Biography & Memoir from our 2017 Summer Newsletter

At the tender age of 19, Paul Brinkley-Rogers met Kaji Yukiko while stationed in post–World War II Yokosuka, Japan. At the time, he had no idea how his relationship with this enigmatic woman, this lover of poetry and the arts, this complicated orphan of a war-ravaged country, would impress itself upon his life, but now at 75, he returns to her letters and that time encapsulated and pens a love letter of his own: this beautiful, intimate, immediate book. - Melinda

Amy Thielen’s love affair with cooking began with butter-soaked Midwestern home cooking, was catalyzed by her homesteaded garden, and matured on the line of the fine-dining kitchens of New York. Her memoir covers all the phases of her unique life, from homesteader to New York dreamer, from Minnesotan child to new mother. Through it all, her gorgeous prose evokes the food, vibrant not just with taste but with the soul-deep feeling the right bite brings. - Jocelyn

In 2006, Al Franken was a writer, actor, talk radio host, and comedian on Saturday Night Live. In 2007, Franken was running for Senate against a conservative incumbent. In 2009, Franken became a U.S. senator, representing Minnesota. He has written since but never about his own journey from entertainer to lawmaker. Until now. We are fortunate, because when else would be better to read about the underdog fighting to take part in the political process? - Jocelyn

Sherman Alexie has written a memoir! My anticipation of this book is brimming to the boiling point. Alexie, known for his sharp wit and gifted storytelling, has turned his focus to the personal. After his mother died, Alexie used writing to deal with his grief, and in this collage of essays, photos, and poems, he gives a window onto his life growing up poor on an Indian reservation. With humor, anger, wit, and raw, poignant love, Alexie also writes of the life of his mother—a complex woman who helped shape the writer and man that Alexie would become. - S.M.C.

A detailed, progressive investigation by an academic who has had it with people misreading Austen! Kelly easily debunks the image of a quiet, receding, marriage-obsessed author and shows the subversive class criticisms Austen embedded in her writing during a period when censorship reigned. Alternating narrative biography with detailed explorations of each published novel, Kelly preaches mostly to the choir: it’s a good read for those who are familiar with the Austen canon. - a.c.

Normally I shy away from memoirs written by poets, afraid that their style of writing won’t translate into a cohesive narrative. But Patricia Lockwood’s clever turns of phrase and eccentric personality are right at home in this book, which is primarily the story of her beer-drinking Catholic priest of a father and how growing up in this paradoxical environment shaped her life. It’s real and irreverent and will delight fans of Jenny Lawson and Mary Karr. - Louise

Fair served as a contract interrogator for the U.S. military during the Iraq War. In this searing memoir, he recounts several of the “enhanced interrogations” he participated in, the moral gray areas that troubled his Christian faith and his sense of human decency, and the long period of nightmares that followed his service. When his health began to deteriorate and his marriage teetered on the brink of divorce, he decided to put pen to paper in a last-ditch effort to save his own life. The book is a compelling, heartbreaking addition to the growing body of important writing about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. - Rico

From the first pages of this highly anticipated memoir, Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist) takes readers on an emotional journey. Searching through photo albums for clues, Gay traces her very happy childhood to where she is now: struggling “to love or at least tolerate this body in a world that displays nothing but contempt for it.” After having been raped, she filled the void and protected herself by eating and eating “in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe.” Self-conscious, in pain, and trapped in her body, Gay takes on what it means to truly take care of yourself, all while facing the unrelenting judgment of society. Breathtakingly honest and brave, Hunger will not leave you unchanged. - S.B.