Memoirs

Kid Gloves, Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley ’03. This graphic memoir takes the genre to places not yet imagined in French Milk. Everyone we see walking around got to the planet the sa

Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas ’59. This work is a memoir composed of prose poems and discrete vignettes; together they show a woman creating a sense of self as she grows up with her kids. Still a tee

My Mother and Me, Making it in New York After Making it Out of Berlin and Beirut by Peter Schrag ’55. This charming memoir saves a great deal of information about the life of Ilse Schrag from fal

The Girl in the Back, a Female Drummer’s Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the 70’s Rock Scene by Laura Davis-Chainin ’78?. While students at Friends, Laura and her friend Bill Arning were drawn to the

Alone Together by Edes Powell Gilbert, ’49. A long time educator in New York City, serving for many years as the headmistress of Spence, Edes was well known to the Friends community, often serving o

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas, ’59. At the outset, Abigail tells us that what stays the same is that her husband got hurt. A couple who fell in love in a heartbeat –she noticed he was the n

· The Doctor Is In: Dr. Ruth on Love, Life, and Joie de Vivre by Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Pierre Lehu (’67). Pierre graduated from Friends shortly before I arrived, but I heard a lot about him bec

Searching for Home, the Impact of WWII on a Hidden Child by Joseph Gosler, retired Business Manager. For about 20 years Joe and I both worked at Friends, and though I knew that he had been a Jewish b

French Milk by Lucy Knisley circa 2000 is a graphic memoir about her month-long trip to Paris with her mother. While they were there, Lucy turned 22. She sees this moment as an official entry into a

Body in Space, My Life with Tammy by Margaret Gonzalez te. So here is my own book with Tammy on the cover. If you were in the lower school in the years from 1984-1988, you might remember her. I go

Things that Make White People Uncomfortable by Michael Bennett and Dave Zirin ’98. The straightforward, hopeful, angry, activist voice throughout this work is Michael Bennett’s. This NFL player was

A Political Education, Coming of Age in Paris and New York by André Schiffrin, early 50’s. Born in Paris in 1935, André Schiffrin was the only child of a highly regarded publisher, who established t

The Soul of my Soldier by Abigail Calkin ’59. Abigail, a Quaker, marries a Vietnam vet. Story over. Oh, but he needs a new Rototiller, so he re-ups in the reserves, and Abigail discovers what it i

· The Paper Garden, An Artist Begins Her Life Work at 72, by Molly Peacock (ff). Arthur Moore recommended this book to me. We all remember Molly as a poet (and a teacher who knew how to home in o

The Boy Detective, A New York Childhood by Roger Rosenblatt ’58. This memoir breaks the usual memoir mold; it takes us on a meditative walking tour of Gramercy Park and its environs, where we get

Not That Kind of a Girl, A young woman tells you what she has “learned” by Lena Dunham, attended lower school. I really enjoyed Lena Dunham’s series Girls, and was intrigued to hear that she had a

Little Panic: Dispatches from an Anxious Life by Amanda Stern ’89. This is a book you can’t put down, and which stays with you long after you’ve finished it. It is certainly a must-read for practiti

Muddy Boots and Red Socks, A Reporter’s Life by Malcolm Browne ’48. Acknowledging the influence of his Friends science teacher, Walter Hinman, Malcolm Browne thought he would be a scientist. This p

What Comes Next and How to Like It by Abigail Thomas ’59. Well, after I read A Three Dog Life , I had to find out what happened next. This book recounts her enduring friendship with a somewhat yo

· Girlbomb, A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum (I think she was at Friends only for middle school, in the ‘80’s). I am grateful to Molly Peacock for telling me about Janice Erlbaum and R