Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion
2020 Reading Challenge
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Koren
(new)
Jan 01, 2020 11:22AM
Mod
reply
|
flag
Mod
Signed in Blood: The True Story of Two Women, a Sinister Plot, and Cold Blooded Murder
3 stars
I liked the basic premise of the story. It's pretty rare to read about two older ladies who befriend homeless or down-on-their luck gentlemen, take out multiple insurance policies on them with themselves as the beneficiaries, and then kill them. But we find this out in the first pages and then the rest is trial, first the preliminary trial, which is similar to a grand jury trial, and then the main trial, which is mostly a repeat of the preliminary trial. The book doesn't delve very much into the background of the ladies or their victims. If you like the minutia of reading about trials, you may like this book, otherwise skip it.
I don't really have a TBR list or shelf Koren. I tend to go through my books quickly and return them to the library if they expire and I still haven't read them. The other books on my shelf are gardening books and illustrated non-fiction, but some I don't read them all the way through I just refer to them or look them up.
In terms of memoir and autobiography I rarely pass them over if I've picked them out. Its more if people give me books that I don't feel inclined to read them straight away. The ones I skip over would be the ones that are too academic, got heaps of footnotes, or just I'm not that interested in that person's life story. Sports athletes bios and actors I've not ever seen or heard of would be in that category. Hagiographies of politicians.
Maybe if the book is more than 10 years old you could add a tag of what year it was published...?In my library general rule of thumb is anything older than 5 years can be weeded if it hasn't been borrowed. Generally I want to keep the collection fresh because children aren't interested in outdated books. With classics publishers will reprint them to keep the covers interesting.
The worst is in some church libraries that hadn't been properly weeded in years and coming across books that refer to the 1990s as modern. Or books saying the rapture would happen in 1988.
There was a run of books in public libraries that predicted the world would end in 2012. Well, we are still here. Mayans, you were wrong.
Books have a shelf life too.
Mod
In my library general rule of thumb is anything older than 5 years can be weeded if it hasn't been ..."
No worries, Selina. It's just my New Year's goal to read books that have been sitting around a while. If you dont have any just dont do it.
How many have you got in your pile? Maybe some of us already have read them and can tell you whether it's worth it to read them or not.
Mod
Maybe some of us already have read them and can tell you whether it's worth it to read them or not."
I have lots and most I have only paid 25 to 50 cents at garage sales and used book sales or swapped for free on paperbackswap.com. I dont really have piles, more like bookcases. I have a bookcase that is just true crime, a book case and also my bed has a bookcase headboard that is mostly bios, autobios, and memoirs, and miscellaneous nonfiction. In my spare bedroom I have a bookcase that is mostly photo albums and reference books and books I have read that I want to re-read some day. I try not to read reviews before I read a book. Many times I dont agree with what others think and I dont want their reviews to cloud my judgement. All together the last time I counted I had over 200 True Crime and at least 200 other nonfiction and I usually have 1 book and 1 e-book from the library. So I think I am set for at least 3 years if I never got another book, which isn't likely. I try to keep the older books in my living room bookcase so I can read the older ones first.
Good luck with your challenge Koren. Sounds like you will be busy.I am doing a library Summer reading challenge that ends this month.
There are ten categories and I've already done nine. The last is to read a digital magazine except it wont download onto my computer, so I will probably just read a real magazine instead. The challenges were not too challenging for me...
I will give you the link so you can see what they are...https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz...
I have entered but not won any prizes..yet.
Mod
Bummer I didnt win anything, but I did go along to the childrens summer reading party as got an invite from the childrens librarian and got free icecream. They had Spider Man come and demonstrate his super hero powers. :-)
Im getting round to clearing my shelves Koren so finally got round to Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It which I am now reading. Is it too late to learn a language? I hope not, I've pretty much mastered English but am fairly hopeless at Chinese. When I go to family gatherings and everyones speaking Chinese I often just tune out sorry to say. I never had any books in Chinese growing up. Im going to have to make it my challenge this year to actually read one, even if its a baby board book.
Also to add a note of triumph... I have cleared all of last years new books in the school library...all catalogued and covered and on the shelves. Hooray! Now whats left to do is catalogue and shelve all the donated books and order in brand new books for this year.
Mod
Now whats left to do is catalogue and sh..."
Good job! I love organization. I just wish I was better at it.
Selina wrote: "Is it too late to learn a language? I hope not, I've pretty much mastered English but am fairly hopeless at Chinese. When I go to family gatherings and everyones speaking Chinese I often just tune out sorry to say."Do they speak Mandarin, or one of the other dialects, Selina. I've always wanted to learn Mandarin. :)
Diane in Australia wrote: "Selina wrote: "Is it too late to learn a language? I hope not, I've pretty much mastered English but am fairly hopeless at Chinese. When I go to family gatherings and everyones speaking Chinese I o..."Its cantonese dialect. Mandarin is very different from Cantonese. Same writing though. So I suspect that the syntax is the same just the pronounciation and words are completely different. I suppose its like how Scottish is to English...
Selina wrote: "Its cantonese dialect. Mandarin is very different from Cantonese. Same writing though. So I suspect that the syntax is the same just the pronounciation and words are completely different. I suppose its like how Scottish is to English..."Ah, okay, thanks. :)
This learning the lingo thing seems like it will take a lot of time...the book says you need to make your own flash cards, with google images and then write in the language and ask someone online to correct you as well..and you could pay them to do it.
Then something about declension charts and buying a grammar book and listening to i-talk...and Im not even half way. The website has an app but it doesnt have the language I want to learn...
Has anyone here tried Babbel? A client of mine became fluent in conversational Russian using it. It does offer Chinese but IDK whether that means Cantonese, Mandarin or both.
no..never heard of it.I borrowed Milet Bilingual Visual Dictionary in English and Chinese and mum said some of the words were wrong...but Im relying on her to tell me the right ones...cos I dont know how to read Chinese. I think if I keep working on my vocab some of the characters I see will start to stick. Numbers I can read but there are so many different characters and there is no alphabet so it just goes by pictogram and number of strokes, unlike English where you can sound out the letters and can attempt to say the word.
Mod
I borrowed Milet Bilingual Visual Dictionary in English and Chinese and mum said some of the words were wrong...but Im relying on her to tell me the right one..."
Another company is called Rosetta Stone but I've never tried it so I cant say much about it.
I borrowed a few more bilingual picture dictionaries and some childrens books. So I have Madeline Finn and the Library Dog and some Miffy books in Chinese. Also Garfield, but Im not at the stage of reading them on my own yet, there are so many words to memorise!
So much for my challenge, mum didnt want to play and complained that my chinese picture books from the library are badly translated.
Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Also to add a note of triumph... I have cleared all of last years new books in the school library...all catalogued and covered and on the shelves. Hooray! Now whats left to do is c..."
you need to read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
and Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up
Mod
Now whats l..."
Actually, its my husband that needs to read it. I'm actually pretty good at it if I take the time to do it but he is a classic hoarder and gets upset if I talk about getting rid of stuff.
haha both my parents are hoarders...Dad with vinyl records as his collection and mum with her sewing room etc and Im just thankful my own bedroom doesnt have any of their stuff in it. We have an extra shower, but its not used cos it has mums stuff in it. And the spare room I couldnt even get in to use my desk cos it had all my sisters stuff there...so I moved all that to my brothers, who has a larger house, which is also filled with car parts etc.
So I became a librarian go figure.
Mod
I went through my son's collection of books and found some that fit my reading challenge. And I am also reading a book on my iPad but I do prefer hardcover books. We don't have a lot of details but the library where I work is making plans for re-opening starting with opening the book drop and you can pick up your holds at the front door.
Selina wrote: "haha both my parents are hoarders...Dad with vinyl records as his collection and mum with her sewing room etc and Im just thankful my own bedroom doesnt have any of their stuff in it. We have an ..."
My husband is a hoarder and it is not fun! But we all still love him anyway.
Mod
I feel your pain! LOL!
Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "haha both my parents are hoarders...Dad with vinyl records as his collection and mum with her sewing room etc and Im just thankful my own bedroom doesnt have any of their stuff in it..."My husband too is a hoarder. The basement is completely his except for the washing machine/dryer area. I keep trying to get him to get rid of things down there -just so we can get around things. The rest of the house is pretty clear but the garage has a lot of stuff in it too. He used to own a side business and stored things down there.
Koren wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "haha both my parents are hoarders...Dad with vinyl records as his collection and mum with her sewing room etc and Im just thankful my own bedroom doesnt have any of the..."But to be fair, every single person in my house tends to collect things, he's just by far the worst. Even my middle daughter who thinks she's so good just has collections of tiny things plus almost all the art she has done since she started college... And she likes to keep some of her tiny things spread out on the floor (as a child it was pencils with the erasers removed, but for years now it's been these tiny people she makes from model magic).
BUT I am the one who likes to clear the clutter and reduce, but have given up the "fight" since it's a losing cause.
I only have five more public library books left to read....we are allowed to borrow up to 35 at a time.
Mod
I think collecting and hoarding are two very different things.
I believe collecting can actually (and inadvertently) turn into hoarding. For example, I collect various colors of yarn for crocheting, and before I know it, I've got 60 skeins that I still haven't used.
DeAnna wrote: "I believe collecting can actually (and inadvertently) turn into hoarding. For example, I collect various colors of yarn for crocheting, and before I know it, I've got 60 skeins that I still haven't..."Knitter here, I feel your pain. Or joy.
Koren wrote: "Karin wrote: "Koren wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "haha both my parents are hoarders...Dad with vinyl records as his collection and mum with her sewing room etc and Im just thankful my own be..."Yes, I agree. My husband does both and our basement proves it.
we dont have a basement or attic..,so stuff usually gets put in the garage, which means our cars are just kept outside in the driveway.
I have read all my library books ALL of them!
And the libraries are closed again as we had another lockdown.
What's a librarian to do?!
Hence the quizzes.
My next challenge I'm going to set myself, is to read a biography/memoir around the world, one from each continent. Maybe from a country I hadn't read anything about before. If I can't travel anywhere by plane or ship, I will go by book.
1. Europe
2. Asia
3. Africa
4. Oceania
5.North America
6. South America
7. Antarctica
Mod
ALL of them!
And the libraries are closed again as we had another lockdown.
What's a librarian to do?!
Hence the quizzes.
My next challenge I'm going to set my..."
I am enjoying the quizzes. Keep them coming!
My challenge is going fairly well. I think next month I can clear the top of my bookcase. But there is a book sale coming up in September so that may be a set back.
Our library is open but we are suppose to wear masks and come in and get books and not stay long. Our little branch library is limiting patrons to 3 at a time.
Question...what continent is the Middle East part of Asia? Or Africa? Or is it Europe. I've got a memoir about Jordan, well not really Jordan but the author's Dad is from there. It's called The Language of Baklava: A Memoir
This week the libraries reopened again and I was able to pick up a load of books. We are back at work again so I haven't been running out and resorting to e-books.
The children were hanging out for more books too as they'd run out of books to read in the lockdown and were re-reading all their old ones.
DeAnna wrote: "I believe collecting can actually (and inadvertently) turn into hoarding. For example, I collect various colors of yarn for crocheting, and before I know it, I've got 60 skeins that I still haven't..."But it's not hoarding until you find yourself unable to get rid of it, even after you decided that shade of yellow is all wrong for the project you were thinking about.
I think I have read about almost every continent now.the Jacques Costeau memoir included Antarctica.
It seems the Middle East is it's own region - neither Asia, Africa or Europe. So I am going to read a couple of books set in Jordan.
Also Mexico, as I'm a bit Americaned out. There's only really three countries in North America but it seems I've read about almost every state in the US.
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
Books mentioned in this topic
The Language of Baklava: A Memoir (other topics)The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (other topics)
Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up (other topics)
Madeline Finn and the Library Dog (other topics)
Miffy (other topics)
More...
