Category Archives: humor

Memoir Analysis #5: Harrison Scott Key

Leave a reply

http://www.amazon.com/How-Stay-Married-Insane-Story/

“Harrison Scott Key, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, tells the shocking, “shot through with sharp humor” (The Washington Post), spiritually profound story of his journey through hell and back when infidelity threatens his marriage.” Amazon.com summary.

Harrison Scott Key delivers another comic-tragedy and this is the most revealing of all. Another heart-wrenching memoir that addresses all the pain of betrayal and the struggle to survive.

Here are a few quick observations:

  • “Do I really care about three hundred pages on some stranger’s marriage? It turns out I did … There is an energy to HOW TO STAY MARRIED that I haven’t previously experienced in a memoir … Shot through with sharp humor” Jane Smiley, The Washington Post
  • Approximately 90k words spread over 38 chapters … just when you think it’s over, the pain and love and pain and forgiveness start all over again
  • “I read Harrison Scott Key’s hilarious, raw, bracing, profound memoir and have been recommending it to everyone I know. Read it! I’ve never read anything else quite like it.” Eleanor Barkhorn, The Atlantic

Key’s memoir of infidelity and forgiveness are presented in a realistic, painful yet hopeful way … and I speak with some experience on this topic. Yes, there’s some “god talk” included but not as much as you might think. Or, in other words, you’re likely to enjoy this book regardless of your faith or no faith perspective.

This book is definitely worth reading at least once. I’ve read it three times so far and find more humor and wisdom with each read.

One more memoir analysis to come within the next week. Please let me know if you have any questions on this or previous analyses offered.

To healing,

Patrick Cole

Memoir Analysis #3: An American Childhood by Annie Dillard

Leave a reply

http://www.amazon.com/American-Childhood-Annie-Dillard

The third author and book selected for memoir analysis is the 1987 classic, An American Childhood by Annie Dillard. A literary gem, her memoir is very different from the first two I presented earlier this month. Here are a few quick observations:

  • “A book that instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country, An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard’s poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s and 60s.” Amazon summary,
  • It has approximately 70k words spread over 41 untitled chapters.
    • Note: at first, I was annoyed by the untitled chapters and then I realized that while each chapter was different, it also naturally flows from the previous one.
  •  And finally, “[An American Childhood] combines the child’s sense of wonder with the adult’s intelligence and is written in some of the finest prose that exists in contemporary America. It is a special sort of memoir that is entirely successful…This new book is [Annie Dillard’s] best, a joyous ode to her own happy childhood.” — Chicago Tribune

Unlike the first two books analyzed, Dillard’s book offers more nostalgia for bygone American culture and less humor than Bryson or Sedaris. That said, it is a wonderful read about a girl who loves to read and attempts to relive those written words in her own life.

Five more successful memoirs will be reviewed in the weeks to come. Please let me know what some of your favorite memoirs are.

Patrick Cole

Memoir Analysis #2: Bill Bryson

2 Replies

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Thunderbolt-Kid-Memoir

One way to determine if a memoir is ready for publication is to compare it to others that have already been proven successful. Continuing to aim very high, the second author and book selected for analysis is the 2006 book The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Here are a few quick observations:

  • this New York Times Bestseller is a “mix of exquisite detail and inspired exaggeration (which) all add up to the Truth with a capital T that rhymes with G that stands for out-loud guffaws” as reported by Scott Simon for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday,
  • it has approximately 81k words spread over 15 chapters, and
  • “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is steeped in … the sweet, simple pleasures of an all-American boyhood. Even the world-weariest of souls will be charmed.” Parade

While Bryson and Sedaris may be contemporaries in time and country, their memoirs are worlds apart and inspired by worlds that no longer exist.

Six more successful memoirs will be reviewed in the weeks to come. Please let me know what your thoughts are on memoirs in general and what makes them worth reading for you.

Slow but sure, Patrick Cole

Memoir Analysis #1 – David Sedaris

Leave a reply

http://www.amazon.com/David-Sedaris-Book-Set-Corduroy

My goal is to publish a memoir by this time next year: December 29, 2025. I wrote and edited a first draft this year so I’m publicly acknowledging that I need at least a year to complete this publishing goal. More drafts, more editing, more polishing are necessary before it will ever see a bookshelf.

One way to determine if my memoir is ready for publication is to compare it to others that have already been proven successful. Clearly, I’m aiming very high by selecting David Sedaris as one standard for comparison. Based on a recommendation, I chose his 2004 book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim for review. Here are a few observations for starters:

  • this #1 National Bestseller is “hilarious, elegant and …. Sedaris is a complete master of the form” as Chris Lehmann reported for Washington Post Book World,
  • it has approximately 77k words spread over 22 chapters, and
  • “Sedaris’s perennial themes are not simply played for self-deprecating laughs in this volume, but are made to yield a more Chekhovian brand of comedy” as reported by Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times.

I know, it’s audacious of me to compare my memoir to one of Sedaris’s many successes. But why not aim high?

I will be reviewing seven other successful memoirs in the weeks to come. In the meantime, please let me know what recommendations you have for writing a successful memoir.

Slow but sure, Patrick Cole

Morty Chameleon

1 Reply

Morty the Misfit, Morty Chameleon, Morty the one-eyed Chihuahua has captured my heart and lifted my spirits. May this musical video bring happiness your way too.

http://www.facebook.com/reel/411441188364931

http://www.facebook.com/watch/hashtag/mortythemisfit?eep=6%2F

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/hUfv5SuSPaVZHsfL/?mibextid=0VwfS7

Nov 8 – There Will Be Dogs in My Future

Leave a reply

if we are lucky

a dog will give us their smile

and our hearts will melt

Yesterday, I listed the many lost companion animals of my past; most of them were dogs, dearly beloved dogs.

A good friend is a part-time palm reader. They recently read my palms and saw two very clear signs. First, there would be big dogs in my future and second, there would be small dogs. We both laughed.

I’m writing this on a very early Wednesday morning. In a couple of hours, I will be visiting the Stray Rescue of STL facility to walk dogs for the morning. It’s something I look forward to every week. One at a time, I will walk mixed breed dogs that have been abandoned and then rescued for hopeful re-homing.

Last Wednesday, I walked Goten, Supreme, Fury, Luck of the Irish and Pepto. Not sure who I will walk today. I’m always hopeful at least one of last week’s dogs will have been adopted or fostered in the meantime.

Here’s wishing you a day filled with joy and, if you’re lucky like me, a day that includes the love of a dog.

https://www.strayrescue.org/adopt-a-dog

May 5 – Third Day Routine

1 Reply

magnoliagrovemonastery.org/general

A Magnolia Grove retreat includes a lot of silent time. Chatter is discouraged to enhance the collective solitude for all.

However, by the third day, a routine is established and we learn when and where to take mini-breaks. New friendships are made and/or old friendships enriched.

Today’s senryu: Third Day Routine

comfort through structure

predictable peacefulness

barriers come down

magnoliagrovemonastery.org/general/photos-how-to-live

Apr 21 – Good One, Mark Twain

1 Reply

https://www.onthisday.com/people/mark-twain

Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) born November 30, 1835, in Missouri and died April 21, 1910, in CT, at the age of 74 from a heart attack. An American author most known for his classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1885.

Known for his humorous and insightful quips, here are a few of my favorites:

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.”

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”

http://www.azquotes.com/author/Mark_Twain

Today’s senryu: Good One, Mark Twain

enjoy life today

tomorrow too, if it comes

humor helps a lot

Apr 18 – RIP Albert Einstein

4 Replies

https://www.onthisday.com/people/albert-einstein

The world’s most famous theoretical physicist (E=mc2), Albert Einstein was born March 14, 1879, and died April 18, 1955.

“On 17 April 1955, Einstein experienced internal bleeding caused by the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which had previously been reinforced surgically in 1948 …

Einstein refused surgery, saying, “I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.” He died in the (medical center) early the next morning at the age of 76 …

Einstein spoke of his spiritual outlook in a wide array of original writings and interviews. He said he had sympathy for the impersonal God of Baruch Spinoza’s philosophy. He did not believe in a personal god who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings, a view which he described as naïve. He clarified, however, that “I am not an atheist preferring to call himself an agnostic, or a “deeply religious nonbeliever”. When asked if he believed in an afterlife, Einstein replied, “No. And one life is enough for me.” …

In a memorial lecture delivered on 13 December 1965, nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer summarized his impression of Einstein as a person: “He was almost wholly without sophistication and wholly without worldliness … There was always with him a wonderful purity at once childlike and profoundly stubborn.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

Today’s senryu: RIP Albert Einstein

knowing when to go

living and dying your way

profoundly childlike

Apr 17 – Erato, to you, too

Leave a reply

Erato, in Greek mythology, is the goddess of lyric poetry and her sister Calliope is the goddess of epic poetry and eloquence, both were one of the Muses. Apollo is the Roman god of the sun, healing, music, and poetry. Bragi, son of Odin, is the Norse god of poetry and music, revered for his wisdom, his eloquence, his ability to compose and recite. He was also the god of ceremony.

So many gods and goddesses of poetry. So many words.

Today’s senryu: Erato, to you, too

one more chance to say

i love you, Erato, i

really, really do

Are you a logophile, too?