
8 Memoirs to Remember When You’re Looking for Your Next Read
Amazing lives provide amazing reading in these great memoirs to add to your must-read list.
-Stephanie Elliot

They say truth is stranger than fiction, because it is, and it’s often more entertaining as well. Here’s a list of some of the hottest memoirs out right now that are sure to prove the most memorable. From divorce to celebrity, medical conditions, star animals, food love and loathing, you’ll find something here for your bookshelf!
Split – Suzanne Finnamore
Split is a raw and fierce account of a woman on the brink of divorce. When her husband informs her that he deserves to be happy and leaves the family, Suzanne Finnamore is left reeling. With a toddler to take care of, she now has to learn how to survive on her own. Later, she discovers that her ex-husband’s means of happiness is, of course, another woman, whom Suzanne refers to as “The Thing Woman”.
This memoir is a must-read for anyone in a relationship. It’s a great, yet scary reminder that love isn’t always a guarantee, and neither are children the anchor to keeping a marriage sanctioned.
Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti – Giulia Melucci
In this sentimental and heartfelt memoir, Giulia recalls her share of heartbreak and shares openly the loves of her life. I’m not too sure though if she wasn’t a bit more into feeding her lovers than they were in being fed, which parallels into her love life. If only her men loved her as much as she loved making pasta!
Me Cheeta: My Life in Hollywood – Cheeta
For the animal lover in us all, Me Cheeta, My Life in Hollywood is the fictional memoir of the famed chimp who starred in 11 Tarzan movies. If you’ve always wanted to know about the sidekick to Tarzan and what his take was on Hollywood, then this is the book for you.
Mommywood – Tori Spelling
Who doesn’t love a juicy celeb memoir? Tori dishes about her “normal” suburban mom life, from cleaning poo from a pool to dodging 90210 costars at birthday parties. Tori’s mommy-tell-all is pure celebrity parenting at its best … or, at its worst – you decide! If you’re a fan of Tori and Dean’s reality show, you’ll want the inside scoop on what it’s like to be the celeb mother of two.
What I Thought I Knew – Alice Eve Cohen
A 44-year-old woman is diagnosed with a stomach tumor only to discover she is pregnant after a lifetime of infertility. This memoir is a fascinating example of how the medical industry can screw up a person’s life by a misdiagnosis. When Alice finally comes out of the shock of discovering she’s six months pregnant, she then has very difficult choices to make – whether or not to abort her child, whether she should give the baby up for adoption. This book has many Oh-My-God moments that make it hard to put down.
Lopsided – Meredith Norton
Not your typical “I’ve got breast cancer” memoir, Norton tells the story of her fight with cancer without self-pity or stereotypes. Readers who appreciate the humor of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs will enjoy this memoir. At times light, sometimes heavy, this is a real look at a disease that’s a reality for way too many women.
People Are Unappealing: Even Me – Sara Barron
Sara Barron wrote her first porno at the age of 11, has dated clowns, janitors and a man who will only have sex while wearing three condoms. She has been a waitress, an actress, a Banana Republic employee, an Olive Garden tie-wearin’ servant, and a Coyote Ugly bar babe. She has a FUPA (you’ll have to read the book to find out what THAT stands for!), a bad habit of itching, has been featured on Jerry Springer, has served plenty of asshole celebrities at a posh NY restaurant she calls HELL, and has had a run-in with a hotel heiress that rhymes with Haris Pilton.
The hilariously true stories in Barron’s collection will have you saying both, “Thank God that I’m not her” and “WOW! I wish I could have been there for THAT!”
Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia – Sheila & Lisa Himmel
What happens to a family when Mom is a food critic, Dad is an excellent cook, and the daughter vacillates between anorexia and bulimia? Hungry tells both mother and daughter accounts of these illnesses as they try to come to terms and beat the disease. This memoir combines the vastly two different aspects of eating – our food-obsessed world with very serious disorders, all found within the confines of this family, who braves criticism to tell their story.
What’s your favorite memoir?
Exclusive Interview
Interview: Zoey Dean on "Hollywood Is Like High School with Money"
The author dishes on chick lit, real-life Hollywood horror stories, and mean girls
-April Daniels Hussar
Equal parts Gossip Girl, Devil Wears Prada, and Jane Austen, set in the wonderful, bizarre-o world known as Hollywood -- Hollywood Is Like High School with Money is hands down the summer's most fun beach read. The plot is simple: Taylor Henning moves from Iowa to LaLaLand to launch her film career as a high powered creative exec's assistant's assistant - but, as this little fish in big pond soon learns, it's a world of sink or swim. Just like in high school, the mean girls rule, and the only way to survive is to sharpen your perfectly whitened teeth. Who better to give Taylor survival lessons (not to mention a to-die-for wardrobe - we all know the clothes make the girl in high school and beyond) than Quinn, the 16-year-old uber-Mean Girl daughter of Taylor's boss? Taylor takes Quinn's lessons to heart -- from "fake it ‘till you make it" to "lunch is a battleground" -- and it soon seems Taylor will indeed claw her way to the top of the Hollywood food chain. Read more about Zoey Dean...
Betty Books
Best Chick Lit Books, Summer 2009
Books you'll want to have on your nightstand and at the beach
-Stephanie Elliot
What is summer without a great book to read? Well, Betty has a load of books to share with you. Some of these are out in paperback now, and some will be available later this summer. Get a start on your reading list and add some of these great books to your nightstand and your beach bag! There's always room for another fab book, and we've got them right here.
Real Life & Liars, Kristina Riggle - Kristina Riggle's debut is about a family that comes together one weekend to celebrate the parents' 35th anniversary and where a very important family secret is about to be revealed! Listed as Target's August Break-Out book, Real Life & Liars will sure to be a hit with fans of Laura Dave and Allison Winn Scotch. Order your copy here: Real Life & Liars Read more on the best Chick Lit books for Summer 2009...
Betty Book Giveaway
Stop Second-Guessing Yourself, The Toddler Years
Author, Jen Singer, navigates us through these crazy years!
-Stephanie Elliot
Enter to win a copy HERE!
As mothers, we're always wondering if what we're doing is right for our kids. Jen Singer, famed author and owner of the popular parenting website, www.mommasaid.net, has cleared up a few things in her new book, Stop Second-Guessing Yourself, The Toddler Years.
With funny chapters such as:
If You'll Just Go to Sleep, I'll Take you To Disney World in the Morning to helping you through Potty Training, food issues, bedtime and more, Jen's book will have you laughing AND figuring out exactly what you need to do to get through The Toddler Years without having to commit yourself! Read more on how to enter to win Stop Second-Guessing Yourself...
Betty Book Giveaway!
The Divorce Party, A Novel
A chat with author Laura Dave
-Stephanie Elliot
Three Lucky Betty Readers to Win Signed Copies of The Divorce Party! Enter here by July 5, 2009!
If you've not had the chance to experience the literary talents of Laura Dave you are sorely missing out. Dave has written London Is the Best City in America and The Divorce Party, which is recently out on paperback, and three lucky Betty readers will have a chance to win copies here!
I'll admit, when I first picked up London is the Best City in America, I was unsure about it, only because I'm not a fan of the "English" English, and I assumed (on title alone) there would be a lot of talk about "fags" and "mums" and the telly, and all that other Bridgetty-Jones stuff that I can't understand. Read more on how to enter to win The Divorce Party(with photo)...
Betty's Lit Lounge
Win Katherine Center's Everyone is Beautiful
Because falling in love with yourself may be the most difficult task
-Stephanie Elliot
Enter HERE BEFORE June 19 to win a signed copy of Everyone is Beautiful!
With spot-on precision about what it's like to parent young children, Katherine Center's Everyone Is Beautiful is a pure work of art and a charming love letter to all women and mothers. So often as I read, I felt I was being transported back in time to those crazy days of diapers, sippy cups, tantrums and "I don't feel like putting on my clothes" moods little children have. Read more about Everyone is Beautiful...
A Betty Book Must Read!
Jen Lancaster's Latest - Pretty in Plaid
Best-selling author dishes on her new memoir and growing up in the ‘80s
-Stephanie Elliot
Enter to win one of THREE copies of Pretty in Plaid!
From the very opening chapters of Pretty in Plaid, I became infatuated with the sash-wearing, Girl-Scout cookie totin' 8-year-old Jen Lancaster whose snark and smarts had me laughing out loud through every chapter thereafter. But then I had a quiet observation, thinking back to my own 8-year-old insecure self, wondering, "Would she have wanted to be my friend?"
Fortunately, for my now 40-year-old self, that doesn't matter now, because I do have the pleasure of being friends with the person behind the words! And Jen's as real in life as you find her in her books - charming, witty, and so personable, it won't matter if you pick up a truffle from the floor and eat it in front of her. I know this, because that's exactly what I did the first night we met. Read more about Jen Lancaster's Pretty in Plaid (with photo)...
Book Giveaway!
Chicken Soup for the Soul for Moms
Honoring the hardest workers out there!
-Stephanie Elliot
Enter HERE to win a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul books!
Motherhood is hard work. It's often unrewarding and continuous, the only job I know of that's 24/7, 365 days a year. Show me a mom who has gotten through the day and feels like she completed everything she had to do, and I'll show you ... a fictional character, perhaps Super Woman, because she is something practically non-existent. It rarely happens.
We are so busy in our lives taking care of our children, the house, careers, laundry, errands, and general up-keep it takes to raise a family, that I'm sure some of you get through the day and wonder if you've had time to use the bathroom or even eat. It's a long, hard job many days.
Read more on Chicken Soup for the soul for moms (with photo)...
Mommy Matters
Real Moms Spill in True Mom Confessions: Real Moms Get Real
None of us is perfect, right?
-Stephanie Elliot
Hey Real Moms, Win a copy of True Mom Confessions: Real Moms Get Real
Let kids go to bed without brushing their teeth: Check.
Let son wear dirty underwear three days in a row but turned them inside out because I didn't feel like doing laundry: Check.
Allowed daughter to make own bowl of ice cream as big as she wanted after begging her to eat the TWO chicken nuggets she's required to eat by-her-$65-per-half-hour dietitian: Check.
I'm a naughty mommy, and when I discovered there's a site out there for other naughty mommies like me, I couldn't get to it fast enough. It's like a secret society! A place where we don't have to wallow alone in our naughtiness, a place where we can go and shout joyously, "Me, too!" or "I did that!" or even, "I've got a better one!"
Betty Exclusive!
Dooce: It Sucked and Then I Cried
Exclusive interview with infamous mommy-blogger Heather Armstrong
-Stephanie Elliot
With a second daughter due in June and a memoir out about her first pregnancy and subsequent nine months of motherhood (which involved a short stay in a mental hospital), famed blogger Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com doesn't think things suck quite so much these days.
Betty Book Giveaway!
The Break-Up Diet: A Memoir
When all else fails, chocolate heals
-Stephanie Elliot
Enter to win an autographed copy of The Break-Up Diet: A Memoir here!
Annette Fix thought she had it all. She had been the sole support for her son for 12 years and was planning her happily ever after with the man of her dreams, when her life turned upside down and she got dumped. Hard.
Her immediate remedy? Hot fudge topping, and not spoonfuls. She needed vats of it. And fast.
Her breakup - and how she recovered - is told boldly, heartbreakingly and humorously as it unfolded in her book, The Break-Up Diet: A Memoir. What I love about this memoir is that it's so much more about Annette's life than just her breakup. She had her chocolate and her Wonderboy son to get her through the rough spots, and she charged onward. An alternative title might be: An Exotic Dancin' Homeschoolin' Mom's Break-up Memoir.
Let's meet this amazing mother, shall we? Read more about Annette Fix...
Life Lessons
"The Bounce Back Book"
How to thrive in the face of adversity, setbacks and losses
-Stephanie Elliot
I'm not a pessimist, but it's safe to say that we've all either had our share of losses and sad times or that we will, at some point in our lives, experience setbacks and adversity. It's the nature of the game, a fact of life. It IS life. And therein lies the story of The Bounce Back Book: How to Thrive in the Face of Adversity, Setbacks, and Losses.
Whether you've experienced job loss (which many have during these economically challenging times), a breakup or even the death of a loved one, author Karen Salmansohn creatively and sympathetically helps you bounce back from your devastation. Read more about The Bounce Back Book...
Read This!
Cringe
Teenage diaries, journals, notes, letters, poems, and abandoned rock operas
-Stephanie Elliot
When I lifted my copy (not lifted it in the sense of STEALING IT! - but when I physically picked it up), the sheer weight of the book suggested there are secrets to be revealed in Cringe!
And secrets there are!
It's heavy in both senses of the word.
Cringe is what you do when you find your old journals, open them up and discover the passages you wrote about the angst over the boy who deemed you non-existent. The turmoil of finding out your best friend is also in love with THAT SAME BOY but he knows SHE EXISTS! And the fact that he knows she exists AND she has boobs! Read more about Cringe...
Memoir
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir
A love letter to her first son
-Stephanie Elliot
Eight years ago I received one of those middle-of-the-night phone calls you never want to receive. It was my best friend, who, at 38 weeks pregnant, was calling me because her husband was out of town.
"The baby's not moving."
I drove her to the hospital and sat with her as we watched the resident OB perform the ultrasound. I knew before the words were spoken. All I had to do was watch his face. I saw his Adam's apple move within his throat as he swallowed, trying to find the words.
Her baby was stillborn.
It is still, eight years later, one of the most horrifying experiences in my life, and it didn't even happen to me. I remember making deals with God, threatening never to have any more children of my own, wondering how something like this could happen.
It happens a lot. More than you think. read more about McCracken's memoir...
A Book to Check Out
Friend or Frenemy?
A guide to the friends you need and the ones you don't
-Stephanie Elliot
When Friend or Frenemy? came across my desk, I was hooked at the title.
We all have friends, and like it or not, you know we've all got our frenemies too! These are the chicks we pretend to like because of either proximity or life instances that make it difficult to be anything other than friends with the person. These are the people that it's easier to just be a friend with than to not be a friend.
If only it was easy to just say to a frenemy, "Hey, look, you know we don't like each other, why the hell are we pretending? Can't we just say hi when we see each other and let that be well enough?"
Here's co-author Andrea Lavinthal taking it to the streets to ask what women think about their friends:
























