My Awful Childhood Turned Into an Entertaining Memoir is...

And the winner in the category of a Horrific Upbringing Can Make For a Good Book is:

Running With Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs, although Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle comes pretty darn close. Both of these authors write about their uniquely bizarre and troubling upbringings with a lot less anger than you might expect. Maybe because they did more or less okay later in life, and maybe because they were able to look at their pasts with humor, and at their parents with compassion.

This is an increasingly popular genre, and it seems like the flood got heavier with the success of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. (Incidentally, I found that numbingly depressing the first time I tried to read it, and put it down after a few chapters. Then I heard the author reading from the book on the radio, to much laughter. After that I was able to pick up the book again, and could hear his delightful Irish brogue and dry delivery. Listen to the audiobook--he reads it himself.) A few of my favorites are The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, by Terry Ryan; The Liar's Club, by Mary Karr; Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl; Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, by Nick Flynn; and Unstrung Heroes, by Franz Lidz. I prefer non-celebrity memoirs, in general, though the remembrances of the late, great Shelly Winters, Shelley, also know as Shirley, is sassy, raunchy fun--read it at the beach. Should you desire a more intellectually challenging book, I recommend Uncle Tungsten, by Oliver Sacks, acclaimed neurologist and author of many books, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat.

I find general memoirs more interesting than those with a more narrow focus, such as an eating disorder or drug problem. A little goes a long way, I find, but if you're in the mood for it, I recommend Wasted, by Marya Hornbacher; How to Stop Time: Heroin From A to Z, by Ann Marlowe and Dry, by Augusten Burroughs. As far as I know, none of these authors have humiliated Oprah.

Book to Movie to Game to Book...

Our library has a Book and Movie group which meets twice a month; first, to discuss a book, secondly, to watch its movie adaptation. I've caught the bug and am now reading books which were made into movies within the past few years.

So far I've read the books without seeing the movies, not because I favor the books, I'm just not as inclined to watch the movies with the sort of hunger I have for reading the books. (Although I think there are some movie adaptations that are at least as good, and sometimes even better than the books: The Tin Drum, The Shining...however, I'm not looking forward to the upcoming live-action Where the Wild Things Are ...)

I liked Sideways but unlike books about food, it did NOT make me want to drink wine. I suppose the movie has the same effect. Rabbit-Proof Fence was so short, it left me wanting more details. The true story of little girls making an unbelievably long and difficulut trek through the Australian outback, it might be even more striking on the screen. I loved The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio and hope they captured the quirky resilience of this thoughtful, and refreshingly non-bitter memoir in the movie.

You can look for movies adapted from books in the Upper Hudson Catalog by clicking here