5 Memoirs That You Won't Forget

By Lev Grossman, Belinda Luscombe, Carolina A. Miranda, Michele Orecklin

Memoirs. It seems everyone has one. But there's something about a well-told life story: it can be as gripping as a murder mystery or funnier than a farce. Here are five lives worth observing.

THEM

FRANCINE DU PLESSIX GRAY

The title of her memoir aptly describes the gulf Gray perceived between her and her parents. Her mother, the vain and extravagant hat designer Tatiana, and her stepfather Alexander Liberman, who rose to become the editorial director of Conde Nast, were dedicated to each other and to their mutual ascent in post--World War II New York City society, lavishing attention on friends like Marlene Dietrich and Irving Penn but often neglecting the young woman sharing their home. The book is a brisk, bittersweet and ultimately forgiving look at two larger-than-life figures and the shadows they cast.

EARLY BIRD

RODNEY ROTHMAN

At 28 Rothman is too young to write a memoir, but he's also too young to retire--and he did both. Rothman, a TV comedy writer, moved to a retirement community in Florida to see what his life would look like in 40 years. His conclusion: "chaise lounges, thunderclouds, midsized sedans, tile floors and ear hair." While among twilight's own, he tries to save shuffleboard (even old people prefer tennis) and gets out-foulmouthed by seventy-somethings. But Rothman's only as funny as he is sad. The problem with lifetime friendships with old folks, he realizes, is that one of you has a lot more lifetime left.

OH THE GLORY OF IT ALL

SEAN WILSEY

Wilsey's parents' divorce is not a quiet family matter. Owing to the couple's wealth and status (his father is a dairy tycoon, his mother a society columnist), the details are splashed all over their hometown San Francisco newspapers. Not long after, his mother tries to enlist her 11-year-old son in a suicide pact. With preternatural calm, the boy resists. The incident, however, does not leave him unharmed. With both parents too self-absorbed to offer stability or guidance, Wilsey, an editor at the literary journal McSweeney's, careens among boarding and reform schools, a journey he recounts with clear-eyed, wry and poignant humor.

GARLIC AND SAPPHIRES

RUTH REICHL

Breathy, blond Chloe; bitter, tweed-wearing Emily; and bland spinster Betty: that's a sample of the personas that former New York Times restaurant critic Reichl inhabited in her quest to remain anonymous to Manhattan's foodie establishment as she reviewed her way through highfalutin four-star eateries and dingy Japanese noodle shops. But this tasty (forgive me) chronicle of disguise--sentimental and hilarious--also conveys the sheer delight that people feel when sinking their teeth into a truly memorable meal.

I'M NOT THE NEW ME

WENDY MCCLURE

The great American obesity epidemic has given rise to its own literary sub-genre. You could call it Chunk Lit: memoirs of the overweight. This wicked, paradoxically lean example chronicles McClure's overeating, her love-hate cycles with Weight Watchers, her rationalizations ("Everyone says Renee Zellweger looks hotter in that one movie"). And what it's like to binge, postbreakup, on hamburger buns sprayed with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!: "It is like a sandwich ... made of emptiness and disbelief." I'm Not the New Me is, in every way, tastier and more filling than that. And so much better for you. --By Lev Grossman, Belinda Luscombe, Carolina A. Miranda and Michele Orecklin