TO BEGIN AGAIN: Stories and Memoirs, 1908-1929 [Paperback]

M.F.K. Fisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 23, 1993

The first volume of reminiscences by one of America's best-loved writers. "Vintage Fisher. . . . (Her diaries and stories) bathe her youth and beauty in a golden light like the stuff of Gustave Dore engravings, the light of a better place and a better time when people were still made out of heroics."--Washington Post Book World.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With seemingly photographic memory Fisher (1908-1992), the famous culinary writer recalls growing up in Southern California where her journalist father and snobbish, asocial mother moved in 1910, two years after her birth in Michigan. Rebelling against a stern grandmother who prohibited the use of spices, fats, alcohol and "the five senses" in the household, Fisher began "learning to live well gastronomically" around age six. She writes of spankings by her father, who had himself been physically abused as a child, and she divulges that for 25 years she imagined that a guardian spirit--a tiny ancient man--kept vigil under her bed while she slept. She rues her standoffish treatment of a Mexican classmate, revels in the "escape hatch" called San Francisco and describes a ring of girls who secretly disseminated sex information in boarding school. These warm reminiscences close as Fisher, a "lazy bum" in college, acts out a Scott-and-Zelda madcap fantasy with her husband, an English instructor.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

The first volume of reminiscences by one of America's best-loved writers. "Vintage Fisher. . . . (Her diaries and stories) bathe her youth and beauty in a golden light like the stuff of Gustave Dore engravings, the light of a better place and a better time when people were still made out of heroics."--Washington Post Book World.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pantheon (November 23, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679750827
• ISBN-13: 978-0679750826
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,754,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Talk About A Great Memory ..., July 6, 2011

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Knowledge Contagion (California - again) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TO BEGIN AGAIN: Stories and Memoirs, 1908-1929 (Paperback)

M. F. K. Fisher wrote a handful of memoirs, each one usually dealing with a certain period of her life. "To Begin Again," which covers the first 20 years of her life, is the first in a trilogy that combines memoir, letters, journal entries and short stories (although this one is only memoir and about 30 pages of journal entries).

As I was reading this, I was astounded at the memory recall she exhibited. She claims at the very beginning that she does not fib, lie or embellish, but I can't help but wonder if she really remembered all of these details or if she was mearly helping a few of the memories along. Seriously - how much can one remember from the age of four or five?!

I was a little disappointed because she pretty much skipped over ages 7 to 18 or 19 with only glancing reminiscences strewn inbetween. I'm hoping that one of her other memoirs, Among Friends, will cover the high school years that she skipped over here.