Memoirs and Biographies We Love discussion

I just went and bought Night Train to Lisbon.... I absolutely cannot continue with Stewart O'Nan's The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy. I thought I had a strong stomach, but it is just too gruesome. I have been listening to several hours of the description of the people burned in the fire. It goes on and on. No, I cannot take it any more.

Thanks, Chrissie, for the Benjamin Franklin biography recommendation. My husband's been looking for a good biography of him in advance of our trip to France.

Joy Weese wrote: "Thanks, Chrissie, for the Benjamin Franklin biography recommendation. My husband's been looking for a good biography of him in advance of our trip to France."

Joy, oh, that is cool! When are you going and which parts are you going to visit. I have liked living in Belgium simply because it is close to France. Wait till you see it. I hope you get to Brittany.... When my husband retires we will live there and Sweden.

Glad I could help. If you want other good books about France do check my France shelf.

Thanks, Chrissie. We're taking a tour with the Missouri Botanical Garden in the Loire Valley and then spending 4 days in Paris. Of course, we're missing so much that we already know we have to go back!

Your France shelf is going to be a terrific resource for me.

Joy, you are going to have so much fun!

I just finished Night Train to Lisbon, which I DO recommend, but only if you enjoy books with philosophical content.

My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

The setting is primarily Lisbon but you also visit Finisterre in Galicia, Spain, and Bern, Switzerland.

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Now I will startJohn Adams. I thought I should take a mini-break after reading and loving Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, but actually I have only been thinking about returning to the founding fathers since I closed that book!

Phew, its over: The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Have started Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. This is a YA book, and although I rarely read them, I was told that it is for adults too. The little I have read makes me agree totally. This is a book that looks at what REALLY happened at the Salem Witch Trials at the end of the 1600s. What is known, and why did this happen? I am impressed by the author's clear reasoning and ability to place readers in the mindset of another place and time, enabling us to understand their behavior.

I am reading it because I want to understand the times BEFORE the American fight for independence covered in both Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and John Adams. I am loving JA as much as BF!

I finished Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trialsand thought it was very good! Not just for kids, although it is a YA book. Clear, informative and to the point, without all the erroneous hearsay that surrounds this topic.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...


I am also listening to books about American Independence and so I decided to follow the same vein and read The Winthrop Woman, to better understand the Puritan faith. I loved this author's Katherine. I am hoping it will be equally good. This is historical fiction that doesn't play around with the facts, only what is not known, such as emotions and thoughts and dialog are added.

Loving: John Adams

My Internet connection has been down for two days. Horrible. In the interim I have finished both
John Adams
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and A Soldier's Diary
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I haven't enjoyed a book as much as "John Adams" in ages! It is fabulous. Everybody should read this book. "A Soldier's Diary" got four stars, so that was good too.

Will begin: City of Women

I'm reading A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France

I just finished "Charlemagne", which was a bit dry, although the subject overcame the prose. Also just finished "Lady Bird Johnson, an Oral History" which was fascinating. Apparently the LBJ/LBJ love letters are being released this week. That should be a nice follow-up.

Gary, what are you thinking of A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France? Yes, it was definitely worth reading but the audiobook had poor narration in that the woman could not pronounce French properly. Furthermore, maybe it would have been better if the author focused on just a few individuals. I really didn't empathize with them.

I finished The Winthrop Woman
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

and

City of Women
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Will now start the audiobook The Rape of Nanking
and the DTB The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia

I finished The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia.
An excellent book for young adults! It is an autobiographical account of the author's childhood in Siberia during WW2!
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Will start another book about the Jewish experience. Tightrope: Six Centuries of a Jewish Dynasty is about the Backenroth family. This too is not fiction, but a real family, followed from the Middle Ages to the present.

Everybody should read or listen to Anna Fields' narration ofThe Rape of Nanking.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

For pure fun I will now start This Side of Brightness. So far I have loved everything by Colum McCann. Can this guy disappoint? I don't think so.

Just bought, "After Visiting Friends". A memoir about a son who lost his father when he was a child. His father died while he was visiting friends and after years of unanswered questions, the son goes to find out who his father really was. Can't wait to read this! Here's a great review of it if you would like to learn more! http://nyjournalofbooks.com/review/af...

Also "Facing the Wave" by Gretel Ehrlich seems like a compelling memoir as well. The true account of a reporter going to Japan after the 2011 tsunami and making her way through the devastation and getting first hand accounts and interviews of what happened. Should be a fast read! Read this review for a better synopsis! http://nyjournalofbooks.com/review/fa...

I have just finished reading my own memoir by way of self narration. I am interested to know how many people would prefer to listen to an author reading their own story as opposed to reading a book in paperback?

Justine, thanks for the info on Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami. i have added that!

Candy, most audio listeners enjoy audios of course, but it would all depend oh how well you read it! Narratind is an art in itself. Some authors manage fine, others don't.

I absolutely love Colum McCann's writing. I highly recommend This Side of Brightness, but for the right reader. It will not fit everybody.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I will start Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. If you haven't heard about this book I am surprised. What will I think?

I completed Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. It well complements Colum McCann's This Side of Brightness. I recommend both if you want to read about the homeless and most destitute be they in NYC or in Mumbai.

My review of the former: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I will read another by Ernest Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls. I like Hemingway's simple strong lines.

Completed Tightrope: Six Centuries of a Jewish Dynasty
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
It is a family history about a Jewish family living near Lvov, Ukraine.

Moving on to River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. I am determined to read the books I have purchased, or at least most of them. Some I cannot figure out why I ever bought them, but this one is one of the few remaining that looks really good!

I finished For Whom the Bell Tolls.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Do yourself a favor. Pick another book by Hemingway. May I suggest A Farewell to Armsinstead?!
Hemingway uses special "literary techniques" in "For whom the Bell Tolls" that rather than enhancing the reading experience detract from it. The ending is totally soppy. What remains undeniably true though is that Hemingway can draw a scene so you see, hear, smell and feel it in your pores. Some dislike the macho behavior of his characters, but this doesn't bother me. I see it as typical of the times, and Pilar is the best character of this novel. She is a strong, intelligent,no-nonsense woman! The gimmicks and the ending totally destroy this book.

Now I will start The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am very skeptical that I will enjoy this. I am afraid I will find it preachy, and I hate books about illnesses. I am reading this for a friend b/c she still believes I will love it. I hope so! The narration of the audiobook is said to be excellent, so that is what I have chosen.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was a failure for me. There is nothing wrong with the narration by Jim Broadbent, in fact it was superb. I particularly adored the voice of Rex, Maureen's neighbor! I listened to 23 of 38 chapters. Having listened to such a large portion, I still had to stop. If you care to know my personal thoughts please send me a PM. I am writing no review.

I have begun listening to The Grapes of Wrath and enjoy it very much. I can guess from the very start that it will not appeal to all. Some may call it slow and too descriptive. Many minutes are spent on a land turtle's passage from a ditch and then over the road. I have already laughed, and I have seen how meticulously accurate Steinbeck's depictions of landscapes and a character's personality can be. The story will be interspersed with chapters of historical content. That is fine by me. I imagine a slow wonderful read.

Just finished "just here trying to save a few lives, tales of life and death from the ER" .

Cheryl S. wrote: "Just finished "just here trying to save a few lives, tales of life and death from the ER" ."

Oh my that looks stressful! Tell me about it please.

I cannot recommend The Grapes of Wrath more highly. Engaging fiction that teaches about life during the Depression.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I will begin In This Hospitable Land. While I am still living here, I thought I would read another book set in Belgium.... and France too.

I am half way through Orange is the New Black. I have enjoyed it so far.

Just started "I Am Here" Proclaims a Little Girl Who Was Not Allowed to Be. OMG, that's a long title. Don't know how to link to the book.

I do recommend River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, if you are at all curious about what it might be like to live in a remote Chinese town at the very end of the 20th Century. Not as a foreigner, but as a Chinese. Good book!

My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I'm reading an unusual one: Charlie which is Hecht's memoir of his collaborator Charles MacArthur, who was married to Helen Hayes.

I finished In This Hospitable Land.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Yeah, it was good. Somehow it feels like a YA book. It is written simplistically. You follow one event after another, and I did learn funny little things! Magnificent writing? No.

So now I have started another audiobook by Colum McCann: Everything in This Country Must. I listened to the sample and loved the Irish brogue of the first narrator. It has two novellas and a short story. I need to listen to something short, so I can stop very quickly b/c Simran, a GR friend, will be visiting me here in Belgium. This is the second GR friend I have met. YAY for GR. I don't think I will have much time to read! I am terribly excited!!!!! Oh, this is going to be fun.

I already finished Everything in This Country Must! Why couldn't it just last for one more day at least. As all of Colum McCann's writing is, this too was excellent. Four stars, and I don't like short stories! You get two short stories and a short novella. The setting is Ireland. It is not biographical though.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I will start Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. I would have preferred to start with My Family and Other Animals, the first in the Corfu Trilogy, but I couldn't get it. I am not sure I will like it, but everyone raves about it so I must give it a go. this one is based on the author's childhood.

I completed the audiobook Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. Yep, I am smiling and chuckling.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

So now, having learned about the Durrell family, I have to read a book by Gerald's older brother, Lawrence Durrell: Justine, this being the first of the Alexandria Quartet.
I am telling you, the style is completely different, and I am NOT enthused with the narration by Jack Klaff. When the women speak they sound like dreary, sad but masculine beings. Can I stand all four of these books? I don't mind the book being complicated, there are two couples that have sex not only with their partners but numerous others, but the "profound musings" seem to me pure sophistry. I don't give up easily; it does create the exotic, sensual, multicultural atmosphere of Alexandria before Nasser arrived on the scene. Neither is the rendition chronological. Oh my.......

Finished the first book of The Alexandria Quartet, ie Justine.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I complained an awful lot while I listened to this book. The audiobook version narrated by Jack Klaff, I would definitely avoid.

But now I am hooked. That does say something. I have started Balthazar, the next in the series of four.

I tried to listen to Balthazar, and I cannot do it. The narration by Jack Klaff is even worse in this one than in Justine. I changed my star rating of Justine down to two stars. Terrible narration can really wreck a book.

I will now start East of Eden

I finished East of Eden
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

and will now read another by Steinbeck: Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Even if the first is not one of my favorites, it was OK. I do know few authors write masterpiece after masterpiece, and I do know that I enjoy his writing style. I have begun the latter, and I immediately feel much more comfortable. This is more to my taste!

Both of these are a mix of fiction and biography.

I have completed Travels with Charley: In Search of America. I highly recommend it but look at my review and see how I compare it with another author....
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
To be fair, two different books can have two completely different purposes.

I am now listening to Songdogs. I love how they add music to parts of an audiobook! WOW!

I am reading Mao's Last Dancer and like how the author, even when describing the horrible times of the "Big Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution" and the "Great Famine", ALSO mentions the fun of Chinese New Year's celebrations and kite flying and.... It is a biography. So of course I like it. I cannot get through books that only point out the bad, with not a glance at happy events. I was talking about this with a friend. I NEED both; otherwise I fall apart.

Finished Double Life: A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood and A Box of Darkness: The Story of a Marriage the latter of which was irritating.

I finished Songdogsand b/c I loved it so much I will immediately start the only book I have left to read by Colum McCann: Fishing the Sloe-Black River.

My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Exquisite writing. Not a comfort read though, few of McCann's are, but they always include hope and show you what is beautiful if you just look. Songdogs takes you from Ireland to Spain to Mexico and across the US, California to Wyoming to the Bronx. It is an emotional trip.

I highly recommend that you listen to this book narrated by Paul Nugent. The Irish is just perfect.

Fishing the Sloe-Black River was the first of Colum McCann's books to disappoint me.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have begun the audiobook version of The Book of Night Women, narrated by Robin Miles. After a chapter, the Jamaican patois is no problem. This too was available for me at Downpour, but not Audible. This audiobook was recommended to me by Gaeta particularly for its fabulous narration. So far I totally agree. It is historical fiction.

Chrissie wrote: "Cheryl S. wrote: "Just finished "just here trying to save a few lives, tales of life and death from the ER" [bookcover:Just Here Trying to Save a Few Lives: Tales of Life and Death from the ER|202..."

More factual than stressful for me, but I worked in an ER for many years so I may have a different view from those who are in other lines of work.

Just finished "Mr. Kennedy and Me" written by Clint Hill Mrs. Kennedy's personal secret service agent. Really excellent and brought back many memories from those times.

Cheryl, I have that "Mr. Kennedy and Me" on my list too of possible listens, so tell mer a bit more, pls. Why is it good? Who do you learn most about? Whose head do you get into?

I don't think I can read the ER book though.....

I finished Mao's Last Dancer
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have started The Places in Between. The author walked across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul. He began in January 2002. He walked over the mountains, in the winter, six weeks after the fall of the Taliban.

I finished The Book of Night Women.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

A word of warning: it is graphic and has violence, but I am very glad I read it. No, listened to it.

I have begun John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down. I love listening to Steinbeck. The books are humorous and dark and so easy to follow. Contemporary literature is so often "complicated" with numerous threads and different time-periods. The dam thing is so short! That I dislike.

Finished The Moon is Down
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This is probably set in Norway. You do learn about Norwegian (or at least Nordic) culture, but this is not the central focus of the book. It was written by Steinbeck in 1942 as propaganda against the Germans (WW2). Through ironical humor it achieves its purpose magnificently.

I have begun The Man in the Wooden Hat. It grabs you immediately. Full of action and great writing. It is important to have read Old Filth first. I hope I remember enough about the first book. My review of Old Filth: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Betty and Eddie are married. The first book gives you Eddie's perspective, the second Betty's! The first book came out in 2004, the second in 2009.

Reading "A Higher Call" by Adam Makos. Cannot put it down.

Mary, do you know how to add links? Click on the add book/author text and type in the title or author's name! So much easier and helpful for other too! I assume you mean this book: A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II, that does look good. I will add that to my lists. Play around with the gizmo and you will soon love it. With it you can open several sites at the same time! I am trying to see if I can get the audio version!

I really, really did like The Man in the Wooden Hat. Was Old Filth this good?
My review of TMITWH: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I am trying a Victorian/Edwardian novel. I want a long book. It is very long. I want a good narrator, and I have heard the Rosalyn Landor is excellent. I have to try the author A.S. Byatt, so I will begin: The Children's Book. Will this work for me?