Your Memoir, the Way You Want It | | | |  | |
We Are Book People
When my husband, Sean St. Marie, was studying for his MS in Library Science with a concentration in archives management from Simmons University, he often remarked on the utility and accessibility of the printed, bound book (also called the codex). “Books are still a great ‘technology’ for preserving, storing, and accessing information,” he would say. “Maybe the best!” After all, while digital media software and platforms come and go, the book has longevity on the shelf, and the only power source it needs to work is a reader’s mind.
Of course, well before he began his studies, Sean was a self-proclaimed “book person,” an identity I share. In fact, all of us at Modern Memoirs claim this label! We love books not just for the words and images they hold, but for the beautiful, holdable, shareable objects they are, and for the memories of reading they allow us to create.
Sean and I have passed our love of books along to our children, and I am very excited to share my forthcoming essay collection, Book Bonding: Building Connections Through Family Reading in the feature (at right) in this newsletter. In it, I write about how sharing books with my children has been a means of bonding with them at various stages of our lives. Looking back, reading together has been one of the great joys of family life, whether we were reading bedtime books with little ones, having book conversations around the dinner table, listening to audiobooks on road trips, or gifting books with the words, “I think you'll love this one.”
I know I’m not alone in my gratitude for family reading and the bonds it can create and fortify. Our clients are book people, too, and family reading takes on even deeper meaning when one is sharing a personal memoir or family history with loved ones. Truly, some of the most meaningful experiences of my life came from helping first my uncle and then my father with their memoirs. My staff and I are always honored to help our clients create the books they wish to share with their loved ones.
There are, of course, benefits to digital media, and we often help clients create eBook editions of their books. Those benefits, however, do not overshadow the appeal of the printed, bound book for us book people.
Megan St. Marie
President
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Cover art by artist Mia Saine for Book Bonding: Building Connections Through Family Reading, a forthcoming essay collection by company president Megan St. Marie, writing under the name Megan Dowd Lambert
Under the name Megan Dowd Lambert, company president Megan St. Marie has a second career as an author, consultant, and reviewer in the field of children’s literature. Her essay collection Book Bonding: Building Connections Through Family Reading is a memoir of sorts, comprised of 21 essays about reading with her seven children, with cover art and illustrations by Mia Saine. It will publish on April 18, 2023 with Imagine Publishing, an imprint of Charlesbridge, with distribution through Penguin Random House.
Pre-order here today!
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Praise from Kirkus Reviews for
To the Front by Client Michael M. Van Ness, M.D.
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“A sublime amalgam of personal recollections
and meticulous wartime biography
brimming with reverence and brio.”
Book reviews don’t get much better than that! Congratulations to client Michael M. Van Ness, M.D., whose book To the Front: Grandfathers’ Stories in the Cause of Freedom earned this high praise from Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Indie review program.
You can read more about Dr. Van Ness and his book in this month’s client interview by Genealogist Liz Sonnenberg (see “Reflections from Client Michael Van Ness” below).
Read the full (excellent!) book review from Kirkus at this link: Read More Here
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Featured Blog Posts by Our Staff | |
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Reflections from Client
Michael M. Van Ness, M.D.
Interview by Genealogist Liz Sonnenberg
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How a Soul Becomes a Flower
by Director of Publishing Ali de Groot
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ON WATCH AT SEA: Aboard the USS Charleston
The WWI Diaries of Arthur M. Best
edited by Joyce B. Phillips
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Imagine having a diary from WWI. Or three WWI diaries, handwritten by your grandfather. This priceless gem of a book contains the log entries of a sailor aboard the USS Charleston, a C-22 U.S. Navy St. Louis-class cruiser. During his naval service, Arthur Monroe Best wrote in a diary daily, from the day he enlisted in August of 1917 through his discharge in February of 1919. And photographs! With his camera, he was also able to chronicle life on the ship, developing the photos when he was at port and then selling them on board.
This astounding book was compiled, edited, designed, and self-published posthumously by Arthur Best's granddaughter, former client Joyce B. Phillips. The diary entries are mostly factual, but reading between the lines, much can be learned from Best’s photographs and terse reports, excerpted here:
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The USS Charleston passing through the Panama Canal, March 1917 | |
Arthur M. Best next to "a six-inch gun" on board, from his photo album | |
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Nov. 27, 1917. Raised anchor at 12:30 AM and started with convoy. Six transports and one destroyer. USS Manhattan. On watch from 12–4 AM on No. 7–3. Smooth water. Got sick at 9:30. Did not feel good all day.
Sun. July 28, 1918. Seen sub. On watch 4–8 AM 4–6 PM. We had a heavy fog a little while in AM. We are making from 15 to 17 knots per hour. At 4 PM the wake of a sub was sighted 1,700 yds away. We fired four 3-in shots and she disappeared. At 6:00 we passed a convoy. They had four balloons and one dirigible.
Mon. Nov. 4, 1918. Last night we were making 15 knots then they slowed down for an operation of appendicitis. At quarters we had underwear inspection. We had loading drill and lights in AM. Wrote some letters in PM.
Mon. Jan. 27, 1919. We left the Gulf Stream this morn and it is getting a little rougher and also pretty rough. We are rolling about 22 degrees. In the afternoon while on watch we made man ropes for the life rafts. We are expecting to get into Brest [France] at 10 AM tomorrow.
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USS Charleston, from a photo album by Arthur M. Best | |
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Wed. Jan. 29, 1919. Reveille at 5 AM and chow at 5:30. Beans, and the soldiers said they were the best beans they had eaten since they came over to France. We commenced coaling at 6 AM and finished at 1 PM. We put on 1200 tons. The soldiers worked fine all day. In eve they had their first wash for a week. The guys that went ashore say it is a tough place.
Sun. Feb. 9, 1919. On watch 8–12 AM and 8–12 PM. We opened up the hatches on the forcastle and the gun ports on Main deck. The sea was very smooth. Aired bedding in AM. The Army band played a concert on the quarter deck. In the afternoon I wrote some letters and washed clothes. The sea was pretty smooth all day.
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Top: Cover of Arthur's photo album
Bottom: Inside pages of Arthur's 1919 diary
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Covers of Arthur's journals from 1917, 1918, and 1919 | |
All photographs courtesy of Joyce Best Phillips | |
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November Question:
What are you thankful for today?
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Staff responses
Megan St. Marie: I awoke to the season’s first snowfall, thankful for the safe, warm home I share with Sean and our children.
Sean St. Marie: I’m thankful for my marriage with Megan, our family’s good health, our ability to care and provide for our children—the big stuff.
Ali de Groot: I am thankful for my qigong and dance teachers, who help me find balance (literally) and peace in a chaotic world.
Liz Sonnenberg: Mom, Dad, Brad, and Erica — the four corners of my foundation.
Nicole Miller: Today.
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Memory Lane Stroll
We’d love to hear your brief personal reflections on the question of the month (at left). Write your response for a chance to be featured in the next edition of our e-newsletter!
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We did not receive any responses to the October question: What is a favorite autumn pastime of yours or your family’s? We hope that's because you were all too busy picking apples, baking pies, carving pumpkins, and leaf peeping! Wherever you are, we wish you well as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.
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Stop by to see us in person or online:
495 West Street, Suite 1C
Amherst, MA 01002
www.modernmemoirs.com
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