FindingYourself Through, Your Autobiography

By Kaila T.

For Creative Writing we were told to read a book about writing. Now at first my reaction was "I don't want to do this" and "why can't I just read a book I want to read?" As a senior in high school I actually enjoy reading, but was not looking forward to reading a educational book based on writing. I chose the book Your Autobiography by Ray Mungo, and I surprisingly enjoyed the book. 

I read Ray Mungo's book in two days, and once I finished I felt as if I had take  a year class on how to write a well put together autobiography. I found the book extremely interesting for being educational, and not a book technically I picked by choice. The book focuses on ways to help the writer go about writing an autobiography, how to piece it together, what to add and what not to add, and it gets the reader thinking about "what really is important, and a key thing that happened in my life?" If one day you, or someone you know is thinking about writing an autobiography I would completely recommend reading You Autobiography by Ray Mungo. I plan on using this book when I am older, and one day publishing an autobiography.

What I really enjoyed about the book is Ray Mungo breaks down creating a autobiography step by step. The chapters are broken up by questions like who are you, where did you come from, where is love, who are your real friends, etc. These chapters are based on a question but on each page there are even more questions that get you to think, and dig deeper. Another thing I really thought was nicely done was Ray Mungo helps you decide what your story needs, and what can probably be deleted. I feel like I learned a lot about writing in general and not just about autobiographies. I enjoyed the way he wrote, and how simple the book was. When reading an educational book I find it almost impossible to find a word filled book about writing. The way Ray Mungo sets the book, and pages up makes it an easy read and enjoyable. Something that I wasn't a fan of was the amount of questions put into one chapter. Sometimes the  questions seemed repetitive and I felt like I was being asked the same thing multiple times. Also, the book helps you write an autobiography if you are older, and have experienced most of life. I would of liked it better if he didn't focus so much on being an adult writing an autobiography, and maybe focused on being a adult, and a young adult wanting to write about your life right now. I couldn't answer all of the questions like who I am married to, what my career is, and how the kids were.

Overall I did not mind reading Your Autobiography by Ray Mungo. This is not a book I would pick up to read for fun, because it does not fall under my interest but it was not painful to read. I would recommend this book if you are an adult in your late 50's and up because it focuses on more how you've lived your life and what you've accomplished such as marriage, kids, jobs, etc. If you are a student and need to brush up on your writing skills I would also read the book, because it is very helpful and gets you to really think about who you are, and what interests you. You can find Ray Mungo's books in your public school library such as Nashua South, local book store, and local library. Ray Mungo has also published a book called Liz Biz 101.   

Your Autobiography, by Ray Mungo, Collier Books Macmillian Publishing Company, 1994, 100 pages.