Discussion Forums - Biographies & Memoirs

Topic: I Need New Imput on Memoirs

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Subject: I Need New Imput on Memoirs
Date Posted: 1/12/2009 9:21 AM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
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I read alot of memoirs old and new. But recently all the ones I want are WL so I am looking for input on some I might not be thinking of. I will put a list of ones I have read and maybe someone can suggest something like those. Also feel free to ask about ones I have read for input for your self.

A Child Called It (and rest of his books)

The Home

Half The House

Daddy's Girl

Liar's Club

Before Women Had Wings

Father's House

also a member at bookmooch and goodreads.com if you want to add me....Love
Date Posted: 1/12/2009 3:58 PM ET
Member Since: 8/20/2006
Posts: 1,930
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Along the lines of A Child Called It (childhood memoir with a crazy parent) these come to mind:

The Glass Castle - J. Walls

Girls of Tender Age by Mary Tirone-Smith

Blackbird - J Laucks

A couple of others I really liked:

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irine Gut Opdyke

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

 

What did you think of Before Women Had Wings?

 
Subject: LOVED IT
Date Posted: 1/12/2009 8:46 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
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Before Women Had Wings was one of the best books I have ever read it reminded me so much of my childhood....MIne was not quite as bad but so many similarities it scared me...lol

Well worth the read and it was qick read. The books you suggested I eith read or have ordered and waiting for so thanks for the input.

I have a keeper copy of Before Women Had Wings I got rid of the copy I read and then regreted it so when I saw it at GoodWill I bought..lol
Date Posted: 1/14/2009 12:15 AM ET
Member Since: 6/19/2008
Posts: 1,976
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There's a huge thread on memoirs in the Hidden Gems forum http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=118024  Check it out - it sure added several books to my WL.
Date Posted: 1/15/2009 11:03 AM ET
Member Since: 11/10/2006
Posts: 2,959
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I enjoyed:

 

Driving with Dead People - Monica Holloway    http://www.amazon.com/Driving-Dead-People-Monica-Holloway/dp/1416955127/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232035228&sr=1-1

I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted - Jennifer Finney Boylan   http://www.amazon.com/Im-Looking-Through-You-Growing/dp/0767921755/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232035306&sr=1-2
Subject: Recommending The Color of Water
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 7:36 AM ET
Member Since: 1/18/2009
Posts: 6
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Based on what you've read, I think you would enjoy The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, by James McBride. It is currently available on this site.  Here is a typical review: "A refreshing portrait of family self-discovery...brilliantly intertwines passages of family's lives.  Mr. McBride's search is less about racial turmoil than about how he realized how blessed he is to have had a support system in the face of what could have been insurmountable obstacles."  Susan Brownmiller writes:
"James McBride has combined the techniques of the memoirist and the oral historian to illuminate a hidden corner of race relations. The author and his mother are two American originals."

 
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 11:44 AM ET
Member Since: 9/22/2005
Posts: 1,239
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Love, i currently have The Color of Water and it's unpostable and you can have it free with any order or we can make a deal. Just PM me and let me know.
Subject: Thanks All
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 7:54 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
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You all have gave me great input....I think I picked that one up at the library and did not finish it..

 
Date Posted: 1/23/2009 3:54 PM ET
Member Since: 5/16/2008
Posts: 2,146
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Wasted - Maya Hornbacher (I may not be spelling that right) (about anorexia)

Wasted - can't think of author, I think it's on my bookshelf, about drinking

Dry - Augusten Burroughs

Parched - author??? (about drinking)

Pledged - author??? (about sorority hazing)

Smashed - Koren something (about drinking)

The Men with the Pink Triangle - author??? (gays in the Holocaust)

I *loved* all of these.

 



Last Edited on: 1/23/09 3:55 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
Subject: Thanks!!
Date Posted: 1/23/2009 8:10 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
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I just Got DRY it looks like I will like this one...

I will have to go look up the rest of these that last one youlisted looks interesting!!
Date Posted: 2/3/2009 1:03 PM ET
Member Since: 1/5/2009
Posts: 12
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If you are interested in Woodswoman on my list I will throw in The Wilderness Road... a collection of her Poems, Short Stories, Nature Essays and Color Photos free.

This is the first in a series she has written about her many trials and tribulations of living in the wilderness.

I am also doing a 3-for-2 deal if you are interested in anything on my shelf
Subject: Bios/Memoirs
Date Posted: 2/25/2009 11:29 AM ET
Member Since: 2/15/2009
Posts: 14
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I just posted:

Dry - Augusten Burroughs

Magical Thinking - Augusten Burroughs

Down Came the Rain - Brooke Shields

Star and Star Struck - Pamela Anderson  (they are not Bios, but the storyline is about her life) - Funny and fast reading!
Subject: Memoirs
Date Posted: 2/25/2009 11:32 AM ET
Member Since: 2/15/2009
Posts: 14
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I also posted:

Girl, Interrupted - Susana Kaysen

The Camera My Mother Gave Me - Susana Kaysen

Both are very good and based on her life.
Date Posted: 4/13/2009 11:32 PM ET
Member Since: 2/7/2009
Posts: 10,656
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Cherry (by the author of Liar's Club)

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

A Girl Called Zippy

Someday I Talk Pretty (David Sedaris....he has published several books but this one is my fave)

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

 

 

 
Subject: michelangelo
Date Posted: 5/13/2009 3:46 PM ET
Member Since: 1/13/2009
Posts: 11
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It's a fictional biopic but it's brilliant. The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michaelangelo. Beautiful and brilliant.
Subject: Fictional Biopic
Date Posted: 5/15/2009 8:26 AM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
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Thanks Katie I will check it out I have never read a fictional biopic book. I have only ever read a few fictional books I liked.

Beloved

Boy In The Basement

No I think thast it...I am very picky...lol
Date Posted: 5/17/2009 8:14 AM ET
Member Since: 5/17/2007
Posts: 3,129
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If you've never read Rick Bragg, please consider these two:  It's All Over but the Shoutin'    and    Ava's Man.

Bragg is a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper writer and those books are stunning accounts of his family life.  He has also written Jessica Lynch's story which is on my shelf beckoning to me!
Subject: Memoirs
Date Posted: 5/23/2009 12:20 AM ET
Member Since: 4/4/2009
Posts: 9,450
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This one doesn't seem to fit with anything I have read above, but here is one anyway: In Search Of History  by Theodore White. More than telling about himself, he describes China in the 30s. He knew Mao; he knew Ho Chi Minh. He told why the Chinese revolution too place and why the comunists were winning. For this his boss fired him and he was literally blacklisted for a time. 

Dr. John T. West, III
Subject: Nancy E Turner
Date Posted: 7/23/2009 10:20 PM ET
Member Since: 6/21/2008
Posts: 18
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My Favorite of the Nancy E Turner memoirs or diaries

Dese is my words

She has written three different books about the Diary of Sarah Prine ( her Aunt)

Nancy took liberties with her Aunts diary but the stories are memorable and wonderful.. I just love Sarah Prine..

you all will definetly not be disappointed.   I am going to see if I can find "When Women had Wings" now,  thanks for the referral.. 
Subject: memoirs and bios
Date Posted: 8/7/2009 10:17 AM ET
Member Since: 4/1/2009
Posts: 8
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I have some good memoirs and bios on my bookshelf, take a look :)
Subject: Memoirs
Date Posted: 9/1/2009 3:43 AM ET
Member Since: 8/18/2009
Posts: 80
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I loved these two both on the opposite sides of the spectrum

1. Fish by TJ Pursell-serious and heart wrenching

2. sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling-fun and funny
Date Posted: 9/1/2009 10:47 PM ET
Member Since: 4/27/2006
Posts: 11,058
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My life in Orange it's really interesting!
Date Posted: 9/7/2009 11:15 PM ET
Member Since: 10/14/2007
Posts: 123
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The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer and All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg are both excellent!
Date Posted: 9/12/2009 5:33 PM ET
Member Since: 5/30/2009
Posts: 18
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I just finished reading a couple memoirs that I enjoyed:

A Paper Life by Tatum O'Neal

Happens Every Day: An All Too True Story by Isabel Gillies
Subject: Thanks
Date Posted: 9/19/2009 9:05 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
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Thanks for all the great book titles...I have gone and checked out most on here and just ordered two of them so far..Thanks all.

Keep em' comin!! lol
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