Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Discussion Forums - Biographies & Memoirs

Topic: I Need New Imput on Memoirs

Club rule - Please, if you cannot be courteous and respectful, do not post in this forum.
Page:   Unlock Forum posting with Annual Membership.
heathlover avatar
Subject: I Need New Imput on Memoirs
Date Posted: 1/12/2009 9:21 AM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
Back To Top

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

Page5 avatar
Date Posted: 1/12/2009 3:58 PM ET
Member Since: 8/20/2006
Posts: 1,930
Back To Top

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?

 

heathlover avatar
Subject: LOVED IT
Date Posted: 1/12/2009 8:46 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
Back To Top

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

eclecticreader10 avatar
Date Posted: 1/14/2009 12:15 AM ET
Member Since: 6/19/2008
Posts: 1,976
Back To Top

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.

bookaddicted avatar
Standard Member medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 1/15/2009 11:03 AM ET
Member Since: 11/10/2006
Posts: 3,407
Back To Top

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


Generic Profile avatar
Subject: Recommending The Color of Water
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 7:36 AM ET
Member Since: 1/18/2009
Posts: 6
Back To Top

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."

 

JackieH avatar
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 11:44 AM ET
Member Since: 9/22/2005
Posts: 1,239
Back To Top

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.

heathlover avatar
Subject: Thanks All
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 7:54 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
Back To Top

You all have gave me great input....I think I picked that one up at the library and did not finish it..

 

Heather-and-Raven avatar
Standard Member medalFriend of PBS-Silver medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 1/23/2009 3:54 PM ET
Member Since: 5/16/2008
Posts: 2,455
Back To Top

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
heathlover avatar
Subject: Thanks!!
Date Posted: 1/23/2009 8:10 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
Back To Top

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!!

Generic Profile avatar
Limited Member medalPrintable Postage medal
Date Posted: 2/3/2009 1:03 PM ET
Member Since: 1/5/2009
Posts: 12
Back To Top

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

Generic Profile avatar
Subject: Bios/Memoirs
Date Posted: 2/25/2009 11:29 AM ET
Member Since: 2/15/2009
Posts: 14
Back To Top

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!

Generic Profile avatar
Subject: Memoirs
Date Posted: 2/25/2009 11:32 AM ET
Member Since: 2/15/2009
Posts: 14
Back To Top

I also posted:

Girl, Interrupted - Susana Kaysen

The Camera My Mother Gave Me - Susana Kaysen

Both are very good and based on her life.

Hissy-Fitz avatar
Date Posted: 4/13/2009 11:32 PM ET
Member Since: 2/7/2009
Posts: 10,656
Back To Top

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

 

 

 

gatsbygal avatar
Subject: michelangelo
Date Posted: 5/13/2009 3:46 PM ET
Member Since: 1/13/2009
Posts: 11
Back To Top
It's a fictional biopic but it's brilliant. The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michaelangelo. Beautiful and brilliant.
heathlover avatar
Subject: Fictional Biopic
Date Posted: 5/15/2009 8:26 AM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
Back To Top

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

summerlady46 avatar
Friend of PBS-Gold medal
Date Posted: 5/17/2009 8:14 AM ET
Member Since: 5/17/2007
Posts: 3,129
Back To Top

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!

Wildhog3 avatar
Standard Member medal
Subject: Memoirs
Date Posted: 5/23/2009 12:20 AM ET
Member Since: 4/4/2009
Posts: 10,085
Back To Top

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

Cageme avatar
Subject: Nancy E Turner
Date Posted: 7/23/2009 10:20 PM ET
Member Since: 6/21/2008
Posts: 18
Back To Top

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.. 

Generic Profile avatar
Subject: memoirs and bios
Date Posted: 8/7/2009 10:17 AM ET
Member Since: 4/1/2009
Posts: 8
Back To Top

I have some good memoirs and bios on my bookshelf, take a look :)

Generic Profile avatar
Subject: Memoirs
Date Posted: 9/1/2009 3:43 AM ET
Member Since: 8/18/2009
Posts: 80
Back To Top

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

murder101 avatar
Date Posted: 9/1/2009 10:47 PM ET
Member Since: 4/27/2006
Posts: 11,071
Back To Top

My life in Orange it's really interesting!

tashar avatar
Date Posted: 9/7/2009 11:15 PM ET
Member Since: 10/14/2007
Posts: 123
Back To Top
The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer and All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg are both excellent!
Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 9/12/2009 5:33 PM ET
Member Since: 5/30/2009
Posts: 18
Back To Top

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

heathlover avatar
Subject: Thanks
Date Posted: 9/19/2009 9:05 PM ET
Member Since: 5/4/2008
Posts: 644
Back To Top

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

Page: