I seem to have been drawn to many memoirs this year, all alive and ever inspiring.  I have 5 books to recommend.  Two for their wild lives as famous artists, and three for a peek into a different culture.  All books have themes of perseverance, hard earned life lessons, courage, words to live by, and inspiration, all told in the first person. I listened to all of these except for the last one. The beauty of audiobooks is getting to “read” so many books while walking.  So if you want more exercise and reading, get an audiobook and get walking! A good book and a beautiful walk may be one of the best parts of your day. It’s definitely a highlight of mine.

Born Artists, Wild rides

These two books were wild rides and I was happy to be on the cresting tsunamis with them.  Both beautifully written, engaging, delightful, and deeply authentic.  Bonus with audiobooks, they both narrate their own stories.  Storytelling can’t get any better than that!

Storyteller

by Dave Grohl

You don’t even have to know any of Dave Grohl’s music to appreciate his heartfelt book, but most likely, you have.  He’s played with bands as famous as Nirvana and Foo Fighters, but has also been behind the drums for countless famous rock and rollers. Dave was drawn to music at such a young age, and started touring when he was 18 years old. His voice is calm and sweet, juxtaposed to his crazy rock star life.  He became a dedicated father to make up for the lack of a father growing up, and his sweet stories about the importance of family are heartwarming.  His stories trace the beginnings as a child, his early touring days, and into his life as a successful musician.  He has an ease about his success and destiny and he makes the best out of the blessing he has been given!

Greenlights

by Matthew McConaughey 

McConaughey has been keeping journals of his life since he was 15.  This book is a compilation of his written and spoken words of wisdom and individuality.  He writes in an unconventional manner reflecting the freedom and joy he has found in life.  There are many moments of giggles, grit, and grace. I loved listening to the audio book with his free intonations with his very nice voice, and his creative style of writing and telling. I promise you, will have never heard anything like it, ever.

Cultural Lens Facets

The next three books takes us to extraordinarily lives in specific places.

Detroit 

Writing my Wrongs:

Life, Death and Redemption in an American Prison

by Shaka Senghor

Many of us have not been handed a life like this. Shaka did, and he has benefited so many.  His book weaves in and out of different time periods of his life.  He grew up in a broken home and later with a mother turned abusive. He turned to selling drugs to be free from living with his mom. Out of the fire, into the flames. The stories of his days as a drug dealer are not for the faint of heart. He describes the huge underbelly of drug addiction and culture so we as readers can safely witness it behind the glass. With so many near deaths himself, he murdered someone at 19, and went to jail. To hear about his experiences in jail was equally terrifying.  Not to shy away from reading, it’s important to know about life and culture in an American prison.  In prison, he was drawn to books and read everything he could get his hands on.  This led to the silver lining of not only bars to keep him in, but in finding his gift of writing, he found freedom and healing through his pen. He discovered the language of forgiveness and released deeply stuffed emotions he has been harboring for years.  By this, he was able to take responsibility for his life, he turned it around.  And you can read all about it. After 19 years in prison, he is writing and lecturing and has risen from his ashes of his old self to inspire and teach. For more information on Shaka, here is his website

North Korea

In Order to Live:

A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom

by Yeonmi Park

My goodness. America has its share of problems, but it pales in comparison to North Korea, and how the government controls and treats their people. They live in fear of other people reporting for saying the wrong thing.  My husband recommended this book and about 5 hours into the 8 hour audiobook, I asked him “Does this ever get better?”  Weeellll, it ends well, but you’ll experience the worst of humanity, trying to survive while under government control and poverty.  It doesn’t sound like much of a sell, but it's a very important read. May we always have a choice in America: who to love, and what to put in our bodies, as well as take out. Freedom is fragile and this book reminds us to never take that for granted. It was absolutely shocking to read how people in North Korea live and what they need to do to survive. In a country known to hide itself from the outside world, as well as shield itself from it, this is a first person recount into the inhumane living situation there, the fear of government, and its total brainwashing over its people. For more on Yeomi, her website is here.

South Korea

Crying in H Mart

by Michelle Zauner

South Korea is a different galaxy than the North!  I actually read this one, but the author narrates this audiobook.  This is a beautiful story of a woman trying to understand her roots while living in America.  She has a Korean mother and a white father, and learns much of her culture through eating, then making South Korean food. She has a complicated relationship with her mother, who gets diagnosed with cancer.  I definitely don’t want to ruin this story, so I won’t spoil the surprises, but I will tell you her mother dies from it.  She describes the last days with her mother in such a raw and touching way, that it brought me right back to my own experiences.  If you have ever experienced a death of a loved one, especially being in the same room in their last days, this will touch something so deep in you the floodgates will open. I was crying so hard reading this section. There’s nothing terrible about reliving those experiences, it’s the fact that her writing can be so poignant. Being with a loved one who is dying is a heartbreaking, beautiful, and intimate experience that will never leave you.  But we all go on and make the best of a world that will never be the same.  She also is celebrated for her music with her band Japanese Breakfast as well as this successful book. Here is her website.