Memoir will always be one of my all-time favorite genres, and it’s even better when you come across a lesser-known title. Sure, we all know Wild and Eat, Pray, Love. But what about the rest of the world of travel memoirs, grief memoirs, mental health memoirs?
These memoirs you’ve never heard of have 1,000 or fewer ratings on Goodreads, which is not a perfect barometer to judge by, but that’s what we’re working with. Most were published by small presses, and they deserve all the praise in the world.
The books on this list cover a variety of life stories, dealing with grief, racism, violence, trauma, family history, and so much more. Read about a man who transitioned at age 51, a girl in Pakistan who refused to be a child bride and instead empowered other girls in her rural community to get an education, and a woman who toured the world’s death festivals in the wake of her almost-father-in-law’s sudden and devastating death.
Tour the world through these stories and the variety of voices that tell them.
…
Melody Moezzi shared her experiences living a “bipolar life” — Iranian and American, and diagnosed with bipolar disorder — in Haldol and Hyacinths. Now, in The Rumi Prescription, she’s sharing her journey to recovery aided by the poems of Rumi. She translated his works, focusing on isolation, distraction, depression, fear, and the most important: love.
NAMI Guilford Book Den: Review by Mitch McGee
The Rumi Prescription by Melody Moezzi is the book I am recommending to most everyone I know right now! I purchased the book at a "reading" that Ms. Moezzi had at Scuppernong's in Greensboro as the world was about to "shut down" due to the pandemic. I quickly devoured the book, being a fan of Ms. Moezzi's two previous books. I recently read it again, and this many months into the pandemic, it still spoke to me. How much you ask? I have purchased several copies for gifts, recommend the book to anyone who will listen, and have purchased more books about Rumi - and have more on my "wishlist" on Amazon. What does that say? I have decided I will read it again as the world starts to "return to a more "normal" existence", to see what stands out to me again.
Read the entire review here:
https://namiguilford.org/mental-health-resources/books-reviews
Star News: Visiting UNCW writer finds reason behind the rhymes of Rumi (review by Ben Steelman) →
A poet is not without honor, except in her own country.
Louise Gluck may have won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature, but the best-selling poet in America isn't her, but rather an Iranian guy who's been dead for nearly 750 years.
The verses of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, better known as just Rumi, sell millions of copies each year in English translation. Untold numbers of couples work his poems into their wedding ceremonies—although, when he speaks of his Beloved, he probably means the Divine rather than a human sweetheart.
Madonna is a big fan. Chris Martin of Coldplay turned to Rumi to recover from his divorce from Gwyneth Paltrow, and snatches of his work found their way into the band's lyrics. Beyonce and Jay-Z even named their daughter “Rumi.”
The man is a star.
But is it all a fad? Will Rumi eventually go the way of the Desiderata (“Go placidly among the noise and waste”), Rod McKuen and “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”?
Melody Moezzi argues not.
Moezzi, currently a visiting associate professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, is the daughter of Iranians who fled the current regime in Iran. Born in the USA, and currently living in the Raleigh-Durham area, she nevertheless speaks Farsi, the modern equivalent of the main language in which Rumi wrote. (She admits, however, that she’s not perfect at it.)
In her latest, engaging book, “The Rumi Prescription,” Moezzi—who's also a licensed, non-practicing lawyer—tells how a study of Rumi’s verse helped her through several dark nights of the soul. Further, she argues that Rumi can help modern Americans through much of their current malaise.
Some years back, Moezzi had hit a dry patch, a monumental case of writer’s block. After a terrific struggle with bipolar disorder, her mood swings were controlled by medications. What she was left with, though, was an emptiness, a sense of the blahs.
To fix it, Moezzi took a month’s vacation and headed to San Diego to visit her parents. Specifically, she sought out her father, a confirmed Rumi fan, for daily tutoring sessions, reading Rumi in the original medieval Persian.
Her dad, an obstetrician, apparently drops Rumi couplets at the drop of a fez, the way the late Sen. Sam J. Ervin used to pepper his speeches with snatches of Shakespeare or the King Jame Bible. When Moezzi was little, the habit often irritated her, like having one's parents constantly remind you to eat your vegetables and wash behind your ears. Now, however, she sensed there was something she missed.
Catching back up wasn’t easy. Rumi lived a full century before Geoffrey Chaucer, and the Perisan of his poems is sometimes as far from Farsi, the contemporary language of Iran, as “The Canterbury Tales” are from modern English.
Also, the meanings are slippery. Rumi was a Muslim, a scholar of the Quran, but his Islam was far from that of the Ayatollah Khomeini or the Taliban. Technically, he was a Sufi, one of a mystic school who sought union with the Divine through such practices as ecstatic dancing. (Rumi was one of the original “whirling dervishes.”) As with all mystics, his meaning is not always clear.
Still, Moezzi found some basic lessons. The essence of the Divine—God, Allah, or whatever you call it—is love, and joining in love. The Divine is in all of us, and to get to it, we must overcome our egos, our self-absorption, and reach out. We have to tune out the distractions of everyday life and learn what’s really important.
If this sounds familiar, it is. As Moezzi notes, Rumi’s mysticism finds parallels all over, in Buddhism, in Christianity from the First Epistle of John to St. Francis of Assisi, and in Western thinkers all the way to John Lennon. The lessons aren’t new. We just have to master them.
Among those lessons is embracing your loved ones. One of the most attractive parts of “The Rumi Prescription” is how Moezzi grows closer to her father, a cheerful character with an immigrant’s cockeyed optimism.
Rumi can’t solve everything. Moezzi makes clear that she still takes her pills. Still, she makes a case that he has a lot to offer us, in a memoir punctuated with humor, pathos and often pithy writing. Readers might be reminded of Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude and the Zen Master,” or “Families and How to Survive Them” by Robin Skynner and John Cleese.
Sprituatlity and Practice: The Rumi Prescription Book Review (review by Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat)
Kirkus Reviews: Entertaining Nonfiction to Lift Your Spirits (Book List)list
In a book that is more memoir than how-to manual, Moezzi (Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, 2014, etc.) chronicles her effort to apply Rumi’s 13th-century poetry to her 21st-century life.
Some readers may be surprised that the bestselling poet in the United States is a Muslim mystic who died nearly 750 years ago. Moezzi, however, isn’t the least bit stunned that Rumi’s words resonate with contemporary Western readers; it just took her a while to embrace them herself. She grew up in Ohio “dodging dead Persian poets” because her father “is a tried-and-true Rumi addict, and like most children of addicts, I grew up resenting the object of my father’s addiction.” But as an adult, the author decided to mine the Sufi mystic’s poetry to seek remedies for some of her own modern maladies—e.g. anxiety, fear, etc.—and found his words life-changing. Each of the chapters begins with a diagnosis and ends with a prescription, featuring stanzas of Rumi’s work that Moezzi translated and studied with her father. Though Rumi's poetry and its impact on her life are noteworthy, there are two narrative elements that stand out more. First, the author’s prose offers an intimate, endearing look at her relationship with her father. Second, Moezzi weaves throughout the narrative discussions of her interminable efforts to destigmatize both Islam and mental illness—not in a self-promoting way but as an advocate for herself and others; the book could shatter a variety of prejudices and stereotypes. Furthermore, the author’s translation of Rumi’s poetry will appeal to many readers because it’s well distilled and reads much like a series of aphorisms. Moezzi doesn’t claim to fully understand or precisely apply Rumi’s ancient wisdom; she’s simply telling the story of how his body of work has influenced her life.
A heartening narrative of family, transformation, and courage.
Read it Foward: Books to Read When You Need Some Inspiration
“When she sat down with the works of the 13th century Persian poet Rumi, Melody Moezzi expected to find some sage wisdom in each simple verse. What she discovered instead was a lifeline she did not entirely realize she needed. Immersing herself in these works, Moezzi discovered a path to living a life with intention and ease, while embracing love, against the chaotic backdrop of an ever-more divisive modern world. The Rumi Project charts that journey.”
Kirkus Review: The Rumi Prescription →
In a book that is more memoir than how-to manual, Moezzi (Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, 2014, etc.) chronicles her effort to apply Rumi’s 13th-century poetry to her 21st-century life.
Some readers may be surprised that the bestselling poet in the United States is a Muslim mystic who died nearly 750 years ago. Moezzi, however, isn’t the least bit stunned that Rumi’s words resonate with contemporary Western readers; it just took her a while to embrace them herself. She grew up in Ohio “dodging dead Persian poets” because her father “is a tried-and-true Rumi addict, and like most children of addicts, I grew up resenting the object of my father’s addiction.” But as an adult, the author decided to mine the Sufi mystic’s poetry to seek remedies for some of her own modern maladies—e.g. anxiety, fear, etc.—and found his words life-changing. Each of the chapters begins with a diagnosis and ends with a prescription, featuring stanzas of Rumi’s work that Moezzi translated and studied with her father. Though Rumi's poetry and its impact on her life are noteworthy, there are two narrative elements that stand out more. First, the author’s prose offers an intimate, endearing look at her relationship with her father. Second, Moezzi weaves throughout the narrative discussions of her interminable efforts to destigmatize both Islam and mental illness—not in a self-promoting way but as an advocate for herself and others; the book could shatter a variety of prejudices and stereotypes. Furthermore, the author’s translation of Rumi’s poetry will appeal to many readers because it’s well distilled and reads much like a series of aphorisms. Moezzi doesn’t claim to fully understand or precisely apply Rumi’s ancient wisdom; she’s simply telling the story of how his body of work has influenced her life.
A heartening narrative of family, transformation, and courage.
SELF: 17 Therapist-Approved Books That Will Teach You Something New About Yourself →
Thrilled to be in the same company with so many great books and authors!
Excerpt from Anna Borges’ piece:
“I don’t know about you, but reading about mental health is a huge part of my self-care routine. Expanding my reading list to include everything from self-help books to memoirs to reference texts has been, if not life-changing, then at least very life-improving. I’m pretty much always on the lookout for book recs. To beef up my reading list—and yours—I decided to crowdsource some of the best books on mental health.
“Who did I ask? First, the experts: psychologists, therapists, counselors, and other mental health professionals. Then I asked people what books their therapists have recommended they read on their quests for better self-knowledge. Here are some of the titles you might want to add to your TBR list (and for even more suggestions this callout on Twitter is filled with recs that came in after I wrapped this article up).”
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