A Box Full of New Memoirs

Yesterday I got a shipment of books that I had ordered from one of my favorite local independent bookstores, the small chain Books, Inc. As I unpacked them, it hit me that seven of the eight books were memoirs; only one was a novel. I hadn’t consciously decided to read more memoirs, although it is true that over the past few years, I have been reading more and more of them. I just never thought I would read more of them than I read novels and short stories; fiction has always been my reading life’s blood. I don’t want to read too much into this one shipment of books, but I do think it is significant. Yes, I have gradually been reading more, but I wonder if the current pandemic and stay-at-home mode has somehow made me turn to “true” stories more than ever. Or perhaps it is simply that more wonderful, compelling memoirs are being published now than ever. In any case, I look forward to reading the books on this lovely pile of brand-new memoirs, and I am sure I will be posting about at least some of them in the weeks to come.