Susanna Peace Lovell

Thankful for Memoirs

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

Because November is National Memoir Writing Month and since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, this week’s blog post is dedicated to some of the memoirs I proudly count as part of my personal library. I think memoirs are vital to humankind. And I’m not just saying this because I write memoir and personal essay.

Memoirs are more than books — they are lenses, they are keys, they are light. They help us see, they open doors, they make visible what we didn’t notice and/or understand.

Readers of memoir gain insights and knowledge about situations and experiences they otherwise may never have known about. 

Memoirs promote empathy, allowing readers to get a closer look at diverse author backgrounds and life situations. 

Memoirs can inspire and motivate, comfort and reassure. Within its pages, a memoir speaks to a reader of shared challenges and journeys — you are not alone.

Consider this post, my heartfelt thank you note to the talented authors who bravely shared their stories with the world. 

Some of the memoirs I read this year include:

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

Your True Self is Enough by Susanna Peace Lovell

Glow in the F*cking Dark by Tara Schuster 

Suddenly Silent and Still by Nin Mok

In the photograph above, there are a couple of memoirs I purchased earlier this year but have not yet read:

26 Seconds: Grief and Blame in the Aftermath of Losing My Brother in a Plane Crash by Rossana D’Antonio and

Sit, Cinderella, Sit: A Mostly True Memoir by Lisa Cheek.

 And one memoir, The Taste of Anger by Diane Vonglis Parnell, I read last year when it was published. But, I remember reading early pages of Diane’s manuscript and am so very proud of Diane for getting her story out into the world, that I wanted to include her memoir in this list.

Friends, have you read any memoirs this year? I invite you to share the memoirs you keep thinking about, the memoirs you recommend to readers on a regular basis. I’m always adding to my want-to-read list and would love recommendations.

Please note: I am including a link to buy the books that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.

Your True Self Is Enough

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

I met author Susanna Peace Lovell at the 2024 Culver City Book Festival. We chatted — about her book and my teaching years. I was curious about her memoir and her experiences in the Los Angeles Unified School District as the parent of a child with Autism. 

During my twelve-year teaching career, I taught several students with Autism. If you don’t know much about Autism, this is what you should know — there is a wide-range of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Each child’s experiences living with Autism may be different. 

Ms. Lovell’s memoir Your True Self Is Enough: Lessons Learned on My Journey Parenting a Child with Autism is the book I wish I had read while I was still teaching. Simply because as a teacher, I was only given snapshots into the experiences of my students and their families. I didn’t always know what their educational journey had been like before they reached my classroom. (This is true for all my students and not just those living with Autism.) 

Your True Self Is Enough is honest and thought-provoking, and I imagine it is a comfort and useful resource for families who may be experiencing some of the same situations Ms. Lovell and her daughter A. experienced. 

Furthermore, you don’t have to be the parent of a child with Autism to read this book. You don’t have to be a teacher (or former teacher) to read this book. Because this memoir does what books are meant to do — provide comfort and insight, show us our shared humanity, and shine a light on a situation a reader may not have firsthand knowledge of. 

While I love the title, my favorite part of the whole book is the Forward. The Forward is a list of advice A. wanted to share with readers of this book. This list is powerful because it applies to everyone. 

So many parts of this book touched me. Because at its core, this memoir is the story of a parent who wants the best for their child. This is the story of a parent who doesn’t have all the answers (because no parent does). And, even if you’re not a parent and don’t work with children, this book is important to read. Because reading about other people’s lives helps readers develop empathy and compassion — two traits that are absolutely essential in our world. 

Here are a few of the passages that stood out to me:

“I tried to remind myself to keep my intention to enjoy all of my life — even the imperfections and hard parts. I knew that in some ways this might be the end of the world as I knew it, and I wanted to be ready to face that change with joy and peace. I wanted my journey with A. to be one where my ears and eyes would remain open and I would stay present. I knew that too often I was just focused on the future, and then I would have intense regret for not living in the moment.”  

“I was so fed up and frustrated, but I also felt guilty for feeling that way. I didn’t want to sound like a broken record, complaining and depressed all the time. I wanted to focus more on the positive things in my life. I wanted to relish all of my blessings.”

“It’s such a spiritual lesson for all of us: we all need to get to know and understand our whole selves before we can embark on meaningful relationships with others. But when our babies are little, we have to steer that ship for them, and make sure we are providing them with the time and space they need to learn about themselves. We have to make sure that, whatever their schooling path is, they are being honored and encouraged to find out who they truly are.”

“And finally, something clicked for me. The sky really was the limit for both of us as long as we could accept and love ourselves. I thought about all the years I’d spent trying to fix everything. Trying to fix A. Trying to fix myself. As I watched A. play with her doll, I realized that neither of us needed to be fixed. We were both whole and complete individuals, both on our own journeys in this life.”

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.