The Tender Bar

The Tender Bar, by J.R. Moehringer, is one of my all-time favorite memoirs especially since it is not about a famous person.  Published in 2005, it is a “classic American story of self-invention and escape, of the fierce love between a single mother and an only son; it's also a moving portrait of one boy's struggle to become a man, and an unforgettable depiction of how men remain, at heart, lost boys.” (BookBrowse review)