another old guy telling his life
TalkBiographies, Memoirs and Autobiographies
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1TimBazzett 
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Hello, Louis and all - I'm a memoir addict, have been for the last few years, even though I read fiction for most of my life. Started writing my own memoirs in 2004 and have been hooked on everyone else's ever since. I've written four books which you can learn more about at my website, http://RatholeBooks.com . The books are avail on Amazon, but you'll get personalized, signed copies if you order from my site. Would love to hear from other members of this group, and I do consider swaps. - TimBazzett
2copyedit52
Tim: I'm taken with the form too, or else it's the only way I know how to write. Wrote and published one memoir, and now I'm working on the sequel, so to speak: from the sixties to the seventies; coming of age, to the discoveries of a young man wrestling with expectations and (society's imposed) limitations.
3LouisBranning
Hi Tim, and I'm a memoir lover too, also look forward to reading yours soon. I've read some really great ones in the last few years and these are a few highlights:
The esteemed novelist and North Dakota rancher Larry Woiwode had published his first memoir in 2001 called What I Think I Did, but after a horrible accident with a hay bailer, an excruciating near-death experience, he wrote a much more powerful version called A Step From Death in 2008, addressed the whole thing to his son Joseph, and this dark, but very spiritual work is truly a thing of beauty.
I've never been a fan of Martin Amis's fiction, but in 2000 he published Experience, one of the most ruthlessly honest memoirs I've ever read. Amis gives all the details of his relationship with his famous father Kingsley, as well as an up-close-and-personal take on the British and American literary scenes during the last 40 years, and it's easily the best thing Amis has ever written, unputdownable to say the least.
Leslie Garis's House of Happy Endings is one of the saddest memoirs I've ever read. Her grandfather was Howard Garis, the phenomenally successful author of the Uncle Wiggily books, and with his wife Lillian, wrote the popular children's series The Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift. Garis's whole family all lived together in a large house in Amherst, Mass., but there was to be no "happily ever after", and her story of the family's utter and complete disintegration is one that's impossible to forget.
The esteemed novelist and North Dakota rancher Larry Woiwode had published his first memoir in 2001 called What I Think I Did, but after a horrible accident with a hay bailer, an excruciating near-death experience, he wrote a much more powerful version called A Step From Death in 2008, addressed the whole thing to his son Joseph, and this dark, but very spiritual work is truly a thing of beauty.
I've never been a fan of Martin Amis's fiction, but in 2000 he published Experience, one of the most ruthlessly honest memoirs I've ever read. Amis gives all the details of his relationship with his famous father Kingsley, as well as an up-close-and-personal take on the British and American literary scenes during the last 40 years, and it's easily the best thing Amis has ever written, unputdownable to say the least.
Leslie Garis's House of Happy Endings is one of the saddest memoirs I've ever read. Her grandfather was Howard Garis, the phenomenally successful author of the Uncle Wiggily books, and with his wife Lillian, wrote the popular children's series The Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift. Garis's whole family all lived together in a large house in Amherst, Mass., but there was to be no "happily ever after", and her story of the family's utter and complete disintegration is one that's impossible to forget.
4TimBazzett
Hi again, Louis. Just found your note here about memoirs. I have both of the Woiwode memoirs here on my teetering to-read pile and hope to get into them soon. Just got them fm Amazon. And the Amis and Garis memoirs both sound fascinating too. Will look them up. Read the elder Amis's Lucky Jim many years ago. And my siblings and I used to read the Uncle Wiggily stories and even had a board game of UW. Again, many years ago, of course. With so many good books waiting to be read, I don't know how I'm ever going to get back to my own writing. But every now and then I do. Thanks for the tips. Hope you enjoy SoldierBoy. - Tim
