A good memoir can brighten my day. I always find reading about other peoples life journeys to be incredibly motivating and I always include at least one in my TBR pile every month.
Here are 5 memoirs I've recently read and loved.
by Leslie Gray Streeter
My Rating: ★★★★☆
In her late thirties, Palm Beach Post columnist Leslie Gray Streeter had finally found her perfect match: Scott. He was Jewish and white; she was Christian and black, but that didn't give them a moment's hesitation. They moved in together, got married, and started the long process of adopting their son, Brooks Robinson Streeter Zervitz, named for Scott's favorite baseball player. Then, out of nowhere, the unthinkable happened. While the couple was sharing a late-night kiss, Scott had a fatal heart attack at the age of 44.
Black Widow is a story about coping with the kind of loss that blindsides you, the kind that can leave you with mascara streaked down your face, barefoot and slugging a bottle of gas station saké in front of a bunch of mourners (yep, Streeter has been there). But it's also a celebration -- of faith, love, and the people who show up when we need them most, who pry the saké away from us and who help us laugh and cry our way through this crazy roller-coaster ride called life.
I loved this read. Streeter deals with grief in her own way, showing how strong she is as a woman and taking everyday in stride.
by Loni Love
My Rating: ★★★★☆
An inspiring, hilarious memoir about learning to resist the pressures of conformity, love yourself for who you are, embrace your flaws, and unlock your true potential.
Now cohost of Fox's The Real and SiriusXM's Café Mocha, Loni Love hasn't taken the typical path to becoming America's favorite straight-talking girlfriend and comedian. She was not the child of Hollywood legends and she never wore a size 00. Rather, she grew up in housing projects in Detroit, more worried about affording her next meal than going on a diet. When she moved to Hollywood after graduating college with an engineering degree, seeking to break out in the entertainment world, there was nothing that would convince her to eat the kale salads and quinoa bowls that her colleagues introduced her to, which looked to Love like "weeds my grandma used to pay me a dollar to pull from her yard."
Still, despite the differences that set her apart in the status-driven world of entertainment where being thin, young, blond, and bubbly is sometimes considered a talent, Love spent years trying to fit in -- trying to style her hair just so, dieting, dating the men she thought she was supposed to be with. In this book, she tells the uproariously funny story of how she overcame the trap of self-improvement and instead learned to embrace who she was. As Love writes, "There's a saying a lot of people live by: 'Fake it till you make it.' For me, it's always been 'fake it, and then have the whole thing blow up in your face.'" I Tried to Change So You Don't Have To explores all of the embarrassing mistakes, terrifying challenges, and unexpected breakthroughs that taught her how, by committing ourselves to our own path, we can take control of our destiny.
Loni Love is an incredible woman. Intuitive, funny and strong, but she's come through a lot to get to where she is today. I really enjoyed reading about her struggles and how she overcame them.
by Lolo Jones
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Lolo is perhaps better known today not for all the races she’s won but for the millisecond mistake that cost her an Olympic gold medal over a decade ago. With stunning authenticity about her own struggles, longings, and losses, she shows us how to face our challenges head-on and keep working to overcome them.
Lolo challenges us to:
handle failure while pursuing our dreams;
recognize the difference between achieving a goal and experiencing success;
turn our most painful moments into the most successful;
use thankfulness and faith to develop healthy hindsight; and
give and receive forgiveness as the path back to life.
Growing up in a broken home, Lolo learned to shoplift at a young age just to eat at night and sometimes slept on the basement floor of the Salvation Army. While her father was in prison, her mother worked multiple jobs, and Lolo realized she needed to be self-motivated, singularly focused, and unwilling to quit if she wanted to succeed.
Reflecting on her own challenging spiritual journey, Lolo invites us to rest in God who can make all the difference in overcoming obstacles with both strength and joy.
| I love Lolo, but this book fell kinda flat for me. I was wanting a lot more detail into all the events she talked about in her book, but it really just felt like she scratched the surface. There is so much more that Lolo has to offer and I think if she came out with another book, I would definitely read it. Still a huge fan and in awe of all that she has accomplished with her life. |
by Michaela DePrince, Elaine DePrince
My Rating: ★★★★★
Michaela DePrince was known as girl Number 27 at the orphanage, where she was abandoned at a young age and tormented as a “devil child” for a skin condition that makes her skin appear spotted. But it was at the orphanage that Michaela would find a picture of a beautiful ballerina en pointe that would help change the course of her life.
At the age of four, Michaela was adopted by an American family, who encouraged her love of dancing and enrolled her in classes. She went on to study at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre and is now the youngest principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has appeared in the ballet documentary First Position, as well as on Dancing with the Stars, Good Morning America, and Nightline.
In this engaging, moving, and unforgettable memoir, Michaela shares her dramatic journey from an orphan in West Africa to becoming one of ballet’s most exciting rising stars.
This dancers life story is truly incredible. She went from the most hated child in her little orphanage to one of the worlds most resilient dancers. I couldn't put this book down, the story was that enthralling. A wonderful book for dancers and those who only dance in their hearts.
by Danny Trejo, Donal Logue
My Rating: ★★★★★
On screen, Danny Trejo the actor is a baddie who has been killed at least a hundred times. He’s been shot, stabbed, hanged, chopped up, squished by an elevator, and once, was even melted into a bloody goo. Off screen, he’s a hero beloved by recovery communities and obsessed fans alike. But the real Danny Trejo is much more complicated than the legend.
Raised in an abusive home, Danny struggled with heroin addiction and stints in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons, including San Quentin and Folsom, from an early age, before starring in such modern classics as Heat, From Dusk till Dawn, and Machete. Now, in this funny, painful, and suspenseful memoir, Danny takes us through the incredible ups and downs of his life, including meeting one of the world’s most notorious serial killers in prison and working with legends like Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro.
In honest, unflinching detail, Danny recounts how he managed the horrors of prison, rebuilt himself after finding sobriety and spirituality in solitary confinement, and draws inspiration from the adrenaline-fueled robbing heists of his past for the film roles that made him a household name. He also shares the painful contradictions in his personal life. Although he speaks everywhere from prison yards to NPR about his past to inspire countless others on their own road to recovery and redemption, he struggles to help his children with their personal battles with addiction, and to build relationships that last.
Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, Trejo is a portrait of a magnificent life and an unforgettable and exceptional journey through tragedy, pain, and, finally, success that will transfix and inspire.
This has got to be the craziest memoir that I have ever read. Danny Trejo is now my spirit animal and I have the deepest respect for who he is now. Trejo recaps highlights in his life that changed and shaped who he is today. He came from an incredibly dark place, to a wonderful vessel for change. I loved this read and can't wait to get my hands on Trejo's cookbook.
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