Love, Nina: A Nanny Writes Home by Nina Stibbe (2014)

In the early 1980s, Nina Stibbe moved to London to work as a nanny to Mary-Kay (MK) Wilmers, deputy editor of the London Review of Books, and her two children with Stephen Frears, Sam and Will. 

Stibbe kept in touch with her sister Victoria back in Leicestershire through letters outlining the events of the household, reproducing hilarious (and eminently quotable) conversations with Sam, Will and MK as well as frequent household visitor Alan Bennett. 

 Along the way, Stibbe is persuaded to attend university and studies English (her observations on literature are a stitch). With an introduction by Nick Hornby, this charming epistolary novel is a treat for anyone who loves dry, British humor and gets a bit starstruck by London literary elite.

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (2011)

So utterly utterly utterly loved this book.

I saw this collection of essays by Moran in bookstores all over London and wanted to buy it then but suitcase space didn't permit. When it FINALLY came in for me at the library and I started reading it, I loved it instantly. 

So funny, so charming, so realistic, and she is so awesome on women's issues. I love her diatribes about reclaiming the term "strident" (not to mention feminist) and stopping waxing. Love her!!! Caitlin Moran is smart and funny and my new heroine.

Followed by the equally wonderful Moranthology, which for me was the perfect book at the perfect time. Returning from an awesome trip to NYC, I was consoled by coming home and reading this tremendously fun, funny and endearing collection of Moran's essays. Lighter than How to Be a Woman, but still fabulous. Essays about Sherlock, Downton, the Royal Wedding, poverty and being a woman--all amazing. LOVE her.

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson (2012)

Listened to this memoir on audio and loved, loved, loved it.

Marcus Samuelsson was adopted from Ethiopia (along with his sister) by a family in Sweden. He grew up with a grandmother who loved cooking and cooking for people and became a chef. This book chronicles his whole life, but especially his journey to becoming one of the top chefs in the world, working in Sweden and Europe before coming to New York City, where he was the Executive Chef at Aquavit and then opened his own restaurant Red Rooster in Harlem. 

Along the way, he also explores his own Ethiopian heritage, and getting in touch with his birth family. Just a beautifully told story, narrated by Samuelsson himself in his own charming accent. Wonderfully insightful into his journey as a black cook and the challenges and greatest moments. And he speaks so interestingly about race, how it affects his work in kitchens, and his experience coming to America as a black, but not African American, cook. Through the entire story, Samuelsson is always humble and always kind. 

Just a wonderful story, wonderfully told.

Thirty Rooms to Hide In: Insanity, Addiction, and Rock 'n' roll in the Shadow of the Mayo Clinic by Luke Longstreet Sullivan (2012)

LOVED. This is a memoir about a prominent surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, his descent into alcoholism and insanity and the effect that it had on his six sons and wife. 

A fairly grim tale, but this book (and this family) is so full of dark humor that it makes the story incredibly compelling. Sullivan, an advertising man, writes wonderfully--compact and perfectly hilarious. It's also a really interesting look at domestic life in the 60s and a fascinating look at troubled family life. Many, many laugh-out loud, 'I can't believe he wrote that' moments. There's so much packed into this book: growing up as a nerd, growing up with older and younger brothers, growing up in the 60s--not to mention the complicated relationship with his father, his parents' relationship, and his father's relationship with alcohol and so much more.

This book is eminently quotable--the kind of book I'd like to buy just to highlight my favorite lines (if I was the kind of person who wrote freely in books). I love what Sullivan writes about how people of talent often get a free pass to be obnoxious alcoholics, musing that it's probably been that way since caveman times:   

"Some mead-guzzling schmuck named Thog probably did a great cave drawing and then spent the rest of his life barfing on the saber-toothed tiger rug and crying, "Village not understand Thog." (p. 242) 

And on scaring little brothers:

"At the top of the food chain was our oldest brother, Kip. He was an Eagle Scout. And given his proficiency at scaring the bejesus out of me, he must have had a merit badge somewhere, one embroidered with the icon of a fifth grader and Jesus bursting out of his chest." (p. 150)

And for a book that starts off with the main character dead, the ending still packs a punch. Interspersed with Sullivan's own remembrances are snippets from his brother's diaries, his mother's letters, and records from his father's doctors. Even the occasional photographs are carefully chosen and interspersed beautifully. Just wonderful.

How to Get Divorced by 30 - Sascha Rothchild (2010)

Surprisingly engaging memoir (subtitled My Misguided Attempt at a Starter Marriage). Outlines in chapters the various steps she semi-unwittingly went through to get divorced by 30 (including "Keep Your Belongings Separate", "Include Your Spouse in a Performance Where You Read Off Your List of Sexual Partners", and "Marry an Actor."

Rothchild, a struggling writer living in L.A. who married a struggling actor, has a lovely, dry sense of humor, and a realistic, healthily critical self-image (she includes quotes from her "self-indulgent" diaries).

 What I loved about this book, besides its insightful look at love and romance and what we tell ourselves we want and need, is that I ended up actually wanting to know more about her. Often, with memoirs, I'm like, enough already--I don't need to know any more about your grandmother, your birth or your sixth-grade teacher.  But her home life (as well as her romantic life) is really fascinating, with a strangely detached mother and siblings who we don't get to know well enough. And we only get little glimpses of it, as well as her semi-turbulent childhood. I love leaving a memoir wanting more! Plus, it is really funny.

Too Close to the Falls - Catherine Gildiner (1999)

Memoir of a young girl growing up in the 1950s in a New York town close to Niagara Falls. Being precocious and hyper, she started working at her dad's drugstore at age four, delivering prescriptions with Roy, one of the most memorable characters in a memoir I've ever encountered. Roy is black, illiterate, completely hilarious, wise and sweet. Interesting exploration of her kooky family (like her mom who never cooked a meal in her life) and her education in a Catholic school.  Unique and endearing.

Just Kids by Patti Smith (2010)

Fascinating, beautifully written memoir about Smith's life in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as her discovering her artistic passion. Beautifully evocative of New York City in that time period--one of the best books about New York I've ever read.   Photographs and artistic illustrations are sprinkled throughout the book like little treasures. Lovely reminiscences including one about a moment with a bunch of legendary people but how she couldn't recognize it because she was too young and self-involved. Love her encounter with Salvador Dali, as well as her complex relationship with Sam Shepherd (aka Slim Shadow). And did I mention the writing?

"The Chelsea was like a doll's house in the Twilight Zone, with a hundred rooms, each a small universe. I wandered the halls seeking its spirits, dead or alive. My adventures were mildly mischievous, tapping open a door slightly ajar and getting a glimpse of Virgil Thomson's grand piano, or loitering before the nameplate of Arthur C. Clarke, hoping he might suddenly emerge....I loved this place, its shabby elegance, and the history it held so possessively....So many had written, conversed, and convulsed in these Victorian dollhouse rooms. So many skirts had swished these worn marble stairs. So many transient souls had espoused, made a mark, and succumbed here. I sniffed our their spirits as I silently scurried from floor to floor, longing for discourse with a gone possession of smoking caterpillars."

How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen (1998)

This is a lovely volume that includes Quindlen's thoughtful writing on the meaning of books and reading in her life and in society. There's no better argument for the pure pleasure of leisure reading out there.  She also includes some fun reading lists, like "10 Books That Will Help a Teenager Feel More Human," "10 Mystery Novels I'd Most Like To Find in a Summer Rental," and "10 Modern Novels That Made Me Proud To Be a Writer." 

The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll by Jean Nathan (2004)

This biography is a hidden gem.  If you've ever looked at the children's picture book series called The Lonely Doll and were a little taken aback, this book is for you.  Subtitled The Search for Dare Wright, this is a thorough and compelling biography of the woman who wrote the creepy and depressing Lonely Doll books.

The Late Bloomer's Revolution: A Memoir by Amy Cohen (2007)

Memoir about a 37 year old woman who feels her life is passing her by. Cohen has a gift for a lovely turn of phrase and her documenting of everyday life and relationships is vivid and quietly funny.

The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson by Robert Hofler (2005)

Subtitled The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson.  Painstakingly researched and exceedingly well-documented biography of the Hollywood agent who discovered, among others, Rock Hudson, Troy Donohue, Tab Hunter, John Saxon, etc. Fascinating look at old-school Hollywood, as well as Rock Hudson's personal story.

If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell (2001)

Subtitled Confessions of a B-Movie Actor.  Bruce Campbell just seems like the coolest guy.  In his memoir, told with his self-deprecating sense of humor, Campbell shares all of his experiences working in film and tv from making backyard movies with the Raimis--and eventually the cult classic Evil Dead films--to starring on television shows. This book really shows what it's like to be a regular guy actor.  Completely hilarious regular guy actor, that is.

Put on a Happy Face by Charles Strouse (2008)

Subtitled A Broadway Memoir, this is a lovely memoir by Broadway and film composer Strouse, who has seen it all in his years on Broadway. Wonderfully told--like sitting in a room with Strouse and hearing all his most interesting stories.

Free Gift with Purchase by Jean Godfrey-June (2006)

Subtitled My Improbable Career in Magazines and Makeup.  Delightful, dishy memoir by a surprisingly self-deprecating beauty editor. Great for any reader of fashion magazines--provides fascinating insight into the inside world of magazines and the work of a beauty editor in a way that no chick lit novel ever did (despite many attempts).

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart (2007)

Charming slip of a memoir about a woman who spent a summer during college working at Tiffany in New York. Lovely look at life in New York during wartime, quite evocative of the period. She was in Times Square on V-J Day!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (2005)

In this gripping memoir, Walls takes the reader through her unconventional childhood, spent in often unbelievable poverty. Fascinating, unsentimental and impossible to put down.   There's simply nothing more to say.

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett (2004)

Memoir in which Patchett writes about her longtime friendship with poet and author Lucy Grealy. They became friends at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and supported each other through friends, lovers, books, and more. But, Grealy, who had more than a little self-destructive streak, eventually became quite hard to be friends with, and this book is an interesting exploration of friendship, depression, and along the way, writing.

Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence by Paul Feig (2002)

Painful, poignant and hysterical memoir of growing up as a geek, by one of the creators of the fabulous television series Freaks and Geeks. So good, so embarrassing, so funny.  Followed up by Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin, tales of his (lack of) sexual misadventures.  Equally hilarious and excruciating.

Tab Hunter Confidential by Tab Hunter with Eddie Muller (2005)

A smooth, engaging autobiography with an incredibly natural and humble tone. The story follows Tab from his youth, to his life as a teen idol, to life as a working actor, to cult classic and elder statesman, sort of. He delves fully and realistically into all parts of his life, including his romances with women, and his homosexuality, and describes all of his affairs with admirable discretion. A lovely look at old Hollywood.

One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry (2002)

Part autobio, part fiction, all cartoons and funny and charming and incredibly moving and a wonderful look at growing up. Fabulous.