Shake, rattle and write: why the music memoir is booming

From Bono to Jarvis Cocker, Bruce Springsteen to Cosey Fanni Tutti, the last decade has seen an explosion of books by artists from every walk of musical life. Why is this once-rare genre striking a chord with stars and readers alike?By her own admission, Miki Berenyi was not a woman itching to write a memoir. Even if she had been, she says, why would anyone have been interested? Her band, Lush, were “never that big”. They enjoyed cult alt-rock success in the early 90s, scored three Top 30 singles in the Britpop era, and broke up in 1996. They briefly reformed in 2015, but broke up again after less than a year, keen “to return to our families and homes”. When a publisher approached her with the idea of an autobiography, she says, “I literally laughed in his fucking face – I was like: ‘Why would I want to do that? That sounds ridiculous.’”But then Berenyi lost her job as a subeditor when the magazine she worked for folded. “Lockdown was looming, and I thought, ‘Oh shit, actually this isn’t a great time to be looking for a job’, so I kind of … It was a bit more pragmatic than a burning ambition.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-07-15 08:00:25 UTC ]

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Lit Hub Daily: January 15, 2021

What if the stories we tell in order to live happen to be conspiracy theories? William J. Bernstein on the evolutionary origins of collective delusion. | Lit Hub History Refugee, resident, dissident: Yiyun Li introduces Bette Howland’s 1974 memoir about her stay in a Chicago psychiatric... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-15 11:30:00 UTC ]
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9 Graphic Memoirs and True Stories by Women

Explore the myriad powerful stories through visual storytelling and these graphic memoirs and true stories by women, including The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-01-13 11:38:00 UTC ]
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In ‘Aftershocks,’ a Search for Home in a Life Around the World

Nadia Owusu’s beautiful and unsettling memoir is an attempt to understand what it means to be rooted and rootless. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-13 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Film review: in My Salinger Year, hope and optimism win out

Based on Joanna Rakoff's memoir of working for JD Salinger's agent, the film lacks some of the wit but none of the heart of Joanna's story. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2021-01-13 01:19:06 UTC ]
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Virago to publish memoir from Dame Eileen Atkins

Actress Dame Eileen Atkins, aged 86, will publish her memoir with Virago in October 2021.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-12 19:09:03 UTC ]
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Here’s a list of everything Haruki Murakami has ever compared to writing.

Today, Haruki Murakami celebrates his 72nd birthday—and we’re celebrating by diving into his recorded interviews. Murakami rarely gives interviews, but the ones he does are packed with insight into how he approaches the writing process. His memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running digs... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-12 18:27:48 UTC ]
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Gabriel Byrne’s ‘Walking with Ghosts’ is a revelation in unexpected ways

The acclaimed actor’s memoir takes us far from Hollywood to his Irish childhood. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-12 13:00:00 UTC ]
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There Are as Many Americas as There Are Pedros

“The world will come between you,” writes Marcos Gonsalez in the prologue of his memoir Pedro’s Theory: Reimagining the Promised Land. The you here refers to both the author and his father, an immigrant from Mexico, captured in a photograph from the author’s childhood. “Hundreds of years of... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-01-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
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A Memoir That Sees Only the Tip of the Melting Iceberg

In “Unsolaced,” Greta Ehrlich tells a story of personal discovery against the backdrop of the climate crisis. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-12 10:00:06 UTC ]
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A Filipino Freedom Fighter’s Life, Relentlessly Annotated

“The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata,” by Gina Apostol, takes the form of a found memoir that has been picked apart by scholars. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-12 05:00:02 UTC ]
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My Life Is a Result of the Legacy of Colonialism

I first read Nadia Owusu’s debut memoir Aftershocks in June, as the United States—led by the white nationalist backed Republican administration—was several months into a still ongoing unchecked global pandemic which was disproportionately killing Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Americans.... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-01-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘Saving Justice,’ by James Comey

Comey’s “Saving Justice” is a revealing memoir that describes his feelings about Trump and his worries about the nation. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-10 23:00:02 UTC ]
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Gary Paulsen’s Real-Life Survival Guide

“Gone to the Woods” is a memoir so rife with childhood trauma he wrote it in the third person. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-09 08:01:28 UTC ]
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“When They Go Low, We Go High”: Keeping Calm in the Critical Race Memoir

IN THE DAYS FOLLOWING the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Archive of American Folk Song dispatched its field workers in 10 different regions across the United States to solicit average Americans’ opinions about the bombing and FDR’s ensuing proposal for a declaration of war. A second round... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-08 18:00:08 UTC ]
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Abeer Hoque Is Going to Be Nice to You and You’re Going to Like It

In our series “Can Writing Be Taught?” we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time we’re talking to Abeer Hoque, author of the memoir Olive Witch, who’s teaching a two-week seminar on one of the most... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-01-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribe to release Biden memoir for first UK publication

Scribe is publishing a new B-format paperback edition of US president-elect Joe Biden’s 2007 memoir, Promises to Keep. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-08 03:07:33 UTC ]
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‘W-3,’ a Memoir That Recalls Suffering Without Sentimentality or Sensationalism

Bette Howland’s 1974 memoir, recently reissued, recounts her time in a psychiatric ward and the people she met there. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-01-06 20:50:30 UTC ]
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The Storefront (place)

THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT is the opening section from chapter three of my book in progress, Unpacking My Father’s Bookstore, a memoir and critical study about growing up in my father’s Jewish bookstore. As Harelick and Roth Books and then J. Roth / Bookseller of Fine & Scholarly Judaica, the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-01-06 16:00:43 UTC ]
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Closeup on: Julie Kagawa's The Iron Raven

In The Iron Raven, Julie Kagawa welcomes familiar and new readers alike to the world of the beloved Iron Fey on its tenth anniversary. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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What a Lost Psych-Ward Memoir Teaches Us About Madness

“W-3,” Bette Howland’s account of her institutionalization, in 1968, proceeds according to a simple binary: those who suffer are patients; those who don’t are not. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2021-01-05 20:23:25 UTC ]
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