OCTOBER NOTES

NOTE ONE:  THANKSGIVING HOLDS HANDS WITH GRATITUDE IN THIS MONTH so first, I send a SHOUT OUT—MANY THANKS to all who supported me in the Zoom presentation for the Orcas Island Library in late August.  In March 2020, my entire book business crashed into the coronavirus. Some days I find it challenging to even engage writing when it appears to be leading into a dark, empty hole. Support from those at the Orcas Island Library felt like a hug.  I appreciate all who participated and those who helped me engage the challenge of presenting a Zoom program on how to gain inspiration from combining historical fiction with memoir. (For more information see my last BLOG.)  I enjoyed hearing participants speak about their projects and could visualize how some might become historical memoirs. The BLOG reader comments were great!  A special thanks to my daughter Becca who helped me with the presentation.  I TRULY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU.

ALSO—THANKS TO ALL WHO VOTED IN THIS MONTH’s ELECTION!!!

NOTE TWO:  I recently stumbled into a John Grisham mystery. For our mother/daughter book club, I pulled together a presentation on legal mystery/thriller best-selling novelist JOHN GRISHAM.  I began reading Grisham novels about the time he published his first one, a Time To Kill in the late 1980s.  That one was followed by The Firm, in 1991, the book that hit the booklists as a runaway best seller and catapulted Grisham into fame with a six-figure movie deal.  He left his job with a law firm and embraced writing full-time.  Now he has published nearly 40 books, many best sellers, some movies or TV series dramas.

While working on the report, one Sunday morning, I went into Darvill’s Bookstore on Orcas Island and found a just-off-the-press Grisham novel, A Time For Mercy.  Pulling together my report, I learned that Grisham in later years has embraced stories of lawyers helping people (read Gray Mountain) and/or assisting people wrongfully accused of crimes to challenge their sentences (see The Guardians.)  I also learned that he participates in Innocence Projects in New York and Mississippi and hosts 350 young baseball players on ballfields on his own property.  He also helped communities rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. (Information comes from Internet articles as well as book jackets.)

I purchased the newest book and eagerly looked forward to reading it BUT about page 60 the page numbering broke down.  This continued for at least 20 pages. I returned the damaged book to the bookstore for an exchange.  They took the book and wrote down my name and told me I would not be receiving a replacement book any time soon.  Seems there were a tsunami of damaged books.

So I was surprised to see that same book listed on at least three Best-Seller lists last weekend,  including the New York Times, Publishers Weekly and The Seattle Times. 

NOTE THREE:   I find myself contemplating what makes a good memoir.  Is it one by a famous person like Michelle Obama’s Becoming or a memoir about animals like MODOC, Ralph Helfer’s book about “The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived” (1997, Harper/Collins)  Or maybe Heather Lende’s reflections on her adventures living in Alaska, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.)

I decided my favorites are those who emphasize wisdom gained through living.  I call this the THREE Rs OF MEMOIR.

REVELATION—You realize you have experienced something worthy of sharing with others.  You can do that in several ways such as writing, speaking, dramatization.

REFLECTION AND REPENTANCE—In reviewing the situation, standing back as an observer and removing emotion, you see areas you’d rework.  For example:  What could you have done better or differently?  Is there someone you harmed?  Would you like to make amends?  Did someone harm you to cause the experience to be painful?  Can you find forgiveness for them? For yourself?  What have you learned from the experience? 

(Unfortunately, the word Repentance seems to entangle itself with emotions like anxiety, anger, guilt. This word is too often tainted by religious experiences or Biblical teachings BUT I AM NOT making that association here.  I am simply saying that the memoirist looks at an experience, evaluates it with their own moral values and makes decisions to change or learn from it. Sometimes apologies are needed.)

RESOLUTION results from the above.  This frees the writer from the experience in exchange for wisdom.  RESOLUTION removes guilt, anger, emotion, leaving the path clear and clean, something many often strive to achieve through meditation and spiritual growth.

Recent examples are Michael Cohen’s book Disloyal.  Author Cohen shows how he was drawn to Donald Trump and took the post of personal lawyer.  He became mesmerized by the glitz and glitter of Trump world, then reconsidered the situation when asked to use personal funds to pay one of Trump’ paramours to keep their love affair quiet.  Once Trump was elected President and left New York City for Washington, Cohen paid the porn stars but was accused of illegal use of funds and given a prison sentence.  His book explains how he gained wisdom from this experience.

Tara Westover’s memoir Education reveals how she grew up in relative poverty on a farm, often assisting her father with large and dangerous machinery. Then educational and travel opportunities widened her view of life. Some have suggested Westover is too young to have gained wisdom but I would argue that the very fact that her book listed as a best-seller for months proves her case.        

 My own memoir Parsing The Dragon: A Memoir provided an opportunity for me to objectively look at my relationship with my mother.  By writing this book, I found deeper understanding of my life as my mother's daughter.     

ONE LAST NOTE—BOOK RECOMMEND.   I recently read and highly recommend a unique memoir Threads by Charlotte Whitney (2019).  The author tells the story of three sisters who grow up on a Michigan farm during the Depression of the 1930s.  What makes this book unusual and special is the way the author shaped the book. She focused on the dialect of the language used by the sisters.  She also lets each sister relate her story by moving back and forth between them.  Also looks like it is self-published.  The author brings the sisters alive and paints a good picture of life in the 1930s.

What are your favorite memoirs? LOVE HEARING YOUR COMMENTS—send to parsingwithsusan@gmail.com 

My website is www.parsingwithsusan.com

Susan’s collection of John Grisham legal thriller novels ready for Mother/Daughter Book Club in October.