LitQueuelitqueue

After

Embrace Your Weird

Felicia Day2019

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Let's Pretend This Never Happened

    Jenny Lawson2013

    A collection of essays about growing up in a rural town with a taxidermist father. It focuses on social anxiety and strange family incidents.

    Same playful register, still memoir

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • The Argonauts

    Maggie Nelson2015

    A memoir of the author's relationship with her partner and her pregnancy. It mixes personal narrative with academic theory on gender and family.

    playful → meditative, still memoir

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak0

  • The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.

    playful → bleak, still memoir

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+3

  • The Education of Henry Adams

    Henry Adams

    A man writes a sardonic third-person account of his life and his failure to adapt to the technological shifts of the late 19th century.

    playful → sardonic, still memoir

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Poke the Box

    Seth Godin2011

    A short manifesto encouraging readers to start projects and take initiative. It argues that the greatest risk is staying in place.

    playful → earnest, still self-help

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

    Frank W. Abagnale

    A teenager poses as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer to cash millions in fraudulent checks. He evades the FBI across several countries.

    Same playful register, still memoir

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

  • House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

    David Bellavia

    An American infantry sergeant provides a room-by-room account of the Second Battle of Fallujah. It focuses on close-quarters urban combat.

    playful → tense, still memoir

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Education of Henry Adams

    Henry Adams

    A man writes a sardonic third-person account of his life and his failure to adapt to the technological shifts of the late 19th century.

    playful → sardonic, still memoir

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2

  • No Archive Will Restore You

    Julietta Singh2018

    The author examines the history of her own body through the lens of race, desire, and pain. It is a collection of fragments and academic theory.

    playful → meditative, still memoir

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1

  • M Train

    Patti Smith2015

    A musician travels to various cafes and gravesites around the world. She reflects on her late husband, her favorite books, and her daily rituals.

    playful → elegiac, still memoir

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

playful → bleak, still memoir

3 more ↓

  • Wasted

    Marya Hornbacher1998

    A detailed memoir of the author's decade-long struggle with anorexia and bulimia. It documents hospitalizations and the physical decay of the body.

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+3

  • A House in the Sky

    Amanda Lindhout2013

    A freelance journalist is kidnapped in Somalia and held for fifteen months. The memoir details her captivity and the conditions she endured.

    playful → tense, still memoir

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • A River in Darkness

    Masaji Ishikawa2018

    A man describes his thirty-six years living in North Korea after moving there from Japan. He recounts extreme poverty and his eventual escape.

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3