ISP BLOG

1) There is a Season by Patrick Lane
- This memoir by Patrick Lane is a reflection on a lifetime of addiction and depression. Although it did not necessarily affect my original piece in terms of its content, Lane's writing style is unique and descriptive, and helped me be more thorough in the way that my piece was written. This is an interesting story because of the struggles that Patrick Lane faces during his lifetime, living in various areas of British Columbia. Lane has ways of keeping the reader interested through his descriptions of the excess of alcohol and cocaine that he was consuming every day for 45 years, and also through his reflections on his life and the scenery in his garden on Vancouver Island.

2) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
- This memoir is a Pulitzer Prize winning account of a an impoverished childhood in both Brooklyn and Ireland. Similar to the first book I studied, "There is a Season," Angela's Ashes is a depressing tale of alcoholism and death. McCourt loses siblings, and the other members of his Irish-Catholic family are severely troubled in some way or another. McCourt successfully evokes sympathy from the reader, because of his terrible living conditions that he experiences as a child. My original piece is about injuries that I have sustained, although my goal was not to evoke sympathy but to induce laughter from the reader. Regardless, this memoir played a small part in influencing my writing style and diction in my original piece.

3) On Writing by Steven King
- "On Writing," a memoir written by Steven King about his life, but more importantly, about how and why he writes. King discusses his childhood and attempts at writing at an early age, and discusses the process behind writing several of his books. This book was useful to me not only because it is a memoir written by an established writer, but it is also a how-to guide of how to write any genre of books. Similar to the first two books, King reflects back on some of the darker points in his life, which include addiction and a near-fatal motorcycle crash. This is an interesting memoir because it is split up into a number of different parts, each of which discuss something different, whether ir be autobiographical or a guide at how to be an effective writer.

4) Cutty, One Rock by August Kleinzahler
- Unlike my previous three books that I studied, Cutty, One Rock is a lighter memoir, about a bizarre childhood. The first chapter is about Kleinzahler's dog, and immediately attracts the reader with its quirky humour and entertaining descriptions of the dog, and the rest of his family. This book was fairly influential to my original piece because I was able to try and relate to the humour that the author uses, albeit not quite as bizarre. Since my original memoir was about my childhood at my first school, Rosedale Public, I tried to provide comical descriptions of my own situation, as well as those of others, in a manner similar to Kleinzahlers. Obviously, my childhood was completely different from that of the one described in Cutty, One Rock, but it was still a useful reference for my original piece.

5) Growing up Stupid Under the Union Jack by Austin Clarke
- This memoir is good because it details Austin Clarke's childhood, and is more of a feel good story than many of the previous ones. Each memoir that has been discussed thus far incorporate some form of adversity, which is important to include in any memoir to keep the reader interested. Reading a part of this book was useful for me because of Clarke's writing style, and his ability to include humour when describing his days at Combermere. This relates directly to my memoir in terms of its content, because my own personal memoir talks about my days at my first school, and so Clarke's descriptions of his peers and school life were useful for me to write my own piece. This is a very peaceful memoir, and has a much lighter tone than that of some of my previous works stated, which helped me a lot in the completion of my piece.

6) Barrelhouse Kings by Barry Callaghan
- This book is somewhat similar to King's novel "On Writing" as it talks about writers, primarily Barry's father and distinguished writer, Morley Callaghan. Many of the memoirs that I have discussed have been autobiography's, which was interesting and useful because in many cases, it discusses the lives of famous writers and the difficulties that they endured to get them to where they are. Many of these writers, especially McCourt's memoir, have extremely interesting (and in some cases, depressing) stories from their early years, and this type of writing can prove to be very interesting given the right situation. In terms of my overall piece, this was useful because of Callaghan's ability to describe so many characters in such detail. The first few memoirs I discussed were not as light hearted as the last few (especially Cutty, One Rock), mainly because my original piece is meant to induce laughter more than anything else, even though it tells the story of several of my most painful memories from my time in elementary school.

7) Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
- This is a very bizarre, but in some ways funny, description of a troubled childhood. Burroughs describes his ridiculous family life, and being sent to a psychiatrist named Dr. Finch, who's son he ends up having a sexual relationship with. It is difficult to relate such a unique account of one's childhood to my original piece, which is comparatively normal, although it is always useful to study the writing style of these authors, especially in this case because of how distinguished this particular memoir is. It is obvious that Burroughs was a troubled young man, and it did not help that his parents were fairly detached from what he was doing. The descriptions that he provides are often quite funny, especially regarding his psychotic mother and the way that he is treated by her. My childhood may have been completely different than this, but it is useful for me to try to mimic the humour that he uses.