Memoirs by those who made a difference

5 Best Memoirs by Those Who Made a Difference

                          with Catherine Ann Jones

1. HOPE AGAINST HOPE by Nadezhda Mandelstam

I first read Hope Against Hope decades ago and never forgot it. I remember when the Russian poets under Stalin, now allowed to write or publish their poems, met secretly in Mandelstam’s kitchen and the only food was one boiled egg which sat on the table between the few poets. And no one ate the egg. Integrity above poverty and famine. And also how Stalin was responsible for sending creatives to Siberia where so many died.

The widow of the great Russian poet and martyr, Osip Manelstam, gives us the most luminous record of the purges in Russian in the 1930s under Stalin. A wife

who kept her husband’s legacy alive by memorizing his entire body of work yet tells the story of these hellish times with humor and heart.

2. MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS by C. G. Jung

As an undergraduate, I loved this memoir of C. G. Jung which led me years later to obtain a graduate degree in Jungian Psychology. The most accessible of Jung’s writings are recorded and edited by Aniela Jaffe, who was trained by Jung. This unique memoir reveals not only the origin of Jung’s psychological discoveries but the man behind the genius. With humor and heart, Jung in his 80’s looks back at his remarkable life and work. Ahead of his time, Jung leaves a valuable legacy for today.

3. TURN : The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt

I first met Anne Truitt when we were both guest artists at the Yaddo Colony in upstate NY. Later we became good friends. I admired not only her sculptures and paintings, but the three elegant and poignant published journals of an artist’s life.

 

Known as a superb artist and sculptor, TURN is Truitt’s third journal revealing the

woman and journey of a true artist. A husband’s suicide leaving the author and artist to raise three children and pursue her art creates an unique memoir timeless in the chronicles of the resilience of single women artists.

4. The Measure of My Days by Florida Scott Maxwell

Maxwell, an American actress who later studied with C. G. Jung and became a Jungian psychologist, reflects on her life from America to marriage , life in Scotland, and her perspective on life and the world. I return to this unsentimental wisdom of an intelligent and remarkable woman facing the later years of a life well-lived.

5. Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within by Ray Bradbury

Some years ago in Hollywood, Bradbury introduced my first film premiere as a Hollywood screenwriter, The Christmas Wife (Jason Robards and Julie Harris). Ten years later, I met again with Ray Bradbury at a Film Festival and was amazed that this elder author remembered both me and my first film.

One of America’s best authors of science fiction leaves this memoir of his life and work.

It is not only an entertaining read, but a tool for writers in any genres desiring to fulfill their potential.

 

Memoirs by Catherine Ann Jones

After decades of teaching in graduate school as well as a career in acting & writing 11 produced plays in NYC then writing films & television in Hollywood, and later becoming the author of 8 published books – both fiction and non-fiction, I began to reflect on a long and adventurous life which led to writing two memoirs.

Buddha & the Dancing Girl: A Creative Life by Catherine Ann Jones

“I can remember myself at age seven, sitting outside and watching the long stretch of a grassy Texas lawn and an endless driveway dotted with rose bushes, waiting … waiting for someone to come and carry me away to my rightful place. Even as a small child, I knew I did not belong here, that this place was not home. Strange how even when very young, we know where we belong and where we don’t. These people were not my people. I was right, though it would be many years before I would find my tribe “ -Prologue, Buddha & the Dancing Girl: A Creative Life

True Fables: Stories from Childhood by Catherine Ann Jones

A therapist friend challenged me to write children’s stories taken from my own childhood memories. Thinking “I’ve never done this before so this sounds like fun’, I accepted the challenge which led to True Fables: Stories from Childhood.. These fifteen stories are for children of all ages -including adults who are young at heart. Living as a child in Japan, a stallion born on my birthday, a black lamb given me on Easter. I had forgotten how vital that play is in writing. This book ignited the child within as I hope it will do the same for the reader.

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