November 2024: Biographies/Memoirs

Pretty self-explanatory-- so let's get right to it!

• Biographies/Memoirs can be FICTION (e.g., The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers (by Margaret George));

• Biographies/Memoirs can be NON-FICTION (e.g., The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (by Simon Winchester));

• Biographies/Memoirs can be of an INDIVIDUAL (e.g., The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation (by Ian Mortimer));

• Biographies/Memoirs can be of a GROUP of specific people (e.g. Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe (by John Julius Norwich));

• Biographies/Memoirs can be about specific ANIMALS (e.g., Seabiscuit: An American Legend (by Lauren Hillenbrand);

• The people/animals should really have lived and have names but if you really have your heart set on reading Dracula (by Bram Stroker) or The Portrait of a Lady (by Henry James), I'm not gonna fight you! I just might silently judge you, LOL!

• If you choose a political figure, please be respectful in your comments/reviews; Likewise if you comment on someone else's choice. If you are looking for a personal recommendation, I will say that I found The Years of Lyndon Johnson (by Robert Caro) to be an extraordinary work as an exposition of power and a testament to top-notch research, writing, and editorial oversight. It should be required reading for anyone interested in politics regardless of political affiliation.

• No time period constraint

• Please share what you are planning to read, reading, or have read in the comment below and, if you would be so kind, list your book in the WIKI:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Challenge#November_...

(edited. wrong thread.) Ill be reading pure wit: the revolutionary life of Margaret Canvendsh saw a review of this and boy is it up my alley. eager to get into it

Spoiled for choice on this one. LT says I have 160 such books! I will probably change my mind, but think I will do a twofer covering this and the Medieval quarterly read with Anne and Charles: Passion And Politics In Late Medieval France: The Story of Anne of Brittany's Marriage to Charles VIII by Rozsa Gaston. If I finish that early, I may go to a non-fiction, The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy by Michael J. Gerhardt which is about presidents most of us know little (Pierce, Fillmore, Buchanan, etc.)

I have hundreds of biographies. Will be difficult, but also fun to choose.

I don't see any stretch of the imagination that could see Dracula as compatible with this category.

>4 john257hopper: I don't see any stretch of the imagination that could see Dracula as compatible with this category.

LOL, Hence my silent judgment…
No matter how broad or generous you make a challenge, there’s always seems to be an outlier entry— so I thought I should probably address it first thing rather than waste time later on equivocating. 🙂

>1 Tanya-dogearedcopy: • The people/animals should really have lived and have names but if you really have your heart set on reading Dracula (by Bram Stroker) or The Portrait of a Lady (by Henry James), I'm not gonna fight you! I just might silently judge you, LOL!

Ok, that made me giggle!

I should have a few options for this one. Checking my tbr now...

The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald has been sitting on my Kindle for years so I am going to read this memoir about farming in Washington State in the early part of the 20th century.

Oh I loved that book when I was a kid.

I remember watching the movie on TV! There used to be a weekday matinee program that started at 3:00. I would just be getting home from school so would miss the first 10 minutes but I loved the “theme weeks”. There was Elvis Week which always started with Jailhouse Rock and then exploded into full Hawaiian Technicolor by the end of the week. What I remember about the week that The Egg and I was showing was that it was the week where Fred McMurray was not the Dad on My Three Sons and I felt that this somehow “wrong”! Also, I had the odd idea that successful New Yorkers were all in advertising and escaped to rural Connecticut when they got the chance 😂

I have had Code Name: Lise here for a while, so I think I will choose that one. But I have SO many options. Another one I have wanted to read for a while is An Angel At My Table, after watching the film about Janet Frame.

I am going to read Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.
As an expat Brit I don't have the grounding in American history that I do in English and European history. I read Grant by Chernow earlier this year and was really impressed by the combination of scholarship and readability.

I've lined up Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath

I just ordered the book that I want to read for this challenge: Henry I (The English Monarchs Series; by C. Warren Hollister & Amanda Clark Frost) and it should be here by November 1-- so perfect timing!

I'm laughing at myself because I have three other biographies that I really want to read; One about Jack London, another about Lee Miller, and yet another about Patti Smith-- but I really wanted something in the Medieval Era to tie into the quarterly challenge. And while I have a number set during that time period, nothing on Henry I!

I just discovered that Penguin has an English Monarchs series. If I have time (and the money, TBH), I'll pick up more but I suspect H1 will take me all month! :-)

changed my mind, reading journals of sylvia plath first and then Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plath

I had just finished listening to my audiobook but the copy of Henry I that I ordered is not due to arrive until Friday— so I’ve started Just Kids (written and narrated by Patti Smith) in the meantime. She’s a proto-punk songwriter & singer recounting her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, the late notorious photographer. The narrative covers the sixties and seventies and evokes a time and place of bohemian lifestyles and and creativity that’s a far cry from the ultra-gentrified and expensive New York City of today. The author’s reading voice is rather monotone, fraught with mispronunciations, and a Midwest/Southern Jersey accent that distorts some words (e.g. “draw” becomes “drawl” and “piano” becomes “piana”) but I’ll stick with it.

UPDATE #1: Its rainy and cold out here in Southern Oregon and it's looks like more of the same through the weekend. I've been waiting all day for my copy of Henry I to arrive, imagining myself in front of the fireplace with cups of tea in hand and maybe some Early Music paying in the background. But I got a message saying my package is delayed in transit somewhere between Hillsboro and my house. Definitely a first world problem but annoying nonetheless. I guess I'll finish off the Patti Smith memoir, crank up some Horses and maybe fuss with my book stacks and plans for next year's reading. I know I have a gabillion other books I could pick up instead; but it's just not the right time for them.

UPDATE #2: Henry I is here! I watched the dot moving on the delivery map, stepped outside to see if I could see the truck from my front porch, and there they were! I still had to wait while they took a picture of the package on my doorstep, but whatever. Looking at the book right now it looks very dense, with maps, b&w photos, and tons of footnotes but after the broad outline of events in The White Ship, I think I have what I need to navigate this all during November :-)

Also, I just finished listening to Just Kids (written & narrated by Patti Smith). Yes, I cried. In fact, the Amazon delivery person got a good look at my puffy, red eyes while handing over my package, LOL. Initially, I was hesitant to include this memoir for this prompt as I usually adhere to the "60 years" rule wherein something has to be at least 60 years in the past to count as history; but what Patti Smith describes is such a distinctive era and one that cannot be found in present-day NYC, that I've overcome my own admittedly arbitrary reservations. As I mentioned above, this is a look at Patti Smith's personal relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe: In the late Sixties and Seventies, NYC's Chelsea Hotel was a crucible of artistic talent and where Patti would meet Bob when both were in their late teens. They seemed to be pretty much attuned to each other from the start and would navigate the cultural scene together as they grew and developed not only their art but their sense of themselves as individuals. I chose to listen to this in audio because I wanted to hear Patti's voice; but if I had to do it again, I would go for the Fully Illustrated Edition that's out there. Not only would I love to see the artwork that is mentioned, but honestly, as talented as Ms Smith is in so many areas (including writing some incredibly astute and evocative portrayals of people and places), reading/narration is not one of them.

ORIGINAL POST: 30 OCT
UPDATE #1: 01 NOV
UPDATE #2: 02 NOV

I have finished reading Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile by Fiona Maddocks for this challenge. It gives some information about Rachmaninoff's early life in Russia, but as the title indicates, it is primarily about his life in exile. Rachmaninoff took up touring as a concert pianist in order to make enough money to support his family. He became rich earning concert fees. His concert schedule was very demanding, with many appearances scheduled each year. Unfortunately, he did not compose many pieces during his exile, since he was so busy with concerts. He was never able to return to Russia.

Maddocks has used many sources for this biography. The book includes a bibliography, many notes, and an index. I thought this was a good book, though not exceptional. It's worth reading if you like Rachmaninoff and his music and want to know more about his life.

>16 atozgrl: Sounds good to me! Next year there is a composer category in one of the months. I think this would be a good fit!

Yesterday, I finished listening to The Son and Heir (by Alexander Münninghoff; translated from the Dutch by Kristen Gehrman; narrated by Stefan Rudnicki). The author, a noted Dutch journalist recounts his family’s history starting with his paternal grandfather. Johan “The Boss” Münninghoff was the patriarch of the family whose Roman Catholicism, Dutch nationality, and business empire were the driving forces of his life. He weaponized his iron will, intelligence, and connections in the service of his dynastic ambitions. However, his fortunes would take a huge reversal during World War II when the approach of Soviet troops forced him to abandon his adopted country of Latvia and return to the Netherlands. The author asserts that The Boss was connected to Great Britain’s M16 but also notes that his grandfather used his son’s identity as a SS officer to hedge his bets.
So yeah, the author’s father, Franz Münninghoff identified as German and managed to become a SS Sergeant and fight as a soldier during the war. He inherited his own father’s strong will but not much else and developed a life-long antagonism toward The Boss. He unsuccessfully schemed to achieve a fortune greater than his father’s and ended up sacrificing his own immediate family to his greed and naivety/stupidity.
Franz’s son, the author of the book would grow up in the lap of luxury but within a fractured family structure. He would find his own way through the world, ironically smarter and seemingly more principled, but ultimately the heir of nothing but familial pathos.

Despite the author’s attempts to present a fair picture of The Boss and his son, they were selfish, contemptible, and manipulative. The cruelty each would exhibit would scar their respective sons. World War II with its inherent menace as a war writ large and its specific threats manifested as Soviet invasion would be the backdrop and catalyst for the Münninghiffs’ fate but never a satisfactory explanation for their awfulness.

>17 Tess_W: It definitely would fit that category. If you decide to read it, I hope you like it.

>18 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Another one to add to my ever burgeoning WL!

I'm reading square haunting, brief bios of 5 women incuding HD and Virginia Woolf.

I'm now on the chapter of Dorothy L Sayers, she's one of the 3 authors I know very little about. The other two are Jane Harrison and Eileen Power.

I'll be reading The Life and Prayers of Saint Francis of Assisi. It's a short little book that was free on Amazon, and it's been on my "list" to read this year. My grandmother gave me a little plaque of The Prayer of Saint Francis (Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace) when I was about 10, and I do try and live by that prayer. It has been much on my mind since last week's election.....

I am Jewish and struggle with my belief but this has been my favorite prayer for a long time (about the time the movie brother son sister moon*) And like you I try to live by tht prayer

another that I love is from the Piro Avot, or wisdom of the fathers 'do not be daunted by the grief of the world walk humbly now find justice now show mercy now. You are not required to complete the work (of repairing the world)but neither are you allowed to abandon it

*excellent movie! warning nudity

Do Not Be Daunted is a particular favorite at my church (UCC). In fact we sing an anthem to that text written by our choir director, Nancy Grundahl. It was just published. She wrote it in 2016 the first time Trump got elected, and we sang it again yesterday. It's on You Tube, if you want to hear it.

I have one of those "infinity" bracelets (or whatever you call them - like a moebius) with the whole prayer of St. Francis on it. I've worn it daily for maybe a couple of decades now. Don't remember when I bought it....

>24 WelshBookworm: oh how wonderful! yes Ill take a listen

almost finished square haunting

So I've decided I'm likely going to use the same book for our themes here in both October and November. I had just started my October book, via OpenLibrary (Internet Archive), when they had a cyberattack. I'm not sure I can get back to it. It appears my November book could also fit for October, so not being sure when I can get back into Open Library, I'm probably just going to use the one book for both months.

In case anyone is interested: Mary Boleyn by Alison Weir

Oh... my mistake. I just tried. It looks like I can get back to it (finally!). So, I will use my November book for November, but I can't promise when I'll get back to the October book. Likely once I finish all my November reads.

The December thread has been posted here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365726#n8670964

I completed The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks This is a memoir that explores the life of a shepherd in the Lake District in England. This reader was grateful for the entire chapter on the Lake District, in general. Rebanks recounts his childhood upbringing in a farm family as well as the challenges of sustaining a traditional farm. Great read! 306 pages 4.5 stars RTT Biography/Memoir

Mary Boleyn / Alison Weir
3.5 stars

This is a nonfiction “biography” of Mary Boleyn. Mary lived during the first half of the 16th century, and was most likely a mistress to Henry VIII before he divorced his first wife, Kathrine of Aragon, and married Mary’s sister, Anne Boleyn.

There really isn’t a whole lot known about Mary, so the author took a lot of sources, both primary and secondary, and analyzed them to figure out what she could of Mary’s life. I expected this. She did also explain why she thought some of the sources were (likely) correct or not. So there is still much speculation, but the author did want to correct some obvious things that people think about Mary due to recent popular movies and tv shows (that, yes, I also enjoyed!).

I did learn a little bit, too: apparently, the likely affair between Henry and Mary was the same in the minds of people at the time, with regard to not allowing Henry and Anne to marry, as Henry marrying Katherine (his brother’s widow), which is what Henry used to annul his first marriage – it was considered incest, and shouldn’t have allowed him to marry Anne. But no one (at least who was willing to outwardly oppose Henry and Anne’s marriage) knew about it to bring it up.

This is, of course, a bit of a longer read, not in terms of pages, but it’s nonfiction, so a little more dense. But, still interesting!

I have read Meine Kinderjahre by Theodor Fontane, his memoirs of the years he spent in Swinemünde on the Baltic Sea. A pleasant, non-eventful tale of a world that had already vanished when he revisited the town thirty years later.

I was disappointed with The Egg and I as I just couldn't get past the author's bigotry. She considered herself far above her rural neighbours but even worse was her attitude regarding native Indians.

I got that when I tried to reread it and ended up not finishing it.

I am very frustrated with pure wit her story about Margaret Cavendish is interesting but she jumps all over the place in ways that doent make sence Its very well researched,her bibliograpy, notes and index take up the last third of the book. I may put it aside for a bit, come back to it later

I finished two classic memoirs in the last few days, and they were both wonderful. One is a fictional memoir (which stretches the memoir definition, I guess) and the other is nonfiction.


The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892) is the fictional memoir of Dr John Watson about the cases of his great detective friend. I had read one or two of the stories before, but that was many lifetimes ago. I listened to these on audiobook and they make great listening, as there is so much dialogue in the stories.


All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (1972) is the engaging memoir of a Yorkshire vet. I devoured it in a few days, and I'm not an animal person at all. It's as much about the people and the place, as it is about the animals, I think. How I have not read this classic before, I don't know, but I will definitely be going on with the series. What a delight!

>1 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I did finish a biography, square haunting but not listed here and listed another one (which I'm half way through), and was wondering if I still add this one

>37 AnishaInkspill: You can add as many to the Wiki as you’ve read! 🙂

Fair warning though— if you finish & post here after November 30, the number of eyes on the comment/review diminishes to virtually nil as people have moved more fully into the next month’s prompt.

For this month's theme, I built on the Monthly Author Reads Group's choice for November of Robert Louis Stevenson and read The Road to Culloden Moor: Bonnie Prince Charlie and the '45 Rebellion by Diana Preston.

This is a colourful and very readable account of the life of Prince Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender, and his doomed attempt in 1745-6 to recapture the throne from the unpopular Hanoverian king George II. Charles was born in Italy and had never visited the country over which he claimed sovereignty at that time. While Charles Stuart was almost the epitome of a romantic leader whose followers would die for him, he lacked the necessary grasp of strategy and tactics to execute a successful invasion. He made a number of key misjudgements: relying on French support which was never forthcoming (though that was not truly his fault); underestimating the military strength of the British government, as he appears to have assumed many British soldiers would not fight him as they would recognise him as their rightful king; and overestimating the willingness and capacity of both Scottish Lowlanders and English Jacobites to rise up in his favour. More generally, while the country didn't much like the Hanoverian rulers, the economy was expanding and the country was richer, and simply too many people had too much of a stake in this society to risk supporting a Jacobite invasion and rebellion, even if they may have sympathised with Charles Stuart's cause.

All this said, he did attract considerable early success, winning a military victory at Prestonpans, capturing Edinburgh and later, after crossing into England, easily capturing Carlisle and famously marching as far south as Derby. But it was not sustainable, and the government, after being initially caught on the hop, had amassed considerable forces to oppose the Young Pretender. The idealistic Charles was frequently at loggerheads with his more hardheaded chiefs who realised the advance could not be sustained and the support for his challenge just not wide or deep enough. The last few chapters tell the bloody story of the battle of Culloden itself, a battle that lasted only 30 minutes but which presaged the bloody suppression of the Highlanders and their whole way of life, including breaking up the clan system and even banning tartans, plaids and kilts for decades. And, of course, Charles's retreat and wanderings through the Hebrides and the role of Flora Macdonald. After he eventually slipped away from Scotland, eluding his pursuers, he spent the remaining 40 plus years of his life (he was only 25/26 at the time of the invasion), bitterly regretting his failures and turning increasingly to alcohol. His is a fascinating and colourful and tragic story though.

>39 john257hopper: For some reason (I think it was initially mentioned in a Gabaldon novel) I became interested in the Battle of Culloden, of which I had never heard about. Since then, I've read a lot about it, especially for an American! I've read Adventures of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Battle of Culloden by Alexander Tulloch, Culloden 1746 by Peter Harrington, and Culloden Moor by Stuart Reid. I'm sure there were a couple more books, but I didn't note them as Culloden, maybe "Bonnie Prince Charlie " or maybe "The House of Hanover"???? Whatever, this topic fascinates me! I'm now going in search of this one!

>38 Tanya-dogearedcopy: thanks!!! also for the xtra info, have added

>36 kac522: Just an interesting aside, I was in the same music appreciation class in college with James Herriot's granddaughter. Still haven't read the Herriot books. You've given me an inspiration to do this!

>42 Tess_W: How interesting! I'll bet he was a good story-teller. If I ever get back to Yorkshire, I'd like to go to his surgery--I think it's a museum now. He's got such an easy way of writing and observing. And the chapters are short, making it easy to pick up, put down for a while, and then pick up later and get right back into that world.

Stars Between the Sun and Moon / Lucia Jang
3.5 stars

The author grew up in North Korea but soon learned she wanted out. She went through abusive relationships, two children (one who was sold, not by her choice), landed in jail more than once, went back and forth between China, and more. Eventually, she got out for good and made her way to Canada.

I listened to the audio. Unfortunately, that meant it was a while before I got interested. And it was interesting (and awful for her) once it was holding my attention, but I’d already missed a bunch of what was going on by that point, and I continued to lose focus at times. You could say there were some technical issues with the audio that didn’t help, but it’s hard to say if that would have made a difference in the rating or not. I actually thought I caught more than I did, but in reading some of the other reviews, I guess I missed more than I thought, even.

Journals of Sylvia Plath 4* In this abridged journal by Sylvia Plath, what stands out to me, as it does in her other work is her writing. The journal is a mix of writer’s and reader’s diary along with private recordings, and I like how it ends on a casual upbeat open-ended note because that’s how Sylvia Plath should be remembered.

>44 LibraryCin: For myself, I find non-fiction rarely works well in audio format for following a sequence of events or historical narrative. My audiobook listening is nearly all of fiction, usually fiction I am already familiar with but wish to experience in a new way.

>46 john257hopper: In all honesty, I've not really thought about fiction vs non via audio. I tend to prefer either ebook or audio, whichever is more easily available. If my library doesn't have either, then I'll check for a print book. I should either pay more attention or check back on some of the audio books I've read to see if there is a distinction!

>44 LibraryCin: >46 john257hopper: I've had a mix experience with listening to nonfiction, sometimes I just stop and turn to the book, other times it's been inspiring like with listening to Dream of Reason, where afterwards I got the eBook as I found it helpful being new (and still newish) to philosophy.

>47 LibraryCin: not at all, it's an individual thing, whatever works for you :)

one of the best non fiction audios I experienced was Douglas Adams last chance to see narrated by the author, he goes in search of exotic and endangered animals, esp the Komodo Dragon. David and I listened to this on a road trip and both agreed how much we liked it

I read Madame President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson by William Hazelgrove This book is fatally flawed by a confusing and disorganized chronology. The structure is chaotic, jumping between years without clear order—one chapter starts in 1921, the next in 1911, followed by 1919, and so on. At times, it feels disorienting, especially when the narrative shifts abruptly between events, such as moving from President Wilson courting Edith to her working on League of Nations papers in the span of a few pages. Much of the information is not new, and can be found in other sources. I had previously read Starling of the White House, which provided similar details from a Secret Service agent's perspective on the Wilsons. 8 hours 8 min 2.5*

Another political bio clunker.....A Promised Land by Barak Obama. I was hyped for this biography, but was ultimately let down. Firstly, it was overly long (700+ pages) and could have used a good editor, especially in the chapters of policy making, which are minutely detailed and oftentimes slow. I think Mr. Obama might have wanted to make this a "feel good" book and hence refrained from addressing some of his administration's failings, such as handling the financial crisis, drone warfare, or the shortcomings in his relationship with Congress. While Obama does lightly touch upon what he considers his own flaws, he glosses over issues where he played the main protagonist such as healthcare reform and racial tensions. The tone of the writing was a problem for me. Obama comes off either aloof or pseudo-intellectual (he's trying too hard); it's not a natural tone. It doesn't flow well. Despite my dislike of the book, I am able to see its value as a perspective of America's first black president. 732 pages 2*