
  Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child
  of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare
  privileges during a time of political and
  cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could
  not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling
  abuse at the hands of a cruel stepmother. This is
  the adult version of CHINESE CINDERELLA.

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From Our Houseby Lee Martin

• Lee Martin was born into a farming family the
  same year his father unexpectedly lost both of
  his hands, becoming an embittered, hardened man.
  It is Lee's mother's quiet compassion that
  account for the grace that Lee and his father
  finally discover both within themselves and
  within their family.

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Hoop Rootsby John Edgar Wideman

• Wideman's memoir describes his dicovery and
  relationship with the game of basketball, which
  has been his passion for nearly 50 years.

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Lost in Place Growing Up Absurd in Suburbiaby
Mark Salzman

• In a humorous memoir, Mark Salzman recalls his
  tortured years as an eccentric growing up in
  Connecticut, where he pursued an interest in
  Asian culture and eventually became an
  accomplished martial artist.

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Katie.com My Storyby Katharine Tarbox

• As a lonely junior high school student, Katie
  Tarbox became attached to meeting people via the
  Internet. She met and fell in love with a man she
  thought was only slightly older than her. When
  they arranged a meeting in person, she discovered
  that he was old enough to be her father, and a
  convicted sex offender. She and her family
  successfully prosecuted him for his inappropriate
  behavior.

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American Chica Two Worlds, One Childhood by
Marie Arana

• The author, who grew up in Peru in the 1950s,
  was surrounded by native servants who filled her
  with magical legends and tales of fearsome
  spirits when she moved to New Jersey with her
  family in 1959, the author found herself slipping
  between cultures and choosing when to be American
  and when to be Peruvian.

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Atomic Farmgirl

• The author recalls her experiences growing up in
  the Palouse region of Eastern Washington during
  the 1950s and some of the environmental and
  political changes the area underwent.

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This Boys Life by Tobias Wolff

• Wolff's account of his boyhood and the process
  of growing up in rural Washington includes paper
  routes, whiskey, scouting, fistfights,
  friendship, betrayal, and America in the fifties.

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Honky by Dalton Conley

• In this unique memoir, Dalton Conley recalls
  some typical-but-insightful vignettes about his
  childhood. In a unique twist, Conley grew up as
  one of the only white children in a New York City
  neighborhood inhabited primarily by blacks and
  Hispanics.

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Feathers and FurMemoirs of Life With Animals
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Home Waters Fishing With an Old Friendby Joseph
Monninger

• The author shares the story of the road trip he
  took out west with his eleven-year-old Golden
  Retriever, Nellie, a nature adventure he decided
  to make after discovering lumps on his beloved
  pet and realizing that her time with him was
  coming to an end.

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The Parrot Who Owns Meby Joanna Burger

• The true story of author Joanna Burger's amazing
  pet Amazon parrot, Tiko, who came into her life
  as a sullen, hostile, neglected bird and later
  became her best friend--and even her caretaker.

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My Cat Spit McGeeby Willie Morris

• Morris describes what he has learned from his
  cat over the years, and details the experiences
  the two have shared.

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Clara The Early YearsThe True Story of the Pug
Who Ruled My Lifeby Margo Kaufman

• Clar, The Early Years is the hilarious story of
  how a glossy-black, twelve-pound package of
  canine energy took over Margo Kaufman's life and
  home while charming everyone around her.

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My Life in Dog Yearsby Gary Paulsen

• The author describes some of the dogs that have
  had special places in his life, including his
  first dog, Snowball, in the Philippines Dirk,
  who protected him from bullies and Cookie, who
  saved his life.