At the time, I had no idea Renault was a lesbian who lived with her partner in Cape Town, South Africa I just knew she brought myth and legend to full-bodied life. From The King Must Die about Theseus to The Persian Boy told from the perspective of Alexander the Great’s lover, these books transported me and were some of the first books I read with gay content: Two men could be lovers. And I fell in love with her books on ancient Greece and mythology. Working my way down the library shelves after finishing the last Jean Plaidy on offer at my small local public library, I discovered Mary Renault. The winds of the North Dakota plains were very welcome here and Hoffert’s poignant sketch of rural life, coming out-and going back home-is a welcome new voice. Maybe it’s just because I live in New York, but I think I’ve burnt out on the coming of age memoir on the wild streets of NYC in the 1950s/60s/70s/80s/90s. It started out strong for me but as the author comes to terms with her sexuality, leaves her husband, and finds love again, I found myself skimming pages-and missing the food. Rejecting a particular religious doctrine is only the first step finding a new theology and a community is just as important and harrowing.įood memoirs always have a place at my table and I really wanted to love this one more. If you’ve been raised a certain way and defined by those beliefs, what do you do when you no longer belong? Who are you then? Barth stumbled and struggled down this long, twisty road and it is entirely worth it. My Almost Certainly Real Imaginary Jesus by Kelly Barth I wished her mom had written a book, but if this is the closest we’ll get, I’ll take it.Ī survival story-from family dysfunction, drinking, and drugs to poet and powerhouse.

Though they range in time (the 1950s to the present day) and place (the LES to North Dakota), the issues these women grapple with are the same: coming out, coming into her own, breaking through silences, establishing relationships, becoming the subject of her own story-which is all we can all only strive for, really.Ī powerful mother-daughter memoir, contrasting the heart breaking, soul crushing experience of Wilson’s mother (until the women’s movement!) with Wilson’s own coming out. Every time I turned around there seemed to be another lesbian memoir demanding my attention. I’ve been on a memoir reading binge lately.

Licking the Spoon by Candace Walsh