The Memoir Diet

Continuing my steady diet of memoirs, I'm wrapping up Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I'm delving into Running With Scissors.

In the middle, I read a book of my daughter's that I quite liked; Princess Academy, aimed at the 10-12 year old set, but I loved it just the same.

Thoughts about memoirs: Will it sell if it's not by . . .

• a gay white man;
• someone who grew up in a war-torn country;
• a former or current drug addict;
• a mental patient; or
• a survivor of great and significant adversity?

The Reading Season

The weather's gone cold and damp so I bury myself in blankets of books using pages to sustain me through travel, early darkness and the gloom that descends with the first frost. Over the last few days I've consumed The Glass Castle and The Tender Bar. Interesting to note they're both memoirs (of the pre-James Frey definition of the genre, let's assume, as I don't believe anyone's questioning their validity).

I have not read many memoirs in the past but these two have certainly captured my attention. I adored The Glass Castle, the first book in my current book club that I've truly enjoyed and didn't want to put down. The Tender Bar I liked for different reasons -- St. Louis readers will enjoy knowing that it is written by McGraw Millhaven's (of KMOX fame) cousin, and McGraw comes of age in the book alongside the author.

After an entire writing life of being told to "write what you know" the memoir seems a natural choice for a writer floundering around with fiction. How much life is it necessary to have lived to write a memoir? I wonder, as I approach another birthday, am I too young to write a memoir?