Brenda Peterson is one of our favorite authors; she has written 18 books and taught writing. Sarah Jane Freymann, a New York City literary agent since 1974, has led memoir workshops since 2009. Their combined wisdom and experience makes Your Life as a Book into a top choice purchase for those who are getting ready to write a memoir. Here you will find material on Your World as a Writer, Field Notes on Your Life, Showing Up: Creating a Character of the Self, A Sense of Place and Time, and more.

There is a clever and fascinating chapter titled "Eat, Pray, Love" which begins with a quotation from M. F. K. Fisher: "It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others." Then winking at Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir, they advise writers to always include food in the story of their lives.

We were also impressed with Peterson's chapter on "Spiritual Memoirs" given the fact that she has written two excellent examples of the genre: I Want to Be Left Behind Finding Rapture Here on Earth and Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals. A final creative touch is letting four book reviewers have their say.