I should really read the Mitford letters. What a lot of lovely enthusing about memoirs. I feel I have not done enough for People April now! I have so many memoirs on my shelf. I agree with the ordinary person extraordinary events diary - and I immediately thought of A Woman in Berlin.
The Moon's a Balloon and All the Empty Horses by David Niven were wonderful! I loved them both. My retroactive celebrity crush on him grew with each chapter.
Really enjoyed hearing your responses to this tag. I find myself very cautious about memoirs and biographies, for the most part. That being said, one of my favorites is a memoir entitled “A Girl Named Zippy” by Haven Kimmel about a young girl growing up in Indiana in an ex centric family. There is a sequel but it’s not as intriguing as this one.
Thank you so much for your very kind words about Unspeakable! And what a great tag! I have pretty much living People April all year--and I'm very excited to do it a bit more officially now!
That is exactly how i feel about humongous biographies. I heard about one on Pancho Villa and was really excited until I saw it was over 1000 pages long.
I just discovered your channel and the People April challenge. I loved hearing your answers to these questions and feel much the same as you do about memoirs and biographies. I’m not sure I will have time to participate this year but would love to if you do it again! 😊
Brilliant questions, they really had me thinking!! I've had mountains of the mind on my shelves for absolutely years 🙈 interesting what you said about Rose Tremain - I saw her at an author event and felt she wasn't very likeable.. It put me off a bit too!!
No Red Comet for me either, even though I love Sylvia Plath. I don't need to know that much about anyone. Whiny memoir hazard...it's risky! Thanks for tagging me; this was a fun video and great tag idea.
This has convinced me to buy a copy of Mitford letters, I read Jessica's memoir of their childhood recently and I'm hooked. There is that looming element of Nazism in A Time Of Gifts that seems so out of place amongst the kind, happy people, singing and dancing in the pubs, I read it last year and it inspired me to go hiking in Germany myself!
You'll have a grand time with the letters I think. And you are right, the joy in Time of Gifts and the sequels are coloured by what was to come. It makes it even more precious. Where did you go in Germany?
As long as they are well written, the chunkier the biography/memoir the better for me. All the Red Comets. I am just that nosy. 😅. But well-written being the operative term. Though I also love more focused biographies ala Square Haunting. I just love biographies. :)
I don’t like memoirs in which the author is whining all the time or is always blaming others for things that happen without giving any thought to their own deeds.so no self-reflection at all. Ik like my biographies short en to the point. Group biographies are also gret ( reading now The Dictionary People and enjoying it). Not really interested in celebrities memoir, but did enjoy Michelle Obama’s Becoming. I think that it all depends on how well written a book is.
It's true Alina, almost any subject or story can capture my interest if the writing is good enough. I can even just about tolerate a degree of moaning if the style and language is good enough. Dictionary People sounds excellent.
