A Collection of Romantic Memoirs

I love memoirs, and I love romance, so when I find romantic memoirs that detail a person’s life and the path to their real-life happily-ever-after, I’m very pleased. I have a few that I love to re-read, and I thought, why not share my list?

Paris Letters
A | BN | K | AB
 Paris Letters by Janice Macleod was an on-sale purchase that turned out to be one of my favorite comfort re-reads. Janice chronicles her life from the moment she asked herself how much it would cost to quit her life. She hated her job and was dissatisfied with the life she had built, so she sold nearly everything and gave away the rest, saved her money, then quit her employment and went to Europe for two years. As you do. She didn’t expect to meet Christophe during her first week in Paris, but she did. Her book follows her initial decision to her arrival, then through France, and on to Italy where she has to decide what she wants to do with her life now that her plans and expectations have changed again. It’s charming and light and romantic and funny, and one of my favorite re-reads.

From my highlights: …there are lessons in the bad and joy to be had there too. The bad helps you set your course and informs you of what you don’t want so you can veer toward what you do want.

Lunch in Paris
A | BN | K | AB
 Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard was part of my research for this post. I hadn’t read it, my library had a digital copy, and I figured I’d try it. I don’t know why so many of the romantic memoirs I found are centered on Paris (I mean, I know but I find it amusing nonetheless) but this one has travel, cultural differences, a lovely romance, and FOOD. So many recipes, so much food. Do not read while hungry. Bard chronicles the start of her relationship with Gwendal and the initial immersion of her life in Paris as she figures out culture, food, and her potential life with him. Each chapter includes recipes for the food she prepares or talks about in that portion of her story, and her experience with Parisian food and cooking are the foundation of the multilayered charm of this memoir.

From my highlights: …“I want to marry you,” he answered, cool and regular as if he were saying, “I want to go to the movies” or “I want to grab a coffee.” Somehow at that moment, the wonderful inevitability of it hit me. My imaginary life was through, and my new life, my real life, was standing in front of me on the Paris sidewalk.

Romance is My Day Job
A | BN | K | AB
Romance is my Day Job: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last by Patience Bloom is the memoir of a Harlequin editor (yup!) and her experiences through terrible relationships both romantic and familial, optimistic hopes, and a lot of travel. Patience, by virtue of being a romance reader and a romance editor, is extremely fluent in romance fiction, its characters, and its tropes. Alas, as expected, that fluency can get in the way of navigating her own reality, which it does for her a few times, but her optimism and humor are part of what allow her (and readers like me) to persevere. Please note: there are some upsetting and abusive relationships included, so proceed with caution if that might make for difficult reading.

The chapter headings are my favorite: Tragic Heroes are Romantic on the Page but Sad in Real Life. Yup.

My Grape Year
A | BN | K | AB
My Grape Year and My Grape Escape by Laura Bradbury are part of a series of memoirs of Bradbury’s life starting at age 17 when she went to Burgundy, France, as an exchange student. I read Escape after meeting Laura at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, and read My Grape Year prior to our podcast interview (Episode 303)Year is the story of her experience as an exchange student, and it is all sorts of catnip for me because my own experience is similar. I was an exchange student in Spain with very little linguistic preparation at age 15, and while I didn’t meet my husband there, so many of her experiences were hilariously similar to my own. Bradbury’s focus returns to romance and wanting to meet someone while she’s abroad, and while that can get a bit repetitive, her experiences making friends, meeting her now-husband, and learning to navigate a new culture, a new language, and an unexpected new future are lovely reading. My Grape Escape follows Laura as she realizes that law is not what she wants to do with her life, and instead she buys a property to fix up and rent in Burgundy. (As you do!).

From my highlights in My Grape Escape: In North America, one of the first questions you asked upon meeting someone was, “what do you do?” Of course, what you were really asking was, “what are you?”

You might notice that there’s a bit of a theme in the memoirs I like: a lot of “Wait, how did I get here? Can I change it?” realizations, followed by a sharp turn, possibly with additional food and language as well.  I’m also fascinated by memoirs of travel and immersion in different cultures – and again, that’s pretty self-indulgent. I’m curious if you have any romantic memoirs with HEAs to recommend, or if there are memoirs you love to re-read? I’m always looking for more! 

 

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  1. LT says:

    One of my very favorite memoirs is Love by the Glass by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher. It’s their love story with each other and with wine and it’s charming and comforting and life-affirming. You can feel their love for each other in every chapter and they seem like such warm and delightful people.

  2. ms bookjunkie says:

    There’s the memorable Blame It on Paris by Laura Florand. I’ve kept so many funny and poignant bits in my memory banks to tickle my fancy at odd moments (which is how I know it’s memorable, because anyone need a sieve? here, use my memory, I’m not using it). I’ll just share some bits from the French wedding (they had two, one in the States). There was insufficient refrigerator storage space.

    Laura: OMG, we’re all going to die of food poisoning! *arranges fridge to make room for more foods*
    French relatives: Non, you ignoramus, that doesn’t go in the fridge! *yank out stuff*

    Laura: *finds something that doesn’t need refrigeration* At least we can eat this safely. Whew!
    French relatives: That absolutely needs to go in the fridge. You ignoramus.

    Okay, I’m absolutely paraphrasing from memory, and we’ve discussed my memory being a sieve, so please don’t use my words against Laura. 😉

  3. JoannaV says:

    I have what may seem like an odd recommendation. I recently discovered the memoirs of the British veterinarian James Herriot, (the first is All Creatures Great and Small). I know these were a huge hit back in the 1970’s when they came out but I had never read one until I found an audiobook in my library’s collection recently. They are mostly about this young vet finding how much he loves his new career, and the animals, people and countryside of rural Yorkshire in the 1930’s. There is also a lovely and often very funny description of his courtship and marriage to a local girl (I would love to be able to read her side of this but I don’t think she ever wrote it). I quickly bought the next two ebooks on sale and may get the audiobooks as well (the narrator is fantastic, he was the actor in the BBC series about these books) as these have become my favorite comfort reads. When I can’t stand the news anymore I retreat to rural Yorkshire in the 1930’s! Also, these are great if you are an animal lover as his descriptions of the animals he treats are wonderful.

  4. Barb in Maryland says:

    I read the Patience Bloom book and ended up enjoying it a lot. I found the first half to be a bit of a slog (all those bad decisions!), but loved, loved the second half. And her snark about all the tropes was what encouraged me to keep reading when the first half started to drag.
    I also quite enjoyed Eloise James’ “Paris in Love” memoir.

  5. Cyranetta says:

    I just finished a book received as a gift – “Le Road Trip: A Traveler’s Journal of Love and France” by Vivan Swift. It was a combination of late-in-life romantic memories and lovely watercolor illustrations with special attention to food – just the kind of mental vacation I needed.

  6. Mary K says:

    @JoannaV, if you like the Herriot books, you may also enjoy a series by Patrick Taylor that starts with An Irish Country Doctor. I think it’s strictly fiction, but seems to be based on his own experiences. I have found it to have a very similar vibe to the Herriot memoirs, which I loved! The narrator of the audiobooks is great.

  7. JoannaV says:

    Mary K Thanks!! I will have to be on the lookout for those when I finish the Herriot books. I seem to need a lot of comfort reading lately!

  8. Kareni says:

    Individually these aren’t what you’re looking for but collectively they might do the trick — graphic novels by Lucy Knisley: French Milk, Relish, An Age of License, Displacement, and Something New. Here’s a link to the author’s site: http://www.lucyknisley.com/books/

  9. trefoil says:

    This weekend I read the sequel to Bard’s Paris book, Picnic in Provence. It was less romantic but still engaging. And, less romantic but fascinating, I’m almost done Julia Child’s My Life in France. I love the cookery and the behind the scenes bits of her culture shock.

  10. ClaireC says:

    I originally read Especially Dogs by Gladys Taber in elementary school, but forgot the title and author until a few years ago. She writes about her life from the 1950’s to 70’s (??), living in NYC, Cape Cod, and various other New England locations, and the books are so soothing to read. Especially Dogs focuses on her career showing and breeding Irish Setters and Cocker Spaniels, and she also has one title Conversations with Amber, which is all cat-focused essays. All out of print now, but you can still get used copies online!

    I also love Ann Vanderhoof’s writing. An Embarrassment of Mangoes chronicles her and her husband’s decision to buy a sailboat and sail from Canada down to the Caribbean islands. Her second book, The Spice Necklace, is all about the various food of the islands and should not be read while hungry! It’s been a while since my last re-read, but I think she does include some recipes.

    One I haven’t read yet, but will soon, is The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks – he raises Herdwick sheep in the Lake District.

  11. Marlena says:

    Along this vein is Almost French by Sarah Turnbull. An Australian Journalist who meets a French man and moves to Paris. She is brilliant writer and her anticdotes mirror my own expat experience. There are some stories that had me crying with laughter.

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