Comments on: Quirky autobiography suggestions

Question: Quirky autobiography suggestions

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:42:49 -0800

I'm looking for quirky, contemporary autobiographies such as those written by Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris. (MI)

I really enjoy reading droll, off-beat memoirs such as:

A Girl Named Zippy
Candy and Me
Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight
Kick Me
Devil in the Details
Enslaved by Ducks

Are there any others you can recommend?

By: sugarfish

sugarfish — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:44:57 -0800

Laurie Notaro. You'll thank me later.

By: Heatwole

Heatwole — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:53:23 -0800

Dave Eggers

By: scratch

scratch — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:55:33 -0800

I liked "Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America" by Lily Burana. Punk girl to indie journalist to stripper to ...Montana housewife? Something like that--it's been a while since I read it. Good stuff though.

By: muckster

muckster — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:57:24 -0800

Charles Mingus: Beneath the Underdog.

By: inksyndicate

inksyndicate — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:01:55 -0800

Dirk Benedict's Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:10:23 -0800

Lost in Place

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:13:58 -0800

One from my recent reading list. Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch about being a total and complete football addict. Also maybe try Goa Freaks: My Hippie Years in India by Cleo Odzer and Flaming Iguanas by Erika Lopez and Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson. Only the first one is a true start-to-present autobiography, but the others are quirky and interesting, though perhaps not always droll.

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:25:24 -0800

Second for Beneath the Underdog.

By: willnot

willnot — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:30:47 -0800

Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:42:00 -0800

Jessamyn: Life Among The Savages is one of my favorite books!

Everyone else: Thanks so much. I promise to give each and every book a chance. In fact, I've already looked her up and my library has all three of Laurie Notaro's books. I can't wait to check them out-- they look very interesting.

By: graventy

graventy — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:54:01 -0800

Sweet! This is like the AskMe thread I didn't think to ask! Thanks SLoG!

By: melissa may

melissa may — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:54:48 -0800

Dancing Queen by Lisa Carver. Her salute to the Bee Gees is worth the purchase price alone.

By: plinth

plinth — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:55:01 -0800

A Liar's Autobiography - Graham Chapman

By: amarynth

amarynth — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:15:24 -0800

Laurie Nataro is hilarious, but if you read all of her books in a row, she might seem a little repetitive.

I thought Mary Karr's The Liar's Club and Cherry were very good. While they are funny, they're not light.

By: mudpuppie

mudpuppie — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:42:49 -0800

The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio is very light and somewhat cute. On the plus side, it's also quirky.

By: box

box — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:57:54 -0800

You might like Katy Lederer's Poker Face

By: mookie

mookie — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:19:48 -0800

Just want to second The Liar's Club especially if you liked Running With Scissors.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:46:29 -0800

Ringolevio

Maus

By: mds35

mds35 — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:59:11 -0800

Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks is a very unique memoir. I dug it!

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 14:44:37 -0800

Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje.

By: jmignault

jmignault — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:22:16 -0800

Stop-Time. Also (I just finished this) Another Bullshit Night in Suck City.

By: Heminator

Heminator — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 20:04:53 -0800

It's not exactly contemporary, but I feel it fits in quite well with the books you cited. Seriously, if you like this stuff you must read Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes. It is an underrated classic and the sine qua non of the insightful, humorous, drunken loser autobiographical genre.

By: yellowcandy

yellowcandy — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 23:03:36 -0800

I'll give you one to avoid: The Know-It-All, by A.J. Jacobs. It's ponderous and badly-organized, plodding and uninteresting, and will leave you wishing you had your wasted hours back again.

[Note: So bad, I didn't even link to it.]

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 08:45:03 -0800

Thank you all for the suggestions (and thank you yellowcandy for the "crap alert.") I anticipate many happy hours of reading. I won't mark any of them as "best answer" because in this case it would be completely subjective.

By: Heminator

Heminator — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 19:46:56 -0800

Oh! And Permanent Midnight is a very entertaining and worthy book, mediocre film version not withstanding.