Announcing the March tag

[Ladyslott]

I plan on reading:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier; it's been on my TBR since January 2017, so it's time to get to it.

[Booknblues]

Ladyslott wrote: "I plan on reading:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier; it's been on my TBR since January 2017, so it's time to get to it."

It is the one book, I didn't recommend because I thought someone else would. It is a great choice.

[Tracy]

I have a lot more than I thought. I guess it’ll depend on who I feel like reading or listening to. I’m leaning toward Patti Smith. I have both of her books somewhere.

[[deleted user]]

Anita wrote: " Lisa A wrote: "This sounds like an autobiography to me . . .or at least very close to it. ..."

After thinking on it, I agree. I read it with a local book group during April 2016, so had to put my thinking cap on to recall details. (Darn book brain fuzziness!) In my opinion, a well written book and Beryl Markham certainly lived a colorful life. The entire book group gave it a thumbs up. :-) Hope you enjoy it as well, should you choose to read it.

[[deleted user]]

Jenny wrote: "I always get muddled up with auto/biography!

I've got my choices down to two: A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets ....

I was considering A Street Cat Named Bob too but already started it. Definitely is a quick read though. :-) Now am thinking on Lab Girl, I Am Malala or The World According to Bob: The Further Adventures of One Man and His Street-wise Cat. All books I own that I should read before finding some other interesting library book.

Congrats on your one year PBT anniversary.

[[deleted user]]

Amy wrote: "Ireland was my worst month in PBT ever. Probably even worse than Space Opera. ..."

Now I am curious. What did you read for the Ireland tag, Amy?

[Nicole D.]

My one recommendation is

The Autobiography of Malcolm X and I feel half tempted to re-read it.

Jane Fonda's My Life So Far was also fascinating.

The Bell Jar is coming up and that's certainly an autobiographical novel, but it's a novel, but I feel like I may want to read it for the 4th time.

Shantaram is also listed as autobiography, and i'd like to dig into that, but need to understand why it's tagged that way first.

Beyond that I don't know what I will read, I miss the easy way to find the books on my TBR which fit the tag

I found one ... Reckless: My Life as a Pretender

[Denizen]

Ladyslott wrote: "I plan on reading:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier; it's been on my TBR since January 2017, so it's time to get to it."

That's an excellent choice in my opinion. My other recommendation is Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I read the two books about a month apart and they had quite an impact on me.

The two books I'm considering are Lost Boy by Brent Jeffs or Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller.

[Anita]

Nicole D. wrote: "My one recommendation is

The Autobiography of Malcolm X and I feel half tempted to re-read it.

Jane Fonda's My Life So Far was also fascinating.

[book:The Bell Jar|65..."

I read Shantaram and think you would like it a lot, but it is fiction based on real experiences. I personally wouldn't tag it as autobiography, but I can see why others did.

The author has stated:

"With respect, Shantaram is not an autobiography, it’s a novel. If the book reads like an autobiography, I take that as a very high compliment, because I structured the created narrative to read like fiction but feel like fact. I wanted the novel to have the page-turning drive of a work of fiction but to be informed by such a powerful stream of real experience that it had the authentic feel of fact."

[Book Concierge]

This is the tag I voted for ... and now I wish I had voted for "classics" .... LOL


re West with the Night ... one of my favorite reads. Definitely would qualify as autobiography as it covers much of her life up to the time she was writing it. Of course, there's controversy over whether she actually wrote this herself, or had her husband ghost-write it for her. But it is a GREAT read!

Other recommendations:
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Burro Genius by Victor Villasenor
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen



My F2F book club has Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste on the schedule for May .... I'll read it early as it fits the March tag.

Another possibility for me
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

[Amy]

I read Brooklyn, on my one year anniversary last March. Nicole and others warned me against it, but my husband had the movie recorded and loved it, and wanted me to see it too. So I felt it was better to read the book 1st, before I saw the movie. That book was just terrible. Turns out the movie was much better. I really hated the main character. Then after that I read the satire A Modest Proposal. That did me in! I guess that’s not too bad. I still consider myself the ultimate PBT Devotee, Although some of you were giving me a run for my money.

[Anita]

Lisa A wrote: "Anita wrote: " Lisa A wrote: "This sounds like an autobiography to me . . .or at least very close to it. ..."

After thinking on it, I agree. I read it with a local book group during April 2016, so..."

I'm going with this one at least to start! I think it fits, and it has been on my TBR for forever!!

[Susie]

Anita wrote: "Susie wrote: "*sob sob*"

No crying in PBT, Susie . . .you liked Lab Girl. There's some hope."

That is true Anita. I loved Lab Girl. I'll stop sobbing!

[Susie]

Tracy wrote: "Susie wrote: "I think I’ll read The Glass Castle, and if I’m feeling particularly brave I might read Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?"

I loved Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal- Jeanette W..."

Oh good Tracy! I have only read one of her books, the Christmas one, and I really enjoyed her writing. I'm looking forward to giving it a go now.

[Cynda]

I guess this is as good a time as any for the reveal. I selected the classics tag. I am doing a classics challenge with another group throughout the year--12 books, my selection. As this March tag continued, I also became enchanted by the illustrated tag. However, I am most happy with the biograghy tag as March is Women's History Month, so I am good.
Life is a Box of Chocolates.

[Ladyslott]

Nicole D. wrote: I found one ... Reckless: My Life as a Pretender

[Ladyslott]

Ladyslott wrote: "Nicole D. wrote: I found one ... Reckless: My Life as a Pretender"

I was disappointed in this book, and I am a huge Chrissie Hynde fan, I just think I wanted more. It's easy to read, but the focus on drugs, while accurate, overtakes the latter part of the book that has more focus on The Pretenders.

[Nicole R]

For those of you also participating in the PBT Decathlon, I just posted the March challenge on the decathlon thread in the challenges folder!

[Amy]

Does the Hate U Give count for autobiography?

[Amy]

She’s only 16, so she hast has The a long life yet. She’s the author and it’s her story, right?

[Susie]

I wouldn’t have thought so Amy.

[Amy]

I’m reading it for March 2nd. Susie says no. Anyone have an argument for yes? Or should I give up the ghost?

[Susie]

As far as I’m aware it’s fiction.

[LibraryCin]

Jenny wrote: "I always get muddled up with auto/biography!

I've got my choices down to two: A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets or [book:A Charmed Life: Gro..."

I was also considering "A Streetcat Named Bob"! :-)

[Anita]

Sorry Amy. Hate U Give is pure fiction . . .

[Nicole R]

Amy wrote: "She’s only 16, so she hast has The a long life yet. She’s the author and it’s her story, right?"

It is not her story, it is fiction. It is inspired by her childhood, but is not a true account and is heavily reliant upon current events and the Black Lives Matter movement.

[Ladyslott]

Amy wrote: "I’m reading it for March 2nd. Susie says no. Anyone have an argument for yes? Or should I give up the ghost?"

It's fiction

[Amy]

Really! I had assumed otherwise! Makes her work even more astonishing. I’m looking forward to reading it.

[Tessa (FutureAuthor23)]

I second any of Chelsea Handler's books--so funny.

I would most highly recommend Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Angela's Ashes, A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout, or The Glass Castle.

I plan on reading either 'Tis by Frank McCourt cuz it fits well with the month of March 🍀, or Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling cuz both of these books have been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time and I'm trying hard to stick to reading books on my own shelves this year.

[KateNZ]

Drat!! I'm half way through Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood and really enjoying it. And I finished I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban last week (not strongly recommended though - I almost discarded it). My timing is impeccable.

I'm more a biography than an autobiography girl usually, but there are some great recommendations here. I own Twelve Years a Slave so that's a start at least.

I'd recommend any of Gerald Durrell's autobiographical books (ie most of what he wrote). Pick your favourite part of the world and he's been there. Fabulous and very funny.

[Karin]

Anita wrote: "Well, we had a very close vote, but slightly more people threw more participation points at:

autobiography

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below!

Remember, for the regular mo..."

This will take some thought since I don't have any my current reading agenda (so now you all know how I voted). I probably hav some somewhere in my tbr and will get back to this next week :).

I do have suggestions and will get back to that then as well.

Happy reading!

[Michael]

For my personal approach to using the tag I agree with Nicole that memoir is a subset of autobiography. But I don't tend to apply the latter tag when the work has its larger focus on an external subject.

For example, Into Thin Air, Homage to Catalonia, A Walk in the Woods, and The Color of Water have subjects that become more like a personal form of journalism than a reflection on the author's life. A lot of travel books like on BnB's wonderful list do put a lot of the author in focus. Recent favored reads that for me do lean enough in that direction:

--Lab Girl--lively take on a brilliant but bipolar scientist's journey
--When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine--heartfelt and warm portrait of a childhood in a tiny paper mill town in Maine in the 50s
--Sky of Stone--self-portrait of the "Rocket Boy" in movie "October Sky" growing up a coal mining town in Appalachia
--Just Kids--musician's memoir of time with artistic figures in NYC in the 60s
--The Year of Magical Thinking--a journalist's account of the chaos of mind after the death of her husband
--Wind, Sand and Stars--Little Prince author reflects on his pioneering flying career in South America and Africa
--Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs--artistic and family roots of the famous photographer growing up in the South
--A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush--an ad man pushes his climbing hobby into extremes with a serious trek into the wild in the 50s
--Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides--a pursuit of nature and history of a set of tiny islands in the Hebrides the author inherits
--The Innocents Abroad--Twain's rollicking and comic tour of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land
--My Own Country: A Doctor's Story--an Indian immigrant doctor takes up care of AIDs victims early in the epidemic in rural Tennessee and comes to identify with their alienation
--The Periodic Table--Levi's conclusion to his moving series of survival and progress of recovery from the Nazi camps, covering his transition to a career in chemistry
--H is for Hawk--a lonely academic woman works out her depression through training a hawk

I aim to pursue a memoir of a favored New England naturalist, Bernard Heinrich, The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology. I also would like to follow up on McCourt's powerful Angela's Ashes and Teacher Man with his 'Tis A Memoir.

[Elise]

First I thought of Night, but you can't take it out from my local library and I'm too lazy to look for somewhere else.
Then I got an e-mail from NetGalley for a memoir, The Boy on the Beach, and I thought, hey, coincidence!
But then reading suggestions here reminded me of The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, which I loved, and it turns out my library has a copy of The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by the same author and classified as autobiography on GR, so if it's still there tomorrow that'll be my choice!

If you're interested in space and astronauts, I suggest Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe, which I enjoyed a lot.

[Jgrace]

You've reminded me that I have The Sky Below on my kindle. That's another option for me next month.
And thanks to Michael for reminding me about My Own Country: A Doctor's Story.

As usual the month won't be long enough.

[SouthWestZippy]

I am going with this, as best I can, lots of memoirs fit this also.
au·to·bi·og·ra·phy
ˌôdəbīˈäɡrəfē/Submit
noun
an account of a person's life written by that person.

I am so giddy and don't know what to pick first!

My highly recommend book.
Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through North America

More recommended books.
My Extraordinary Ordinary Life
All By My Selves: Walter, Peanut, Achmed, and Me
This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection
Between a Heart and a Rock Place
Three Little Words: A Memoir
Teacher Man
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less
Truck: A Love Story
Granny D: Walking Across America in My Ninetieth Year
Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer
On the Rez
Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business
Heart Full of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir about Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way
Reba: My Story
Heart in the Right Place
Turning White: A Memoir of Change
I Still Have It . . . I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It: Confessions of a Fiftysomething
That Went Well: Adventures in Caring for My Sister
The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star
Why I Jumped: My True Story of Postpartum Depression, Dramatic Rescue & Return to Hope
You Will Not Have My Hate

On my TBR mountain.
The World According to Bob: The Further Adventures of One Man and His Street-wise Cat
The Road to Burnout
Possible Side Effects
The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir
American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest
Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod
Burning Fence: A Western Memoir of Fatherhood
It's Not My Mountain Anymore

I have tons more for both list but I would typing most the day. I need time to read. LOL

[Kelly]

Does the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath count as an autobiography? It has been marked as one 107 times in Goodreads, but one place I saw said is was semi-autobiographical. If anyone read it already, what do you think?

[Jenni Elyse]

I'm so sad. I have been so busy that I completely missed the vote. :( Oh well.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read for March yet, but I recommend:

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Night by Elie Wiesel

[Ladyslott]

Kelly wrote: "Does the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath count as an autobiography? It has been marked as one 107 times in Goodreads, but one place I saw said is was semi-autobiographical. If anyone read it already, what..."

It's a fictionalized account of Plath's breakdown.

[Kelly]

Ladyslott wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Does the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath count as an autobiography? It has been marked as one 107 times in Goodreads, but one place I saw said is was semi-autobiographical. If anyone read it..."

Thanks! I will pick something else then.

[Sushicat]

I’ve packed Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood for my trip. So this might be my first choice.

[Amy]

Jason and I are reading that this month, so you can be with us. My copy is on its way to the library and I will pick it up Tuesday.

[Jenni Elyse]

I've decided that I'll read Born a Crime as well. I've been wanting to read it for a while and this will be the perfect time. I just checked it out on my Kindle from my library. :)

[Cynda]

Hi All. Do we wait until March 1st to start reading and posting here?

[Jgrace]

Cynda wrote: "Hi All. Do we wait until March 1st to start reading and posting here?"

Begin posting March 1st. Won't hurt to start reading a bit before if you intend to finish by then.

[Amy]

And that’s four of us - Hooray!

[Cynda]

Okay. Thanks.

[Michelle (MichelleBookAddict)]

My possible tbr from the books I own:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansar
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Princess Diariest by Carrie Fisher (audiobook)
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
The Day I Shot Cupid by Jennifer Love Hewitt (audiobook)
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe (dnf)
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

[LibraryCin]

Cynda wrote: "Hi All. Do we wait until March 1st to start reading and posting here?"

On March 1, someone (likely Nicole) will set up a new folder for "Autobiography". At that point, you'll be able to post your review.

I'd like for Nicole to confirm, but when we do games/challenges (so if this is also going to count for the decathlon for you), you should wait until Mar. 1 to start. We're more strict with the games/challenges than we are with the monthly tags. Again, hopefully Nicole can confirm for me that you should probably wait IF you are counting it for Decathlon.

[[deleted user]]

Michael wrote: "For my personal approach to using the tag I agree with Nicole that memoir is a subset of autobiography. But I don't tend to apply the latter tag when the work has its larger focus on an external su..."

Michael, that's a really thorough list with many reading choices. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[Nicole R]

I confirm what Cindy said. You should not start your Decathlon book until March 1, however, we are more lenient with the monthly tag though encourage you to wait for the actual month to begin to stick with the spirit of PBT.

Regardless, I will not post any threads for reviews until the first!

Hope that helps.