Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid

 Nonfiction by Tanya Nicole Kach and Lawrence Fisher

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1996 Tanya Kach was a fourteen-year-old girl from a troubled home. Her emotionally distant father had written off her mentally ill mother after a difficult divorce, and he actively tried to keep Tanya from seeing her mom. Meanwhile, he had remarried and abdicated responsibility for Tanya to his new wife, whom Tanya hated. Tanya was looking for love and acceptance, and for a parental figure.

Unfortunately, she found Tom Hose, a security guard at the middle school (!!!!) who took an interest in her, convinced to come home with him, and kept her locked up in his upstairs room for ten years. (!!!!!!!!)

This is a true story, as unbelievable as it sounds, about a girl who thought maybe nobody cared about her, a predator who convinced her it was definitely true, and a bunch of authority figures (teachers and cops) who looked the other way and didn't try very hard to help.

Her lawyer and co-writer Lawrence Fisher has been working for years to help Tanya reintegrate into society, and get some justice from a system that failed her. It's an interesting story but pretty hard to read because of how sad it is.

Bossypants

 Nonfiction by Tina Fey

https://www.audible.com

This was a funny memoir read by the author. 

Nobody's Girl

Subtitled: a Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Nonfiction by Virginia Roberts Giuffre

https://www.audible.com

Oh my goodness. This was wrenching and way, WAY too sad. I couldn't finish listening.

The Wondering Years

 Nonfiction by Knox McCoy

https://www.audible.com

This was a fun and funny memoir about the author's life and faith journey.

Based on a True Story

 Nonfiction? by Norm MacDonald

https://www.audible.com

I put a question mark after the word "nonfiction" above because, although this book is labelled as a memoir, the story seems to be almost completely made up.

Norm MacDonald was indeed a comedian who was on Saturday Night Live in the nineties, and he was alive in 2016 and doing stand-up when the book was written (he has since died), but the rest of this "memoir" is quite fictitious.

Also it's not funny. At least the first half isn't. I gave up.

Milo’s Story

 Nonfiction by Louise Allen

https://www.amazon.com

This is the eleventh book in Louise Allen's "Thrown Away Children Series," which I had almost given up on after the terrible ending of the last book (see below). That's the problem with nonfiction, though. Real life doesn't offer tidily happy endings.

This book was better, in that it didn't end absolutely horribly, and that it was interesting. I did really enjoy reading Milo's story. That said, I do feel like the author takes a lot of liberties with the category of nonfiction, almost veering into "based on a true story" novelization rather often. Still, that makes it more fun to read, so I shouldn't complain. More troubling is the lecture mode she slips into too often.

So I liked the book but didn't love it.

I also read recently by this author: Willow's Story

Misfit

Subtitled: Growing Up Awkward in the 80's
Nonfiction by Gary Gulman

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https://www.audible.com

This was a fun memoir about a comedian reminiscing about his childhood while recovering from a a major depression.

One thing I really liked about it was how the author recounted exact details of the circumstances and set-up for great punchlines he made over twenty-five years ago. I'm glad to not be the only one who does that!

The House of My Mother

 Nonfiction by Shari Franke

https://www.audible.com

Family vlogger Ruby Franke was big news a couple of years ago when she and her best friend Jodi Hildebrand were convicted of neglecting and abusing Ruby's four minor children. No charges were brought up concerning the two oldest kids, Shari and Chad, because the two of them had already left home.

In this story Shari tells her own story of how Ruby's abuse of her children started long before she met up with Jodi, and how the support and validation Jodi gave her escalated everything exponentially.

This was an honest memoir and very interesting, but it was also extremely sad.

Small Fry

 Nonfiction by Lisa Brennan-Jobs

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Lisa is the daughter of Steve Jobs and his high school girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, but she was raised in her early years exclusively by her mother. Steve Jobs refused to acknowledge paternity, until the state of California sued him for back child support (to reimburse them for the food stamps and welfare Chrisann had been forced to apply for in order to support his daughter.) 

Even after DNA test had proven that he was indeed Lisa's father, Steve continued to deny her for many years. He gave her little scraps of attention as she longed for his approval. At the same time, her mother loved her, but was emotionally unstable and chronically poor.

This was a very interesting memoir; it gives the reader a clear picture of Lisa and her parents. I didn't love it, since everyone was kind of unpleasant...

The Choice: Embrace the Possible

 Nonfiction by Dr. Edith Eva Eger

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 1942 Dr. Eger was a Jewish teenager in a town on the border of Czechoslovakia and Austria. Her father was a talented tailor and her mother and two sisters were accomplished musicians. Then suddenly the Nazis were in power and the family was shipped to Auschwitz. In 1980 Dr. Eger is a respected psychologist in El Paso, Texas. This book is about what happened to her in between.

It's a very moving story and also she has practical advice about overcoming trauma.

A Well-Trained Wife

 Nonfiction by Tia Levings

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I couldn't get interested in this one.

The Rules do not Apply

 Nonfiction by Ariel Levy

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At one point in this story, the author attends a small party where a new acquaintance asks, "Are you the Ariel that all the bad things happened to?" Unfortunately, she has to say yes to that question. 

Ariel begins this book at a low point: her spouse has left her, her baby died, and she has to leave her beloved home. Then she goes back in time, and she tries to explain to the reader how she started out to be "the kind of woman who is free to do as she chooses." She ended up finding out how many things that she decidedly did not choose happened anyway, and that sometimes the rules do indeed apply, whether you want them to or not.

This was a really interesting memoir, honest and touching and very readable.

The Night the Lights Went Out

 Nonfiction by Drew Magary

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The author suffered an unexplained brain hemorrhage in December of 2018 and came very close to death. He tells the story of his struggle to recover in this book.

It was very interesting and quite funny in parts. I really appreciated the honesty.

I also read by this author: The Hike

Everything Sad is Untrue

 Fiction by Daniel Nayeri

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The cover of this book asserts that it is a true story, even though it's classified officially as a young adult novel. This is because it's a memoir that cannot be independently verified, I think, because it is indeed the true story of the author's childhood history.

Daniel was born in Iran, and he was named Khosrou and his family was wealthy. But when he was about five, his mother converted to Christianity and had to flee the country with him and his sister, leaving behind everything in order to live in poverty in Oklahoma instead. In this book, 12-year-old Daniel is trying to explain his origins to a class full of kids who don't know the different between Iran and Iraq, and think that his lunches smell weird.

It's an amazing story. I don't know why it is called "Everything Sad is Untrue," though. I would pick a different title.

The Best Minds

Subtitled: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
Nonfiction by Jonathan Rosen

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a hard book to read.

It was long, for one. And it was sad. The author's best childhood friend Michael Laudor is the smartest and most popular guy on the block growing up in the seventies. They are at school together through high school and college, and it seems that Jonathan feels a little in Michael's shadow as they mature into adults.

But Michael is both brilliant and mentally ill. When his schizophrenia begins to manifest itself after graduation, Michael endures a hospital stay and defers his admission to Yale Law School. Still, he is able to attend the next year with support from his father and from the school dean. The dean, along with many other law professors, sees Michael's mental illness as a disability like any other, and with the newly passed ADA laws in place, feels that Michael can succeed at law school with reasonable accommodations.

And Michael does well at Yale Law, with help. One scene that really affected me in this section described Michael's dad Chuck patiently talking though Michael's pervasive hallucinations. Upon waking up in the morning, Michael would believe that his room was on fire. Chuck would call and gently remind his son that the fire wasn't real, convincing Michael to put out his hand to verify that the false fire was not actually hot, and then coaxing Michael to put his feet onto a floor that looked like an inferno. Reading this one has to admire both Chuck's devotion to his son and Michael's courage in facing such a terrifying world every day.

But law school doesn't last forever, and unfortunately neither will the aging Chuck. When Michael enters the workforce, he finds that world much less accommodating. Things simply will not end well for Michael, and that's not a spoiler. (The synopsis notes actually DO give away the ending, which I regret knowing in advance. So I recommend not reading the entire book jacket.)

In short, this was a well-written book that gives you a lot to think about, but it's heavy and depressing.

Sociopath: A Memoir

 Nonfiction by Dr. Patric Gagne, PhD

https://www.audible.com

The author of this memoir is a diagnosed sociopath. From a very young age, Patric realized she didn't feel things the way other kids did; she couldn't feel some emotions at all and others seemed dulled and blunted. She worried that this meant she was irretrievably bad, and set on a lifelong journey to find out what was wrong with her and what could be done about it. She ended up with a PhD is psychology.

This was a very entertaining memoir to read. Of course, it could be all made up, since sociopaths are also liars, but I don't really think so. It was all very interesting.

Here's something that bugged me: What is up with this woman's name? Is it weirdly shortened from Patricia? Did her parents want a boy? It would have been very easy for her to explain her name in the narrative: Just have someone ask her about it! I mean, don't tell me no one has ever in your whole life asked you why you have a boy's name, Patric! Or is it a pseudonym? Why doesn't this bother anyone else?

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It

 Nonfiction by Greg Marshall

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Greg Marshall was born with cerebral palsy but he didn't know it until he was thirty years old.

Apparently his mother didn't want him "labelled," and just said his bad leg and weak arm were just due to "tight tendons." She felt that Greg could just act like he was normal, and then it would be so. Interestingly enough, it worked somewhat. Greg grew up with a can-do mindset that served him well in many ways. But that didn't stop him from being absolutely livid when he found out the truth.

This was an interesting set up for a memoir, but the bulk of the book was just random disconnected stories, so it's not the kind of memoir I really like.

Thinning Blood

Subtitled: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity

Nonfiction by Leah Myers

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The author begins this story by identifying herself as the last member of her tribe in her family line. Since she is only one-eighth native blood (the smallest percentage recognized by the blood quantum laws of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe of the Pacific Northwest), and there are only 542 tribal members left in total (of which 297 are also 1/8 blood), this is probably true. Technically.

Still, I feel like part of the point of this book is that blood percentages are not necessarily the best gauge of tribal identity. Leah spends a lot of time spelling out exactly how her ancestors live on as a part of her; her great-grandmother Lillian, her grandmother Vivian, and her mother Kristy are all pieces of her tribal identity even as their blood is "thinned" by time and intermarriage.

I also feel like the author has a whole lot of anger rolled up into her tribal identity, not that I blame her. She is not wrong in asserting that native peoples have been systematically decimated through deliberate action by white people over the past several hundred years. It's a sad thing, and should not be overlooked. Attempted genocide has indeed been committed.

But here's the thing: Leah is still here. Those 541 other people are still here. And their thinned blood still lives on in countless others, whether they know it or not. Therefore the genocide was not successful, and I think that makes a difference. I don't know if Leah would agree; she's still pretty mad.

This book was interesting but not very enjoyable. It did give me something to think about.

Acceptance: A Memoir

 Nonfiction by Emi Nietfeld

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a really interesting memoir about a girl with seriously messed-up parents who saw an Ivy League education as her way out. 

About the title: Emi's goal is college acceptance while every psychiatrist and social worker tell her that she must accept her limitations. 

I for one am very glad she didn't listen to the nay-sayers and instead made education her goal. Still, she doesn't sugarcoat the struggles she still faces and the fallout from her past. 

The Forgotten Girls

Subtitled: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America

Nonfiction by Monica Potts

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

According to some recent data, the "least educated" of white Americans, particularly women and especially in rural areas, have experienced a significant drop in life expectancy. This author, a reporter, decided to try to investigate the reason why the simple lack of a high school degree could possibly cut off years of living for these people.

Monica Potts grew up in a rural town in the Ozarks, but escaped to the city as an adult. She decided to go back to her hometown of Clinton, Arkansas, to research the lives of people there. This book is the result.

Monica spends much of the book telling the story of Darci, her friend from childhood who stayed in Clinton, and how lack of education and trouble with drug abuse ruined Darci’s life. Monica contrasts her own “successful” life (good career, stable relationships, financial security) with Darci’s “failure” (abusive relationships, jail time, kids in state custody).

Darci’s story is what makes the book interesting (the rest is speculation and pontificating) but it also doesn’t really make the point the author wants to make, in my opinion. (Also it’s a bit smug on Monica’s part.) The author wants to say that Darci could have been “saved”simply by getting more education and leaving the area. 

But people’s lives are so much more complex than that! There are a myriad of factors involved in Darci’s “failed” life, which I have to point out ISN’T OVER! I kept expecting Darci to die at the end of the book, the way Monica talked about her, but she didn’t! (Ooops! Spoiler!) The poor girl wasn’t even forty years old when the story ended, and who in the world is qualified to deem anyone’s entire life a failure, for that matter! 

But I digress. This book was interesting to read, (and obviously invoked quite an emotional reaction from me!) but it didn’t really make much of a case for the life-saving properties of a diploma.