Tags
autobiography, Katie Couric 1957 -, television news anchor, television personalities, United States
Going There by Katie Couric
21 Monday Mar 2022
Posted in 20th century, Biography
Tag Archives: autobiography
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
08 Tuesday Mar 2022
Posted in anecdotes, Biography, meaning of life, Non-fiction
Here is a book to linger with. It’s like talking and reflecting with a an old friend over shared experience with someone who has gone down the same road but whispers a little more wisdom so gently that you just want more time with her. Savor this collection about Patchett’s family, clearing the clutter, her decision not to have children, her three fathers, writing, her own bookstore, and an unforgettable friendship during Covid. You will definitely find favorites.
“The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An enviable life shared with candor, emotion, and knockout storytelling power.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“To read this collection is to be invited into that sacred space where a writer steps out from behind the page to say Hello; let’s really get to know each other. Stoic, kindhearted, fierce, funny, brainy, Patchett’s essays honor what matters most ‘in this precarious and precious life.'” — Oprah Daily
Find this book large print audio cd’s
What We Carry: a Memoir by Maya Shanbhag Lang
05 Friday Mar 2021
Posted in 20th century, Biography, memoir, Non-fiction
Tags
autobiography, East Indian American women, family, mothers and daughters, Secrecy, women authors
If our family stories shape us, what happens when we learn those stories were never true? Who do we become when we shed our illusions about the past? (Amazon)
“A gorgeous memoir about mothers, daughters, and the tenacity of the love that grows between what is said and what is left unspoken.”—Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk
“A profoundly moving memoir about secrets and trauma . . . In exquisite prose, Maya Shanbhag Lang writes about her extraordinary mother and the cruel circumstances that complicate their relationship. At its heart, What We Carry is about one of the greatest gifts any parent can give a child: the power to save yourself.”—Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club
“Part self-discovery, part family history. . . [Lang’s] analysis of the shifting roles of mothers and daughters, particularly through the lens of immigration, help[s] to challenge her family’s mythology. . . . Readers interested in examining their own family stories . . . will connect deeply with Lang’s beautiful memoir.”—Library Journal (Starred Review)
How to Be a Family: the Year I Dragged my Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together by Dan Kois
14 Friday Feb 2020
Posted in 20th century, anecdotes, Biography, Non-fiction, Travel
Heartwarming, funny, full of good intentions, journalist, Dan Kois is determined to break out of the East coast parenting bubble to find a better quality lifestyle for his wife and two preteen girls. One year, four locations: New Zealand, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and small town Kansas.
“In this highly entertaining and wryly insightful book, Dan Kois shows how elastic the very concept of family is. As he recounts his family’s encounters with four foreign cultures, he illuminates not only those other societies, but also our own. He argues persuasively that we have much to learn from divorcing ourselves from our own assumptions.”―Andrew Solomon, author of Far and Away and Far From the Tree
“Lots of people talk about pulling up stakes and traveling for a year. Dan Kois and his family actually did it. He’s funny and honest about how it all turned out.”―Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé and There Are No Grown-Ups
“This sometimes hair-raising adventure in family togetherness across many continents took courage even to attempt, and a lively sense of humor to describe. Kois has produced a delightful and eye-opening book about what it means to be a family in the modern world.”―Ian Frazier, author of Family and Coyote V Acme
Know My Name: a Memoir by Chanel Miller
21 Monday Oct 2019
Tags
autobiography, Chanel Miller, crimes against women, rape at colleges and universities, rape victims
In 2015, Chanel Miller was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner on Stanford’s campus. She was known as “Emily Doe” during the trial, and her victim impact statement was read by millions of people when it was posted online just after Turner’s controversial sentencing. In Know My Name, she reveals her identity and writes about all of the ways her life — and the lives of her loved ones — changed, and the journey to put herself back together. A powerful, beautifully written memoir.
“She has written a memoir that converts the ongoing experience of sexual assault into literature…Beautiful…“─The Atlantic
“Know My Name is a blistering, beautifully written account of a courageous young woman’s struggle to hold a sexual predator accountable. Stand back, folks: This book is going to give a huge blast of momentum to the #MeToo movement.”─Jon Krakauer
“She writes exquisitely of her pain, makes us feel every fragment of it, but also expounds on the kindness that nourished her spirit…Miller matters. Readers will see every victim matters.” ─USA Today
“In a perfect world, Know My Name would be required reading for every police officer, detective, prosecutor, provost and judge who deals with victims of sexual assault.” ─LA Times
How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery and Rebecca Green
01 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in Biography, Uncategorized
Sy is the author of the Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness and one of her best friends is Vicki Croke who wrote one of my favorite books, Elephant Company: the inspiring story of an unlikely hero and the animals who helped him save lives in World War. I knew I was in for a treat. Animals have so much to teach us about being better humans.
“How to Be a Good Creature is a rare jewel, full of empathy and the profound wisdom Sy has received from animals she has loved over her extraordinary lifetime. This sweet book is a triumphant masterpiece that I’m recommending to everyone.”—Stacey O’Brien, author of Wesley the Owl
“I don’t know anyone whose animal empathies and scientific bona fides I admire more than Montgomery’s—from the curiosity she holds for a tarantula to the tender longing she has for an octopus. Told with characteristic humility and gorgeous language, How to Be a Good Creature is a remarkable achievement.”—Eliot Schrefer, author of Endangered, a National Book Award finalist
Find this book
Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening by Manal al-Sharif
11 Wednesday Oct 2017
Posted in 20th century, Biography
This lady’s courage and incredible story knocked me over. A memoir by a Saudi Arabian woman who became the unexpected leader of a movement to support women’s rights describes how fundamentalism influenced her radical religious beliefs until her education, a job, and legal contradictions changed her perspectives.
“Future generations will marvel at Manal al-Sharif, whose voice is laden with quiet dignity even at its most urgent. Her gripping account of homegrown courage will speak to the fighter in all of us.” (Deborah Feldman, New York Times bestselling author of Unorthodox)
“An astonishing, humble, truthful book, more illuminating than a hundred newspaper stories on Saudi Arabia. Manal is no Chanel-draped, chauffeur-driven Saudi princess. Her account of why a single working mother’s life compelled her to confront the kingdom’s fiercely patriarchal ways is touching and revealing in equal measure.” (Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick Jihad)
Out of Line: A Life of Playing with Fire by Barbara Lynch
25 Monday Sep 2017
Posted in 20th century, Biography
Named one of Time‘s 100 Most Influential People in the World
Blood, Bones, & Butter meets A Devil in the Kitchen in this funny, fierce, and poignant memoir by world-renowned chef, restaurateur, and Top Chef judge Barbara Lynch, recounting her rise from a hard-knocks South Boston childhood to culinary stardom.
“If you have an appetite for culinary adventure, you’ll devour the feisty and fun memoir by James Beard award-winning chef and philanthropist Barbara Lynch.” —Elle
“Whenever she writes about food, her passion is evident, and she appends a number of recipes that will surely send some readers straight to the kitchen. A rugged tale of a self-made woman in a high-stress profession. ” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Lynch’s love of food and hard scrabble Southie upbringing are blended into a rich and engaging narrative that sheds light on the different influences that helped shape her career. The narrative is evocative of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential…Foodies will enjoy the vivid language used to describe Lynch’s food exploits, and old neighbors will be treated to a trip around south Boston through the eyes of a local.” (Library Journal)
The Rules Do Not Apply: a Memoir by Ariel Levy
20 Wednesday Sep 2017
Posted in 20th century, Biography
Tags
autobiography, lesbians, life changing events, marriage, miscarriage, sex roles, United States, women journalists
When 38-year-old New Yorker writer Ariel Levy left for a reporting trip to Mongolia in 2012, she was pregnant, married, financially secure, and successful on her own terms. A month later, none of that was true. Levy picks you up and hurls you through the story of how she built an unconventional life – reinventing work, marriage, family, pregnancy, sex and divorce for herself from the ground up and then watched it fall apart with astonishing speed.
“Every deep feeling a human is capable of will be shaken loose by this profound book. Ariel Levy has taken grief and made art out of it.”—David Sedaris
“A great memoir is not a trip through someone else’s life but a series of long looks into your own. Ariel Levy’s book – grieving, hopeful, painful, funny – is that.” – Amy Bloom
feastonbooksblog 