What Does a Memoir Owe its Readers?: The Dilemma of ‘Truth’ in Creative Nonfiction Writing
Book Reviews / British / nonfiction / Opinion Pieces / reading / The Latest / Travel / writing

What Does a Memoir Owe its Readers?: The Dilemma of ‘Truth’ in Creative Nonfiction Writing


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

“True Friends” by Patti Miller: what does it mean to write a memoir about friendships lost and found?
Australian / Book Reviews / nonfiction / The Latest

“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
American / Book Reviews / nonfiction / The Latest

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
Book Reviews / nonfiction / Opinion Pieces / The Latest

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
American / Book Reviews / nonfiction / queer / The Latest

“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

Women in racing: a review of Clare Balding’s memoir “My Animals and Other Family”
Book Reviews / British / nonfiction / The Latest

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

A review of “Maid”: we need to talk about the working poor
American / Book Reviews / nonfiction / Opinion Pieces / The Latest

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