Donate to JWR

Home
In this issue
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 5, 2008 / 8 Kislev 5769

If memory serves, memoirs are hot

By Lori Borgman

Lori Borgman
Printer Friendly Version
Email this article

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Why don't we do this the easy way? If you haven't written a memoir, please step forward. Anybody? Somebody?


Memoirs are one of the fastest-growing genres of books on the market right now. Publicists e-mail frequently touting memoirs from wise and experienced people of notable accomplishment, some as old as 32.


It used to be a memoir was a book that a statesman or a person of life-long achievement usually penned in his or her twilight years. There was an unspoken expectation that authors were obligated to die shortly after penning their memoirs in order to give their writings credence. They were books like "Memoirs of Napoleon" or "Memoirs of the Empress Josephine."


Today's memoirs often follow the lines of Maureen McCormick's new book, "Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice." The book traces the dark and dirty side of life in graphic detail leaving the reader saying, "Macia! Marcia! Marcia! Gross! Gross! Gross!"


Nearly every president writes a memoir. They usually have exciting titles like: "Memoirs of Harry S. Truman" or "The Memoirs of Richard Nixon." Herbert Hoover's publishing house must have been conserving ink because his was simply, "Memoirs."


We live in far faster times today, as Barak Obama has written two memoirs and hasn't even taken office yet.


Marketing-wise, one of the best things you can do with your memoirs is to lose them and have someone else find them after you are dead, like "The Lost Memoirs of Charlotte Bronte" and "The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen." Memoirs can be dry, especially if you came of age in a period of respectability, so having memoirs discovered after you are gone can add a dimension of intrigue.


You would think writing a memoir would be an exhausting experience. Augusten Burroughs wrote an acclaimed memoir in 2003 titled "Running With Scissors." A year later, he wrote another memoir, and three years after that he published yet another. The man must pack a lot of living into a 24-hour day.


The most intimidating of the memoirs are the ones about subjects that are unable to stand upright or use a knife and fork.


"Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" is in the Top 10 nonfiction. It is a story about a librarian who discovers a kitten that plays hide and seek, can read her thoughts and is mortified by hairballs. A cat that intuitive should be teaching relationship classes.


If you are bothered by the fact that a cat's life story is more exciting than yours, you may prefer memoirs by dogs. "The Art of Racing in the Rain" is a fictionalized memoir of a dog named Enzo. He is lab terrier mix who rides shotgun with a race car driver. Enzo is frustrated by his inability to speak, and yearns for the day he can be reincarnated as a man.


If both the dog and cat memoirs are a strain, try "Exiled: Memoirs of a Camel." It's billed a first-person narrative.


The future of memoirs may be in "Not Quite What I Was Planning" a compilation of six-word memoirs. "Ancestors went steerage. I take subway." Or "Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends."


With memoirs reduced to six words, you can easily crank out several a day.


I can't decide between "Cook, clean, wash, dry, fold, repeat" or "Life on hold for tech support."

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Lori Borgman is the author of , most recently, "Pass the Faith, Please" (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) and I Was a Better Mother Before I Had Kids To comment, please click here. To visit her website click here.

ARCHIVES

© 2008, Lori Borgman

Insight (Our Columnists)

 Arnold Ahlert
 Mitch Albom
 Michael Barone
  Dave Barry
 Tony Blankley
 Andy Borowitz
 David Broder
 Stratfor Briefing
 Mona Charen
 Linda Chavez
 Ann Coulter
 Greg Crosby
 Larry Elder
 Suzanne Fields
 John Fund
 Frank J. Gaffney
 Lloyd Garver
 Jonah Goldberg
 Julia Gorin
 Jonathan Gurwitz
 Paul Greenberg
 Lewis Grossberger
 Victor Davis Hanson
 Betsy Hart
 Nat Hentoff
 David Horowitz
 Laura Ingraham
 Cheri Jacobus
Jeff Jacoby
 Paul Johnson
 Jack Kelly
 Ed Koch
 Ch. Krauthammer
 Michael Ledeen
 John Leo
 David Limbaugh
 Kathryn Lopez
 Rich Lowry
 Michelle Malkin
 Jackie Mason
 Dick Morris
 Bill O'Reilly
 Jim Mullen
 Clarence Page
 Kathleen Parker
 Dennis Prager
 Wesley Pruden
 Tom Purcell
 Jonathan Rauch
 Celia Rivenbark
 Robert Robb
 Cokie & Steve Roberts
 Pat Sajak
 Debra J. Saunders
 Culture Shlock
 Roger Simon
 Michael Smerconish
 Thomas Sowell
 Mark Steyn
 John Stossel
 Cal Thomas
 Bob Tyrrell
 Diana West
 Dave Weinbaum
 George Will
 Walter Williams
 Byron York
 Mort Zuckerman

'Toons
 Robert Arial
 Chuck Asay
 Baloo
 Chip Bok
 Dry Bones
  Lisa Benson
 John Branch
 Gary Brookins
 John Cole
 J. D. Crowe
 John Deering
 Brian Duffy
 Everything's Relative
 Mallard Fillmore
 Jake Fuller
 Bob Gorrel
 Joe Heller
 David Hitch
 Jerry Holber
 Steve Kelley
 Jeff Koterba
 Dick Locher
 Chan Lowe
 Ranan R. Lurie
 Jimmy Margulies
 Rick McKee
 Michael Ramirez
 Kevin Siers
 Jeff Stahler
 Ed Stein
 Danna Summers
 John Trever
 Gary Varvel
 Kirk Walters

Lifestyles
 How 2
 Lori Borgman
 The Savvy Consumer
 Elder matters
 Fixit
 Dr. Peter Gott
 GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
 Richard Lederer
 Tech Maven
 Every Monday Matters
 Nutrition Myths
 Bookmark These
 Bruce Williams
 How Stuff Works