Tags
100 memoirs, 100 memoirs project, Claire Dederer, female adolescence, Love and Trouble, memoir, young female voice
I haven’t done a memoir post in a bit, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading memoir.
I’ve been reading a lot, actually. Since I finished Ta-Nehisi Coates’ two books, I’ve completed my fifth re-read of Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Chronology of Water (someday I will be courageous enough to write a post about what Lidia’s memoir means to me). Based on her recommendation, I then bought and blazed through Whip Smart, by Melissa Febos (another forthcoming post), almost immediately after I finished Dederer. I’m reading essays by Hanif Abdurraqib and poems by Danez Smith and Greek mythology by Robert Graves. I’m reading Carl Jung. I’m reading tarot and headlines.
There is so much to take in, so much to keep us up at night, that I might as well stay up late reading instead of worrying. Most days, this works out.
I worried a lot while reading Dederer. Love and Trouble comes with a subtitle: “A Midlife Reckoning.” At first I thought, I’m not going to relate to this. Silly me. I am almost 37. I’m unafraid of being 37, but it should be noted that while I am approaching what we think of as middle age, I don’t feel like I am. I am often mistaken for a college student on the campus where I work. I still get carded more often than not. I climb mountains and blast the same music I blasted 20 years ago—and I dress like it’s 20 years ago, too. I don’t feel 37. Take that for what it’s worth to you, even hate me for it, if you will.
For so many women, being hated is nothing new. Continue reading
Any time you can transform hundreds of hours of binge-watching your favorite TV show into a paid byline, life is grand.
another writing mom 