HerStories Memoir Challenge

Challenge winners

Our first challenge has wrapped up! Thank you for your patience and perseverance. I know I am running WAY behind. I hope you will all join us for our next challenge. And if you're interested in joining our challenge crew as coordinators, judges, or fans, please let me know!

We offered two prizes every month: first, a random drawing from each person who posted a link to their review in our comments; second, a prize for best 4-sentence review. These top reviews will also be featured on the Story Circle Book Review web site. Then, at the end of the 4 months, we held a final prize drawing, chosen randomly from all of the entries over 4 months, for a year membership (new or renewal) in Story Circle Network national and Internet organizations.

Our door prize winners are Rhonda Esakov, Mary Stuever, Lee Ambrose, and Margie Witt. Our monthly review winners are Linda Hoye (January review), Rhonda Esakov (February review), Mary Stuever (March review), and Margie Witt (April review).

Our grand prize winner, chosen from all of our entries, is Mary Stuever. Congratulations, Mary! You’ll receive a full year membership in Story Circle Network and our Internet Chapter.

Stay tuned for our next challenge, which will begin in August.

Memoiring through April

Please post your April reviews here no later than May 6. I'll announce April winners on May 8. Happy reading!

February winners, March update

Greetings, fellow memoir-readers! Still going strong, I see. Have you enjoyed your books? What have you learned about yourself through these stories? What have you learned about your writing through these stories?

The winning February review is by Rhonda Esakov, reading and writing about "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books":

While living through several years of war between Iran and Iraq; with missiles shrieking over head, buildings bombed and lives destroyed, Nafisi and other women in Tehran temporarily escape the violence by delving into the imaginative world of novels. Even as books are disappearing and bookstores being shut down, the author and a hand-picked group of students, all female, meet to talk more about books. Reading such books as “The Great Gatsby”, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Lolita”, they risk imprisonment, rape, beatings and possible execution to claim their independence (privately) from a government that uses fear and intimidation to control them. This intense book gives us a glimpse into a world gone mad-where even something so mundane to the Western world as a reading circle could not be taken for granted.

The drawing winner is Mary Stuever. Congrats, ladies!

Remember, post your reviews for your March books on the Memoiring through March post. Don't forget to post a link to your blog, especially if you are writing more about your challenge experience. And don't be shy about commenting on other reviews--­­­­­­­­­­­­a little peer critique and support can go a long way to boosting a fellow lifewriter.

Happy reading and writing!

Memoiring through March

Please post your March reviews here no later than April 6. I'll announce March winners on April 8. Happy reading!

Memoiring through February

Wow, I can't believe it's March 1 already! This 28-day month really threw me off. I know, it's not like these 28-day months happen with any predictable regularity so I can be prepared for them. All the same, Father Time and I seem to have a love-hate relationship these days. As much as I fight him on it, I suspect he'll continue to win.

Please post your reviews for February here by March 6. I'll announce our February winners on March 8. For those of you who like to work ahead, I'm going to post our March and April threads so you don't have to wait on me.  :)

Don't forget to leave a link to your blogs so we can come visit!

January HerStories review winners

Thank you to everyone who submitted their 4-sentence reviews for January. Looks like we've found a few gems in our stacks of books!

I'm pleased to announce our January winners. Remember, we'll be choosing the month's "spotlight" review, plus drawing another "door" prize from the names of everyone who posted a review for that month.

Our January spotlight review is Linda Hoye's review of "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession" by Anne Rice. 

This book was a fascinating journey of Rice’s journey through her childlike faith, to atheism, and ultimately a return to her faith. The first part of the book made me nostalgic for a past that wasn’t my own, but that she depicted in such a way as to make me yearn for the simpler faith-filled time in which she grew up. Her journey away from the church of her childhood, and eventually away from her God was presented in such a way that allowed the reader to empathize and even understand some of her choices. Rice’s honesty in describing her return to her faith is commendable and, while I may not agree with her completely, I appreciate her sharing her experience and expect that this book will resonate with many who have stepped away from the faith of their childhood.

Our door prize winner is Rhonda Esakov. I'll be contacting both winners so you can pick your prizes and we can arrange delivery. Congrats! And I'll be seeing the rest of you back here at the challenge blog for February's reviews!

Memoiring through January

So, here we are nearing the end of the first month of our HerStories Memoir Challenge. We're reading 4 women's memoirs in 4 months--it's not too late to join us! If you'd like to sign up on our challenge roster, click here. Here are some of the books our challenge crew has decided to read (in no particular order):

• A Forester’s Log by Mary Stuever
• Blue Cotton Gown by Patricia Harmon
• Without Reservations: Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach
• Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession by Anne Rice
• The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxenhandler
• Hawk Flies Above by Lisa Dale Norton
• Longing for Darkness by China Galland
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Elyse Schein
• A London Scrapbook by Polly Grose
• The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
• Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far by Amy Grant

Quite a selection! We've even had a few of you post your 4-sentence reviews earlier in the month, which reminds me that I need to try to keep a step ahead of y'all (and I suspect that will keep me on my toes the next few months!). :)  If you have posted your review on the kick-off post, I'm going to ask you to also post it here, so we can keep everyone's reviews gathered together.

So, post your 4 sentences in the comments to this post. Please also link to your personal blog, especially if you've written more about your chosen book.

And, don't forget, the Story Circle Book Reviews web site is always looking for new reviewers!

So let's dive in and share what we've learned about memoir this month. And don't forget to go visit the blogs of our challenge crew--I bet you'll find a new online gem. Happy reading and reviewing everyone!

~Becca, challenge coordinator

HerStories Memoir Challenge begins 1/1/09

"Telling HerStories" is all about encouraging women to tell their life stories. And not only to tell their stories, but to embrace and share them. Some women choose to publish their memoir, others write for themselves. Whatever your ultimate publication goals are, writers learn best by reading other writers. What better way to explore the wonderful world of women's memoir than to host a book challenge?

Welcome to the HerStories Memoir Challenge! 4 books in 4 months--can you do that? If you need incentive (but, really, how many of us need bribery to read books?!), we'll have prizes! This challenge starts January 1, 2009, and runs through April.

• Choose 4 women's memoirs to read over a 4 month period. If you need some ideas, click on over to the Story Circle Book Reviews web site. If you want to read a memoir that isn't on our SCBR list, feel free to develop your challenge review into a review for the site!
• Post your book list on your blog and add it to our list below. We're using "herstories-challenge" (without the quotes) for our Technorati tag, if you want to tag your challenge-related posts. Oh, and feel free to grab the badge shown above to use on your blog!
• Check back here every month of the challenge to add your new review to our monthly post. But there's a catch here: I want you to summarize your review in 4 sentences. That's right. We're also a writing organization, after all, so hone your skills by summing up your review in 4 sentences. The review you post on your blog can be longer (and I'd encourage that!), but what you post here, on the challenge blog, will be only 4 sentences.

We'll post on the first of every month to kick off the month's activities and show you prizes.

Prizes
Every month we'll offer two prizes. The first will be a random drawing from each person who posted a link to their review in our comments. The second prize will be chosen for the best 4-sentence review, as chosen by our panel of esteemed judges. These top reviews will also be featured on the Story Circle Book Review web site. Then, at the end of the 4 months, we'll hold a final prize drawing, chosen randomly from all of the entries over 4 months, for a year membership (new or renewal) in Story Circle Network national and Internet organizations. So, you improve your chances of winning the membership if you post your review all 4 months.

Sign up
The form will ask you for your name and URL. Feel free to put the name of your blog in parentheses. When you enter your URL, make sure you point directly to the post on your blog about the challenge.