Recommended: "Point to Point Navigation" by Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal's second memoir (2006) gives more

insights into the man behind the mythos.

There are plenty of behind-the-scenes in Hollywood

tales, proper gossip and dirt-dishing, more than a

fair amount of name-dropping and arrogance, and

a slice of life from another time laid bare.

Particularly of interest to me were the reminiscings

of the final days of longtime partner, Howard,

which showed both a vulnerability to Vidal as

well as the very dated onus of men who grew up

in an era where self-awareness was so clearly

not acceptable. This environment impacted

even someone as robustly individualistic as Vidal.

There's a good bit of intimacy regarding aging,

building new identities, loss, and coming to

terms with life.

There are politics (including some revelations

about Vidal's personal political career I was unfamiliar

with,) and above all a sense of survivorhood that is

made clear is accessible to all who seek it.

Worldly and shrewd, "Point to Point"

is typical Vidal, yet exposed, with a map

of an unexpected life laid bare.

Love him or hate him--or, alternately,

a little of both--Vidal is never boring.

His lush command of language and

nuance captivate from start to finish.

***

"Lost Saints of Tennessee" by Amy Franklin Willis

"Lost Saints of Tennessee" is a story about a man-- who's

fallen from grace-- attempting to pick up the pieces of his life.

In  the wake of his divorce, a high school reunion, an

inability to overcome his brother's death, and all the

regular hard bits of life, he is running from life and his

own feelings.

That journey takes him to an old safe house where he attempts

to reconcile what he wants and how--or whether--he can continue.

Through flashbacks and letters, and later through another

character's recounting, we discover how a life can become

so fractured and lost.

In the present, he attempts to grow and overcome the

burden of his past...with his mother, his ex-wife, his daughters,

and his own failures and inescapable grief.

It's the ultimate mid-life crisis survival guide!

This is a great character piece, delving into true Southern

living as family drama, small town worries, and earlier

days are the inspiration for a captivating tale.

(Willis is an eighth-generation Southerner, and

many of the stories are based on her father's stories

of his life.)

Taking place in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia,

there is plenty of adventure and drama throughout,

and in one of my favorite writing 'tricks,' we

get to see events from the different perspectives

that make up the whole.

We get to see how our subjective views so often distort

reality.

A beautiful story of redemption, soul-searching,

fear, forgiveness, and love.

Read an excerpt from the book

***