> Zed Book Club / Inside Story: 7 Fascinating Memoirs
Huma Abedin attends alice + olivia Celebrates Pride With Prom at Parrish Art Museum on June 24, 2021 in Water Mill, New York. Photo: Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
> Buzz
Inside Story: 7 Fascinating Memoirs
From confessional to professional, our must-read autobiographies include books by Katie Couric, Hayley Wickenheiser and Tomson Highway / BY Susan Grimbly / January 20th, 2022
As Victorian novelist George Meredith once wrote, “Memoirs are the backstairs of history.” They take you to intimate places in a way fiction cannot, with moments hidden behind the scenes. Herewith, a fine list of memoirs from confessional to professional, and beyond.
Obsessive Book Buyers: Zoomer editors have carefully curated our book coverage to ensure you find the perfect read. We may earn a commission on books you buy by clicking on the cover image.
1Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds Don’t we all want to know why smart, poised Huma Abedin – Hillary Clinton’s aide and adviser – was married to a “sexting” knucklehead like New York representative Anthony Weiner? This personal account takes you inside both her political life and the scandal of its day. According to NPR reviewer Caitlyn Kim, “it’s the story of her parents — their family’s history — that sheds the most light on who Abedin is.”
Don’t we all want to know why smart, poised Huma Abedin – Hillary Clinton’s aide and adviser – was married to a “sexting” knucklehead like New York representative Anthony Weiner? This personal account takes you inside both her political life and the scandal of its day. According to NPR reviewer Caitlyn Kim, “it’s the story of her parents — their family’s history — that sheds the most light on who Abedin is.”
2I Thought He Was Dead: A Spiritual Memoir A wry title from the former CBC TV and Jazz-FM radio personality who had a spiritual awakening after a near-death experience. The son of Moroccan immigrants, who now has a practice in Hashpa’ah: Jewish Spiritual Direction, talks about his life, from the young Yuk-Yuks days through to learning what it’s like to become an “elder.”
A wry title from the former CBC TV and Jazz-FM radio personality who had a spiritual awakening after a near-death experience. The son of Moroccan immigrants, who now has a practice in Hashpa’ah: Jewish Spiritual Direction, talks about his life, from the young Yuk-Yuks days through to learning what it’s like to become an “elder.”
3Going There Life as a TV news host is hell for women (The Morning Show, anyone?). But, if you love bitchy gossip, get out the Prosecco and dive into Going There. Couric, the first solo female anchor for a major network (CBS) evening news program, talks about sexism, rivalries, squirting breast milk and, yes, Matt Lauer (ugh). Messy, you bet. Life in the blond, 125-pound lane is rough. Slate called Going There “juicy, frank.”
Life as a TV news host is hell for women (The Morning Show, anyone?). But, if you love bitchy gossip, get out the Prosecco and dive into Going There. Couric, the first solo female anchor for a major network (CBS) evening news program, talks about sexism, rivalries, squirting breast milk and, yes, Matt Lauer (ugh). Messy, you bet. Life in the blond, 125-pound lane is rough. Slate called Going There “juicy, frank.”
4Permanent Astonishment: Growing Up in the Land of Snow and SkyPlaywright Tomson Highway, the son of a caribou hunter, has written a beautiful, amusing account of growing up – the 11th of 12 children – in northwestern Manitoba. Despite his radiant childhood (he says he was born in a snowbank), he doesn’t shy from the abuses at Guy Hill Residential School in The Pas, where he stayed from six to 15. Quill & Quire called the book a “powerful account of finding joy on the upper side of hardship.”
Playwright Tomson Highway, the son of a caribou hunter, has written a beautiful, amusing account of growing up – the 11th of 12 children – in northwestern Manitoba. Despite his radiant childhood (he says he was born in a snowbank), he doesn’t shy from the abuses at Guy Hill Residential School in The Pas, where he stayed from six to 15. Quill & Quire called the book a “powerful account of finding joy on the upper side of hardship.”
5The Whisper on the Night Wind Step east into Labrador, an ancient, unspoiled beauty. I’ve been fascinated by it ever since I read The Lure of the Labrador Wild, in which a trek leader starved to death 50 km from safety. (He wouldn’t ask for directions.) Modern adventurer Adam Shoalts is drawn by tales of a legendary creature that is “spooking” the community near the Mealy Mountains. Strange tracks? Missing sled dogs? Gather round the campfire …
Step east into Labrador, an ancient, unspoiled beauty. I’ve been fascinated by it ever since I read The Lure of the Labrador Wild, in which a trek leader starved to death 50 km from safety. (He wouldn’t ask for directions.) Modern adventurer Adam Shoalts is drawn by tales of a legendary creature that is “spooking” the community near the Mealy Mountains. Strange tracks? Missing sled dogs? Gather round the campfire …
6My Mother, My Translator Writer Jaspreet Singh came to Canada from India in the early 90s. He coaxed his mother to write her memoir, but when she passed away in 2012, he took over. Her family had lived through the 1947 partition of India, and the anti-Sikh pogroms. “I found out, in my own way, that telling the story in first person liberated me somewhat,” he writes. “This way, it was also possible to imagine things my mother had not revealed.” It’s an interesting exercise, to write another person’s memoir, from one’s own point of view.
Writer Jaspreet Singh came to Canada from India in the early 90s. He coaxed his mother to write her memoir, but when she passed away in 2012, he took over. Her family had lived through the 1947 partition of India, and the anti-Sikh pogroms. “I found out, in my own way, that telling the story in first person liberated me somewhat,” he writes. “This way, it was also possible to imagine things my mother had not revealed.” It’s an interesting exercise, to write another person’s memoir, from one’s own point of view.
7Over the Boards: Lessons from the Ice Let’s end on an upbeat note: a memoir from the greatest women’s hockey player of all time, Hayley Wickenheiser OC, four-time Olympic Gold medalist, physician and executive for the Toronto Maple Leafs (and still only 42). Born 1978 in Shaunoven, Sask., Wickenheiser started hockey at the age of 5, played minor hockey with the boys (changing in boiler rooms), and became the first woman who was not a goalie to play full-time, professional men’s hockey. Transcendent.
Let’s end on an upbeat note: a memoir from the greatest women’s hockey player of all time, Hayley Wickenheiser OC, four-time Olympic Gold medalist, physician and executive for the Toronto Maple Leafs (and still only 42). Born 1978 in Shaunoven, Sask., Wickenheiser started hockey at the age of 5, played minor hockey with the boys (changing in boiler rooms), and became the first woman who was not a goalie to play full-time, professional men’s hockey. Transcendent.