Writers Gotta Read, Right? — Memoirs and more

To wrap up a month of memoirs, autobiographies, and life-writing/journaling, here is a “list of lists” for your reading pleasure.

Let’s start with memoirs.

• From LitHub in 2019 The 10 Best Memoirs of the Decade
• Another from 2019, The New York Times with The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years
• Reedsy opts for a longer stretch of time and fewer books: 30 Best Memoirs of the Last Century
• Like your memoir reading short and sweet? Bookriot offers 18 Essay-length Short Memoirs to Read Online on Your Lunch Break

Now, diaries and journals.

• CDN offers Must-read Diaries and Journals that Are Totally Worth Your Time
• Pan Macmillian came up with its own list of History’s Greatest Diaries 
• And while not a list of books per se, the site Develop Good Habits has a post on 9 Famous People Who Kept Journals

Image by annazuc from Pixabay

Finally, Library of Congress (LOC) has some fascinating collections of narratives/interviews available to read/watch online, including Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project 1936 to 1938 and the Veterans History Project. For these sites, you need to dig around a bit if you are after something specific, but you can also let serendipity be your guide. For instance, here’s a link to a video interview with Frank Woodruff Buckles. Buckles, who lied about his age to join the U.S. Army in World War I, talks about his experiences in both world wars.

Here at Blood Red Pencil, you’ll find many more recommendations and tips from the gang if you look at previous March 2021 posts. If you have other resources or reads to share, we'd love to hear about them! Please let us know in the comments below.

Ann Parker authors the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks. During the day, she wrangles words for a living as a science editor/writer and marketing communications specialist (which is basically a fancy term for "editor/writer"). Her midnight hours are devoted to scribbling fiction. Visit AnnParker.net for more information.