A weird subgenre I can never get enough of...

I don't care if it's cooking every recipe, living without internet, stopping shopping, or eating pasta in Italy. Gimme all the stunt memoirs!

Do you have any niche subgenres that you can’t resist?

I feel like romance readers, in particular, love a good, highly specific niche. Sometimes it’s specific tropes we seek out. Sometimes it’s certain themes. Sometimes it’s certain types of heroes.

I have a number of niches I love and not just in the romance genre. Like a time loop story a la Groundhog Day. Give me all of them! There’s something about the chance to do something over and over until you get it right that appeals to my perfectionist, lol. Book Riot did a great roundup of time loop novels today that added a pile of books to my TBR if you want to check that out.

But another niche subgenre that I can’t resist is what is often referred to as the “stunt memoir". This is when the author decides to do some grand gesture thing over a certain period of time, usually a year, and documents it in a memoir.

The famous ones that come to the top of most people’s minds are Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (woman gets divorced and spends a year finding herself via indulging in Italy, praying in India, and finding love in Bali) and Julie and Julia by Julie Powell where a woman in a soul-sucking desk job decides she’s going to make all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of one year.

These memoirs often get a bad rep because they seem “self-indulgent” or a stunt for the sake of writing the book. The self-indulgent thing irritates me because the critics only tend to use that word when it’s a woman writing the memoir—how dare she shirk her responsibilities as partner/wife/mother/whatever to do a thing for a year.

I will admit that I prefer the movie Julie and Julia to the memoir. Watch the movie and then read My Life In France by Julia Child instead and you’ll have a great experience. And I’m currently listening to Eat, Pray, Love on audio. I LOVE Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, but I’m not connecting as much to Eat, Pray, Love. I haven’t given up yet though. I’m in the "Pray” section of the book.

However, that doesn’t lessen my love for the subgenre. A few newsletters ago, I talked about needing a grand gesture for myself, so maybe that’s why I’m in the mood for these again. There’s something about the process of shaking up your life with some big move that I find so appealing. Admittedly, I’m drawn more to the domestic ones (a big challenge you can tackle at home) vs. the sell-your-house-and-travel kind, mainly because I’m not very adventurous and find travel exhausting.

So, I thought I’d share a few that I’ve read over the years with y’all today. I’d also love to hear if you have any great recommendations in this niche!

Stunt Memoir Love

The Happiness Project and Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

The Happiness Project is one of the O.G. year-in-a-life memoirs and I loved it. Gretchen Rubin decided that she wanted to be happier and set about giving herself a challenge each month for a year to see if it helped. She followed up that book with one that followed the same format but focused on the home.

These are the ultimate you-can-try-this-at-home type. None of the challenges are too out there or too daunting, but there are simple things you can add to improve your own life.

Year of Yes by Shonda Rimes

I listened to this one in audio. Shonda Rimes, yes that Shonda Rimes, spends a year saying yes because she found herself saying no too often. I connected with this one because as a card-carrying introvert, my default answer is usually no.

Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders

The subtitle explains it. This one got a little slow and rambly at times, but I still enjoyed it. I like reading books about minimalism so this was in my wheelhouse. It has a “millennial” vibe to it so if that’s not your thing, you’ve been warned. ;)

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

Denmark is officially the happiest place on earth (some study has declared it so), so Helen lives there for a year and tries to figure out why. I listened to this one on audio. It’s been a while but I remember enjoying it.

What Falls From the Sky by Esther Emery

The author gives up the internet for a year. This is a Christian book, which is not usually a genre I read in, but I was deep-diving into the effects of the internet at the time and found it that way. This reads more like a memoir than about the internet, but I was still glad I had read it. Here’s a quote I highlighted:

“how strange it is that we think happy lives are dependent on this new technology that is barely old enough to buy itself a drink.”

Year of No Clutter by Eve O. Schaub

Listened to this on audio. It combines two subgenres that I like—stunt memoir and decluttering book. I usually listen to decluttering books when I need the motivation to clean out stuff lol. I don’t know if I would’ve stuck with this one in print, but because it was audio, it was easy enough to listen to in the background when doing chores.

This week, I attempted Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch, which is about a woman who loses her sister and decides to deal with her grief by reading a book a day for a year. I loved the concept and the bookish challenge (a year of reading!), but alas, I put the book aside after a few chapters. I think mainly because the books she was reading weren’t books that appealed to me. (The list was heavy on literary fiction.) I also think because it was about grief, it was too heavy for me at the moment. Lots of others enjoyed this one, though, so your mileage may vary. I want someone to do this book a day challenge with genre fiction and then write a more light-hearted book about that.

Welp, those are some of my fave stunt memoirs. I’d love to hear if you have any recs for me! Leave a comment and let me know.

Or let me know what kind of “stunt” you would do if you were going to write one of these memoirs.

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Romantic Movie Marathon

If I’m talking stunt memoirs, I figured I better pick a stunt memoir movie!

Romantic Movie Marathon Review

Title: Under the Tuscan Sun

Release date: Sept. 26, 2003

Where to Watch:  Amazon Prime

Starring: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh

Official description (from Amazon): San Francisco writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) travels to Italy and impulsively buys an aging, but very charming, villa. She finds herself immersed in a life-changing adventure.

My description: Based on a memoir of the same name. A woman/writer finds out her husband is cheating, gives him everything in the divorce, and then travels to Italy for a two-week tour (encouraged by her friend). While there, she buys a Tuscan villa on a whim and moves there to remodel it. Along the way, she befriends the locals and searches for love.

My Review 

1 . Is it actually a romance? No, it’s women’s fiction

2 . Romantic tropes: found family, midlife crisis causes someone to go to a foreign country, remodeling a house as a metaphor for remodeling a life 

3 . Sweet or steamy? mostly sweet, PG-13

4 . Swoonworthy love interest? There’s a hot guy but meh, not swooning

5 . Would I want to be friends with the main character? I want to be friends with Sandra Oh’s character (she plays the best friend). I liked Frances (the main character) too.

6 . Does it show its age? Maybe a little

7 . Would I rewatch? no

8 . Favorite moments: When Frances is with her BFF Patti (Sandra Oh) and Patti says something like “you shouldn’t stay here with me. You should go with the guy. He may be the love of your life.” And Frances says, “I’m with the love of my life.” Gotta love BFF love. <3

9 . Thoughts: I know this is based on someone’s life, but I found the movie to be a little bland and formulaic. The romance threads were also weird. Diane Lane did a good job with the role, but I just felt like there wasn’t enough meat to the story. It felt very surface. I’d rather watch Julie and Julia again.

10 . Rating: 2.75 stars

Alright, that’s all I have for you this week. I hope you have a great weekend! And tell me your fave stunt memoirs. Movies are welcome too!