Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

This thread can be for books you are in the process of reading or have finished that are not bios, autobios, or memoirs.

Just finished The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More

and Hong Kong

The first one was recommended by Permaculturalists who live on the smell of an oily rag, except it isn't about that because you actually have no money but I have a feeling its because you do....
I am of the sneaky suspicion that much of Permaculture has hipster origins and we know lots of people despise hipsters for their deliberately shabby opshop clothes, but they don't care! lol

The second one was a book from an opshop and its an old TimeLife one. The photographs are by acclaimed photojournalist Brian Brake and the text is written by an american journalist. It's mostly touching on the changes in Hong Kong from its conception but funny reading this now after 1997. It makes me think of my own city and how all these people, just like in Hong Kong, came to start a new life and how that impacts on a place that was originally meant to be a safe haven of trade for British opium druglords. China conceded it to the British because it had hardly any arable land, no water and was infested with mosquitos. They wanted to get rid of the British for trading opium but the British didn't want to back down.

Well Auckland was never THAT bad but up north there was a town like that that was dubbed 'The hellhole of the Pacific', which was also overrun with mercenery British traders but back then it was whalers lol. With the construction of the Sky City Casino, Auckland really began to be partnered with Mammon and it has become like most cities of the world, popular with gamblers wanting to make a quick buck. If property prices are anything to go by!

Why Hong Kong, well thats where mum was born/grew up. People always ask me why don't I go there, well, I don't really need to, as most of Hong Kong has now come to Auckland. TimeLife must have done a series of books on great cities but back then I don't know if Auckland qualified, now its champing at the bit to be recognised as 'the world's most liveable city' well yea for the rich perhaps! The interesting thing about Hong Kong is at that time 4 million people lived on that tiny island while here in NZ that was not even the population of the entire country.

I am reading now-Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe by Cullen Murphy.
Murphy writes about his father and his cartooning friends in the golden age of cartooning. I am really enjoying this book.

Santa's Husband
Daniel Kibblesmith
4/5 stars
Wonderful story about a different take on one of the most famous couples known. I enjoyed this sweet picture book and was happy to find it after reading about it.

The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yōko Ogawa
3.5/5 stars
A Japanese professor has lost his ability to retain his memory for more than 80 minutes and requires some care. A housekeeper has been enlisted to help him during the day and has brought her son along. Their relationship grows as each day goes by and is helped as the professor and the housekeeper's son's bond with their love of baseball and by the housekeeper's interest in learning more about math.

This had been on my reading list for quite a long time probably since it first came out and I thought what am I waiting for- either read or take it off my list. This was very popular when it first came out and it still retains its charm. Very enjoyable.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. It’s the January book for one of my book clubs, and not a fiction novel I would normally have picked up to read. I’m sure glad I did though!

Reading and loving " Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages" by Phyllis Rose. It's 250 a.m. here in Atlanta so don't have enough awakened brain cells to describe but I am sure there are some Goodreads reviews to check out.

Hi to all you readers. At this time I'm in the middle of a project. I'm working on a new book to be published. Not another memoir but something I'm sure all your readers will live to read. You can visit my author page and check out my book which is a memoir and give me a review.

The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes

A peek behind the scenes and the times of the grand estates. I watched the first series on dvd and then cheated and went on Wikipedia to find out what happened before the series jumped the shark.
This book was very interesting. Downtown Abbey is basically the tv series of movies like Gosford Park or Remains of the Day. So if you interested in the period of 1912-1918 in the UK and what it was like to live back then, as Lord/lady of the manor or humble maidservant, footman or butler read this book.

Atonement
Ian McEwan
4/5 stars
Briony, a young English girl in pre-WWII, sets into motion a tragedy affecting a young man and her sister when she implicates the young man in a crime. I love McEwan's writing because he is not one to shy away from difficult subjects and doesn't rely on a happy ending to satisfy his readers.

War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots, Ian Morris
4 enthusiastic stars!

The last thing I expected after reading the description of the contents was a book on archaeology, but that's what this is, and it's a totally gripping read. The authors whisks you all over the globe, across continents and through the centuries, matching up changes in the technology of war with changes in the societies affected by those wars. He never lost me once, which is saying a great deal -- he was literally covering the whole of known human history and it would have been easy for him to leave the reader in the dust. He makes a good case that war causes at least as much peace and prosperity as it destroys, probably more. I felt a little squeamish about his statements that we can really know how many people still living in caves died violently, but in general his arguments make sense and there is a great deal to back up most of what he is saying. Fellow Discordians will be utterly intrigued by the critical role of bureaucracy in societal change!

Apple Tree Yard
Louise Doughty
4/5 stars
Yvonne Carmichael, a English scientist/professor whose life is busy but uncomplicated, meets a man who is quite the opposite of her husband and enthralls her. They begin an affair and when an incident occurs at a faculty party that shakes her to her core, she asks for help from her lover that will have devastating consequences. This is so suspenseful and shocking at times that it was hard to put down.
This kinda reminded me of Gillian Flynn's writing and I just found out this was made into a series in England.

A Sense Of Humus: A Bedside Book Of Garden Humour by Diana Anthony

Hooray a book for gardeners that isn't about having to do any work or going on about oneself, or trying to impress with long lists of latin botanical names. It's how gardening is a mad mad mad occupation. That you will want to read about in bed.

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
4.5/5 stars
I am probably the last person to have read this book but had passed it over because I knew some of the content (for me) would be disturbing. But then someone had given it to me as a gift and so I bit the bullet and read it and was really touched by this story of two boys growing up in the 1970’s in Afghanistan. One was Amir, the son of a rich man and Hassan, was the son of his servant. They were very close till a disturbing incident separated them and eventually Amir and his father moved to the States after the Taliban took over leaving Hassan and his family behind. Years later Amir finds out the fate of Hassan and his wife and returns to Afghanistan to try and make up for the mistakes he has made in his relationship with him.

Julie wrote: "
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
4.5/5 stars
I am probably the last person to have read this book but had passed it over because I knew so..."

Loved that book. Care to share why you thought it would be disturbing?

Koren wrote: "Julie wrote: "
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
4.5/5 stars
I am probably the last person to have read this book but had passed it over bec..."
Spoiler ......
I knew that there was a attack on a young child in the book and the way he was attacked was disturbing to me.

OZ: The Complete Collection Volume 1
L. Frank Baum
4/5 stars
Finished the 3rd story in the book called Ozma of Oz. Dorothy, whose character returns to the Oz novels, is now traveling by ship with her Uncle to Australia when she is swept into the ocean with her chicken, Billina and they end up in the Land of Ev. They run into Princess Ozma who is traveling with the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man. They are there to rescue the royal Ev family members from the horrible Nome King who has turned them into ornaments. Dorothy is excited to be re-united with her friends and helps in trying to procure the release of the Ev family. Delightful and fun.

Selina wrote: "A Sense Of Humus: A Bedside Book Of Garden Humour by Diana Anthony

Hooray a book for gardeners that isn't about having to do any work or going on about oneself, or trying to impress..."

Now that sounds like a great read!

Just entered to win My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

Man's Best Hero: True Stories of Great American Dogs by Ace Collins
4 stars

If you like to read inspirational dog stories this book is for you. Short stories about dogs that have made a difference. At times they almost seem to be human. I really liked the stories about dogs in the armed forces that saved countless lives.

Greatly enjoying Under the Lake. As promised on the back cover, it combines the best elements of crime thriller, detective story and horror novel.

Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series; Ellery Queen novels and stories; "The Book of Mormon"; "Social Media for Writers," by Morris and Ballantine; "Benchley at the Theatre"; John Dickson Carr's "The Third Bullet"; "One Basket," a collection of Edna Ferber's tales.

Fishface wrote: "Selina wrote: "A Sense Of Humus: A Bedside Book Of Garden Humour by Diana Anthony

Hooray a book for gardeners that isn't about having to do any work or going on about oneself, or tr..."

It was! Then I read her memoir Seven Summers at Valley Homestead about making her own garden, which was funny, pity no pictures though, the writing is so good, that you dont really need pictures. I tried to find out whether this garden is still around but appears she up and left sticks, swanned off to Melbourne, Australia. Where supposedly it is better climate for gardening than Northland, New Zealand. Traitor!

Women's Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny
Alisha Gaddis
2.5/5 stars
This is a compilation of comediennes’ monologues. I did not find most of these very amusing but there were a few that were laugh out loud funny. But in defense of these comediennes’, I feel that reading these monologues lack the same impact as seeing them or hearing them on stage that is not captured when just written down.

Hmm, I wonder if there's a way to track those monologues down on YouTube or somewhere...

Currently reading both Willie Boy: A Desert Manhunt -- which is a great example of how distorted a biography can be through time and misinformation; even people's names are in serious question here -- and a detective thriller type of ghost story I'm just loving, called Under the Lake.

The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures
Library of Congress
4/5 stars
This is fun and fact filled book on the history of card cataloging from its origins to its move to computers. I loved the short segment on J. Edgar Hoover, who worked at the Library of Congress and used that knowledge when reorganizing the FBI’s filing system.
Not a very long book but certainly interesting especially to me who grew up with card catalogs and now works in a library. I definitely remember using card catalogs and until a few years ago we had a couple left in tech services until they were sold to some lucky people who appreciate them.

5 stars
A dust storm hits Mars and the crew is forced to evacuate, Mark Watney is left for dead because they are unable to locate him plus his suit shows no life signs, only he is not dead. Now he is stranded and has no way to signal Earth. You are reading his Log entries showing his very human responses to being alone and dealing with his routines to keep himself alive. I enjoyed his dry humor and his willingness to try anything to keep himself alive and busy. This book is intense at times and draws into to Mark's fight for life and shows you that every life matters and the levels they will go to to get you back home safe.

1 star
Set in a dystopian world in which human clones are created so that they can donate their organs.
I could not get into nor could I relate to the overall picture of what I just read. I found it to be an overwhelming Storyline and the reading was dull at the same time. I made myself finish the book, wish I would have just stopped and moved on. Not my cup of tea type of book.

5 stars
I am going to skip writing a synopsis of this book since there are tons already out there and I just can't write anything better.
I had an idea what that book was about because I have seen the movie when it came out. It still did not prepare me for what I read. WOW, Stephen King can draw you in and paint a picture both ugly and beautiful. My emotions were all over the place but the ending of the book had me shed a few tears.

3 stars
Taken from the book. "Rosalie MacKenzie is headed nowhere until she sees Smokey, a Siberian husky suffering from neglect. Rosalie finds the courage to rescue the dog, and―united by the bond of love that forms between them―they save each other."
I just could not get into parts of the book and struggled to keep up with back and forth stories. I wish the characters were a little more developed and the stories fused together more cohesively. I did enjoy the overall storyline, it is complex, yet simple.

2 stars
A bottle with a message is found on the shoreline by Teresa when she opens it up and reads the message she becomes determined to find who wrote the powerful undying love letter.
A well written yet simple storyline. I found it to be predictable and dragged at times. I still like the interaction of the characters and hunt for the mystery man. Not my normal type of book to read but I did find myself enjoying the read.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolf
3 stars

I am so glad I waited to get this book from the library. If you follow our presidents daily debacles closely there is not much here you dont already know. Also, I saw the author being interviewed so many times that the main parts of the book were discussed many times. I truly think the author should have waited to write this book, as already in the few months since this came out there is more to add and there are already some things that are out-dated and several key players that are gone from the White House. If you are totally clueless to the turmoil going on in our country right now then this is the book for you.

Landline
Rainbow Rowell
3.5/5 stars
Georgie McCool is a television sitcom writer married to her stay at home husband, Neal who takes care of their two girls. When she has to work on her newest project over Christmas, they have an argument and he leaves with their two girls to visit his parents in Omaha. Later, she tries to contact him by cell phone but he isn’t answering. Frantic and worried, she goes to her mother’s and is able to reach him on her mother’s landline. However, she realizes that she is not talking to present day Neal but to Neal in the past before they were married. Georgie is flummoxed and knows that she has to do something before she loses everything she values. Funny and sweet!

I'm partway through both My Name Is Katherine and The Trial of the Stauntons. The first is paperback true crime; the second is a statelier hardcover volume from the Notable British Trials series.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers
3.5/5 stars
Rosemary Harper is running away from a secret she is ashamed of and takes a job on the Wayfarer, a space ship, as their secretary/administrator to start her life over. She joins a ragtag group of humans and aliens as they go on to a lucrative job digging wormholes, traveling to other worlds and interacting with citizens of many worlds. This is the first book in a series by Chambers. I loved the characters on the ship and how they interacted and I like that the story line has a heart and is not so dark.

Oz, the Complete Collection: Volume 2
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum
4/5 stars
Dorothy, in the 4th book of the series, has traveled to California where she meets her second cousin Zeb. Dorothy, Zeb and Dorothy’s cat, Eureka take a ride in a wagon pulled by Jim, the horse, when an earthquake swallows them up. They end up in the Land of the Mangaboos, where vegetable people who grow on vines live and who blame them for the earthquake and are set to punish them. Luckily, the Wizard of Oz descends in a balloon and so starts the new adventures of Dorothy and the Wizard. Still enjoying this series!
The Road to OZ by L. Frank Baum 1909
3/5 stars
In the 5th book of the Oz Series, we find Dorothy back at home in Kansas but not for very long. Outside the farm, she encounters Shaggy Man. He is very unkempt but friendly and is looking for the road to Butterfield. Dorothy agrees to help but soon finds that the road splits into 7 roads and she, Toto and Shaggy Man are lost. So they decide to take the 7th road and along the way they meet several unusual characters and so starts their curious adventure on the road to Oz. Loved the beginning of the adventure but the ending, when they return to Oz, is basically just a description of all the people invited to Queen Ozma’s big ball. I do though wish this collection had pictures of all the characters which would have enhanced the story.
The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum 1910
4/5 stars
Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are getting old and the farm is too much work so Queen Ozma invites them all to live in her kingdom. In the meantime, the Nome King is plotting to steal the Magic Belt from Ozma by tunneling under the desert that protects the Land of Oz from its enemies. Delightful! One of my favorite parts of the book is the section where the Nome King tells his officials that he needs to talk to Marconi about a wireless sieve. This has to be a reference to Guglielmo Marconi who worked on long distance radio transmission. According to Wikipedia –this was to be his last Oz book (and the ending is written like it would be the final book) but because of his finances he went on to write more books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eme...

Just started on Biting the Sun.

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
Alan Bradley
4/5 stars
Flavia, her sisters and Dogger, their servant take off on a trip to recover from a great loss. As they try to relax at their destination, they decide to take a boat ride where Flavia finds a dead body floating in the water. With the help of Dogger, she once again manages to rout out the culprit. Still one of my favorite series.

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schecter
3 stars
A historical true crime about Belle Gunness. Did Belle kill several men and her children? How did she die? You decide. This takes place at the turn of the 20th century, long before sophisticated methods of investigation were invented. Harold Schecter is one of the masters of the True Crime genre.

Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address by Stephen Birmingham
3 stars

The book is about the Dakota, the apartment building where John Lennon was killed in 1980. The book was originally published in 1979 and the version I read had no update, although there is a newer version published in 2015 that I would guess has an update. I didn't realize that it was written before Lennon's death until I was reading it as if he was still alive and then looked at the publishing date. This book is at its best when it is talking about the inhabitants of the building. It kind of lost me when it was talking about its architecture. It doesnt get to in depth on the inhabitants because privacy was valued by the inhabitants of the building. This is an interesting book if you are interested in New York buildings.

The Bling Ring: How a Gang of Fame-Obsessed Teens Ripped Off Hollywood and Shocked the World, Nancy Jo Sales

3 stars

This was a fun, lite true-crime read for the monthly challenge (on the subject of organized crime). The writing was very good and the story moved right along, snagging occasionally on the rocks of the characters' inarticulate blathering. Even the attorneys didn't make a lot of sense when they talked and I would have to go back and re-read to puzzle it out. With that said, I enjoyed this one and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a true-crime case without a lot of gore and massacree. In fact, this was marked "YA" at the library, so dive right in and fear not.

The Punishment She Deserves
Elizabeth George
4.5/5 stars
Detective Inspector Lynley and Detective Sergeant Havers are back on an unusual case. Set in a college town, Ian Druitt, a local deacon has been found in the police station, dead. He seems to have killed himself after being brought in after being accused of being a pedophile. But of course there is more to the case than it being a simple suicide!
George is one of my favorite writers and she just has a way of twisting and turning a mystery to the final conclusion. My only complaint is now I will have to wait for the next one to come out

The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity
Nadine Burke Harris
4/5 stars
Harris discusses the long term effects that physical and mental adversity have on all children, the ways to treat it and her advocacy in promoting it and encouraging all physicians to screen for it in all of their young patients by using the ACE test (My Adverse Childhood Experience). I was surprised to read that childhood adversity actually changes a person’s DNA possibly leading to “disease and early death”. Harris does a great job explaining the process without too much technical jargon.

White Sheets to Brown Babies An intense and moving memoir, that describes the life's journey of a little girl growing up under the thumb of a father who was Grand Dragon of the KKK. You will cry, you will laugh, you will cheer. A must read!

Jvonne wrote: "White Sheets to Brown Babies An intense and moving memoir, that describes the life's journey of a little girl growing up under the thumb of a father who was Grand Dragon of the KKK...."

Sounds fascinating and I will look for this. I see that you are the author.

The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution
Jonathan Eig
5/5 stars
A reading group had picked this book for discussion and though I did not know very much about the history of the pill, it looked interesting and I love a good non-fiction book. Well, I was blown away at how well written and interesting this book was. The story revolves around the four main players in the development of the birth control pill. First, we have Margaret Sanger, well known women’s activist who opened the first birth control clinic and who brought in Katharine McCormick whose husband was the son of the founder of International Harvester and had deep pockets to fund the research. Gregory Pincus was the third player and was approached by the two women because as a scientist, he had experience in in vitro fertilization. Then there was the charismatic John Rock, physician and Catholic who was recruited to investigate the use of progesterone in developing a pill that could prevent ovulation. Between the four of them, the birth control pill eventually became a reality. Highly recommended!

The Patchwork Girl of Oz 1913
By L. Frank Baum
3.5/5 stars
A young boy named Ojo lives with his Uncle Nunkie in the Blue Forest. In a weird accident involving Dr. Pipt, a crooked magician; Dr. Pipt’s wife and Ojo’s Uncle have become petrified. Ojo and Scraps, a patchwork girl who has come to life because of a pair of red leather shoes, take off to find the items to cure his Uncle and the Dr.’s wife. They need to gather 3 feathers from a Woozy’s tail, the left wing of a yellow butterfly, a 6 leaf clover, a drop of oil from a man and water from a dark well. As the two travel to get the needed items, they meet the Shaggy Man who helps them on their journey.
Baum does like to reference events of the time period. The dark water is a reference to radium (which at the time was considered safe and beneficial) and the Horners’ home in the book was made of radium because “no one can ever be sick because of radium”. There is also a mention of a phonograph that came to life, which was named Victor Columbia Edison.

I am continually delighted with this series especially the references to events in the time period in which the books were written.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara

This is a good read. I am about halfway thru so far.

Fishface wrote: "I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara

This is a good read. I am about halfway thru so far."

Is this the same Golden State Killer that they caught a few days ago?

Reading The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben.

Fascinating. I still have yet to read The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behaviour by David Attenborough though I have seen the documentary.