Memoirs from People We’re Amazed are Still Sane (and Alive)

Chrissie Hynde (Reckless)
Hynde has been in the news recently for making the sort of inflammatory remarks people always seem to make right when they release a memoir (or hit a certain age), but she’s already lived a highly publicized rock ‘n’ roll life. Born in Akron, Ohio, she worked with Malcolm McLaren, was almost in seminal punk band The Damned, had a daughter with Ray Davies, and married Jim Kerr. She’s created some of the most recognizable classic rock songs in history and remains at age 64 a creative force. What’s amazing is that someone who tooled around Europe at the height of the punk revolution is still in enough of one piece to surprise us.

Joyce Carol Oates (The Lost Landscape)
Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most important American writers of modern times, with dozens of novels and countless other writings to her credit. In recent years, however, one of the main reasons she’s well known to the younger generation is her Twitter feed, where she has tweeted lengthy critiques of TV shows and apparently been fooled by common Internet memes. While it’s certainly not strange that someone born in 1938 might not be great at social media, Oates’ recent tirades have wavered between amusing and alarming. What a relief to discover that her new memoir is warm, lyrical, and novelistic in the way it ties her own life together into a fascinating and affecting story.

Terry Gilliam (Gilliamesque)
Terry Gilliam, the Monty Python member responsible for the comedy troupe’s iconic animations and graphic designs, as well as the director of films such as Brazil, has frightened and disturbed us for years with his visual sensibility (the baby masks worn by the torturers in dystopian Brazil are perhaps the least unsettling thing about that film). But the fact that Variety recently declared him dead, in an advance-obituary bungle for the ages, is what really earns him a place on this list, even more than his questionable sanity. Don’t worry, fans, not only is Gilliam alive, he’s released a memoir, Gilliamesque. Hilariously packed with Gilliam’s cranky, acerbic wit, it’s a delightful revelation for people who only know him through his films, or his work with Monty Python.

Sarah Hepola (Blackout)
The drinking Hepola cops to in Blackout doesn’t sound all that fun, and the frequent blackouts she experienced are disturbing, to say the least. It’s not irrational to worry that an individual whose memoir details some pretty epic alcohol abuse might not remain with us for long. Fortunately, Hepola is newly sober and healthy, and her memoir offers a glimpse into the complicated world of female alcoholism, which can be fueled not just by genetic factors but also often by the pressure women feel to “keep up.” Self-deprecating, hilarious, and heartbreaking, this memoir makes us glad Hepola made it through her own darkness to write it.

Keith Richards (Life)
There’s a line from the film Wayne’s World 2 that states that “Keith [Richards] cannot be killed by conventional weapons,” and it’s one of those lines that’s funny because it’s true. The fact that so many other rock stars of the 1960s and ’70s have passed away through misadventures with drugs, booze, or sandwiches, while Richards continues to not only survive but to play sold-out arenas with the Rolling Stones, is remarkable. The fact that his memoir is funny, smart, and fascinating is perhaps even more so.