Top Three Memoirs by Authors (and not about famous people's experiences being famous)

I thought I'd continue my one-day-behind lag and shift my Top Three list to Saturday this week. The humidity has finally subsided here in sunny Georgia, and something in the crisp air today reminds me of autumn, which of course makes me feel paradoxically melancholy and hopeful...emotions that are also conjured up by some of my favorite memoirs. Admittedly, I am not a huge nonfiction reader, but there are a few fabulous memoirs out there written by talented authors (rather than celebs plus ghost writers--yucko), which are incredibly stirring in their honesty, humor, and poignancy. The following three books all find a way to blend tragedy and jubilation--much like autumn does, don't you think?

1. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

This restrained and diamond-sharp memoir chronicles the year after Didion loses her husband of 40 years, as her daughter lays unconscious in a hospital. This double-loss propels Didion into a "year of magical thinking," in which she moves through the traditional steps of mourning with a kind of hyper-awareness and detachment created by grief. Especially captivating is her discussions of marriage, as she ponders what it means to be married, and what it means to no longer be a part.

2. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Wells

Another rough one at times, but totally worth it! This is one of those can't-believe-it's-really-true-holy-smokes kind of stories, about an intelligent girl whose parents choose a beyond-laissez faire approach to child rearing, eventually ending up homeless and on the streets. The children's impressive stories of survival--and the parents' unbelievable mixture of adventure and self-absorption--make for a compelling read. I think you'll appreciate the way Wells talks about her experiences, with honesty and even empathy, rather than blame.

3. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

Oh delight! While there is a layer of tragedy in the story (young Dave becomes his 8-year-old brother's guardian when their parents die of cancer within a 6-month period), this memoir is definitely more rollicking than the other two books in the list. In typical Eggers fashion and as the title suggests, AHWOSG resounds with irony and self-consciousness; it's laugh-out-loud funny and sincere, too.