Personal History Month

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 11:50

Pioneer Library System - Monthly Picks

One of the most popular genres of writing in the United States today is the memoir. Memoir, some times called personal history, is like an autobiography, a story of your life told by you, except that memoir focuses on specific themes or periods in your life. Memoir tends to be more personal, more literary and more emotionally charged. A memoir is written for your own reasons and for whatever results you want.

In each person’s life there are corners to turn, steep inclines and long slides down. Each of your life’s changes could be the subject of memoir.  How to get started? Choose a space of time or an event in your life. Write down everything you remember about it in detail. Don’t leave out anything. Don’t worry about it being grammatical or poetical. Just be sure it reflects how you felt about that time or event and how you feel about it now. After you have emptied your mind of your memories and reflections on that time, the editing and further reflecting can begin.

To inspire your first steps into memoir, read what others have done:

Thinking about memoir, by Abigail Thomas.
Old friend from far away : the practice of writing memoir, by Natalie Goldberg.
The journal keeper : a memoir, by Phyllis Theroux.
The gift of an ordinary day : a mother's memoir, by Katrina Kenison.
Lies my mother never told me : a memoir, by Kaylie Jones.
Double take : a memoir, by Kevin Michael Connolly.
Lit : a memoir, by Mary Karr.
Closing time : a memoir, by Joe Queenan.
Crucible Vietnam : memoir of an infantry lieutenant, by A.T. Lawrence.
I loved, I lost, I made spaghetti : a memoir, by Giulia Melucci.
Step by step : a pedestrian memoir, by Lawrence Block.