Gianna:
Chinaberry Sidewalks
Rodney Crowell
Knopf
Several musicians wrote books this year, and Random House was lucky
enough to publish a few of the best (Joe Henry’s Lime Creek was on my top 30
and Josh Ritter’s novel is a favorite as well). What separates Crowell’s
biography from so many others is that he worked on it for about a decade and
wrote every word himself. Thoughtful and authentic, two words not normally
associated with music memoirs, but Crowell digs deeper.
It's
all here in this incredibly well-written memoir; love, sex, violence, music,
drinking, poverty, more music, and then a little more music on top. If you’re
like me (if you are, try to change) you’ll hope Rodney has another book on the
way.
Visit
his website to see an interview with Mary Karr:
Liz:
Blue Nights
Joan Didion
Knopf
Nothing says "Happy Holidays!" like...a memoir about a woman coping with the death of her daughter. Blue Nights, however, is written by Joan Didion, literary giant. Following her memoir about the death of her husband, The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion manages to keep going only to once again find herself immersed in tragedy months later when her daughter Quintana passes away.
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I am not a parent. Zorro the cat is already too much responsibility for me. I have, however, recently experienced the loss of a family member. To read Joan Didion's memoirs about grief is to find one's own sorrow and pain and hope and strength. Death is the universal experience; Joan Didion gives a voice to ones still living.
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