Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion
Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir read in 2023
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^ some of these might cross over to other categories like faction/ true crime
Hi, KitLooking at your list of memoirs, I think you might have a great time w/ my political/adventure memoir, Confronting Power and Chaos: the Uncharted Kaleidoscope of My Life. And you might really, really like to know that for the next 15 days, I am running a giveaway on LibraryThings.com. Here's your opportunity to read it for free. It is getting rave reviews from four different continents -- US, EU (incl UK), South Africa and Australia. I am really blown away by that! Cheers, Christine Skarbek
https://www.librarything.com/ner/deta...
Selina wrote: "Karin wrote: "The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun by Brother Yun and Paul HattawayThis is a difficult read given the level of ..."
I may look for the sequel.
Mod
5 stars
I love 'Walton-esque' family stories and learning what it was like pre-depression era days. This is the story of a strong woman who did not have life easy, but she met her troubles head-on. Life was hard in North Dakota without electricity or plumbing and she lost a baby and a husband at a young age. Even though I knew this woman could not possible be still alive (she would be over 100 years old) I was sad at the end when she died. One of the authors is her son. I think he is lucky to have such a wonderful mother to write about and such a legacy of hard work, family and strength.
Vacuuming in the Nude: And Other Ways to Get Attention
Peggy Rowe
4/5 stars
Peggy Rowe is the mother of Mike Rowe host of Dirty Jobs. She is also a talented writer and has written other books. She talks of her life with her family. This was very enjoyable and I look forward to reading her other books.
Mod
Vacuuming in the Nude: And Other Ways to Get Attention
Peggy Rowe
4/5 stars
Peggy Rowe ..."
The title certainly gets your attention.
Kit wrote: "I've been really tardy listing the books bios/ memoirs I've been reading this year. Also with reviews.. But in the interest of giving a shout out to them I have read the following so far this year:..."Could you put some of them in the 'mommie dearest' category, I noticed a few mum titles....
Mod
5 stars
This is a coffee table size book with beautiful photographs of the clothes, shoes and wigs that Dolly has worn through the years. There is also some autobiographical information but if you have read Dolly's other books you probably already know a lot of it. We are fortunate enough that someone had the vision to archive her wardrobe almost since she began her career. I kept thinking how llucky Dolly is to get to have worn some of these beautiful creations. Dolly talks about her assistants and designers like they are old friends, as indeed they were. Even if you don't like country music, you have to admire Dolly for her humor, entrepreneurship, ambition and humanitarianism.
Christine wrote: "Hi, KitLooking at your list of memoirs, I think you might have a great time w/ my political/adventure memoir, Confronting Power and Chaos: the Uncharted Kaleidoscope of My Life. And you might rea..."
thanks, I have 1000s of books on my to read list still so I'll probably miss this for now at least.
Selina wrote: "Kit wrote: "I've been really tardy listing the books bios/ memoirs I've been reading this year. Also with reviews.. But in the interest of giving a shout out to them I have read the following so fa..."Can't find the shelf to do it
Well, Kit, you can get a free pdf of it right now on LibraryThing.com if you sign up before 6 pm EST, Dec 26, and read it later at your leisure. Here's the link --- https://www.librarything.com/ner/deta...Holiday best wishes,
Christine
Looking at your list of memoirs, I think you might have a great time w/ my political/adventure memoir, Confronting Power and Chaos: the Uncharted Kaleidoscope of My Life...."
Penguin the Magpie: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family by Cameron Bloom4 stars --please note that this is a family memoir as well as the story of this bird.
Wow, the photographs are excellent! The story is very moving as well, although most of it is very simply told. Cameron Bloom, listed first on the cover (and deservedly so) is a photographer whose wife had a fall that led to paralysis (she later represented Australia as a paraplegic kayaker), and this is the story of how after they rescued an injured magpie chick, she grew to being a huge help in healing for the entire family including the emotional well being of his wife. The book is lovely but also poignant and honest.
Currently I'm reading an autobiography about a celebrity that you may not even know. The book is called To Selena, With Love
I started reading His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels
Hummingbird wrote: "Currently I'm reading an autobiography about a celebrity that you may not even know. The book is called To Selena, With Love"
What do you mean we may not even know. Everyone knows Selena!
Did I Ever Tell You This? by Sam Neillhaha no Sam Neill you didn't ever tell us your real name was...NIGEL!
Name dropping aside this is was a fun read but also poignant as Sam ahem SIR Sam Neill is going through chemo for bowel cancer.
He has been in many many movies and is just amazing how a boy from Dunedin has turned out and been with acting royalty (Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Sir John Gielgud, Michael Caine) but all his children care about was he was in that dinosaur movie...
Murray Ball: A Cartoonist's Life by Mason BallAnother kiwi icon - this one's based in Gisborne, the creator of Footrot Flats cartoon strip. His son Mason recalls what his dad was like, as cartoonist dedicated to his work and also as a father. It was a very interesting memoir and while my favourite was Jim Davis' Garfield I often had a glance at Footrot Flats on the funny pages.
The famous characters of Dog (a sheepdog) and Horse (a cat) had real life counterparts. Murray was a potential All Black but cartooning became his bread and butter. He did live on a farm but wasn't really a farmer. It makes me want to flip through Footrots Flats again for that wry sense of rural nz humour. There's even a letter from Charles Schulz in there. Some of Ball's politics was evident in his work which was interesting at the time (80-90s) because the way of life changed after 'Rogernomics' where almost all state assets were sold off/privatised.
I very much wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young but I wasn't good at drawing humans...cats, no problem!
Koren wrote: "Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones by Dolly Parton5 stars
This is a coffee table size book with beautiful pho..."
On my list...
Have you seen the Supremes book that was a good look at their costumes as well. Supreme Glamour by Mary Wilson
Mod
5 stars
This is a coffee table size book with..."
I have not. I will look for it.
Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen
3/5 stars
This is Bruce's autobiography about his family and his career as a musician. This was published in 2016. Very interesting but it is a long book.
In The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading author Dwight Garner documents the intersection of reading and eating in his life. It is an enjoyable discussion.My review:
https://mypointbeing.com/2023/12/19/t...
Mod
4 stars
The author was one of Ted Bundy's last victims before he was caught. She was brutally attacked and almost didn't live. She was at college living in a sorority house. Three other girls were also attacked and beaten with a wooden club that night and two of them didn't survive. The author takes issue with the common belief that Bundy was a handsome ladies man who lured his victims with charm. She claims Ann Rule's book is filled with inaccuracies. In addition to almost dying from Bundy's attack, she survived a deadly childhood disease and later a cancer diagnosis and Hurricane Katrina.
Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
Mitch Albom
5/5 stars
What a wonderful but sad story about Mitch Albom who with his wife befriend an orphan girl named Chika in Haiti at their Have Faith Haiti Orphanage. Unfortunately, she becomes quite ill and Albom and his wife try to get her treated medically and hopefully cured of her condition.
I thought maybe this would make a good buddy read discussion if others read it.The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
I will say it wasn't as good as Becoming and tends to swerve into more self-help genre and geared towards BIPOC (black, indigenous people of color?) females making their way in the world like herself but that aside, it was an easy enough read.
I wanted to know a bit more of what she ended up doing after her White House term but it seems not much except writing her memoirs, going on book tours and knitting. Malia and Sasha both moved to the west coast to attend varsity otherwise its more of a pep talk and an admission that she gets nervous making speeches too.
Michelle wasn't really concerned with foreign policy during her time at the White House and so those things are not in this book at all. I do think they tried to do as much as they could for Black African Americans by just being visible, but she seems to not be aware that if you appeal to just the minority which technically they are it won't be enough votes from the majority who don't share or have no idea about her point of view. The gap between the haves and have nots (in most countries) is a huge chasm.
It is sad that she was made to feel like she didn't belong in her own country she was born in, but thats a legacy she needs to live with and what many people encounter everyday. The thing is, to get ahead, gaining a higher education and obtaining a legal degree is not for everyone. There's probably more pressing issues and studying hard and making the grade to get into Harvard or Princeton may not be the only way to make a difference. Its possible yes because she did it herself, but you face even more challenges in that arena when people still don't accept thats what you can do.
Selina wrote: "Hummingbird wrote: "Currently I'm reading an autobiography about a celebrity that you may not even know. The book is called To Selena, With Love"
What do you mean we may not even..."
Thats true haha.
A Spoonful of Sugar: A Nanny's Story by Brenda AshfordA real life Mary Poppins - a Norland Nanny recalls her days as a nanny in England during world war 2. Brenda was 91 at the time of writing and had been a nanny for 62 years!
There are some lullabies/nursery rhymes in this book. Interesting in the times before kindergartens and preschools/daycares. Now ECE is big business, but chaotic as it always was (30 babies or toddlers in one room!) especially during the war when children were evacuated from the cities to the countryside, or even to overseas. They were billeted to huge country estates and small villages.
The training was interesting - you had to polish up a pram, and learn nursery rhymes as well as know how to make a bed.
Mod
4 stars
I watched the recent television tribute to Dick Van Dyke and remembered I had this book on my tbr shelf and wanted to learn more about him. He seemed like a sweet man on television and that's exactly how he comes across in his book. It seems like he gets along with just about everyone and enjoys working with everyone. This book was written more than 10 years ago and now he is 98 years old. They don't make them like Dick Van Dyke anymore.
In Returning Light: Thirty Years on the Island of Skellig Michael author Robert L. Harris writes about his years on a tiny island off the coast of Ireland where he played docent to tourists and assisted with the maintenance. It's an enjoyable diversion.My review:
https://mypointbeing.com/2024/01/05/r...
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
Books mentioned in this topic
Returning Light: Thirty Years on the Island of Skellig Michael (other topics)My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business (other topics)
A Spoonful of Sugar: A Nanny's Story (other topics)
To Selena, With Love (other topics)
The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert L. Harris (other topics)Mitch Albom (other topics)
Dwight Garner (other topics)
Bruce Springsteen (other topics)
Robert Samuels (other topics)
More...
My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story
Burning Butch
Somatic Fanatic: How Training My Nervous System With the World’s Master Instructors Helped Me Beat My Midlife Crisis
We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin
My Firefly
The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams
My Journey to the World Cup
1979: A Big Year in a Small Town
Last Shot
Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
The Other Mother: A Rememoir
The Con Man's Daughter: A Story of Lies, Desperation, and Finding God
I'm Glad My Mom Died
The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation
My Mum's A Twat
To Throw Away Unopened
Crocodile Soup
Annie John
The Isolation Artist: Scandal, Deception, and the Last Days of Robert Indiana
Most I didn't write reviews for. Though I might go back and remedy that for some of them sometime..