"Memory is the diary we carry around with us." -Oscar Wilde

Last week, we asked Red Roomers to open up the first page of their personal diary—their memory—and read what they found there for their blogs. We received more than ninety responses, which is close to a record for the year we've been doing blog topics of the week. There's something primal about trying to dig up one's first memory; there's also something very sensual about doing it. You'll see as you review the entries that most bloggers started from smells, sounds, and sights, guessing from those cues what must have been going on around them as they first became aware of the world.

Two posts stood out:

Author Alan N. Shapiro weaves a rich tapestry of time (the years immediately following World War II) and place (the outskirts of New York City) in his post "My Earliest Memory."

Member Brian Sheehan vividly and humorously recalls a bathroom ceiling with a leg sticking through. Enjoy his post "Laughing When We Shouldn't."

They will receive copies of books by Red Room authors. Actor, author, and activist Peter Coyote's bestselling memoir, Sleeping Where I Fall, which chronicles his years as a counter-culture leader in the 1960s, has been continuously in print for more than a decade. Blair Kilpatrick suggested this blog topic, and her memoir, Accordion Dreams: A Journey Into Cajun and Creole Music, tells how "a chance encounter in New Orleans" at age thirty-nine "turned her world upside down." You can see all the autobiographies and memoirs Red Room authors have published on the Books listing page.

You can read all the earliest memory blog posts here. I hope you'll choose your favorite, and leave a comment letting the blogger know why you enjoyed it. See all of Red Room's past blog topics listed on here, and suggest a few more in the comments. Thanks as always for blogging!

–Huntington W. Sharp, Senior Editor, Red Room