Holding Back The Years

Publishing is nothing if not an industry of trends. Vampires, wizards, and mainstream S & M have all had their days, with subsequent years of knockoffs and copycats.

There are also downtrends: successful streaks that decline into middling sales. One popular concept that is disappearing is the “my year of” projects. In these memoirs, authors step out of their routines and try something new.

The first time I saw this was in Anne Lamott’s Operating Instructions, a funny and relatable memoir of a baby’s first year. However, you could argue that was just a framing device for the start of a significant change of life.

The projects took a new turn when writers began focusing on a single pursuit for a limited period of time. Julie Powell spent a year cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Elizabeth Gilbert divorced and spent a year traveling to find herself, and Piper Kerman landed in prison for twelve months and wrote about it. Their books were rare successes involving big sales and TV and movie adaptations.

There were also plenty of forgettable copycats. Here are five yearly projects that didn’t have much to say.

1.

After years as a journalist covering conflict in desperate places, the author spent a year traveling to obscure regions of the world that rate the highest in happiness. The most memorable section is his visit to Bhutan, where residents paint penises as murals and live contentedly with few Western influences.

2.

This is one of those books that reveals as much about privilege as it does about its topic. The author went a year without luxury purchases such as ice cream cones and movie tickets. She lost weight, felt the gravity of environmental footprints, and saved 8K. The entertainment factor is undercut by the drop-in-a-bucket futility of the project.

3.

This memoir does not deliver on its stated promise. The author lives frugally but rarely achieves any kind of transcendence because she is too busy whining about things like how hard it is to go without a handcrafted latte. Imagine Elizabeth Gilbert stuck in a podunk town. A rare dud in my reading library.

4.

The author was drawn into Islam during college and ended up part of a community whose leader was accused of tax fraud. There were possible ties to terrorism. From a compelling premise, the author tells his story until he sides with the FBI and sees the “truth” of Christianity. I’m sure this played well on Fox News, but it is simplistic.

5.

Tired of the pressure women face about looks and weight, the author spent a year with no mirrors. It was also the year she was planning her wedding. This is one of those projects that sounds good but doesn’t deliver. The author doesn’t go deep and in the end has nothing new to say.