Please recommend a great memoir

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also really like travel and cooking memoirs, even though I don't do much of either.

Yes! Jacques Pepin's memoir is wonderful. (The title escapes me at the moment)

Great cooking memoirs:
Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain)
Heat (Bill Buford)
Blood, Bones & Butter (Gabrielle Hamilton)

[Anonymous]

Hank Paulson's memoir "On the Brink", a mix of living history and a horror story at once, fascinating read. Some have no idea how lucky we were that he was at the controls.

[Anonymous]

Great cooking memoirs:
Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain)
Heat (Bill Buford)
Blood, Bones & Butter (Gabrielle Hamilton)

+1. Loved all three of these. Also, anything by Ruth Reichl (former editor of Gourmet magazine), who has written several memoirs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also really like travel and cooking memoirs, even though I don't do much of either.

Yes! Jacques Pepin's memoir is wonderful. (The title escapes me at the moment)

Great cooking memoirs:
Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain)
Heat (Bill Buford)
Blood, Bones & Butter (Gabrielle Hamilton)

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson is also very good

[Anonymous]

I recently finished Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala. She survived the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, but the rest of her family did not. It's not easy to read, especially if you have kids (I have two boys, like she did) but I thought it was an amazing story of how someone can, mostly, go on after such a tragedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ruth Reichel -- any of her memoirs
Glass Castle -- see it's on your list, and agree it's great
Loved the Matlin/Carville book (most recent one, can't remember the title)

I forgot they had a recent one. The first one they wrote about the 1992 election was great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you OP for this topic. I too am addicted and have read many many mentioned. Great ones missing so far:

Scar Tissue (Anthony Kiedis)

Comeback (Claire and Mia Fontaine)

1185 Park Avenue ( Anne Roiphe)

High on Arrival (Mackenzie Phillips)

I thought Scar Tissue was terrible. "I started to quit drugs" or "I quit drugs for awhile".... "but my spirit wasn't really ready that time" or something liek that. Repeat Ad nauseum.

If you like rock and roll memoirs for the warts and all rock star life - Areosmith one is good, as is the Motley Crue, Nikki Sixx, Dave Mustaine, David Bowie and John Lydon (nee Rotten). And I am not fans of these bands (except JL and DB). Cannot wait for the Billy Idol one this year, though! wish the Go-Gos would get around to theirs (all of them together, not just belinda).

All Anthony Bourdain books.

You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again - Julia Phillips

Robert Evans - Definitely The Kid Stays in the Picture, but also The Fat Lady Sang

Jerry Weintraub - when I stop Talking You'll Know I'm Dead


And that I loved as a teenager - Mommie Dearest and Detour (Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl). Haven't read those in decades, though.

[Anonymous]

Happens Every Day, by Isabel Gillies

[Anonymous]

Wen Ho Lee My Country vs Me

It's not a memoir/auto-biography, but a fascinating in-depth biography of Robert Hanssen Spy: The Inside Story of How FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America by David Wise.

[Anonymous]

Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you liked Bossy Pants you might also like Ellen Degeneres' books. Check them out at the library as they are super-fast reads (so, not worth the money in my opinion). But they're very light and funny.

Couldn't get through Bossy Pants, but loved Ellen Degeneres'. Agree, light and funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I liked Mia Farrow and Jane Fonda's book. They both tried to tell their stories with honesty. Both were fairly comprehensive too. Sissy Spacek, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton's books were bad...really and truly bad...poorly written and very superficial.

Angelica Houston's memoir is okay but her half sister Allegra's book was better.

I hated with a passion Ande Agassi's book Open. What a jerk he is. he is also a mess. Poor Steffi Graff.

Memoirs are quick easy reads so sometimes I am in the mood for them but lately, I am gagging on them.

Literary memoirs are few and far between.

Two to read together are Anne Patchetts book about her friend Lucy Grealy and Lucy's own memoir.

Beverly Cleary's memoir is good. So is Little Heathens about growing up on a farm long ago.

i also highly recommend "Scribbling the Cat" and the other two memoirs by that gal who grew up in Africa...blanking on her name at the moment.

Yes, I really liked "Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" and "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" by the same author, Alexandra Fuller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also really like travel and cooking memoirs, even though I don't do much of either.

Yes! Jacques Pepin's memoir is wonderful. (The title escapes me at the moment)

Great cooking memoirs:
Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain)
Heat (Bill Buford)
Blood, Bones & Butter (Gabrielle Hamilton)

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson is also very good

To go along with the cooking memoirs, a couple of wine memoirs:

Love by the Glass, by Dorothy Gaither and John Strecher. They used to write the "Tastings" column for the WSJ. About 50/50 love story and wine journal. Light and fun to read.
Adventures on the Wine Route, by Kermit Lynch. This one's much more wine-nerdy, but a great introduction to French wine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you like jazz and old school music, Quincy Jones' autobiography is a surprisingly entertaining read. It's interspersed with commentary from people from his life. An ex-wife or two have a few pages at the beginning of different chapters where they give their two cents.

Love The Q. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Rod Stewart's memoir is actually really good. Also really enjoyed Andre Agassi's and Glass Castle.