Mary Karr on 20/20

Photo: 20/20 via Mary Karr

What was I–a 21-year-old college student–doing this past Friday night?

I wish I could say I was out partying with friends or hanging out with my boyfriend, but no; instead, I was laying in bed at 10 pm and watching 20/20 (really).

I was flipping through the different channels when I got to ABC and saw that 20/20 was doing a special on moms who are secretly alcoholics–I was hooked. Probably for the same reason I love to read memoir, I also love television shows like Intervention, Dateline, Dr. Phil and 20/20.

While I enjoyed the 20/20 special, the reason I’m sharing it here is because one of the woman they interviewed was memoirist Mary Karr. Karr’s latest memoir, “Lit,” focuses on her time as an alcoholic and her recovery from her addiction. For anyone interested in Karr, definitely check out the episode on 20/20′s Web site and an article about Karr’s interview.

For the Internet and Memoir, What’s Left?

Photo: Blippy

Yesterday, I read an article in the New York Times by Brad Stone called “For Web’s New Wave, Sharing Details Is the Point.”

The article talks about the recent rise in Web sites that allow people to share every aspect of their lives, including every purchase they make on their credit card, where exactly they are at all times and how long they spend doing different exercises at the gym.

Too Much Memoir

A strange thing happened to me this week.

On Wednesday, after a surprise boat ride in Central Park and a homemade dinner for my 21st birthday, my boyfriend took me to Strand to pick out any book I wanted, his treat. As soon as we walked in I went to the back corner of the store and started flipping through the Ks until I found Karr.

The store had Mary Karr’s second and third memoirs, but they were out of her first: “The Liar’s Club.” I made my way back to the front of the store to see what new memoirs they had. I started to pick up a few, quickly reading the back covers, when a weird feeling came over me.

Mary Karr: The Memoirist Everyone is Talking About

Photo: Marion Ettlinger

In the past few weeks, I have interviewed authors of memoirs (both self-published and Pulitzer-nominated), a college professor who teaches memoir writing classes, a student at a memoir writing class, a creator of a memoir blog and numerous people who enjoy reading memoir.

I posed similar questions to each of them, but their responses only seemed to match up on one:

“What is your favorite memoir?”

Favorite Memoir and Why: Eric Horvath

Second in my series on the favorite memoirs of my family and friends is my boyfriend, Eric Horvath. We’ve been dating for almost three years (33 months, but who’s counting?), but it’s only in the past year or so that I’ve seen him develop a real love for reading. When I asked him what his favorite memoir was, I honestly didn’t know the answer I would get because of all the books he’s read recently. (I also want to thank him for keeping his response within the allotted 2-3 sentences, not an easy feat for an English major.)

Haruki Murakami - Photo: Wikipedia

Name: Eric Horvath

Age: 20

From: Long Island

Currently: Studying English and Economics at Fordham University

Favorite Memoir: “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami

Why: “Murakami’s memoir about his preposterous streak of running marathons (something like one every year for over 25 years) and writing best-selling novels really spoke to me. When I read it (last fall) I was training for a 9 mile race of my own and just admitting to myself that I wanted to write for a living. His intertwining of the two, along with his translatable work-ethic, made his book all the more resonant.”

“Making Toast” by Roger Rosenblatt: A Must-Read Memoir

Photo: HarperCollins

Before I had even decided to write about memoir, my journalism professor mentioned a new memoir that she had heard great buzz about: Roger Rosenblatt’s “Making Toast.”

I requested it from my local library over spring break, my mom picked it up for me a week later and I brought it back to school with me last weekend when I went home for Easter. The book is now seriously overdue, but if the large fines end up getting me banned from my library, at least I picked a book that made it worthwhile.

“Making Toast” originally appeared in The New Yorker as an essay.

Interview with Marya Hornbacher: Author of the Pulitzer-Nominated Memoir, “Wasted” (Part 2)

Photo: Marya Hornbacher

No more babbling, I’m getting right to the good stuff. Here’s part of my interview with author Marya Hornbacher from this past Wednesday.

How do you define memoir?

Literary truth telling. Memoir is not autobiography. It’s about a specific period or thing in someone’s life. My life is not terribly interesting, but a couple of interesting things have happened to me.

Why did you write “Wasted?”