Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion
Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir read in 2017
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
4 stars
Martha learned about playing cards and gambling at the knees of her parents. Not surprisingly, she grew up to have a gambling addiction, but her biggest problem was on-line poker. I have often wondered about on-line gambling but never had the nerve to do it and after reading her memoir, I'm glad I never did it. She did it when on-line gambling was fairly new. It raises the question if these gambling sites are on the up and up because she actually did quite well at casinos but could never win on-line and as she lost more and more she became more desperate to win it back. This was an interesting memoir and a bit different, as we don't usually think of people starting their gambling careers as children, so there is some coming of age stuff here. A quick read, it moves along quickly.
Koren wrote: "Hats & Eyeglasses: A Memoir by Martha Frankel4 stars
Martha learned about playing cards and gambling at the knees of her parents. Not surprisingly, she grew up to have a gambling ..."
I never thought of gambling as a career... I thought dad was going to retire but what if he decides he wants to gamble instead. He's always asking me to check his powerball tickets for him.
Invisible Killer: The Monster Behind the Mask, Diana Montane and Sean Robbins3 reluctant stars
I read this book in spite of the writing quality, not because of it. I found the writing pretty clumsy and purple, but the story was written from an unusual perspective and the case itself was pretty unusual. I was thrown throughout this book by the author's odd statements. For instance, he said again and again that a certain 13-year-old girl was probably his subject's "first killing" even though he'd been crystal clear that the first killing had been committed years earlier and the whole world knew about it. He also seemed to call mental retardation a "controllable condition" at one point. In spite of this kind of goofiness, I found the book intriguing because it focused on how completely normal the killer was when he wasn't disemboweling someone -- it's a point too many true-crime writers forget, that even serial killers are 99% normal and unremarkable.
Almost halfway into The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League. This is more biography than anything else, but there are threads of sociology, true crime and social history.
Mod
3 stars
A girl's relationship with her father is effected by his past and his experiences in Viet Nam. She goes to Viet Nam to see the places that shaped his future. This story jumps around in time so much that at times it is difficult to keep track. I wanted to get into this book more than what I did. The long narratives of his experiences in the war lost me.
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, Jeff Hobbs4 reluctant stars
I have to say that all the raves I heard about this book, it did not quite live up to expectations. It's won half the awards available, for Pete's sake, but what I read was a non-overwhelming, non-heartbreaking, non-shattering, but still thoughtful and elegaic biography of one of the author's college roommates. He never seems to just say right out that his friend's THC addiction is what kept him from using his Yale degree to really get himself somewhere. A quote from another friend, Oswaldo Gutierrez, sums it up best: "so smart, but so dumb." It's a terribly sad story of a life that ended too soon, but the author also does a great job of helping us understand how Rob rightly made a tremendous impression on everyone who knew him. It's a story of good people in bad situations, and how only some of them found their way out into something better. Well worth your time. Would make a great companion read with Dead Opposite: The Lives and Loss of Two American Boys.
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography
Laura Ingalls Wilder Edited by Pamela Smith Hill
2.5/5 stars
This is the annotated version of Laura Wilder's autobiography. I was excited to read it and I love it when there is extra material to flesh out a book but this book just dragged for me. The annotations were excessive, pulled you away from the story and were sometimes much longer than the actual written selection. I do think this book is historically valuable and if you are Wilder fanatic or scholar, you will probably love it but for the average reader you might just want to skip it.
I would love to hear if any others who read this felt the same way!
Mod
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography
Laura Ingalls Wilder Edited by Pamela Smith Hill
2.5/5 stars
T..."
I read it a couple of years ago and wholeheartedly agree with your review. I ordered it from Amazon and then waited months due to being backordered and was bored with most of it. And I am a huge fan. I recently started reading them again with my granddaughter, but we are not far enough into them yet for me to decide if I still enjoy them the way I did when I was a kid. Unfortunately, she is not enjoying them as much as I did.
Mod
4 stars
If you watch the TV show The Little Couple, you know that Jen and Bill have such positive outlooks on life and this book is no exception. We pretty much know about their lives since being on the show. This book tells us about their lives before the show so it is not simply telling us things we already know from the show. As a matter of fact, adopting their children doesn't happen until more towards the end of the book. I was wondering if she was even going to talk about her cancer and then finally in one of the last few pages she talks about it for just a few pages. If you've never read a book about little people, you will likely find some things in this book you never thought of before. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it goes back and forth, with one chapter with Jen speaking and the next chapter with Bill speaking, so if you put the book down in the middle of a chapter it would take a bit to figure out who was talking when you pick it back up again.
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer
Kate Summerscale
5/5 stars
This is the true crime story of Robert Coombes, who at the age of 13 in 1895 killed his mother in England while his father who was a sailor at sea. Robert and his brother Nattie (12) then went about their lives and eventually Robert convinces John Fox, a friend of the family to come and live with them. Fox does not suspect anything while in the house. When the boy’s Aunt finds out they are alone, she comes to the house and finds the mother dead. The two boys and Fox are arrested for the murder. As the trial proceeds, Fox and Nattie are found not guilty of the crime and Robert goes to an asylum instead of jail for the crime eventually being released to live an eventful and exemplary life. So why did he kill his mother?
I had a hard time putting this down. Summerscale does a great job discussing the time period, facts of the crime, the lives of the boys and the aftermath of the trial.
I think someone here read this but I can't remember who!
Precious Victims, Don Weber and Charles Bosworth4 stars, maybe even 5
This true crime story combines the biographies of all the major players in the story and shows how everyone involved finally landed in a courtroom in Peoria, trying Paula Sims for murder. I was tantalized but infuriated by the way everyone in the dang story kept telling me that Robert Sims was the strangest person they had ever met, and then failed to really explain what was so strange about him. (I did learn more about Rob than I did about Jay Smith in, not one, but THREE books about that guy, also described as the strangest man anyone had ever met.) The case itself is strange as anything, not really properly explained, and despite the resolution in the courtroom, far from satisfying. I was fascinated but I still wanted a lot more to tell me why any of this craziness happened.
The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican
By Benjamin Bleech & Roy Doliner --- 3.5 * * *
Many questions are raised and answered. In order to answer the questions the authors have to tell the life of the painter. Why is the Prophet Zechariah the introductory figure in the Chapel? In the Creation why does God "moon" the viewer? In the Garden of Pardise why do Adam and Eve eat from a "fig" tree and not an "apple" tree? Why on the ceiling are there 300 figures from the Old Testament and none from the New Testament? Who are the Sybils and what is their purpose? Why is the Prophet Jonah the most important figure on the ceiling? Why are cherubs making obscene gestures? In the Creation why does God touch Adam's left hand? In the Last Judgment why does Mary turn away from Jesus? Who is Jesus looking at in the Last Judgment? What is the significance of King Minos and his punishment? How did the painter sign his painting? Finally, why were all these secrets hidden in the painting or did the authors of this book make all this up? I wish I had read this book before I saw the Sistine Chapel.
Mod
4 stars
If you've read other books about Bobby Kennedy, you probably wont find a lot new here. I enjoyed the rare moments when the author talked about his personal experiences. Well-written and well-researched.
Enjoying Daddy's Little Secret: A Daughter's Quest To Solve Her Father's Brutal Murder. Daddy's secrets weren't so little, by the way.
Mod
Hmmm, now you have my curiosity going.
Koren wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Enjoying Daddy's Little Secret: A Daughter's Quest To Solve Her Father's Brutal Murder. Daddy's secrets weren't so little, by the way."Hmmm, now you have my curio..."
It's a good book.
Mod
4 stars
An introspective look at what it was like growing up on a Minnesota farm. I was interested because the author grew up not too far from me, about an hour drive, so it brought back many memories for me. The auctioning of the farm especially brought back a lot of memories, although the author's father died and mine did not. I thought it was interesting to see a different perspective on things that I see every day and take for granted. The author sees the landscape from a perspective of time and distance and I do not.
Hi everyone :) I really enjoyed reading the autobiography Leading, by Alex Ferguson, the former manager of Manchester United - I love reading first-hand accounts of what goes on behind the scenes in sport.Just thought I’d let you know that I bought this book through a webstore called Very Special Editions, and used a code, GOODREADS10, that’ll give you 10% off as a Goodreads user. Might be useful over the Christmas period!
Leading is available here, signed by Alex Ferguson: https://www.veryspecialeditions.co.uk...
Free first-class recorded delivery is included.
While I was browsing, I noticed these other two signed football memoirs as well – Big Sam by Sam Allardyce - https://www.veryspecialeditions.co.uk...
And The Gaffer: the Trials and Tribulations of a Football Manager by Neil Warnock: https://www.veryspecialeditions.co.uk...
The same code, discount and postage applies to these two books.
Mod
4 stars
I kept looking to see if this book was a memoir. It reads more like fiction but is indeed labeled memoir. The author takes a leave from her job as an attorney on Capitol Hill to help her father in his rural Tennessee medical practice. What follows is a revolving cast of characters that will warm your heart. After several months have gone it does not look like her mother is going to be able to return to her job. The author needs to make a decision. Should she stay or should she return to her job in Washington, D.C. that pays a heck of a lot more money? Well, the ending is fairly predictable but this is an easy, quick read.
Mod
4 stars
After reading Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit I wanted to read more by this author. Although some of the book is somewhat outdated, there is still a lot of relevant material here and sometimes a new perspective to some of the history talked about in this book. Too bad this guy doesn't run for president.
Koren wrote: "Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think by Chris Matthews4 stars
After reading Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit I wanted to read more by this author. Although some of the book is som..."
Does he have a website? You might want to drop him a line... :)
Mod
4 stars
After reading Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit I wanted to read more by this author. Although some of t..."
Good idea! I will check that out.
Stolen Lives: The Untold Stories of the Lawson Quins by Paul LittleThis memoir is about a family of quintuplets, 4 daughters and 1 son, plus an elder daughter, born in the 60's in Auckland to Ann and Sam Lawson. Back then they became famous, even world famous for being only the third surviving quins in the world. Yes Ann did have some kind of fertility treatment, (forget exactly what it was, not IVF) after it was found after the eldest daughter she had syndrome that made her infertile, yet she wanted more children. Her husband was diffident, one was enough for him. She thought she was going to have quads, but there was surprise extra (named Selina!).
So much media attention fell on the quins that the dad found it hard to cope, after 5 years he actually had an affair and left the children. They did get help from the govt and had a nanny initially but they weren't as spoiled as everyone supposed.
Ann won custody but her downfall was hooking up with another guy called Gary who was a psychopath and terrorised them all. She remarried and he then proceeded for 10 years to make their lives miserable until one day when the quins were 16 he shot and killed their mother and also killed himself.
The family was all in shock but the thing is their estranged dad did not step into help them out and basically took their home off them, and the girls went off the rails, a few got involved with gang members and were raped and abused while the son ran away to Aussie. The dad and his second wife pretty much ignored their problems, they did not have any further children but the second wife did not welcome her stepchildren.
It is a wonder they survived but this book tells how they coped. I thought was shocking and sad, but also interesting about how they grew up and had a rather idyllic childhood until the divorce. They went to the same high school I did for a time. The book never really explained how Ann came to be involved with a killer, or what motivated him to commit all these violent acts except he was also abused as a child. I found myself thinking what about the Dad didn't he give a damn, apparently he didn't and wrote negative things about his quintuplet children, and his actions showed how he just didn't care and left the children at the mercy of this violent stepdad and after he killed himself, he took their home. It might have been his second wife influenced him against them but you have to wonder what was really going on. Some of them did get involved with the occult, Gary would hold creepy seances and some of the children were haunted by him. They quins went on to have more children but all their relationships seemed to end badly like they were under a curse or something.
Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime by Janet and Geoff BengeI had read Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman the memoir of this humble maid turned missionary to China before, this book is a childrens/junior version of the story and inspiring as well as readable. Its amazing that Gladys survived in China where initially she didnt know a soul, couldnt speak the language, and nearly froze to death enroute. Some adventures include opening an inn and sharing bible stories, being a foot inspector, saving orphaned children, travelling miles on foot fleeing japanese soldiers, stopping a riot in prison, witnessing executions...
It just shows that when God calls you to do something, even the seemingly impossible, with faith you dont turn back! A movie was made of her life called the inn of sixth happiness starring Ingrid Bergman which I will check out one day.
This book is part of a series of biographies of christian heroes. I have shared this story in bible class before and the children enjoy hearing it. So be good one for church library.
I just gave "Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen: Sleeping With The Dead" 3 stars, but I have to say it totally failed as a biography. The author have all kinds of details of the crimes that were new to me -- not to mention an entirely new victim -- then turns to the biography part of the story. The author thumbnails a few of the main points, then screeches to a halt at the end of Nilsen's military career and basically says "Bye now! Hope you liked my book!". Lacky never tried to relate any of it to his alcoholism, his parabolic ways or his career as a serial killer. But what he did provide was well-written and intriguing . I just hope the author decides to finish the book someday...
Paraphilic ways, not parabolic ways. I am really starting to hate the Goodreads app.
Fishface wrote: "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, Jeff Hobbs4 reluctant stars
I have to say that all the raves I heard about thi..."
thank you:)
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
Books mentioned in this topic
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League (other topics)Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman (other topics)
Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime (other topics)
Stolen Lives: The Untold Stories of the Lawson Quins (other topics)
Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Kate Summerscale (other topics)Laura Ingalls Wilder (other topics)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (other topics)
Margot Lee Shetterly (other topics)
Richard Sandomir (other topics)
More...
Agree!