The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure

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The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure Pub. Date: 1/3/2012 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

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Overview

The turning points, revelations, epiphanies, dramatic changes, the opening or closing of a door—in a life, a career, a love—can occur in a single glorious, terrible, unpredictable, serendipitous, crucial, calamitous, chaotic, amazing . . . Moment.

The creators of the enormously popular Not Quite What I Was Planning and Six-Word Memoir series now offer stories of the Moment—the one-time chances, unexpected coincidences, and sudden catastrophes that made all the difference in the story of one life.

The results are triumphant, outrageous, heartwarming, heartbreaking, embarrassing, illuminating, and inspiring—life-changing moments from contributors Dave Eggers, Diane Ackerman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Bill Ayers, Jennifer Egan, A. J. Jacobs, Judy Collins, and many more.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Have you ever taken a wrong turn and never looked back, or picked door number one instead of door number two? The results of split-second choices and unexpected events frame this fascinating collection of new, brief, personal narratives solicited by Smith (founding editor, SMITH magazine). Here are words and sketches by 125 contributors whose on-the-spot decisions or transformational moments led to a permanent change in lifestyle, career, or relationships. Melissa Etheridge details her decision to perform at the 2005 Grammy Awards when she was undergoing chemotherapy. In "Those Old Keys," it's the clacking of the keys on his father's typewriter that inspire NPR's Alan Cheuse to become a writer. "If I Don't Die Today, I Will Marry Kristin Moore" describes the decision photojournalist Aaron Huey made while crawling through a muddy field as Taliban gunfighters shot over him. First kisses, childbirth, accidents, and jury verdicts are other topics covered. VERDICT Each author's ability to concisely describe such big moments pulls the reader in. Book and writing groups will have a lot to talk about after reading this first-rate collection.—Joyce Sparrow, Kenneth City, FL

Kirkus Reviews

Writers and other artists candidly report on the private moments that transformed their destinies. Smith, proprietor of an eponymous magazine and holder of the six-word memoir franchise, gathers stories of life-changing events from a cadre of ready, self-aware authors, each done in a page or two. A short selection of the contributors: A.J. Jacobs, Melissa Etheridge, Gregory Maguire, Dave Eggers, Elizabeth Gilbert, Jennifer Egan and Judy Collins. There are many "wake-up calls," some smiles and plenty of tears in these first-person explorations of a few eternal truths. Each of the 125 participants deserves our regard, but the enterprise occasionally becomes a little too rich. The earnest narratives tell of coming out and hiding, of seeking the light, the path, the truth, the way and/or the writers' inner selves. Those goals were achieved by aid of a word, sign, teacher, family road trip, some dope, an inner voice or, more than once, a Eurail pass. As often as it contains instructive memoirs, such a collection verges on a solipsistic mélange. It's only natural. Consider all that Too Much Information from strangers about their parents and children, about adolescent and senescent love, about death, fear, illness, stress, ritual, addiction, separation, reconciliation and one dead mouse. It's all released in a torrent of heartfelt, short stories. The therapeutic public confessionals are augmented with photos, graphics, varied typography and vagrant sentences about still more moments. An easily read compendium of brief inspirational memory pieces--not necessarily literature, but more in the style of a college-application essay or an assignment in an adult creative-writing course.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780061719653
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 1/3/2012
Pages: 344
Sales rank: 73,785
Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 7.10 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

Larry Smith

SMITH Magazine founding editor Larry Smith has worked as an editor at Men's Journal, ESPN: The Magazine, and Might. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Popular Science, on Salon.com, and many other places. Larry lives in New York City

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BookHounds

Posted January 7, 2012

bookhounds

MY THOUGHTS

LOVED IT

This is such an inspiring book of essays! It is full of famous and not so famous people relating what moment in their lives was truly something that had a great impact on their lives and the lives of others, even if they didn't realize it at the time. The stories are honest and reflective in a way that can be most surprising to the reader. Each one has somewhat of an Ah Ha moment where the author describes an occurrence of an event that at the time, really didn't seem that important but when they look back upon it, it is special indeed.

I think my favorite one is Melissa Etheridge relating her singing A Piece of My Heart on an award show while she was undergoing cancer treatment at the time. She didn't see it as anything important at the time, but that performance gave strength to breast cancer survivors everywhere. She did it while not looking her best and with no hair. There are alot of little things this book offers most of which, is the wonderful attitude of those who have just done things and then thought about them later. You can easily pick this one up read a few pages and then reread the same pages and get even more out of the stories.

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