 Written by Lauryn Smith
A version of this article was originally published in the All Booked Up section of the October 2021 edition of “Networking News,” the official newsletter of the Professional Editors Network. There’s something special about a noncelebrity memoir. With a celebrity memoir, you usually know at least a teensy bit about the person and their life experiences before you even crack open their book. But with a noncelebrity memoir, you tend to go in with fewer assumptions and “spoilers.” With a noncelebrity memoir, you are given a valuable opportunity to learn something new about life. I recently read one such memoir, namely Amy Farrar’s “A Jersey Girl’s Guide to the Universe.” This memoir is a testament to how alike all of us really are, just people doing our best to navigate our time and place in the world. It also shows how, in one way or another, we are not alone.
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 Written by Lauryn Smith
Memoirs are not usually my thing—especially celebrity memoirs. The story always seems the same. Modest beginnings, anything-but-modest endings and a mix of hard work, faith and luck in between. Cliché. Naturally I was skeptical about singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles’s “Sounds Like Me,” a book I only learned about when Reviewer Beth Winters had me tag along to a lecture/book signing that was part of Bareilles’s book tour. During the lecture, I learned that Bareilles is delightfully down-to-earth, spunky and relatable. While reading her book, I learned that her writing demonstrates these same traits. It is worth saying that I did not know much about Bareilles or her music prior to reading “Sounds Like Me,” but I think that was good for me. I had no preconceived notions about Bareilles or her story, and by the end of the book, I possessed a degree of familiarity, which prompted voluntary exploration into her music and ideals, exploration catalyzed solely by pure interest. I went in with no expectations, and I came out searching for her albums on Spotify. |