Category Archives: Memoir

From Heaven Lake

Posted on January 27, 2015 by

Vikram Seth is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read all of his novels, even the one written in verse (and am looking forward to A Suitable Girl, coming out in 2016, ya-hey!) I’ve read his biography of his great-aunt … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 1 Comment

The Glass Castle

Posted on January 17, 2015 by

Just recently, I read a post by Swistle, one of my favorite bloggers, who was giving her opinion of the film Boyhood. One of the things she said is that the movie made her very uncomfortable in several different ways. … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction | 16 Comments

The Wilder Life

Posted on January 16, 2015 by

Wendy McClure knows the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder — something she calls Laura World — almost by heart. She (like a lot of us, maybe) remembers places she’s never been: the Big Woods of Wisconsin, the little … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's / YA Lit, Memoir, Nonfiction | 23 Comments

Beijing Bastard

Posted on December 1, 2014 by

Val Wang’s parents came to the United States from China when they were young adults with a spirit of adventure. Still, they wanted to give their daughter a sense of her heritage, so they sent her to Chinese school, taught … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | Tagged | 8 Comments

Without You, There Is No Us

Posted on November 26, 2014 by

Suki Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved with her family to the United States when she was 13. She traveled all over the world during her young adult years, but North Korea was an elusive source of … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction | 6 Comments

Home Cooking (and a little brief introspection)

Posted on October 15, 2014 by

Shelf Love has been around since 2008, and until this year it was never difficult for me to post whatever I wanted to about what I was reading. Teresa and I have both always taken the view that we do … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Memoir, Nonfiction, Short Stories/Essays | 30 Comments

God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine

Posted on October 3, 2014 by

For the last couple of years, I’ve been dealing with a handful of minor but annoying health issues—the kinds of things that I can live with as they are now but want to deal with so they don’t get worse. … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction | 4 Comments

Under My Skin

Posted on September 25, 2014 by

It took me a few weeks to get through this book, the first volume of Doris Lessing’s autobiography, published in 1994. This wasn’t because the book is particularly long or difficult, nor is it because I didn’t like reading it. … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction | 14 Comments

Life at Grasmere and Reading Other People’s Diaries

Posted on August 26, 2014 by

Several years ago, I subscribed to RSS feeds for the diaries of Samuel Pepys and George Orwell. At the time, it seemed like a brilliant idea. The feeds updated on dates recorded in their diaries with the entry for that … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Poetry | 27 Comments

Retreat Reading

Posted on June 23, 2014 by

I just returned from a weekend on retreat at the monastery of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was a remarkable weekend, filled with time for prayer and reflection—and all the quiet I could want. … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, Nonfiction, Poetry, Religion | 4 Comments