Coffee & Books discussion

Oh what a beautiful sight this is- Year 2013

Lets kick off the year right with a celebratory challenge! We did the biographical or autobiographical and/or memoir books last January. Since then we have had tons of great books come out that are under that category.

As a celebratory challenge we are going to make the first month a "Biographical/Autobiographical/Memoir" month!

So please:

You may pick one or a million books, as long as you finish it in January. The book(s) you must choose from have to be either a memoir, a biography or an autobiography of someone- maybe an inspiration of yours, an actor you love, someone who recently passed.

The duration of the challenge is from: January 1st to February 1st

Please post if you are joining and also state what biography/autobiography you will be reading for the month!


Enjoy the read you guys, it was a great success last month!

Memoirs, Biographies and Autobiographies

Rachel- A Million Little Pieces
Cathie- Life with My Sister Madonna
Kylie- A Million Little Pieces
Carolyn- Growing Up Amish: A Memoir
Kel- Seriously...I'm Kidding
Ann- Mein Kampf
Ciska- Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948
Jenny- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Veronica- Life Is So Good
Rebecca- Bossypants
Sally- Yoga Bitch: One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment & Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Book Concierge-
Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France & French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew
Melissa- Steve Jobs
Sarah-Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story
Cathie- Life with My Sister Madonna & If I Knew Then What I Know Now-- So What?
Diana- The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian
Michael- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Wendy- MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend

Life with My Sister Madonna

I also plan on reading A Million Little Pieces. It's been on my bookshelf for far too long!

I will give this one a whirl....must see what I have in this category! :)

I'm going to read Growing Up Amish: A Memoir finished 6/1/13

I will go with Seriously...I'm Kidding Completed 01/06/13

I think I will go with Mein Kampf .. I have no idea about this book but still I want to give it a try.
Completed 23/1/13

I got Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 ready for January

Ooooohhhhh!! I have A Prague Winter! Thanks for adding it for yourself Ciska! I probably would have forgotten it!

I'm going with Bowie: A Biography. I've had this for years!

Great list so far!

I'm changing mine to A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail :)

Life is So Good
by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman

Going for something funny. I'll read Bossypants !

Oddly, both books were very "Eat Pray Love" style - both authors were on a quest to find themselves in different ways...hiking or yoga in Bali.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed - FINISHED 1/3/13
Yoga Bitch - FINISHED 1/4/13

I think I will try to read one of Peter Mayle's memoirs - Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France ... or French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew

☑ Steve Jobs 4 stars 1/31/13

I finished Life with My Sister Madonna It was ok. 3 stars. It's my trashy, gossip book read for this year, lol.

I am now going to start reading If I Knew Then What I Know Now-- So What?

I'm going to read The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian by Phil Doran

I have to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for school, and since that fits into this category I'm going to join in on this challenge!

I am done :)

Finished If I Knew Then What I Know Now-- So What? - 3 stars

For those of you that are finished, how did you like your books? What did you learn?

Finished reading French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle - 3***
Link to my full review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Won't get to another one ... too many challenges!

I'm going to hurry up and read MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend
I just finished Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever but it wasn't really his whole life story.. so it felt like cheating. :-)

I read two - Yoga Bitch: One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. The first one was seriously, very Eat Pray Love - a woman trying to become more zen...humorous in parts, but really didn't have me laughing as much as I had hoped. I gave it 3 stars. I enjoyed the concept behind the second book more and gave that one 4 stars. It totally made me appreciate what serious hikers endure on some of these massive undertakings!!! Wowzers. She was INSANE doing it on her own though.

Overall, I wouldn't do either thing. I'm too fidgety to ever teach yoga (plus, I still find myself giggling at some of the more intense poses), and would never tackle that much of a serious hike - especially alone. I'll stick with day trips instead. :)

Finished Post #18

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend was a fun read and inspired me to go make some new friends! Insightful and informative.