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

5 Life and Writing Lessons From A World Famous Author – Haruki Murakami
Book Reviews / Japanese / nonfiction / The Artistic Process / The Latest / writing

5 Life and Writing Lessons From A World Famous Author – Haruki Murakami


His latest work though is a very different kind of book. Instead of creating worlds in a well or alternate universes through tunnels, Murakami has released a book about his experiences as a career author, and in it, he details all the highs and lows of what it is really like to write books for over 35 years. In this book, he talks about each section being a speech rather than an essay or memoir, and I feel like that is perhaps the best way to think of this book. It does feel like Murakami is talking to you – delivering a speech at a graduation or event. Considering that Murakami rarely makes public appearances, he does this kind of speech writing well. Continue reading

An Authentic Memoir About Dying: “Walking Him Home” by Joanne Tubbs Kelly
American / Book Reviews / nonfiction / The Latest

An Authentic Memoir About Dying: “Walking Him Home” by Joanne Tubbs Kelly


While Kelly memoir is about Alan, it is also about her own journey with finding love in her partnership with Alan, but also being able to love herself. It is a story of discovery through love and loss, and Joanne writes candidly about what her life will be like once Alan is gone. In many ways, it honours Alan and also caries his memory forward. Continue reading

Michelle Zauner’s Best Seller “Crying in H Mart”: what can the fermentation process of kimchi teach us about grief and loss?
American / Book Reviews / korean / nonfiction / The Latest

Michelle Zauner’s Best Seller “Crying in H Mart”: what can the fermentation process of kimchi teach us about grief and loss?


I read Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner a few months ago now. It has rightfully been a best seller, a book of the year by all the major news outlets and reviews, and a general literary success across the globe. Everyone is talking about it. Everyone is reading it. In terms of algorithmic (internet) success – I should have written my ‘exclusive’ thoughts on the book long ago. But I didn’t. 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

Review of Dr. Joshua Wolrich’s “Food Isn’t Medicine”: Ask yourself the hard questions about your relationship with food
Book Reviews / British / nonfiction / The Latest

Review of Dr. Joshua Wolrich’s “Food Isn’t Medicine”: Ask yourself the hard questions about your relationship with food


If you want to change your relationship with food then Wolrich’s book is not a bad place to start. He breaks down complex research practices to help you figure out how medical research is conducted and therefore what the results of each outcome mean. He also helps highlight some of the main misconceptions we have about diet and food. Continue reading