Scenic Memoirs by Upstate New York Authors

by Gregory Gerard Allison

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5 books

The Upstate NY landscape seems to have created more than its share of memoir authors. Maybe they’re driven by the relentless Canadian winds across the Lakes? Maybe they’re enflamed by the vibrant sunsets over the Adirondacks? Whatever the reason, take advantage by pulling up to a fireplace on a snowy afternoon and enjoying these lush, true tales from “the rest of New York”.

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Name All the Animals

Alison Smith, 2005

The subject of sibling grief is one that doesn’t often receive the spotlight in our culture. This author weaves a nonfiction narrative that reads like a novel, with lush setting details and old-soul observations. As a bonus (to me as a gay man), this is a poignant coming-out story as well.

Ghostbread

Sonja Livingston, 2010

We often hear of childhood poverty as a statistic, but it’s a different experience to have it related from a bright, observant girl’s point of view. This author has a gift for lyric prose—and we readers are the lucky beneficiaries.

This is One Way to Dance

Sejal Shah, 2020

Memoir in essay form is an especially nice treat, especially from a talented writer.

Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Kimmerer, 2013

While this book is considered a scientific reflection, its personal revelations and experiences of the author definitely land it in the ‘memoir’ category for me. Not a book that would normally hit my radar—but captured me nonetheless.

My Grandfather's Clocks

The True Story of a Grandson's Search for an American Inventor's Lost Collection

Gregory Gerard Allison, 2024

: Full disclosure: this one is my own story. Judge for yourself if a grandson’s very literal quest to locate his grandfather’s hand-crafted, artisan clock collection (praised by Golden Age Hollywood celebrities; missing for 70 years!), set against a gay man’s very metaphorical, mid-life search for the definition of manhood, is worth the read.