I’ve always been fascinated by ordinary people. Anytime I’m on an airplane, I love to ask people what they do and where they live (assuming they aren’t totally weirded out by me) . If the person lives overseas my fascination goes through the roof.
Memoirs are usually written by famous/important people. Lots of people want to hear what Bill Clinton has to say, because he was the President of the United States. You would think that not that many people want to hear about ordinary people. But, it seems like memoirs by not-so-famous people is a type of book that has peaked the interest of general readership recently. It’s crazy to me that these types of books have done so well…but I’m glad because I really enjoy them.
So far this year I’ve read two books that fit into this category…..Oh the Glory of it all by Sean Wilsey and Foreskin’s Lament by Shalom Auslander. A couple of things about these books - I think both are very interesting and helpful. I don’t know this for sure but I’m guessing that David Crowder has read Oh the Glory of it all per his song on Remedy….so if it’s good enough for Crowder it’s good enough for you…right? One other thing…I would probably use caution when reading either of these books - they could use some censoring. What makes them interesting is the fact that these guys are pretty messed up….and they’re pretty explicit about the details of their lives. Sometimes I’ll give books like these to Danielle to read first and she’ll take a sharpie to them or give them back with pages missing… she’s a good wife.
Anyways, do any of you know of memoirs by not-so-famous people? I guess Blue like Jazz would also be in this category. I’d love to find others.
