Memoirville

Excerpts Archive

Excerpt: Living Loaded: Tales of Sex, Salvation, and the Pursuit of the Never-Ending Happy Hour by Dan Dunn

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

“Spending damn near every day with my pops at P&J’s in the summer of 1976 is one of two truly meaningful father-son bonding experiences I can recall from my childhood. The other happened when I was five and he kidnapped me and fled to Maryland.”

Exclusive: “Snow Crew” from Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

“Kerman, what do you think about being on the snow crew this winter, drive one of the plows? Pays forty cents an hour!”
Thinking of all the thousands of people out clearing snow up and down the East Coast this week, I wanted to share an “outtake” from my memoir Orange Is the New [...]

Excerpt: Lay the Favorite by Beth Raymer

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

“A nun from the orphanage called my parents and told them there was a two-week-old baby girl available…The next morning they picked me up from Catholic Social Services, named me after the Kiss song “Beth,” which was playing on the radio, left me with Aunt Bonnie, and took off to Vegas.”

Interview: Eugene Rubin, author of Headlock

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Eugene Rubin’s memoir Headlock: Chronicles of a Psychiatrist’s Son explores teenage angst in 1970s New York City as framed by the powerful hold of his celebrated psychiatrist/author father. Rubin explores the finer points of male adolescence while breaking down each anecdote in a way that only a psychiatrist can.

Interview: Ted Rall, author of The Year of Loving Dangerously

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

The Year of Loving Dangerously is the story of what happened when as a 20-year-old Ted Rall narrowly avoided homelessness by spending the night with as many women as possible, all while trying to get his life back together.

Excerpt: Long Past Stopping by Oran Canfield

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

“How did this shit happen to me? I didn’t ask for any of it. Not that I was complaining, but how many thirteen-year-olds had gotten drunk, smoked pot, and sniffed cocaine in the back of a police car?”
Sitting on Raul’s porch on Friday night, I could hear the town start to come alive. Conversations, arguments, [...]

Interview: David Small, author of Stitches

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

David Small’s graphic memoir, Stitches, is a beautifully rendered account of a horrifying childhood, drawn in shades of gray. He recently answered a few of Rebecca Touger’s questions.

Excerpt: The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

“I know everything there is to know about fathers who root against their sons.”
On May 5, 2007, Floyd Mayweather meets Oscar De LaHoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight has been hyped for five months. Floyd will make more than twenty million dollars and De LaHoya will make more than thirty. De [...]

Excerpt: The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The following is an excerpt from The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs. Be sure to check out Chris Teja’s interview with him here.

240 Minutes of Fame
In my real life, I’ve had just the tiniest taste of what it’s like to be famous. Three instances come to mind:
1. The book [...]

Excerpt: Lies My Mother Never Told Me by Kaylie Jones

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

The following is an excerpt from Kaylie Jones’s new memoir, Lies My Mother Never Told Me. Be sure to check out her interview with Miranda Martin here.
Lies My Mother Never Told Me
Part I
I used alcohol as the magical conduit to fantasy and euphoria,
and to the enhancement of the imagination. There is no need to
either rue [...]

 
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