A spirited exploration of the diary, from pen-and-paper to TikTok, for the people who write—and read—them
Featuring iconic diary keepers like Audre Lorde, Virginia Woolf, Alison Bechdel, and Taylor Swift
We know what it was like to be an out lesbian in 19th-century England, what the inner world of a young girl in hiding looks like, and what the earliest internet users’ favorite websites were, in part, because of diaries. Our Diaries, Ourselves is a joyful deep dive into this time-honored tradition of preserving who we are.
From Marie Curie to Taylor Swift, this book illustrates how keeping a diary helps us to understand ourselves and our world. Tour Italy’s “City of the Diary,” Pieve Santo Stefano, which boasts a diary archive, museum, and annual festival. Discover how women have used diaries for centuries as canvases for self-expression and self-care and as tools of resistance in a patriarchal society. Travel through time and across cultures, from renowned figures to ordinary people, for glimpses of their lives—different yet comfortingly familiar.
Our Diaries, Ourselves is a treasure trove of social history, feminist rebellion, and personal reflection. This book celebrates the vibrant and varied ways we live our lives and the stories we choose to tell about them. And it reminds us of a uniquely human need that transcends time, language, and technology: to see and be seen, remember and be remembered.
About the Diary Excerpts
Preface: Me-Me-Me
PART 1: QUESTIONING ASSUMPTIONS
1.
Days of Our Lives: What Is a Diary Now?
2.
Born Digital: When Do Social Media and AI-Assisted Entries Count?
3.
About a Girl: Are Diaries Really a Woman’s Thing?
FROM MY DIARY: Some of what I kept and read
PART 2: WHY WE WRITE
4.
Self-Help: Are Diaries Really Good for Us?
5.
Memorable: Do Diaries Really Help Us Remember?
6.
Creatives: Do Diaries Really Help Us Create?
7.
Hindsight: Should We Read or Burn Our Diaries?
FROM MY DIARY: My life on May 12, as chronicled from ages 14 to 62
PART 3: WHY WE READ OTHER PEOPLE’S DIARIES
8.
Other Eyes: What Do We Learn?
9.
Ordinary People: Why Save Diaries by Us All?
10.
Herstory: How Do Diaries Help Write Women into History?
FROM MY DIARY: Our times and world, as documented from 1973 to 2020 (at ages 14 to 61)
11.
Reader Experiences: What Else Do We Gain?
12.
Self-Exposure: Should We Let Strangers Read Our Diary?
Appendix: An Informed Donor Is a Smart Donor: Advice on Donating a Diary
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index