If you believe a writer should only pen a memoir if she has a truly interesting story to tell and can tell it honestly and sincerely, look no further than Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, a Town and the Search for What Matters Most by Gwendolyn Bounds; Nightlight: A Memoir by Janine Avril; and Michelle Tea's classic The Chelsea Whistle.

Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, a Town and the Search for What Matters Most by Gwendolyn Bounds (Harper Paperbacks)

In the fall of 2001, journalist Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds thought she had it all: a job writing about fashion at the Wall Street Journal, an apartment in downtown Manhattan, and a beautiful girlfriend named Kathryn.

Then came Sept. 11, and everything changed. Bounds and Kathryn, who were forced to flee lower Manhattan that fateful morning, lost their home. Days later, after rescuing their cat from their condemned apartment building, they did what many other New Yorkers were forced to do: They began to search for a new home.

Little Chapel on the River is a record of that search, a journey that takes Bounds to Garrison, N.Y., a town by the banks of the Hudson River. What Garrison lacks in size — it's so small it does not necessarily qualify for "official town status" — it makes up for in heart.

At the center of Garrison is the famous Guinan's, a tiny Irish pub and country store. Bounds is immediately enchanted by the establishment — its rustic and comfortable setting, charming proprietor Jim Guinan and his children, and the distinctive patrons who are treated like family.

Needing more than just a new place to call home, Bounds also finds a family at Guinan's. As New York and the country begin their slow recovery, she immerses herself in this new life, a life very different from the one she led in the city.

At the end of each chapter, Bounds includes a memory from her childhood, usually one about her grandfather. The vignettes are well-placed and offer insight into how her background informs her connection with Guinan's, and with Jim in particular.

Bounds' sexuality is not an issue in the small town, but her coming out to Jim is one of the more tender moments of the story. Because she doesn't correct him the first time he asks how her "sister" is, she is unsure how to backtrack. ("Maybe he means 'sister,'" Kathryn jokes.)

Finally, one afternoon while they're alone watching TV, Bounds explains the relationship to Jim. "I swallow hard. Kathryn's not my sister, you know, I tell him, feeling my face get hot. The next thought is habit: What if he doesn't like me anymore? I'm a grown adult and this is still hard."

Jim does accept her: "From that day on, whenever we see each other, Jim now makes a point to ask: 'And how's Kathryn?' It's a slight alteration of the question, but it says it all."

In beautiful and lyrical prose, Bounds shows how moving to Garrison forces her to slow down and pay attention to both her interior and exterior worlds. She adopts a dog. She buys a house. She takes care of her neighbors and allows them to take care of her. She thinks about starting a family.

"This is the story of a place, the kind of joint you don't find around much anymore," Bounds writes, "a spot where people wander in once and return for a lifetime." Little Chapel on the River is about the importance of home — not only the people in it, but the actual place.

Nightlight: A Memoir by Janine Avril (Alyson Books)

If Chapel on the River shows how strangers can become family, Janine Avril's powerful Nightlight is about just the opposite.

"A secret is something told to protect you and, in many ways, it does. It shields you from that which will make your life more painful," Avril writes in the beginning of her memoir. "On the other hand, that which you don't know is still there, continually shaping your life."

Nightlight is the story of Avril's attempt to uncover her family's secrets, no matter how painful. Barely a teenager when her mother dies of cancer, Avril is so numb from the loss that she can barely say goodbye. She is haunted by the guilt that she had been ashamed of her mother's ailing body, a guilt her father does not allow her to escape: "I was filled with shame about my family, but far worse was the shame I felt toward myself."

Shortly after her mother's death, Avril's father, a successful French chef and restaurateur, throws a "motherless Mother's Day" party. He refuses to invite Avril's maternal grandparents and instead fills the house with "topless women" and "pranc[es] around jovially in his skin-tight green Speedo."