What becomes fraught is the expectation of ‘truth’ in nonfiction writing. And the truth I speak of here is not an ‘ultimate truth’ that is objective (although there are always objective truths in what we write). The ‘truth’ and the ‘expectation’ can be thought of as the relationship between the reader and writer. Continue reading
Tag Archives: autobiography
“True Friends” by Patti Miller: what does it mean to write a memoir about friendships lost and found?
I think everyone experiences the loss of a friendship at some stage in their life, sometimes multiple friendships and the reasons for these losses are vast, complex, and sometimes confusing. It can be as simple as a friend moving to a different state and losing touch. It can be from a fight. And it can also be a slow unwinding that can be anything from ghosting to drifting apart. We have a lot of words to describe romantic love and breakups – we have song after poem, after novel after film about romantic love. Although very little about friendships. Continue reading
A Review of Peg Conway’s Memoir “The Art of Reassembly”: grief will always linger
Note: This audiobook was provided by Books Forward for review purposes. Thank you to the team at Books Forward and the author for sharing their stories with me. This review is my own opinion, and while I was gifted the book to review, I was not paid for anything that I have written here. The … Continue reading
Literary Olympics: the best (auto)biographies of 2020-2021
The Book Olympics continue and today we are talking about autobiographies and biographies. This category is open for books published in 2020-2021 and fall under the category of either autobiography, biography, or memoir. Autobiographies are larger works, where the author chronicles their whole life. Biographies are written by a third party who chronicle the whole … Continue reading
“Nonbinary”: Exploring gender and identity
Literature – the writing and telling of stories – has always been a way for marginalised groups to express themselves in ways that mainstream culture would not allow. It allows cis people, like myself, the opportunity to hear from and support nonbinary and trans voices. It allows nonbinary and trans voices to connect and find … Continue reading
Queer “High School”: a review of Tegan and Sara Quin’s memoir
The first time I came across Tegan and Sara, I was working in a pizzeria trying to make my way through my undergraduate degree and work part-time, so I could put fuel in my car to get me to classes. It was a humbling time in my life. Side note: if you have ever wondered … Continue reading
Women in racing: a review of Clare Balding’s memoir “My Animals and Other Family”
“Be consistent. Be fair and honest.” p161 Clare Balding’s memoir My Animals and Other Family was first published in 2012. At the heart of it, Balding’s memoir is an exploration of the importance animals can have on our childhoods and our lives in general. Each chapter is a different animal that left a mark on … Continue reading
5 Life Lessons from Amy Poehler’s “Yes, Please”
Most people know Amy Poehler as the hilarious comedy queen and beloved friend of Tina Fey. Her career achievements are too long to add here, but let’s just be clear that she had made some of the funniest stuff on television. I have always felt that comedy is a great way to have hard conversations … Continue reading
Life Lessons from Queer Eye’s Tan France: “Naturally Tan”
Since the re-boot of Queer Eye on Netflix, I have fallen in love with each of the stars. Not too long ago I wrote a review of Karamo Brown’s memoir and was really excited to see that Tan France had also come out with one. It also fills my heart with a lot of happiness … Continue reading
A review of “Maid”: we need to talk about the working poor
Stephanie Land’s memoir comes at an extremely important time in the world’s social and political climate. The very existence of her memoir is in direct defiance of the shame and stigma surrounding poverty. When I saw this memoir appearing in my social media feeds I was extremely excited to know more from Land. Although her … Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.