Best of
Memoir

1988

Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir


Paul Monette - 1988
    A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and the winner of the PEN Center West literary award.

Just Another Kid


Torey L. Hayden - 1988
    Three were recent arrivals from battletorn Ireland, horribly traumitized by the nightmare of war. Then there was eleven-year-old Dirkie, who had known no life outside of an institution; Mariana, who was dangerously excitable and sexually precocious, though she was only eight; and Leslie, seven years old, yet completely unresponsive and unable to speak. These were the children entrusted to the care of Torey Hayden, the extraordinary special-education teacher who refused to give up on them. She was determined that every child should experience joy, hope, and a future free of fear, and with compassion, patience, and most of all love, she knew that miracles can happen.

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen


Laurie Colwin - 1988
    Equal parts cookbook and memoir, Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" combines her insightful, good-humored writing style with her lifelong passion for wonderful cuisine in essays such as "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant," "Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir," and "Stuffed Breast of Veal: A Bad Idea." "Home Cooking" is truly a feast for body and soul.

The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village


Samuel R. Delany - 1988
    Delany married white poet Marilyn Hacker right out of high school. The interracial couple moved into the city's new bohemian quarter, the Lower East Side, in summer 1961. Through the decade's opening years, new art, new sexual practices, new music, and new political awareness burgeoned among the crowded streets and cheap railroad apartments. Beautifully, vividly, insightfully, Delany calls up this era of exploration and adventure as he details his development as a black gay writer in an open marriage, with tertiary walk-ons by Bob Dylan, Stokely Carmichael, W. H. Auden, and James Baldwin, and a panoply of brilliantly drawn secondary characters.Winner of the 1989 Hugo Award for Non-fictionSamuel R. Delany is the author of numerous science fiction books including Dhalgren, other fiction including The Mad Man, as well as the best-selling nonfiction study Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. He lives in New York City and teaches at Temple University. The Lambda Book Report chose Delany as one of the fifty most significant men and women of the past hundred years to change our concept of gayness, and he is a recipient of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to lesbian and gay literature.

Fear No Evil


Natan Sharansky - 1988
     Since Fear No Evil was originally published in 1988, the Soviet government that imprisoned Sharansky has collapsed. Sharansky has become an important national leader in Israel—and serves as Israel's diplomatic liaison to the former Soviet Union! New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Serge Schmemann reflects on those monumental events, and on Sharansky's extraordinary life in the decades since his arrest, in a new introduction to this edition. But the truths Sharansky learned in his jail cell and sets forth in this book have timeless importance so long as rulers anywhere on earth still supress their own peoples. For anyone with an interest in human rights—and anyone with an appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit—he illuminates the weapons with which the powerless can humble the powerful: physical courage, an untiring sense of humor, a bountiful imagination, and the conviction that "Nothing they do can humiliate me. I alone can humiliate myself."

Grey is the Color of Hope


Irina Ratushinskaya - 1988
    The gulag memoirs of a brave woman, a distinguished dissident and poet--Ratushinskaya gives her account of the four years she spent in a "strict regime" labor camp at Barashevo, where she endured several types of abuse.

The Crosswicks Journals: A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, The Irrational Season, and Two-Part Invention


Madeleine L'Engle - 1988
    Set against the lush backdrop of Crosswicks, Madeleine L’Engle’s family farmhouse in rural Connecticut, this series of memoirs reveals the complexity behind the beloved author whose works have long been cherished by children and adults alike.  A Circle of Quiet: In a deeply personal account, L’Engle shares her journey to find balance between her career as an author and her responsibilities as a wife, mother, teacher, and Christian.  The Summer of the Great-Grandmother: Four generations of family have gathered at Crosswicks to care for L’Engle’s ninety-year-old mother, whose health is rapidly declining and whose once astute mind is slipping into senility. L’Engle takes an unflinching look at diminishment and death, all the while celebrating the wonder of life and the bonds between mothers and daughters.  The Irrational Season: Exploring the intersection of science and religion, L’Engle uncovers how her spiritual convictions inform and enrich the everyday. The memoir follows the liturgical year from one Advent to the next, with L’Engle’s reflections on the changing seasons in her own life as a writer, wife, mother, and global citizen.  Two-Part Invention: L’Engle beautifully evokes the life she and her husband, actor Hugh Franklin, built and the family they cherished. Beginning with their very different childhoods, their life in New York City in the 1940s, and their years spent raising their children at Crosswicks, this is L’Engle’s most personal work yet.   Offering a new perspective into her writing and life and how the two inform each other, the National Book Award–winning author explores the meanings behind motherhood, marriage, and faith.

Living Out Loud


Anna Quindlen - 1988
    But we know the hopes, dreams, fears, and wonder expressed in all her columns, for most of us share them. With her NEW YORK TIMES-based column, "LIFE IN THE 30s," Anna Quindlen vaulted to national attention, and this wonderful collection shows why.As she proved in OBJECT LESSONS and THINKING OUT LOUD, Anna Quindlen's views always fascinate.

Give Me One Wish: A True Story of Courage and Love


Jacquie Gordon - 1988
    Jackquie Gordon cannot cure her daughter Christine's cystic fibrosis, but she can teach her to follow life's gifts wherever they lead so that she grows up eager to discover the world and her place in it. This entrhalling book gives us the intimate chronicle of a teenage girl growing up in the late 70s and early 80s. It gives us a model of courage and love under pressure. It tells the healing story of a mother and daughter who never stop trying to understand and help each other, and who succeed beyond all expectation.A selection of the Literary Guild.

Goodbye, I Love You


Carol Lynn Pearson - 1988
    Since problems related to AIDS take an ever-increasing toll, the continuing popularity of Pearson's book is no surprise. It may be that no one has documented the heart-wrenching effects of homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic on the American family better than Ms. Pearson.

Early Days


Miss Read - 1988
    The 2 stories tel l of her childhood, when she was known as Dora Schafe, growi ng up in South London and Kent during the First World War. '

Night Studio: A Memoir Of Philip Guston


Musa Mayer - 1988
    His style ranged from the social realism of his WPA murals through his abstract expressionist canvasses of the 1950s and 1960s (when he counted Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, and Kline among his friends) to his cartoonlike paintings of Klansmen, disembodied heads, and tangled piles of everyday objects. Critics and public alike savaged Guston for his return to figurative art, but today his late work is recognized for the singular power of its darkly hilarious vision. Musa Mayer augments her firsthand knowledge with extensive interviews with his family, friends, students, and colleagues, as well as Guston's own letters, notes, and autobiographical writings, to re-create a turbulent era in American art. Night Studio, profusely illustrated (including almost a dozen paintings in full color), illuminates not only the life of a great artist, but the experience of growing up in his shadow.

A Girl from Yamhill


Beverly Cleary - 1988
    From Ramona Quimby to Henry Huggins, Ralph S. Mouse to Ellen Tebbits, she has created an evergreen body of work based on the humorous tales and heartfelt anxieties of middle graders. But in A Girl from Yamhill, Beverly Cleary tells a more personal story—her story—of what adolescence was like. In warm but honest detail, Beverly describes life in Oregon during the Great Depression, including her difficulties in learning to read, and offers a slew of anecdotes that were, perhaps, the inspiration for some of her beloved stories.For everyone who has enjoyed the pranks and schemes, embarrassing moments, and all of the other poignant and colorful images of childhood brought to life in Beverly Cleary’s books, here is the fascinating true story of the remarkable woman who created them.

The Power of the Powerless: A Brother's Legacy of Love


Christopher de Vinck - 1988
    Due to a tragedy at birth, Oliver de Vinck was born severely handicapped—blind, mute, crippled, helpless. Despite the doctors' bleak prognosis, his loving parents took him home, where they and their children cared for him. He lived for thirty-three years.

The Obsidian Mirror: An Adult Healing from Incest


Louise M. Wisechild - 1988
    Through the use of inner characters ---- a critical judge, an adolescent rebel, scared and needy inner children and an evolving nurturer, Wisechild illustrates the effects of abuse and her ongoing process of healing. With the support of friends, counselors, and her own work with creativity and body/mind therapies, Wisechild carries the reader with her on her journey from fear and grief to rage and personal empowerment.

I Knew a Phoenix: Sketches for an Autobiography


May Sarton - 1988
    Sarton's memoir begins with her roots in a Belgian childhood and describes her youth and education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, her coming-of-age years, and the people who influenced her life as a writer.

The Human Face of Karate: My Life, My Karate-Do


Tadashi Nakamura - 1988
    It is also a story of family loyalties and the extraordinary love and devotion of husband and wife. As a tale of intrigue in the international Karate world, it is fascinating reading. In its story of struggle and the victory of the human spirit, it is nothing short of inspirational.”

Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer


Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot - 1988
    Margaret Morgan Lawrence, one of the first African-American women to graduate from Cornell University and Columbia University School of Medicine to become a physician. Born in 1914, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, she was the only child of an Episcopalian minister and was raised in the protected environment of the middle class. Margaret's journey began as a teenager when she traveled north to live in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and found herself under the strong influence of the women in her mother's family, who helped her find conviction in her dreams. After graduating from medical school at Columbia, she went on to become a mother and an activist, and to establish a brilliant career as a child psychiatrist in New York. Balm in Gilead captures both the life of an inspiring woman and the social, cultural, historical, and psychological forces that shaped the destinies of four generations of African-American women and their families.

Norman MacLean


Ron McFarland - 1988
    First edition. Great gift.

The Rites of Autumn


Dan O'Brien - 1988
    When one of his release sites was raided by a golden eagle, he managed to save a peregrine chick, and decided to make an improbable two-thousand-mile trip with the surviving young falcon, Dolly. From the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, following the autumnal migration of waterfowl, O'Brien taught her to hunt as a wild falcon would, in the hopes of releasing her into the natural world. The Rites of Autumn is the riveting account of their incredible journey. (51/2 X 81/4, 208 pages, map)

Deep Enough for Ivorybills


James Kilgo - 1988
    Portraying a world both visceral and majestic, Deep Enough for Ivorybills establishes Kilgo not only in the sporting lineage of Robert Ruark and William Faulkner but also in the naturalist tradition of Annie Dillard and Loren Eisley.

Child Star


Shirley Temple Black - 1988
    Born in 1928 in southern California, Shirley Temple was extraordinary from the start. At the age of three, she began acting, often in exploitative films directed and produced by some abusive studio executives. But Shirley's talent and perseverance could not be thwarted, and she soon entered a fruitful relationship with Twentieth Century Fox. Before long she was making films with the top stars of the day, including Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Lionel Barrymore, Joel McCrea and many others. There was something magical about Shirley Temple that cheered the soul of America during the Depression. She was the number one movie star of the nation for four consecutive years, from 1935 through 1938. In Child Star Shirley Temple Black reveals the whole story, the ups and downs of life as a Hollywood prodigy--including numerous kidnap threats and even a murder attempt against her.

Departures


Paul Zweig - 1988
    After a decade in France, he returned to America and became a respected, well-known man of letters, who, at the age of forty-three, discovered he had cancer. This brilliant memoir tells of his passionate life and his dignified response to the approach of his death.

Jeannie: A Love Story


Derek Tangye - 1988
    But an even wider circle was enriched by their enchanted life. When Jeannie died in 1986, Derek wrote this tribute to her and their extraordinary marriage. All the delights of the Minack Chronicles are here—the daffodils, donkeys, and Cornish magic. The fizzle and pop of champagne days at the Savoy is also captured as Jeannie dazzles her admirers—from Danny Kaye to Christian Dior.

Kanang: Cerita Seorang Pahlawan


Maznan Noordin - 1988
    This is a true story. Kanang Anak Langkau, an extraordinary tracker noted for his bravery, was conferred two gallantry awards, the Negara Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP) (the highest gallantry award) and the Pingat Gagah Berani (PGB) (another medal for bravery) in the course of his duty.His exploits were many, he was even called to duty on his wedding day. Whenever he fought, he would dream of a Pak Haji (a religious man). He fought with his troops on Hari Gawai (Harvest Festival fo the Ibans) during the Setia 8/97 movement.To avoid badi, evil influences, he once counsumed the brains of a terrorist he had killed. He was almost defeated by the Siliwangi army during Konfrantasi. A member of the Setia Special Operation Force in early 1980, Kanang was seriously injured in an attack to save his comrades. He was unconcious for a whole week from his injuries, and spent a month in the Intensive Care Unit. He spent an entire year in hospital after that.

How to grow old disgracefully


Hermione Gingold - 1988
    16 pages of photos.

Dream Time


Geoffrey O'Brien - 1988
    Far from being an unqualified celebration of the era, it is a deliberate experiment, combining the genres of memoir, novel, and cultural history in order to convey the complex impact of the late '60's counterculture. When Dream Time was published in 1988, it won Geoffrey O'Brien a Whiting Writer's Award. Previous books on the subject had focused primarily on media icons such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, or Andy Warhol; Dream Time shifts the focus to the ways in which the psychedelic and countercultural currents of the era played themselves out in younger and more marginal lives. If you lived it, but never really came to grips with it; if you missed it but wish you hadn't--this is the book that tells it, at last, like it really was.

Dark Waters: Essays, Stories, and Articles


Russell Chatham - 1988
    Landscape artist and fly fishing enthusiast, Russell Chatham, writes about the exploits of his friends in these stories of hunting, food, wine and life changes.

Mamaji


Ved Mehta - 1988
    Mamaji is a companion volume to both of these books, and it tells the story of the author’s mother, Shanti Devi Mehta—Mamaji, as her children called her—and, by extension, of an ancient family from an Indian city trying to consolidate its place in the modern world.Mamaji was brought up in an orthodox Hindu family, practised in the ancient rituals and duties associated with her religion, and she received little schooling. When she was seventeen her father arranged her marriage to Amolak Ram Mehta: the marriage of a girl who couldn’t speak English, was extremely superstitious, and had never been inside a shop to a British-trained doctor who loved music and was addicted to tennis, parties, and cards—and had expected a wife with similar interests.Writing with his characteristic vividness and eloquence, Ved Mehta once again translates an individual experience into one that is universal.

The Day I Became an Autodidact


Kendall Hailey - 1988
    

Skullcaps 'n' Switchblades: Survival Stories of an Orthodox Jew Teaching in the Inner-City


David Lazerson - 1988
    

A Tuscan in the Kitchen: Recipes and Tales from My Home


Pino Luongo - 1988
    10 full-color and 50 black-and-white photographs.

The Wilderness Coast


Jack Rudloe - 1988
    But the pursuit of the unusual sea creatures and the answers to puzzling biological questions take biologists Jack and Anne Rudloe elsewhere, too. They have travelled to Surinam to catch giant toadfish for the New York Aquarium, to the Florida Keys to study immature spiny lobsters, and to Port Canaveral's ship channel to rescue endangered sea turtles from the crushing jaws of the dredge. They have plumbed the depths of the Gulf of Mexico to find prehistoric-looking giant sea roaches, and explored the life histories--and mysteries--of electric rays, octopuses, horseshoe crabs, and other fascinating marine animals in the course of their daily business. Like any profession, specimen collecting has its attendant hazards: for instance, being slashed by a sawfish, zapped by an electric ray, nipped by a sawfish, zapped by an electric ray, nipped by an annoyed sea turtle, or attacked by an alligator. More perilous yet is being caught offshore in violent storm in a less-than-seaworthy boat. Jack Rudloe's knowledge of marine biology and ability to tell a good story have made this entertaining and informative book a natural history classic.

Them Ornery Mitchum Boys: The Adventures Of Robert And John Mitchum


John Mitchum - 1988
    An accomplished actor, singer, guitarist, composer, and raconteur, John traces their parallel lives with a lusty sense of humor, writing with an insight and compassion that exposes the follies and foibles, the joys and sorrows of being a Mitchum.Stories about the rebellious hard-fighting Mitchum brothers' early days in Delaware and New York City, about their experiences riding freights during the Depression, about their parallel struggles for fame in Hollywood.Poems by Robert Mitchum exposing a gentle side the public rarely sees.Photographs from the Mitchum family scrapbooks, from the time the brothers were babies until their days as beachcombers in Long Beach. In all, 356 photographs, including stills from the many films and TV shows the Mitchums have starred in, as well as rare publicity pictures of the colorful character actors, boxers and sluggers, stand-ins and stunt men the Mitchums have caroused with during their rowdiest years in Hollywood.Four hundred pages jam-packed with stories (some true, some legend) about John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Lee Marvin, Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark, Charles Bronson, Forrest Tucker, Lee Van Cleef, Strother Martin, J. Carrol Naish, Monty Woolley, Phil Harris, Shirley MacLaine, Charles MacGraw, Marilyn Monroe, John Huston, Jack Lemmon, Burt Reynolds, Jean Seberg, Dan Blocker, Gloria Grahame, Carroll Righter, William Boyd, William Conrad, James Drury, Jane Russell, Charles Laughton, Bud Osborne, Edgar Buchanan, Abel Fernandez, Lenny Geer, Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Lanham, Tim Rooney, Harry Carey Jr., Stubby Kaye, Victor Buono, Don Siegel, Dan Curtis and scores of others who helped to shape... Them Ornery Mitchum Boys

Diary and Letters of Kaethe Kollwitz


Käthe Kollwitz - 1988
    But her diary, kept from 1900 to her death in 1945, and her brief essays and letters express, as well as explain, much of the spirit, wisdom, and internal struggle which was eventually transmuted into her art.

Louis Bromfield at Malabar: Writings on Farming and Country Life


Charles E. Little - 1988
    

The Burden of Hitler's Legacy


Alfons Heck - 1988
    Only in the waning days of World War II, did he begin to learn of the terror and cruelty that would come to characterize the Nazi reign. And only after years of soul-searching would he begin to accept the role that he had played. This complelling story complements and expands on Heck's autobiography, A Child of Hitler, in which he describes his childhood and life as a member and high-ranking leder of the Hitler Youth. The final chapters of the book introduce us to Heck's relationship with Helen Waterford, author of Commitment to the Dead and a survivor of the Aushwitz death camp. These two met in 1980 and formed a truly unique partnership. Heck and Waterford gave presentations side-by-side to audiences at more than 300 colleges and universities. The final chapter repeats many of the questions audiences would ask and Heck's answers. His openness provides much insight into the how's and why's of the Holocaust.