Once again I reiterate that ever since the brain operation (five years ago next month), my constant compulsive list-making has been gone, and for most of that time to list more than two of anything has been almost impossible for me to do without help, except rarely. I have been able to make a few lists (which pre-op was way more than any other category in the archive section of this blog) by using my book shelves or the help of the Internet now and then.
But for the following list of favorite memoir/autobiographies I was able to come up with six titles (the first six on the list) over a period of a few days and nights thinking about it, so maybe something is reconnecting in my brain to the list-making compulsion, or at least capacity. The rest I came up with by browsing my book shelves. If there are any I missed by people I know forgive me and my brain, and observational powers when it comes to my pretty large library (constantly trying to trim it but still filling four ceiling high bookshelves, with seven shelves, and three other "smaller" bookcases...so I'd guess a few thousand books...).
So here's the list broken into two sections (which amazingly and totally unintentionally came out to ten authors each): those that are unique (in my opinion) either in structure or approach and those that are more conventional...
THAT SPECIAL PLACE by Terence Winch
I REMEMBER by Joe Brainard
HERE COMES THERE GOES YOU KNOW WHO by William Saroyan
SKY by Blaise Cendrars
CLEARVIEW/LIE by Ted Greenwald
RECOLLECTIONS OF MY LIFE AS A WOMAN by Diane di Prima
HIS LIFE by Glen Baxter
FINISHING THE HAT by Stephen Sondheim
IN HIS OWN WORDS by Louis Armstrong
THE INVENTION OF SOLITUDE by Paul Auster
BORSTAL BOY and CONFESSIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL by Brendan Behan
THE VILLAGE OF LONGING, DANCEHALL DAYS and OUT OF OUR MINDS by George O'Brien
DAWN and NEWSPAPER DAYS by Theodore Dreiser
TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE by Solomon Northup
SMILE PLEASE by Jean Rhys
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS by William Carlos Williams
CHRISTOPHER AND HIS KIND by Christopher Isherwoood
LIVING ROOT by Michael Heller
THE MEMORY OF ALL THAT by Betsy Blair
THE STAR FACTORY by Ciaran Carson
(That last one may belong more in the first group since though a relatively conventional memoir it is also the history of a place—Belfast—making it a little more unique in its approach...)
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5 comments:
Glad to see I REMEMBER as it is one of my favorites and certainly qualifies as a memoir. Also, perhaps, the ultimate "list poem."
(I recall there was a follow-up titled I REMEMBER MORE (?) but didn't feel it was as sharp as the first book.)
There were a few original "chapbook" I REMEMBERs but there have been several editions of them all together and just titled as the original one was: I REMEMBER.
Great list, and thank you for the place of honor. Not sure I'd agree about Ciaran Carson, but the rest are excellent. My list would have to include This Boy's Life/Tobias Wolff, A Boy's Own Story/Ed White, and Stop-Time/Frank Conroy.
I never knew W.C. Williams wrote an autobiography. Something to look into.
Thanks for the tip, Michael.
You're welcome Kevin, it's one of his biggest books, in pages, maybe his biggest, and feels like as close as you could get to him being in the room with you telling his story... old style...
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