Memoirs and Biographies We Love discussion
What'cha readin'?
I have finished the DTB by Aharon Appelfeld: "The Story of a Life" (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...). My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...It was good, but different in content than that which I had been expecting.
Now I have begun the DTB The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. I wanted to try another book by this author, having adored Girl With a Pearl Earring.
All I have been doing the last few days is listening to the audiobook Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, narrated by Peter Firth. I couldn't stop listening. It is that engaging. You simply must read it.My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I just completed and totally loved The Lady and the Unicorn. Here is why: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Others do not enjoy this book as much as Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring. Maybe this is because much of the Unicorn takes place in Brussels, and I know Brussels....I am listening to Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson, my attempt to enjoy mystery crime novels. It is good. This audiobook has excellent narration by Simon Vance. Everybody says he is good, and I certainly agree.
I will start the DTB Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan. Books about Bhutan interest me!
I finished today Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
With these two books, so very different from each other, I could manage to keep them separated in my head.
I will now read Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust and listen to Wild Steps of Heaven. I ought to be able to keep them apart too since one takes place in Hungary during the Holocaust and the other during the Mexican Revolution. The author of the book I am reading is outstanding. I have read her before. The one that takes place in Mexico is historical fiction, but based on the author's father's life and family.
I always get so excited when I start a new book. :0)
I finished Wild Steps of Heaven, narrated by Dick Hill. I was all over the place with this one.My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I will continue in Latin America with Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. This book is suppose to give you everything about him. Everything. I picked it up at the BOGO sale. :0)
I wish more people posted what they were reading......
I stopped reading Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust and here is why: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...So now I will read
Armenian Golgotha. I explain a bit about it here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The main thing is, non-fiction does NOT have to be dry and confusing. They can be just as engaging as novels. I started reading "Armenian Golgotha" and I just don't want to stop. It is about the Armenian Genocide, but begins in Berlin when WW1 commences. It is riveting.
I finished Armenian Golgotha. Here is another book filled with gruesome events. It is about the Armenian genocide that occurred during WW1. You know me, I enjoy memoirs! This is a seminal work. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...Now I will start The Long Song, another book set in the Caribbean, as I listen to Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. I have only praise for this book on Che. I am learning so much about this icon, the truth about his life and ideology. Did you know that Che means "You, there"?
I finished The Long Song last night and started A Three Dog Life. It is so short, I am half way through. Wonderful lines:"When periodically I went through closets and threw things away wholesale, he joked that if he weren't careful he'd be on the dustheap too." (page 28)
I needed a book with dogs to cheer my up after the last book! My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review
Chrissie wrote: "I finished Armenian Golgotha. Here is another book filled with gruesome events. It is about the Armenian genocide that occurred during WW1. You know me, I enjoy memoirs! This is a seminal work. My ..."You should watch the movie "Motorcycle Diaries" about his trip crossing all of South America.
I finished A Three Dog Life in one day. I highly recommend it. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Now I will start Solibo Magnificent. I am still listening to Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, which I absolutely love. Excellent narration. Interesting, not too difficult to follow on an audiobook. You really come too understand who he was. I am no communist, but still I admire him tremendously. This book is the longest audiobook I have ever listened to - five parts!
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey looks good. These travels are covered in the audiobook too. Everything about his life is in this book!
But seeing the places he traveled to in the film was even more powerful.
Lisa, I can understand that the movie could give more. These trips have lengthy chapters within the book. I am so totally impressed by the comprehensiveness of Jon Lee Anderson's book. I highly recommend it.
I'll put it on my list. Thanks for recommending it, Chrissie.
I'm about halfway through Simply Halston for a fashion-related book club after a long hiatus in reading it. It's surprisingly readable and about as dishy as you'd expect. And, along the lines of dish, I also happened across a book called Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud
and picked it up-- I like classic film history!
Jennifer, thanks for mentioning Bette and Joan.
I am reading A Year In The Maine WoodsMy review of Solibo Magnificent is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life is a very long audiobook - 36 hours and 48 minutes. I absolutely loved it. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...Compelling from start to finish.
I picked up free from Audible The Autobiography Of Black Hawk. That is what I am listening to now. It is only about three hours long. When that is done I will start A Long Long Way. Another book about WW1 and Ireland. I am into reading about WW1, as a change from WW2 or biographies/memoirs.
Two friends of mine and I will be doing a buddy read of A Long Long Way. I have never read anything by Sebastian Barry and I am reading WW1 currently rather than WW2 books. But the buddy read has been delayed so I will listen to The Leisure Seeker until the others are ready to read ALLW. TLS is funny. There is an old married couple. One has Alzheimer's the other cancer. They decide to take a vacation, against all advice from everybody! Here is a sentence: "Between the two of us we are one whole person." Maybe you have to be not the youngest of persons to read this book and get a laugh out of it. This is an audiobook I got for less than 5USD from Audible. Another one of their special deals. I love Audible.
I have finished the paper book A Year In The Maine WoodsMy review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and audiobook The Leisure Seeker
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Now I will start the paper book Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur and audiobook A Long Long Way.
Just finished Simply Halston. He was fascinating during the years when he was rising to the top of his talent, but it didn't take him long to become thoroughly unlikeable and destroy everything he'd built.
I finishedTears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur. My review explains why I so appreciated this wonderful book:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I have begun Here be Dragons. Gosh, everyone praises this book, but I am finding it difficult to get into! So many have the same names, and there is a lot about this king fighting that king.... Johanna has finally been introduced; finally I am more interested.
I don't have the words to praise A Long Long Way adequately. Barry's prose and Cormack's narration were superb.
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Liking Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder, I wanted to read another by the author. I will soon start listening to All That I Am: A Novel. I really wanted to listen to another about WW1, or rather I want more of Barry and Cormack. Nothing I tested seemed as quite as good, so I have switched to a different topic.
Sometime I do want to listen to The Absolutist, but if I were to pick it up right now I would just compare it to "A Long, Long Way", and could it possibly be as good?
Here be Dragonsis not a book for me! I didn't finish it, and I do not intend or picking it up again. It is simply not my kind of book. I have read 164 pages. I really do not enjoy reading it, so why should I continue?! I have begun The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times. It is great from the start.
The other just didn't fit me!
I finished reading "I, Rigoberta Menchu" last night. This is a memoir of an indigenous leader of the Quiche Indians in Guatemala. It is part memoir of her rise to populist leader and part anthropological study. I found it very interesting and compelling.
Lisa, there is quite a bit of controversy about I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. Some say much is not true! I personally do not know!
Although extremely popular in Europe, Jean Giono is less well-known in America. I really loved both The Horseman on the Roof and Blue Boy. The latter is a fictionalized autobiography of his youth, growing up in provincial France. The former takes place during the cholera epidemic in Europe. I have chosen to read Joy of Man's Desiring because the author's writing style before the war is said to be quite different, so I want to try this. Oh yes, he has also written The Man Who Planted Trees. Another five star book! Quite simply I do like this author. I certainly hope this one doesn't disappoint. I just finished The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times. This was lots of fun to read!
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
It is true that Rigoberta Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. I'm sure that the Guatemalan government would like to discredit the other things that she said because they came out looking nonhuman. I plan to do some research now about Guatemala to see if I can find anything else out.
Lisa, I would be interested in knowing what you find out. Some parts seem easily refuted. Still, I have not read the book! You know better than me!I do not like Joy of Man's Desiring. I have decided to not finish it. Just as The Man Who Planted Trees has a central theme focused upon nature, this does too, but it is just too imaginary for my tastes. Animals speak with people and such. The dialogs are perfunctory. You can tell it is the same author, but but is too fantastical for my tastes.
I have picked up The Polski Affair. It grabs you right away.
I looked up Rigoberta Menchu on several websites. The book seems to be historically accurate but she altered her personal narrative to fit her political ends. The main point is that she said that she never attended school because her father didn't want her to go fearing she would lose her Quiche culture. However, she actually attended a Catholic school through about third grade. Her parents were probably Ladinos (Meztisos) but she claimed to be 100% Quiche.
Don't you worry that if there are some inconsistencies there can be more that you don't see? Once I start distrusting an author I have a hard time stopping. I simply don't know what to believe any more?!
Chrissie wrote: "All I have been doing the last few days is listening to the audiobook Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, narrated by Peter Firth. I couldn't stop listening. It is that engaging. You simply must rea..."did you see the british production of this series? it was on public television last spring,and i found it haunting,in a good way.
Remember I am in Belgium, and honestly I am not a TV person. I know this is so very weird!
Chrissie wrote: "Remember I am in Belgium, and honestly I am not a TV person. I know this is so very weird!"i didn't know you were in belgium. it is a beautiful story and in my experience the book is usually better than a visual adaptation and you've experienced that!
That is how I feel, Diane. I usually prefer reading over seeing a film. One's imagination is better than seeing how another imagined it. If you liked Birdsong, you must also read A Long Long Way. Excellent writing.
Hi Chrissie, I did wonder if I had read fact or fiction in the case of Rigoberta Menchu. I am sure that many other facts about her life were also manipulated to work for her political ends. Nevertheless, what I was able to read about Guatemalan history and their political conflicts did jive with the book.
Lisa, I can recommend another book which I totally loved,about Guatemalan and Latin American history: Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. Cuba too, of course!
I just finished one that is nowhere near as deep as Menchu sounds. Forever Liesl, a feel-good memoir of making The Sound Of Music. I had no idea how profoundly affected people have been by that film. Also reading Losing Mum and Pup, which my brother has been recommending to me since mom died in 2008 but I haven't really been able to get close to it until now. The author, an only child, lost both parents in less than a year. Mine were three years apart and I have two siblings -- I can't imagine the chaos he must have experienced going it alone in such a short time!
Jennifer, it is important to switch between heavy and lighter books. Then you appreciate both.
Having listened to Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall recently, I wanted to try another by Anna Funder. All That I Am: A Novel was even better. It is historical fiction about a group of German socialist activists between the two wars. Real people and real events. Fabulous writing. Exciting and moving. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Now I have started The Sandcastle Girls. Another book about the Armenian genocide, 1915-1916, during WW1. I am glad I read Armenian Golgotha first.
Re: The Sandcastle GirlsHelp!
Cassandra Cambell and Alison Fraser do the narration. I know they are very popular narrators, but I am having trouble with something. Do the author's words not fit these narrators? There is a flippancy that I find annoying. I hope I get use to these narrators. Is it that I am so distracted by the voice inflections that I cannot hear the author's words? I do not understand what is bothering me.....
Well, I have an idea what is bothering me. If this interests you, I explain what I have come to here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Finished The Polski AffairReview: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Starting: The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I.
I finished the audiobook The Sandcastle Girls. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...My last try for Victorian lit will be North and South. The narration by Juliet Stevenson is perfect. When you start some audiobooks you know this immediately.
I finished The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War IReview: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and have started First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
I completed the audiobook North and South and the DTB First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. here follow my respective reviews:N&S - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
FTKMF - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and now I have started the audiobook Empires of Sand. It is suppose to be a really good story and takes place in both France and Algeria. A book of historical fiction about a railroad being built in the desert, balloon rides and the Prussian attack in France during the 1870s. Also about the Tuareg people of the Saharan desert.
I finished Empires of Sand - an exciting, plot-driven adventure story! My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I will now startRules of Civility, an audiobook, and The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World, a memoir DTB.
Chrissie wrote: "I finished Empires of Sand - an exciting, plot-driven adventure story! My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I will now startRules of Civility, an audiobook, and The Man in the..."
I listened to "Rules" on audio as well. It's fabulous-- Edith Wharton meets F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Jennifer, I was very nervous and worried in the beginning. I thought this is not going to fit me! I am already proved wrong and have only listened to maybe 1.5 hours. I adore the author's ability to conjure up the atmosphere, the feeling, the ambiance of NYC. The similes are perfect.
Memoirs and Biographies We Love
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Last night the book seemed like it was taking a turn to a more positive experience, and whammy she gave the most graphic death description--nightmarish, can't get the image out of my head.
Anyone out there finish the book?
I'm about to stop, can't take it, even though I'm intrigued by her writing.