Monday, December 16, 2013

December "Twitterature": three memoirs with one-word titles

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for her monthly "Twitterature" post.




In the last month I've read three very interesting memoirs:

1. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

The author and her family were vacationing in southern Sri Lanka when the 2004 tsunami hit.  In an instant, she lost her husband and two young sons, her parents, and her friend.  This riveting book explores the devastating process of grief after the unimaginable happens.



****

2.  Nocturne by Helen Humphreys

Poet-novelist Humphreys writes about the death of her brother Martin from cancer at the age of forty-five.  Written directly to her brother, the book reminisces about their lifelong relationship and the sadness of losing someone who was more than just her sibling but a part of herself.



****

3.  Wild by Cheryl Strayed

When she was 22, Strayed lost her beloved mother to cancer; four years later she was divorced, estranged from her stepfather and siblings, and experimenting with heroin.  In an attempt to deal with her demons, she decided to walk the Pacific Crest trail from southern California to Oregon.  This fascinating book tells of Strayed's adventures on the trail, the people she met, and how the hike changed her.









****
What have you been reading?

4 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, Wave sounds incredible ... but not like one I'll be reading anytime soon. Maybe in a few years?

    I gave up on Wild thirty or so pages in. I know a lot of people loved it (and our tastes usually overlap). Maybe it got better when she got to the trail? I gave up while she was still explicating the demons she headed to the trail to conquer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does get better, Anne. By the time she gets to her starting-off point and packs her humongous backpack to the point where she cannot even lift it off the floor, we're starting to think, OK, this is going to be really interesting. :-)

      Yeah, Wave is very unnerving.

      Delete
  2. I heard so many good things about Wild. Will have to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you'll find it really interesting. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

Please leave a comment; I love to hear from readers. (And tell me who you are if you're comfortable doing that -- sometimes the comment form defaults to Anonymous.)