2011: Book 30

Slow Motion: A Memoir of a Life Rescued by Tragedy by Dani Shapiro


256 pages

Completed 3/24/11

Living the high life with her married boyfriend, Dani Shapiro is a college dropout in the eighties whose drinking problem is spiraling out of control when she gets a call that will change the course of her life. When she reports to the hospital where both of her parents lie after a horrific car accident, Shapiro has to make a lot of decisions, with almost no support.

With sufficient background information on her family and college-years, Shapiro manages to tell a moment-in-time memoir without leaving the reader guessing about much. The turn of events that leave her referring to time as before-the-accident and after-the-accident changes Shapiro in the nick of time.

2011: Book 26

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas


192 pages

Completed 3/18/11

I have had a lot of extra reading time these past two months, and this may be the last time I do for a while, as my life in NYC seems to finally be taking off. But thinking that this memoir is my half point of my year's goal and it's only mid-March, I feel good!

Abigail Thomas' memoir following the debilitating accident of her husband, Rich, is interlaced with tales of her three pooches, making a life of her own, and her own grief dealing with her husband's brain injury. Honestly, the title was what first attracted me to this book, but then I was afraid to pull it out of my shelf in fears that the book would feature a death of one of her beloved pets (it did not). I finally got around to it, and my interest was piqued when I noticed Stephen King had said it was "the best memoir I have ever read." I did not share his feelings.

It was well written, and told an interesting, if brief, story. But that was it. I wasn't feeling any emotion, was not moved to further read about the author or her husband when I finished; I was just left uninspired. Luckily, it was a short read, but one I would not recommend for those seeking a tell-all memoir.