May is Personal History Awareness Month and because we are aware of such calendar quirkiness, yesterday, we posted a great list of recommended memoirs and some helpful books for now-and-future memoirists. (Click here to see the list.)  I am a firm believer that truth is often stranger than fiction (hence, my headline). Also, I love reading memoirs - from the fluffiest fluff to the heaviest tome and tone,  I am a sucker for the truth,. I'd like to add my two cents and two titles into the recommended memoir pool.

Last year, a friend of mine, who is related to Norris Church Mailer,  put a copy of the manuscript of A Ticket to the Circus into my hands. And, in my hands it stayed...until I reached the end of this incredible and fascinating book! Norris Church Mailer was the sixth (and last) wife of Norman Mailer and she tells a story that, were it not true, you would not believe. Born Barbara Jean Davis, the granddaughter of a mule-skinner, she'd already survived her poor upbringing in Arkansas, a marriage and divorce, and parenthood before she even met Norman Mailer. Through A Ticket to the Circus, I feel as if I have been introduced to one of the truly bright lights on this earth. She's been a teacher, an artist, a model, a writer, a wife, a mother, a friend, and is a powerful and wildly strong survivor. Her book is thrilling and sentimental. Honest and hilarious. It's no wonder she's so beloved.

People Magazine gave A Ticket to the Circus four stars, saying, "In this blazingly alive memoir of her 32 years with the late Norman Mailer, sixth wife Norris Church Mailer proves herself every bit as fascinating as her illustrious mate. Her narrative glitters with famous faces and events, from Bob Dylan and Bill Clinton (whom she dated) to the 1975 Ali fight in the Philippines...'I'll never write about you. Nobody would believe it,' Norris often told him. You'll be glad she did." I'm glad she did.

What I'm also glad about, is that I acted upon Erica B.'s rave, book-hugging review of The Tender Bar:A Memoir by J.R. Moehringer. (Yes. We have been know to hug books that we love.) Currently, I am listening to the audiobook of this touching, funny, and wonderfully written memoir. I love how this guy writes! His story is deeply personal, yet universal in so many ways. Raised by a single mother in Long Island, with a deep ache for his absent disc-jockey father, Moehringer found his role models at the neighborhood bar. "Fatherhood by committee" (with an appearance by "Father Amtrak") is the general and apt description of the circumstances of his life. The author's recollections are so brilliantly clear and so brilliant that the listener/reader feels oddly connected/related to the story and its characters. I'm halfway through The Tender Bar and know already that I will agree with Erica who said she was sorry to see it end. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy more of this tender (and rowdy) tale and discover for myself whether or not it's hug-worthy. (I'd bet yes.)