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In his new memoir, Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband (a phrase that never gets old!) of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, tells the very personal story of Gabby's recovery after being shot in the head in January. Among the many frank details the book reveals, there is one that stands out and makes the whole incident even sadder than it already was: Giffords, who at the time of the shooting was 41, had been trying to get pregnant when she was injured. She was undergoing fertility treatments and was hoping to be pregnant by February. She even had a doctors appointment scheduled for just two days after the shooting. Talk about heartbreaking! More »
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In his new memoir Decision Points, George W. Bush reveals the moment that turned him pro-life: when his mother, Barbara, showed him a jar ... containing her miscarried fetus. More »
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It happens again and again. You read someone's life story, feel you know them, thrill to their romance — idealize it, even. And then, without a word to you, they end it. And it's traumatic! More »
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There's a lot more to Pam Grier than stories of cocaine vaginas. As an interview with the Times today confirms, Grier's emerged from a life "more interesting and dangerous than some of the movies I've done" a strong, resilient woman. More »
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In And The Heart Says Whatever, Emily Gould set out to flout the traditions of many women's memoirs. Her book is the antithesis of personal growth narratives like Eat, Pray, Love — and she may like it that way. More »
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What to say about the late Norman Mailer? That he was married six times? That he stabbed his second wife? That he once said, "A little bit of rape is good for a man's soul?" Certainly. More »
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Eleven years after Matthew Shepard was fatally beaten for being gay, his mother Judy is releasing a memoir about his life and death. An excerpt and interview in Newsweek reveal her efforts to spare others from her son's fate. More »
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Jeannette Walls, author of memoir The Glass Castle, will publish a "true-life novel" about her grandmother, a horsewoman and pilot who "was always cursing and dancing, whipping out her gun or whipping out her teeth." [Publishers Weekly] More »
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There's always been a conflict between intellectualism and religion - now more than ever. In a new memoir, one writer confesses to being a nice girl in an ironic world. More »
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New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni makes a living eating. So it's both disturbing and encouraging to learn, in this excerpt from his memoir Born Round that his early years were plagued with weight struggles, self-loathing and eating disorders. More »
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Allegra Huston's mom posed for Cocteau, her dad was director John, her secret biological father was a viscount, and when young she lived with older sister Anjelica and Jack Nicholson. We'll read her memoir. [NYT] More »
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Following yesterday's outing of ex-gang member/ Love and Consequences author Margaret Jones as middle-class private school grad Peggy Seltzer, cultural critics are punditing all over the place about what the rash of fake memoirs means to America. To the LA Times' Tim Rutten, the publication of these first-person misery memoirs is a reflection of a deeply ingrained American culture of narcissism: "The only unchallenged moral authority has become that of victims. This should not be read as an expression of sympathy toward the injured; instead, it's really an extension of the culture of narcissism's influence into the world of letters. It's a view that asserts that only those who have experienced pain or torment have a right speak of it, though others may participate vicariously through their eyes." More »
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