Category: Memoir

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Listen, there are only so many books out there that hit the very specific cross-section of devoted NBA fandom, the cravings of a poet, a fierce loyalty to the cities of the American midwest that largely get counted out, a need for sad songs, and an open-armed love for the world. THERE’S ALWAYS THIS YEAR feels like meeting someone for the first time, who you see wearing a jersey from your favorite team and after a short affirming word somehow ends up accompanying you into the night as you whisper stories about your lives and suddenly see the future with fresh eyes. Left me in tears, which is my highest praise.



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Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was happy to be gifted a copy of Happy-Go-Lucky, the newest by David Sedaris. I never fail to find something to impress me in David’s writing. His way of saying the world is so good at putting words to seeing the world in a particular way, during imperfect, improbable moments both banal and monumental. I feel very at home whenever I read his work. This one is no exception. Snort-laughing leading right into tears. He isn’t for everyone, but he is for me. This book is just another piece of proof that David’s a damn fine writer.



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How to Think Like a Fish: And Other Lessons from a Lifetime in Angling by Jeremy Wade

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is everything I hoped it might be and more. Jeremy Wade’s voice, experience, and specialty are each one of the most unique you’re liable to find. In this superbly fishy little volume, Wade plumbs the depths (forgive me) of the peculiar obsession involved in perfecting one’s craft. There are spectacular fish stories and practical tips, but what’s best is the philosophical underpinning and gentle humor that make this book far more beautiful than a simple angler’s guide.



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The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America by Brian Sonia-Wallace

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Brian Sonia-Wallace’s meandering memoir stops off at unexpected destinations as he explores what it means to make a living as a busking poet in today’s America. Through the lens of his spontaneous poetry that is born of conversations with whomever approaches his typewriter and table, he contemplates all different kinds of desires, legacies, and wishes for the future that define the lives of the strangers that he begins to know. From the shiny temple to commercialism that is the Mall of America to a van that fortune tellers call home in the middle of the desert, these stories show a portrait of a nation and offer poetry as a possible prescription to mend the divisions of its people.



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The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir by Leslie Marmon Silko

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Leslie Marmon Silko is one of my literary heroes–her searing, gorgeous novel Ceremony is one of my favorite books of all time. So, I deeply enjoyed this chance to hang out with her in her desert memoir The Turquoise Ledge. The book itself can be repetitive and unremarkable, but it’s less of a book and more of a long sit-down at the kitchen table with your grandmother, as she tells you about the special rocks she saw on her walks and the animals she saw in her garden and what’s been going on with her dogs and parrots and the weather and a little bit of religion and mysticism rolled in because that’s important, you know! I don’t think Silko would mind me saying that I liked this book not because of the book itself, but because of her. (Also, her supernaturally aided feud with her neighbor, because don’t all grandmothers have one of those, too?)



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