Laser printing has lowered the cost of book publishing for everyone. In the case of fiction, that may be a bad thing because the market is flooded with some pretty awful writing, even from the main stream press. But in the case of memoirs, I make an exception. Almost everyone has a story to tell if only to leave a written legacy for their family and its future generations. Some of these stories are interesting and deserve more than a spiral binder, which was the old way to preserve them before the advent of cheaper printing.
I’ve read several memoirs and have recommended a few on this blog. If not comparable to Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad or John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie, which I dog-eared until the ink disappeared, all those I’ve mentioned are good reads, stories told by people with a spirit of adventure.
One writer, a former student of mine, has just coauthored a second memoir with her husband. It chronicles the couple’s 12,074 mile journey crossing the Alps, Dolomites and the Pyrenees on motorbike: Two Butts on a Bike. Their first memoir, Empty Nest to Life Vest, told the story of their misadventures and discoveries as they sailed for three years off the coast of Mexico. Their travels with the dolphins was a heartwarming episode and their writing skills have been honed in this new adventure.
In the past, memoirs such as these might never have been written. Or, if they were, they might lie for decades, moldering in their spiral binders until they were discovered in the attic by a distant relative. Now these wonderful stories can be enjoyed not only by family members but by the public at large.
(Courtesy of Amazon.com)
