I recently came upon this excess of riches (for memoir-lovers) courtesy of LibraryJournal.com and just had to pass it on…  whew!  Which ones grab you?  I’ve starred the ones I’ll be checking out!

Bachrach, Nancy. The Center of the Universe: A Memoir. Knopf. May 2009. c.256p. ISBN 978-0-307-27090-0. $24.95. MEMOIR
While working as an advertising executive in Paris, debut memoirist Bachrach received word that her father died of carbon monoxide poisoning on his boat and that her mother, also on board, fell into a coma. From this dramatic opening, readers go back in time to learn what it was like to have parents like Mort, a would-be inventor and failed handyman, and Lola, who has an assortment of psychiatric issues. A second thread follows Lola’s recovery. Unfortunately, the stories never quite coalesce, probably owing to Bachrach’s contempt for her parents and her constant, failed attempts at humor. Pass, unless your hate runs as deep as hers.—E.B.

Boyt, Susie. My Judy Garland Life. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. May 2009. c.320p. photogs. ISBN 978-1-59691-666-1. $25. MEMOIR
Filled with pages of earnest and unreadable odes to Judy Garland, this mystifying first memoir chronicles Boyt’s inadvertently creepy, stalker-like obsession with “the greatest entertainer of the twentieth or any century.” Her attempts to find connections to her own life come across as strained and unnatural. Boyt glosses over what is arguably the most interesting thing about her—she is the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and the daughter of painter Lucien Freud. No one but an equally obsessive Garland fan could possibly appreciate this. Readers looking to gain insight into obsessive fandom would be better served by Michael Joseph Gross’s Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to the Fame.—L.G.

Cataldi, Libby. Stay Close: A Mother’s Story of Her Son’s Addiction. St. Martin’s. May 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-312-53878-1. $24.95. MEMOIR
Mental health professionals and parents of addicts could benefit enormously from reading this heartrending story of a mother’s struggle with her son’s drug addiction. When Cataldi’s hitherto healthy, straight-A student teenage son consorts with bad company and begins using alcohol and marijuana, the author misses the telltale signs. Before too long, he adds cocaine, heroin, and meth. Too late, Cataldi struggles to understand what went wrong as she endeavors to rescue him. Her narration and her son’s, interspersed at key points, poignantly depict the story of addiction and recovery. While addiction memoirs proliferate, few wield the power of this one.—L.M.

Cheek, Sigourney. Patient Siggy: Hope and Healing in Cyberspace. Trade Paper Pr: Turner Pub. May 2009. c.264p. ISBN 978-1-59652-503-0. pap. $13.95. MEMOIR
While a cancer diagnosis is devastating to every patient, it is only the beginning of a lengthy, arduous process of treatment and subsequent debilitation. Moreover, living with cancer can be a lonely, isolating experience, the major concern of this book. To wit, during her treatment, Cheek, then 60, reached into cyberspace to create her own online support group. Miraculously, this connection morphed from lifeline to lifelong friendships, yielding a surprisingly positive outcome. Former and current cancer patients will relate to this touching first memoir with a tech angle. Beth Leibson-Hawkins’s I’m Too Young To Have Breast Cancer! celebrates community through the Internet, too.—L.M.

Cohen, Alice Eve. What I Thought I Knew. Viking. Jul. 2009. c.189p. ISBN 978-0-670-02095-9. $24. MEMOIR
Playwright Cohen feared the worst when she developed alarming symptoms—a large, hard lump in her lower abdomen, tenderness in her breasts, morning sickness, et. al. At 44, she was vulnerable to a host of deadly diseases. Apprehensive, she hurried to the hospital and received a startling diagnosis: pregnancy. With a fiancée and an adoptive daughter, she is wholly unprepared for pregnancy, and, later, for parenting a daughter afflicted by a rare hormonal disease. Nonetheless, she comes to love her daughter, and, ultimately, to value her experience. Readers interested in the emotional hardships of pregnancy will relish this debut.—L.M.

Daily, Art & Allison Daily. Out of the Canyon: A True Story of Loss and Love. Harmony: Crown. May 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-307-40940-9. $23.95. MEMOIR
This intensely affecting first memoir begins with the dramatic account of lawyer Daily’s loss of his wife and two young sons when a boulder crashes into their Suburban on a Colorado highway. In the aftermath, letters arrive from total strangers with messages of love and support. One of those strangers is Allison, who has suffered a loss of her own. From her heartfelt letter and mix tape, a friendship ensues that gradually grows into a romance. A powerful account of our ability to recover from emotional devastation and love again, this book will appeal to anyone who has experienced personal tragedy, those who can appreciate finding a life partner under unexpected circumstances, and those who don’t mind a good cry.—E.B

**Esarey, Janna Cawrse. The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search for the Meaning of Wife. Touchstone: S. & S. Jun. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-1-4165-8908-2. pap. $15. MEMOIR
This highly entertaining debut memoir follows thirty-something journalist Esarey and her new husband, Graeme, on a 17,000-mile journey around the Pacific Ocean in their small sailboat. Before they leave, countless married friends tell them, “If your relationship can survive this, it can survive anything.” It doesn’t take the nautically challenged Esarey long to realize just how true the warning is. A well-written, rollicking high-seas adventure, this will appeal to anyone who enjoys a good love story.—E.B.

Donaldson, Ross I, M.D. The Lassa Ward: One Man’s Fight Against of the World’s Deadliest Diseases. St. Martin’s. May 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-312-37700-7. $24.95. MEMOIR
Host of the Lifetime’s Channel’s Street Doctors, Donaldson offers a thrilling account of his mission while a medical student to Sierra Leone to combat Lassa fever, an acute viral illness with a 50 percent mortality rate. In treating many mortally ill patients, he ultimately contracted the disease. Eventually, his personal struggle to survive it further connects him to the larger troubles in Sierra Leone. Required reading for all medical students and anyone looking for a little armchair medical adventure.—L.M.

Galloway, Terry. Mean Little Deaf Queer. Beacon, dist. by Houghton. Jun. 2009. c.248p. ISBN 978-0-8070-7290-5. $23.95. MEMOIR
Owing to an antibiotic given to her mother during pregnancy, performance artist Galloway started going deaf and experiencing bizarre out-of-body experiences at age nine. Going from “normal” to disabled is jarring, and her new oversized hearing aids and thick glasses make her feel like a freak. Despite her disability, Galloway’s strong personality, heightened sense of drama, and attraction to girls lead to an unconventional and barrier-busting story filled with sexual experimentation and a desire for a life lived at the extremes, all ably described in this compelling memoir. A good choice to strengthen disability, feminist, and gay studies collections, too.—L.G.

**Graf, Ellen. The Natural Laws of Good Luck: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage. Trumpeter: Shambhala, dist. by Random. Aug. 2009. c.256p. ISBN 978-1-59030-691-8. $22.95. MEMOIR
Artist Graf was a 46-year-old divorced mother of five (a stepdaughter still lives with her) who had given up on personal ads when her tai chi teacher’s wife suggested that Ellen meet her brother, who happened to live in China and speaks only Chinese. With nothing more than a strong hunch to go on, Ellen flew halfway around the world to meet him. Soon, they got married, and he moved in to house in upstate New York, feeding Ellen and her stepdaughter sea slugs and lobbying to sell their refrigerator (“Just three people, no need”). So begins Graf’s impressive debut, one of the funniest and most moving love stories to come around in a long time.—E.B.

**Lewis, Michael. Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood. Norton. Jun. 2009. c.208p. ISBN 978-0-393-06901-3. $24.95. MEMOIR
When best-selling author Lewis (The Blind Side) became a father, he discovered a huge disparity between what he was really feeling and what he was expected to feel. This honest, moving, and often humorous memoir records the aftermath of the birth of each of his three children and gives an eye-opening account of how one couple decided to split parenting duties in the modern age. Delightful and unexpected, Lewis’s experiences should reassure other fathers they are not alone in navigating 21st-century gender roles. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/09.]—E.B.

Luxenberg, Steve. Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret. Hyperion. May 2009. c.416p. ISBN 978-1-4013-2247-2. $24.99. MEMOIR
When Washington Post senior editor Luxenberg’s mother passed away, the family discovered that she had a sister, Annie, who was confined to a mental institution in 1940, when she was 21. Along with 5000 others, Annie’s existence was treated as a shameful secret, until she was nearly forgotten entirely. Luxenberg uses his tools as an investigative journalist to unearth the circumstances surrounding Annie’s commitment and in doing so sheds welcome light on a heartbreaking chapter in American history. A fascinating detective story that will appeal to anyone who has ever had a family member with mental illness or had their assumptions about family tested by a secret revealed.—E.B.

Maeder, Jo. When I Married My Mother: A Daughter’s Search for What Really Matters—And How She Found It Caring for Mama Jo. Da Capo. May 2009. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-306-81795-3. $25. MEMOIR
In her late forties, Maeder reluctantly left her glamorous New York life as a DJ to care for her ailing and estranged mother down South. “Mama Jo” is a compulsive hoarder, and Maeder cleans out her condemned Virginia home and moves with her and her enormous doll collection to Greensboro, NC, near her born-again brother and his new wife. The few years she spent caring for Mama Jo before her death are a gift, and though she sometimes gets bogged down in the minutiae of her existence, Maeder is an engaging storyteller who conjures Alix Kates Shulman’s A Good Enough Daughter. For caregivers and those in the sandwich generation coming to terms with their parents’ mortality.—L.G.

O’Dea, Brian. High: Confessions of an International Drug Smuggler. Other Pr. May 2009. c.368p. ISBN 978-1-59051-310-1. pap. $14.95. MEMOIR
O’Dea re-creates the adrenaline rush of running an illegal, high-stakes marijuana business, offering fascinating details about its inner working. After repeated threats by the DEA, he quit trafficking and using cocaine in 1986—only to be tried and sentenced to ten years in prison. O’Dea, now working a straight job, draws on his prison diary for this memoir that will spellbind even readers who are not interested in the drug trade or drug culture. Also in the redemption-from-drug-hell vein: David Carr’s The Night of the Gun.—L.M.

Rabin, Nathan. The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture. Scribner. Jul. 2009. c.368p. ISBN 978-1-4165-5620-6. $25. MEMOIR
Abandoned by his mother, left in the care of a hapless father battling MS, and institutionalized in a mental hospital and a home for troubled teens, Rabin describes his existence as a “refugee from middle-class existence gone awry.” The acerbic, self-loathing head writer for The Onion’s A.V. Club section, Rabin filters his hard-luck tale through a pop culture prism, referencing everything from film noir to Kurt Cobain like an angst-ridden Chuck Klosterman. The pop culture conceit doesn’t quite mask the fact that this is still a triumph-over-adversity memoir, and much like the author himself, the book is quirky, clever, and wildly entertaining at times, while plagued by disorder, self-indulgence, and a neurotic need to tell all in excruciating detail. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/09.]—L.G.

Raday, Sophia. Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage. Beacon, dist. by Houghton. May 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978- 0-8070-7283-7. $24.95. MEMOIR
Literarymama.com founding editor Raday’s touching and occasionally revelatory memoir tackles a marriage of opposites. Raday is the peace-activist who enjoys yoga, while her husband, Barrett, is a West Point graduate and former Oakland police officer destined for combat in Iraq. With enormous empathy, Raday and her guiding principle of respect for differences overwhelms her fears about their dissimilarities as the two make their way into a relationship. They make it work—with a lot of couples therapy—and their story will entrance anyone who has ever wondered if love can last between two people with fundamentally contrasting beliefs. [View the book video here.]—E.B.

Raskin, Andy. The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Jun. 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-1-592-40444-5. $26. MEMOIR
Journalist and NPR commentator Raskin concocts a hilarious but instructive casserole. To cure his many problems, he embarks upon a bizarre, Zen-like quest to meet the late Momofuku Ando, the Japanese inventor of ramen noodles. He worships Momofuku as a sage who can provide ultimate solutions to cosmic questions. In the end, Raskin benefits from his knowledge of Japanese language, culture, cuisine—and Momofuku—to achieve enlightenment. Readers with hankerings for the zany and life-affirming (not to mention Japanese) will salivate over this book. Serve with Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia.—L.M.

Rose, Daniel Asa. Larry’s Kidney: How I Found Myself in China with My Black Sheep Cousin and His Mail Order Bride. Morrow. May 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-06-170870-1. $25.99. MEMOIR
In addition to having one of the longest titles outside of academic publishing, this book is a side-splitting tour de force that whisks readers off to China on a quest to get a transplant for the author’s cousin Larry. Second-time memoirist Rose (Hiding Places) recounts their exploits with an insuperable wit that will appeal to readers who crave unrelenting humor. In a more serious vein, Larry’s challenging journey to China will resonate with readers who are rightfully concerned about the plight of American patients who may be relegated for years to an organ transplant waiting list.—L.M.

Sabbag, Robert. Down Around Midnight: A Memoir of Crash and Survival. Viking. Jun. 2009. c.224p. ISBN 978-0-670-02102-4. $25.95. MEMOIR
No, this memoir isn’t about music—it articulates one of our worst nightmares: being in a plane crash. When Air New England flight 248 crashed around midnight in the woods of Cape Cod on June 17, 1979, best-selling author Sabbag (Too Tough To Die) survived relatively unscathed physically. His psychological state was more precarious, however, and here he relates the horror of the crash and his painful recovery from the trauma. For the first time, the other survivors speak out, too. Readers who seek survivor tales like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air will find satisfaction here.—L.M.

Schwartz, Lynne Sharon. Not Now, Voyager: A Memoir. Counterpoint. May 2009. c.192p. ISBN 978-1-59243-428-5. $23. MEMOIR
In this gem of a memoir, first-time memoirist Schwartz uses her infinite skills to deconstruct how the travels taken in her life have been journeys of self-discovery and points out that as the person on the journey is altered, so is the journey itself. Not a traditional travel book (Schwartz never left home during the writing), it is in any case a revelation of why we travel, despite the inevitable annoyances and disappointments, even dangers, encountered along the way. Connoisseurs of high-quality prose and armchair travelers have a companion in this book.—E.B.

Senna, Danzy. Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: A Personal History. Farrar. May 2009. c.224p. ISBN 978-0-374-28915-7. $23. MEMOIR
Senna’s literary mother is a white, blue-blooded Bostonian whose ancestors were key players in the slave trade; Senna’s father is black, the son of a struggling single mother and an unknown father, yet he’s a promising writer and academic. It’s a civil rights–era marriage poised to defy history, yet it ends in conflagration just eight years later. Noted novelist Senna (Caucasia) presents a thoughtful investigation into both of her parent’s pasts, along with her explanation of how she and her siblings were affected by both the marriage and the violent split. Both segments dovetail into a fiercely moving account of personal identity in the modern age. An obvious complement to James McBride’s The Color of Water. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/09.]—E.B.

Silverberg, Robert. Other Spaces, Other Times: A Life Spent in the Future. Nonstop Pr. May 2009. c.200p. illus. ISBN 978-1-933065-12-0. $34.95. MEMOIR
Esteemed science fiction writer Silverberg details his rise from a young boy in the 1940s who avidly read H.G. Wells and Jules Verne to leader of the genre in the contemporary age. His lushly illustrated book will entertain and enlighten his legions of fans as he describes thought processes behind the publication of each of his books, from how he chose names to the design of the covers, and the real story behind his very public retreat from writing in the seventies. For all SF devotees and novelists in training who relished Stephen King’s similarly autobiographical On Writing.—E.B.

Su, Lac. I Love Yous Are for White People. Harper Perennial. May 2009. c.272p. ISBN 978-0-06-154366-1. pap. $14.99. MEMOIR
In this moving first memoir, Su, vice president of marketing for a global think tank, recounts his family’s escape from a difficult life in Vietnam for another in Los Angeles. Much of the City of Angels is the polar opposite of shimmering Hollywood—Su encounters abject poverty and gang culture. After looking for love in all the wrong places, he eventually establishes an identity in his adopted country. Anyone who wonders what obstacles an immigrant must overcome will be fascinated by this assimilation story; Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior complements it nicely.—L.M.

Wagner, Cheryl. Plenty Enough Suck To Go Around. Citadel: Kensington. May 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-8065-3103-8. pap. $14.95. MEMOIR
After Hurricane Katrina, thirty-something NPR contributor Wagner snuck back into off-limits New Orleans with her musician boyfriend and two dogs to discover their charming ramshackle home seeping and gutted, their neighborhood a lawless, postapocalyptic nightmare. Wagner confronts an avalanche of heartbreak, from the mentally ill neighbors living in squalor to the murder of a close friend. Though the constant setbacks and endless tales of woe can get soul-numbing after a few chapters, she has penned a touching and heartfelt paean to her beloved city of oddballs. Listen-alikes: Wagner’s This American Life broadcasts.—L.G.

White, Neil. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts. Morrow. Jun. 2009. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-06-135160-0. $25.99. MEMOIR
Convicted of fraud and serving a prison sentence in a leper colony? What kind of crazy fiction is that? Turns out it’s not fiction at all but what literally happened to journalist and editor White, who was sentenced to prison at Carville, the only leper colony remaining in the United States, for committing a relatively innocuous financial crime. White’s memoir continues to surprise as it presents a witty, well-rendered narrative of redemption and enlightenment. Readers who enjoy clever, off-beat memoirs will devour this in one sitting.—L.M.
Bauer, Carlene. Not That Kind of Girl. HarperCollins. Jul. 2009. 304p. ISBN 978-0-06-084054-9. $26.99. MEMOIR
Billed as the tale of Carrie Bradshaw’s more bookish doppelganger, Bauer’s memoir explores her own Caulfieldian coming-of-age experience in New York. After being transplanted from a strict evangelical upbringing to the ebb-and-flow of the chaotic city, Bauer must look to redefine what it means to be “good” in a place that constantly seems to challenge her childhood morals.

 

Chin, Staceyann. The Other Side of Paradise. Scribner. Jun. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-7432-9290-0. $24. MEMOIR
Born unexpectedly to a resentful mother and an absent father, Chin was raised by her loving grandmother until she was forced into a dangerous living situation in Paradise, Jamaica. Chin’s memoir captures the anger and fierceness of a battle to break free from her past and situate herself in a happy present.

Collins, Michael J., M.D. Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: The Making of a Surgeon. St. Martin’s. Jun. 2009. c.304p. ISBN 978-0-312-53293-2. $24.95. MEMOIR
An intellectual revelation drives second-time memoirist Collins (Hot Lights, Cold Steel) to decide to leave his job at a construction company and enter medical school at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. This decision proves life-changing, and the time spent in a hospital forces Collins to acknowledge life’s tenuousness.

**Culberson, Sarah & Tracy Trivas. A Princess Found. St. Martin’s. Jul. 2009. 368p. photogs. ISBN 978-0-312-37879-0. $25.95. MEMOIR
A memoir comprised of the stuff of fairy tales, Culberson’s search for her birth parents leads her to Africa—and the discovery that she is actually African royalty. Her journey forces her to grapple with the two lives she’s been dealt in an attempt to define herself.

Cummings, Quinn. Notes from the Underwire: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life. Hyperion. Jul. 2009. 272p. ISBN 978-1-40132-286-1. pap. $14.99. MEMOIR
In her debut, 1970s child star Cummings offers a humorous and self-deprecating glimpse into the life of an everyday mom. Having attempted to divorce herself fully from the celebrity world she inhabited as a child (she appeared regularly on Family), Cummings speaks to the difficulties and joys of child rearing with a sardonic wit.

Farrell, Richard. What’s Left of Us: A Memoir of Addiction. Citadel. Jul. 2009. 288p. ISBN 978-0-8065-3074-1. pap. $13.95. MEMOIR
Much in the vein of David Carr’s The Night of the Gun, Farrell’s haunting account tells of his struggle with heroin addiction. Farrell won an award for his HBO documentary High on Crack Street, and his book serves as a vehicle for exploring the powerful ramifications of mistakes and redemption.

Fellner, Steve. All Screwed Up. Benu Pr. Jul. 2009. 192p. ISBN 978-0-9815163-3-2. $25. MEMOIR
Growing up with a trampolinist mother in a trailer park will screw anyone up. Fellner’s memoir touches on the difficulties of coming-of-age gay in a poverty-stricken environment, all the while attempting to navigate his complex relationship with his unpredictable mother.

Greally, Hanna. Bird’s Nest Soup. Attic Pr., dist. by Dufour. Jul. 2009. 160p. ISBN 978-1-85594-210-3. pap. $15.95. MEMOIR
Greally recounts her terrifying experiences as a sane patient in a psychiatric insitution during the 1940s and 1950s heyday of shock therapy and experimental treatments.

Johnson, Jeff. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink. Spiegel & Grau: Random. Jul. 2009. 272p. ISBN 978-0-385-53052-1. $24.95. MEMOIR
The Sea Tramp Tattoo Company is Portland’s oldest tattoo parlor, where tattooing legend Bert Grimm inked Bonnie and Clyde. Current co-owner Johnson has much to say on the wonders and oddities of this Oregon institution. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/09.]

Lawrence, Candida. Vanishing. Unbridled. Jun. 2009. c.316p. ISBN 978-1-932961-66-9. $23.95. MEMOIR
The follow-up to her earlier memoirs Reeling & Writhing, Change of Circumstance, and Fear Itself, Vanishing conveys, through haunting honesty, the details of Lawrence’s unordinary life.

Lehmann-Haupt, Rachel. In Her Own Sweet Time: Unexpected Adventures in Finding Love, Commitment and Motherhood. Basic: Perseus. Jun. 2009. c.336p. index. ISBN 978-0-465-00919-0. $24.95. MEMOIR
After ending a relationship she thought would lead to marriage and a family, Plum magazine executive editor Lehmann-Haupt found herself stuck on the precipice between fertility and high-risk pregnancy. Here, she tells the story of her attempt to reconcile her desire for a family with the quest for the discovery of her own personal values.

Lunch, Lydia. Will Work For Drugs. Akashic. Jul. 2009. 160p. ISBN 978-1-933354-73-6. $15.95. MEMOIR
Echoing the dark and gritty drug tales of Hubert Selby Jr., punk icon Lunch explores the perils of addiction over three decades with a haunting style that will leave you uncomfortable and awed.

Lyon, Joshua. Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict. Hyperion. Jul. 2009. 288p. ISBN 978-1-4013-2298-4. $23.95. MEMOIR
Journalist Lyon synthesizes cultural analysis with his own addiction experience to explore the fascinating world of prescription pain killers and their powerful grip. Part investigative journalism, part memoir, Lyon’s book illuminates the difficulties of being hooked on legal drugs and how this problem has swept wildly across various demographics.

Metz, Julie. Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal. Hyperion. Jun. 2009. c.240p. ISBN 978-1-4013-2255-7. $23.99. MEMOIR
When Metz’s husband died suddenly, she was left a single mother and widower with a dark past to confront. Through simple language, Metz provokes deep feeling in the reader as she discusses her husband’s infideltity and how it eventually reshaped her outlook on life.

Millhone, Mark. The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Section Chances. Rodale. Jul. 2009. 224p. ISBN 978-1-59486-823-8. $23.95. MEMOIR
After facing a slew of heart-wrenching familial complications, Millhone decided to purchase his dream car on ebay—much to his wife’s chagrin. His memoir tells the story of the road trip he took with his unemotional father from New York to Texas to collect the car and how it ultimately reconfigured his life perspective and saved his family.

Nichols, Jeff. Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot. Touchstone. Jul. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-1-4165-9916-6. pap. $15. MEMOIR
If any of novelist Brett Easton Ellis’s infamous characters could pen a memoir, perhaps it would read much like this. Growing up an overprivileged Manhattanite, Nichols recounts a tale that smacks of Less Than Zero woe. The drugs, the prostitutes, and the failed Wall Street job provide a glimpse into the life of a man struggling to overcome his dysfunction and do right in the world.

Nylen, Robert. Guts: One American Guy’s Reckless, Lucky Life. Random. Jun. 2009. c.272p. ISBN 978-1-4000-6776-3. $25. MEMOIR
Beliefnet.com cofounder Nylen’s transformation from a frat boy party enthusiast to a Vietnam vet is a moving one. Grappling with cancer and other bodily ills, he never manages to lose the recklessness that defines his life.

Reverend Jen. Live Nude Elf: The Sexperiments of Reverend Jen. Softskull Pr., dist. by Publishers Group West. Jun. 2009. c.256p. ISBN 978-1-59376-244-5. pap. $14.95. MEMOIR
Reverend Jen’s memoir follows her sexcapades in Manhattan as she attempts to compartamentalize love and lust through art. But when she falls in love, Jen must decide between her oversexualized past and a monogamous future.

Rich, Katherine Russell. Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language. Houghton. Jul. 2009. c.384p. bibliog. ISBN 978-0-618-15545-3. $26. MEMOIR
Upon going on assignment in India, magazine editor Rich becomes enamored with the Hindi language and attempts to adapt her Americanized beliefs to life in India. What follows is a story of acculturation and the impact that linguistics can have on self-realization.

Robinson, Holly. The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter. Harmony: Crown. Jun. 2009. c.288p. photogs. ISBN 978-0-307-33745-0. $23. MEMOIR
With a comic flare, Robinson’s memoir tells the story of her father, an ex-naval officer, who began raising gerbils in their garage during her childhood. She reveals the quirks and absurdities of growing up with a father with a bizarre hobby.

Satterfield, Jane. Daughters of Empire: A Memoir of a Year in Britain and Beyond. Demeter Pr. Jun. 2009. c.140p. bibliog. ISBN 978-1-55014-503-8. $24.95. MEMOIR
With a finger constantly on the pulse of the artistic and culture trends of Britain in the mid-1990s, award-winning writer Satterfield explores her own attempts at reconciling motherhood with her literary legacy.

Simon, Rachel. Building a Home with My Husband: A Journey Through the Renovation of Love. Dutton. Jun. 2009. c.272p. ISBN 978-0-525-95120-9. $24.95. MEMOIR
In the midst of a flailing housing market, best-selling memoirist Simon (Riding the Bus with My Sister) decided to renovate her house instead of put it up for sale. This decision allowed her to explore the intimacies of her relationship with her husband, as well as expound upon the nature of love and humanity. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/09.]

Smith, Zak. We Did Porn: Memoir and Drawings. Tin House. Jul. 2009. c.400p. illus. ISBN 978-0-9802436-8-0. $24.95. MEMOIR
Artist Smith—known for his visual interpretations of Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow—bends the memoir genre by creating a fascinating synthesis of words and art to tell the provocative story of the world of alt-porn.

Wieder, Alan. Year of the Cock: The Remarkable True Account of a Married Man Who Left His Wife and Paid the Price. Grand Central. Jul. 2009. 312p. ISBN 978-0-446-58216-2. $23.99. MEMOIR
Spurred on by a midlife crisis, writer/producer Wieder decided to leave his wife and subsequently the entire life he has spent years establishing in Los Angeles. Plagued by self-doubt and chronic impulsivity, Wieder examines the beautiful freedom and dangerous repercussions of leaving behind everything you’ve built to start anew. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/09.]

Wilkins, Charles. In the Land of Long Fingernails: A Gravedigger in the Age of Aquarius. Skyhorse. Jul. 2009. 240p. ISBN 978-1-60239-709-5. $24.95. MEMOIR
Wilkins’s memoir serves as a fascinating account of his coming-of-age experience as a gravedigger in the summer of 1969. Confronted daily with mortality and the physical and emotional implications of death, Wilkins explores the grim details of working in a cemetery and how the experience ultimately shaped his journey to adulthood.

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