Memoir Archive |
Gore Vidal (1925-2012) - "Never pass up a chance to have sex or appear on television," Gore Vidal said. In his 86 years, he claimed to have taken his own advice, and on the
Her Last Death - What kind of daughter gets the most dreaded of all phone calls --- “Your mother’s been in an accident, she’s probably going to die” --- and doesn’t drop everything to
High Adventure - He didn't see a mountain until he was 16, didn't climb one until he was 20. But there were personal mountains to climb in Edmund Hillary's
High Priest - Let’s imagine that you know nothing about Timothy Leary and LSD. You don’t “know” that he got in trouble at Harvard for giving LSD to students, or that he ever said
Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs - GUEST BUTLER JANE CHAFIN has been an artist, writer and editor. She began her career as a painter and museum registrar in Los Angeles, then moved to New York in
How Shall I Tell the Dog? And Other Final Musings - Don’t feel bad because you’ve never heard of Miles Kington. You’re not a Brit. And you don’t read London newspapers. Brits and London newspaper devotees know all about Kington. He wrote
How to Do It, or The Lively Art of Entertaining - "Even the greatest hostess is forgotten when the last of her guests dies." Don't you wish you'd written that line? Me too. The truth is, I borrowed it from George Painter's great
How to Do Things Right - I met Rust Hills at a party on Nantucket. He was sitting in a lawn chair, nursing a drink. Though he was 81, he had the look of
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened - I could say I read “Hyperbole and a Half” because I saw it on Bill Gates’ 2015 “beach reading” list. Or because Advertising Age called her one of the 50
I Left It On the Mountain - Kevin Sessums is gay. He’s HIV positive. He was a crystal meth addict. He now lives in San Francisco and edits FourTwoNine, a magazine that celebrates the lesbian, gay,
I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50 - The death of Nora Ephron created a job vacancy, and now that the mourning period is over, we may expect a slew of books from women who can, as Ephron
I Shock Myself: The Autobiography of Beatrice Wood - TRAVEL TIP: If you're ever in Ojai, California, the Beatrice Wood museum is a pleasant 15 minutes. ---- "From early childhood, I wanted to know what the world was like, willing to
Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex) - You never know what’s around the corner. That, perhaps, is the moral of Peter Bart’s film career. There he was, a young New York Times reporter, married and a father, happy covering
Innocent Spouse: A Memoir - When Carol Ross was 22, Walter Cronkite hired her to write the evening news. He had a crew of writers, but she was his personal writer, the one who sat
Isaac Mizrahi: I.M., A Memoir - That late ‘80s Isaac Mizrahi show was crazy. At the end, we were all on our feet, screaming. Backstage, more of the same. “Gale force!” Andre Leon Talley bellowed. “Gale
It’s All About the Dress: What I Learned in Forty Years About Men, Women, Sex, and Fashion - A fashion designer writes a memoir. Yes, she’s talented, imaginative, courageous. But she’s AARP-aged, and although she describes herself --- accurately, I believe --- as “the longest-surviving female designer in
ITHAKA: A Daughter’s Memoir of Being Found - She went to the gym early. Came home to change. Was about to go to work when the phone rang. "Is Sarah Saffian there?" "This is Sarah." "My name is Hannah Morgan. I think
Joan Didion (1934 – 2021) - Joan Didion died at her home of complications from Parkinson's. She was 87. Joan was intensely private, but she allowed her nephew Griffin Dunne to make a documentary, "Joan Didion:
Joan Didion: Let Me Tell You What I Mean - Joan Didion died on December 23, 2021. Sanctification was instant, and not surprising --- Didion was an icon for discerning readers, feminists, and those who discovered her more recently in
John le Carré: The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life - John le Carré has described himself as a liar: “Born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as
