Difference between revisions of "Newest Autobiography Reviews"

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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Pronko
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|author=Mary McCarthy
|title=Beauty and Chaos: Slices and Morsels of Tokyo Life
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|title=Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
 
|summary=Adapting a Buddhist metaphor, Michael Pronko declares that 'writing about [Tokyo] is like catching fish with a hollow gourd.' In other words, it is an elusive and contradictory place that resists easy conclusions. Anyone who has seen the Bill Murray film ''Lost in Translation'' will retain the sense of a glittering, bewildering place that Westerners wander through in a daze. A long-term resident but still a perpetual outsider, Pronko is perfectly placed to notice the many odd and wonderful aspects of Tokyo life.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00PDH4KVA</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Derek Niemann
 
|title=A Nazi in the Family: The Hidden Story of an SS Family in Wartime Germany
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Biography
 
|summary=I'm sure someone somewhere has rewritten The Devil's Dictionary to include the following – ''family: noun; place where the greatest secrets are kept''.  The Niemann family is no exception.  It was long known that grandfather Karl was in Germany during the Second World War, people could easily work that out from the family biography.  Yet little was spoken of, apart from him being an office-bound worker, either in logistics or finance.  Since the War two of three surviving siblings had relocated to the Glasgow environs, and there was even a family quip concerning Goebbels and Gorbals (''family: noun; place where the worst things are spoken in the best way'').  What was a surprise to our author, and many of his relatives, was that things were a lot closer to the former than had been expected, for Karl was such an office worker – for the SS.  With a lot of family history finally out of the closet of silent mouths, and with incriminating photographic evidence revealed in unlikely ways, the whole truth can be known.  But this is certainly not just of interest to that one small family.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780722222</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Erwin Mortier and Paul Vincent (translator)
 
|title=Stammered Songbook: A Mother's Book of Hours
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=A chateau in the country.  So far, a fine life behind you. Just 65 years of age.  A happy collection of three successful children.  Alzheimer's. You work out what's the one bummer in that circumstance.
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|summary=Mary McCarthy describes herself as an ''amateur architect'', obsessively digging into the past to piece together the broken mosaic of her life. She attributes her ''burning interest in the past'' to her orphanhood, as she lacked any second-hand memories from her parents, who died in the 1918 flu epidemic. This memoir chronicles her early years, beginning with her orphanhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she lived under the harsh guardianship of her late father's Irish Catholic parents and her abusive Uncle Myers and Aunt Margaret. Later, she moved to Seattle to live with her maternal grandparents—her grandmother being Jewish and her grandfather Presbyterian—who provided her with a different kind of upbringing.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782270213</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1804271659
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lena Mukhina and Amanda Love Darragh (translator)
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|author=Virginie Despentes
|title=The Diary of Lena Mukhina: A Girl's Life in the Siege of Leningrad
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|title=King Kong Theory
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
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|genre=Autobiography  
|summary=If life as a girl of school-leaving age is hard enough, think about it when you're stuck in a great city under a horrendous siege. Lena Mukhina's diary only covers half the 800-odd days the nightmare in Leningrad lasted, but so palpably singular were the circumstances that it feels like one is given the clearest insight into what it was like, courtesy of these pages.  I've been there and never felt the ghost of the siege in the modern St Petersburg, anything like (for example) the ruination of Warsaw had lived on.  But a dreadful time this was.  At the peak times of Nazi oppression and aerial bombing, the city lost 2 or 3 residents' lives ''every minute'' of the day on average.  The city was desperate for fuel, and food – and this is a place where it can – and does here – snow in June.  Without giving too much of the diet away, it's notable that later on Lena dreams of having a menagerie of small animals to live with – but no dogs or cats.
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|summary=''King Kong Theory'' is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144726987X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=191309734X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Margery Kempe and Anthony Bale (editor)
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|author=Joan Didion
|title=The Book of Margery Kempe
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|title=The Year of Magical Thinking
|rating=3.5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Born around 1373, Margery Kempe grew up in a family of good standing - her Father serving as a mayor, and as a member of parliament. Whilst no records remain of her childhood, it is unlikely that Margery would have received any kind of formal education. She was, however, taught religious texts, which may well have set the way for the visions she would encounter later in life.
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|summary=This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199686645</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0007216858
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Esterly
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|isbn=1787333175
|title=The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making
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|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
|rating=4
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|author=Benji Waterhouse
|genre=Autobiography
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|rating=5
|summary=Bouncing between his studio in upstate New York and the sites of various English sojourns, woodcarver David Esterly's seems to be an idyllic existence. Yet it's not all cosy cottages in the snow and watching geese and coyotes when he looks up from his workbench. There is an element of hard-won retreat from the trials of life in this memoir, but at the same time there is an argument for the essential difficulty of the artist's life. 'Carvers are starvers,' a wizened English carver once told him. Certainly there is no great fortune to be won from a profession as obscure as limewood carving, but the rewards outweigh the hard graft for Esterly.
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|genre=Popular Science
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649191</amazonuk>
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|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography.  ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.  
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Edzard Ernst
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|isbn=0241636604
|title=A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble
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|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
 +
|author=Gary Stevenson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Professor Edzard Ernst was born in Germany not long after the end of World War II and grew up with guilt about what had happened in the years before he was born as well as an insatiable curiosity - with the two not being entirely entirely unconnected. He also developed an attitude of speaking his mind - as an early challenge to his step-father about the death of six million Jews in the course of the war proved. In his teens he wasn't determined to become a doctor - he had a hankering to be a musician - despite the fact that it was the family business, so to speak, but came round to the idea and practiced in various countries before settling in Exeter as Professor of Complementary Medicine at the university.
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|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.  A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.  He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid.  It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank.  Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845407776</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alan Kennedy
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|isbn=1529395224
|title=Oscar & Lucy
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|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet
|rating=4.5
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|author=Sion Rowlands
|genre=Biography
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|rating=3.5
|summary=With the film about Alan Turing, ''The Imitation Game'' getting rave reviews and award nominations right, left and centre, the sterling work done by the Bletchley Park cryptographers during WWII is quite high in our minds. But Enigma wasn't the only code broken and Turing wasn't the only one doing secret but heroic work.  
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|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095646968X</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally.  His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him.  Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child.  If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Andy Miller
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|author=Edel Rodriguez
|title=The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life
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|title=Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
+
|genre=Graphic Novels
|summary=Andy Miller and his wife both worked and they had a three-year-old son.  Despite the fact that Miller was an editor for a London publisher he felt that he'd 'lost' reading from his life.  He seemed to acquire a lot of books, but making time for reading them was an entirely different matterWith the help of his wife he developed a 'list of betterment' - initially a limited number of great books which he determined to read but eventually it became fifty great books and two not so great, which he was going to master over the space of a year.  He was re-integrating books into everyday life.
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|summary=We're in childhood, and we're in Cuba.  The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the country, has proven himself a Communist, and not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for allWell, those hours-long speeches of his were kind of taking his time away.  Our narrator's family weren't in the happiest of places here, an uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, and not liked for his successful photography business, success being frowned upon.  The mother gets the couple jobs with the party to ease some of the heat, but in this sultry island country, it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the kitchen…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00QJV7OAI</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1474616720
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jane Hawking
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|isbn=1035025299
|title=Travelling to Infinity: The True Story Behind the Theory of Everything
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|title=Went to London, Took the Dog
|rating=3.5
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|author=Nina Stibbe
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=Travelling to Infinity maps the tapestry of a rich and complex life.
 
 
 
Jane Hawking, the first wife of acclaimed scientist Stephen Hawking, reveals the inner-workings of their life together. Reflecting on the meteoric rise of her husband alongside his physical deterioration, she charts the path of their marriage and family throughout the highs and lows of their circumstance. As asserted by the author herself this story could indeed belong to any English family of the era. What sets this one apart, however, is the fame and publicity of one family member, the widely celebrated, Stephen Hawking.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846883660</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Paul Forkan and Rob Forkan
 
|title=Tsunami Kids: Our journey from survival to success
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=On Boxing Day 2004, when many of us were celebrating the Christmas holidays with our families, eating leftover turkey, reading books and enjoying time with loved ones, a huge tragedy was unfolding on the other side of the world. The Boxing Day Tsunami killed over 230,000 people, and caused widespread devastation to large parts of Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, the Maldives and Somalia. The Forkan family - Mum, Dad, and four of their children, were in Sri Lanka, a spur of the moment choice of destination that ultimately proved to be tragic. The parents, Kevin and Sandra, were killed in the flood. The children, orphaned, injured and without any possessions, traveled the 200 kilometres back to a city, where they contacted elder siblings and were swiftly flown back to the UK.
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|summary=Nina Stibbe is returning to London for a sabbatical after being away for twenty years. She's been at Victoria's smallholding in Leicestershire which isn't all that conducive to writing, as there's always something smallholding happening - as you might expect. The other side of the decision was sealed when a room became available (courtesy of Deborah Moggach) at a very reasonable rent.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782433570</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Helen Macdonald
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|author=Christopher Fowler
|title=H is for Hawk
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|title=Word Monkey
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=When I saw Helen Macdonald speak at a nature conference, she recounted a conversation with a Samuel Johnson Prize judge. S/he had remarked that Macdonald's was three books in one: a memoir of grief after her father's unexpected death, a biography of T. H. White, and an account of falconry experiments with Mabel the goshawk. Macdonald quipped that the description made her book sound like washing powder, but it's accurate nonetheless, and explains why the book won the Samuel Johnson Prize (the first memoir to do so) and is shortlisted for the Costa Biography award.
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|summary= It's the first of August in the middle of a cool wet summer in East Anglia.  I decided not to swim at the pool in favour of going to my beach hut. The weather closed in, rain arrived, and I decided not to do that either. When I finished reading this book, I realised it was because (a) I wanted to finish reading this book and (b) I did not want to do so anywhere near my shack.  No spoiler alerts, the dust jacket tells us who Christopher Fowler 'was' – and his first chapter tells us about his terminal diagnosis.  There is something very strange about being made to laugh by a man who repeatedly reminds you that he is dying, and you know he actually is at that point, because he does.  He did.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224097008</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0857529625
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Dylan Thomas and Peter Bailey
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|author= Kit De Waal
|title=A Child’s Christmas in Wales
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|title= Without Warning and Only Sometimes
|rating=4.5
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|rating= 4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre= Autobiography
|summary=Christmas time growing up in a Welsh seaside town was magical for Dylan Thomas, always snowy and full of adventure. From attempting to extinguish house fires with snowballs to hippo footprints in the snow his childhood in the snow was a time of wonder and pure joy.
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|summary= As Philip Larkin so eloquently put it, “They f*** you up, your mum and dad/ They may not mean to, but they do” Without Warning and Only Sometimes by Kit De Waal focuses on this idea of parenthood and the bonds that bind family. This book is a memoir focussing on the author’s formative years as a teenager living in a lower class area of Birmingham. Her father is from St. Kitts in the Caribbean and her mother is an Irish woman ostracized by her family for becoming pregnant by and marrying a black man. This intersectionality plays a large role in the autobiography. Kit De Waal faces multiple hurdles due to her race, her class and her gender. Her parents loom large and are written with care, love, and the kind of anger only a child can express to their parents.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444013467</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472284852
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Henry Marsh
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|isbn=1638485216
|title=Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery
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|title=Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement
 +
|author=Frederick Reynolds
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=We've all heard the phrase 'it's not brain surgery' but what is it really like to operate on someone's brain in the frightening knowledge that a small slip, a slight error can have the most devastating consequences for the patient, with death probably not being the worst?  Henry Marsh is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and Consultant Neurosurgeon at Atkinson Morley/St George's.  If anyone knows what it's like then Henry Marsh is the man to tell you.
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|summary=''Corruption is not department, gender or race specific.  It has everything to do with character. Period.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178022592X</amazonuk>
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 +
''One more body just wouldn't matter''.
 +
 
 +
The murder of George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man, on 25 May 2020 by Derek Chauvin, a forty-four-year-old police officer, in the US city of Minneapolis sent shock waves around the world.  We rarely see pictures of a murder taking place but Floyd's death was an exceptionThe image of Chauvin kneeling on George's neck is not one which I'll ever forget and the protests which followed cannot have been unexpected.  There was a backlash against the police - and not just in Minneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were ''all'' tarred by the Chauvin brush.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jennifer Klinec
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|author=Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and  Agnes Bromme (Translator)
|title=The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran
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|title=I May Be Wrong
|rating=3.5
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|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
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|genre= Autobiography
|summary=Jennifer Klinec is the daughter of Hungarian immigrant parents who ran an automotive factory in southwest Ontario. She learned early on to be self-sufficient, even enrolling herself in boarding schools in Switzerland and Dublin. After graduation she moved to London, made a pile as an investment banker, and opened her own cookery school. At age 31, though, she decided to travel to the Iranian city of Yazd to learn Persian dishes. She met Vahid, 25, a military veteran with an engineering background, in a park and he introduced her to his mother for cooking lessons.
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|summary= When the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, I'm inclined to think it doesn't really matter how the rest of the world responds to your book. I know, having read the book in question, that Lindeblad would disagree with that thought. He knows (and at core so do I) that it matters very much how the rest of the world responds to this book, because it tells the truth as it is, in the early 21st century.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844088235</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1526644827
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Marion Coutts
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|isbn=gareth_steel
|title=The Iceberg: A Memoir
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|title=Never Work With Animals
|rating=5
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|author=Gareth Steel
|genre=Autobiography
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|rating=4
|summary='Something has happened. A piece of news. We have had a diagnosis that has the status of an event. The news makes a rupture with what went before.' With these plain, unsentimental words Coutts begins her devastating yet mysteriously gorgeous account of her husband Tom Lubbock's decline and death from a brain tumour. Shortlisted for the Costa Biography award and longlisted for the ''Guardian'' First Book Award, it was also a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize.
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|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782393501</amazonuk>
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|summary=I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with ''Never Work With Animals'' it seems to be appropriate. Stories of a vet's life have proved popular since ''All Creatures Great and Small'' but ''Never Work With Animals'' is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the author would argue that ''All Creatures'' lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the book is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He says that he's written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and eating.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Wendy Cope
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|author=Dave Letterfly Knoderer
|title=Life, Love and the Archers
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|title=Speedy: Hurled Through Havoc
|rating=5
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|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=As a rule, poetry does not appeal to me - at school it was something to be learned and recited, regardless of merit or meaning and I came to dread those lessons - but there are two exceptions.  I love John Dryden's ''Absalom and Achitophel'' for its irreverence - and Wendy Cope, because she speaks to me in words I can understand about matters which concern me. I discovered her when my daughter gave me a copy of {{amazonurl|isbn=0571167055|title=Serious Concerns}} and her humorous poems tempted me to read some of the more serious content. I was smitten. Over the years I've followed with interest what she has had to say about such matters as copyright and the chance to review ''Life, Love and the Archers'' was far too tempting to miss.
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|summary=How to summarise the life of Dave Letterfly Knodererv in a pithy sentence to kick off a review of his memoir? Do you know, I really don't think I can.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444795368</amazonuk>
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 +
 
 +
Dave is an author and an artist. An inspirational speaker and a professional horseman. And a recovering alcoholic. The son of a Lutheran minister, he's struggled with a controlling father, run away to join the circus (not a metaphor), trained horses, painted caravans, designed and painted theatre sets, and hit rock bottom when the bottle took over.
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|isbn=B0965V3LLN
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=A Tour of Bones: Facing Fear and Looking for Life
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|isbn=0008350388
|author=Denise Inge
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|title=We Need to Talk About Money
 +
|author=Otegha Uwagba
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
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|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=American-born Dr Denise Inge was an expert on seventeenth-century mystic poet Thomas Traherne, mother to two daughters, and wife to an Anglican clergyman. Her husband's appointment as Bishop of Worcester saw them move to a townhouse adjacent to Worcester Cathedral – and attached to a charnel house. Whatever to do with a basement full of bones? An even more pressing question was what to do with her fear of the death they represented, especially when Inge was diagnosed with inoperable sarcoma late in the writing process.
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|summary=''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts...''  ''We Need to Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472913078</amazonuk>
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 +
''0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a book by a woman.''  ''The Bookseller'' 29 June 2021
 +
 
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Otegha Uwagba came to the UK from Kenya when she was five years old.  Her sisters were seven and nine. It was her mother who came first, with her father joining them later.  The family was hard-working, principled and determined that their children would have the best education possible.  There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything: it was simply carefully harvested.  When Otegha was ten the family acquired a car.  For Otegha, education meant a scholarship to a private school in London and then a place at New College, Oxford.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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|title=Darling Monster: The Letters of Lady Diana Cooper to her Son John Julius Norwich 1939-1952
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{{Frontpage
|author=Diana Cooper
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|isbn=0571365884
 +
|title=My Mess is a Bit of Life: Adventures in Anxiety
 +
|author=Georgia Pritchett
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Though she is perhaps little remembered these days except as the mother of writer and historian John Julius Norwich, Lady Diana Cooper was one of the towering figures in society life between the wars and for much of the period before her death in 1986.
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|summary=Georgia Pritchett has always been anxious, even as a child.  She would worry about whether the monsters under the bed were comfortable: it was the sort of life where if she had nothing to worry about she would become anxious but such occasions were few and far between.  On a visit to a therapist, as an adult,  when she was completely unable to speak about what was wrong with her it was suggested that she should write it down and ''My Mess is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety'' is the result - or so we are given to believe.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009957859X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Pamela O'Cuneen
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|author=Daniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker
|title=Hummingbirds in My Hair: Adventures of a Diplomatic Wife in the Caribbean
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|title=A Tattoo on my Brain
|rating=4
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|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Pamela O'Cuneen was what is known in the business as a 'diplomatic wife': the spouse of a diplomat sent abroad to represent his country. It's generally unpaid and extremely hard work - I've always thought of it as one of the original BOGOF deals. When we first meet Pamela she and her husband, KJ, have been transferred from their beloved Africa to Suriname, or ''Suri-where?'' as people always responded when it was mentioned to them.  It ''used'' to be Dutch Guyana on the Caribbean coast of South America and there are few people who would think of it in terms of a holiday destination.
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|summary=Alzheimer's is a disease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of self. I have been directly affected by this cruel disease, as have many. Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time affected the elements. It seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs' memoir so admirable. Daniel Gibbs is a neurologist who was diagnosed with Alzheimers and has documented his journey in ''A Tattoo on my Brain''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373637</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1108838936
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Hitler's Last Witness: The Memoirs of Hitler's Bodyguard
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|isbn=1529109116
|author=Rochus Misch
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|title=Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey
 +
|author=Hannah Jackson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Lifestyle
 +
|summary=''I want the image of a British farmer to simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation.  I don't think that is too much to ask.''
 +
 +
The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where ''his'' family have farmed for generations.  He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to what he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a farmer.  It's not always the case though.  Hannah Jackson was born and brought up on the Wirral: she'd never set foot on a commercial farm until she was twenty although she'd always had a deep love of animals.  Her original intention was that she would become 'Dr Jackson, whale scientist' and she was well on her way to achieving this when her life changed on a family holiday to the Lake District.  She saw a lamb being born and, although 'Hannah Jackson, farmer' lacked the kudos of her original intention, she knew that she wanted to be a shepherd.  With the determination that you'll soon realise is an essential part of her, she set about achieving her ambition.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0008333173
 +
|title=Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More
 +
|author=Grace Dent
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=I am proud to declare an interest in all things Holocaust, one of the key areas of which was the last days of Hitler – the Downfall, if you like, way before youtube satiristsSo this book, from the man who for some unspecified years was the last eye-witness to have been in the Fuhrerbunker at the end of the Nazi regime, was always going to be a great readIt remained that even after the foreword dismissed its own book, pointing out differences here to the canon of thought about the timings etc of April/May 1945, and declaring the author somewhat naïve in not being so aware, circumspect and authoritative about the major points of WWII.
+
|summary=I'm always relieved when Grace Dent is one of the judges on ''Masterchef''You know that you're going to get an honest opinion from someone whom you sense does real food rather than fine dining most of the timeYou also ponder on how she can look so elegant with all that good food in front of her.  I've often wondered about the woman behind the media image and ''Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More'' is a stunning read which will make you laugh and break your heart in equal measures.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848327498</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Diary of a Mad Diva
 
|author=Joan Rivers
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Humour
 
|summary=The late Joan Rivers was, without a doubt, a character. Actress, comedian, writer, director, presenter, she was well known in the USA and beyond for her sharp tongue and no holds barred persona. This was the last of the dozen books she published, her final title before her death in September 2014.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0425269027</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=Life on Air
+
|isbn=1504321383
|author=David Attenborough
+
|title=Single, Again, and Again, and Again
 +
|author=Louisa Pateman
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=I was one of the generation who grew up when David Attenborough was a giant among presenters of wildlife programmes on television, and anything with his name attached was a must-watchAt the time, I had no idea that he was also one of the pivotal characters in the development of broadcasting, having been controller of BBC2 and director of programming for BBC TV for several years.  These days, he is probably best remembered for writing and presenting the nine ‘Life’ series, a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet.
+
|summary=''You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own.  You are not complete until you find a man''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849908524</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
This was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe.  It wasn't unkind: it was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her.  It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever afterFew girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''without'' the expectation that they will marry and have children.  It was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''a belief is a choice''.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=The Last Escaper
+
|author=Sakinu Ahronglong
|author=Peter Tunstall
+
|title=Hunter School
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''The Last Escaper'' opens differently to many of the great escape biographies that were released soon after the war as it is told some 70 years later. Peter Tunstall was an RAF pilot who was shot down and spent many years as a Prisoner Of War across occupied Europe, including in ColditzHe lived through the war, but also lived through many decades of peaceWill these years of the relative quiet life lesson the tales of bravery and dare doing of the war?  Of course not!
+
|summary= The flyleaf to this little collection tells us that it is a work of fiction. That's possibly misleading.  I am not sure whether it is "fiction" in the sense that Ahronglong made it all up, or whether it is as the blurb goes on to say ''recollections, folklore and autobiographical stories''.  It feels like the latter. It feels like the stories he tells about his experiences as a child, as an adolescent, as an adult are real and trueBut memory is a fickle thing, and maybe poetic licence has taken over here and there and maybe calling it fiction means that its safer and therefore more people will read itMore people should.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071564923X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1999791282
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=The Animals
+
|isbn=1544641923
|author=Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy
+
|title=Ambassadors Do It After Dinner
 +
|author=Sandra Aragona
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Christopher Isherwood is a writer whose work was often (in fact nearly always) biographical, and one who was always very open about his personal life. Interest in the life of Isherwood seems to have been rife recently, with a film about Isherwood and Bachardy released in 2008, an adaptation of Isherwood's book 'A Single Man' released in 2009, and a BBC adaptation of 'Christopher and his Kind' released in 2011, as well as the seemingly countless revivals of 'Cabaret'.
+
|summary=It's tempting to think that the diplomatic life is privileged and luxurious.  It might be privileged, but family connections tell me that it is far from luxurious. Now you're not going to get many ambassadors telling you what it's really like (it's not ''diplomatic'' to do so, you know), but the diplomatic spouse, the accompanying baggage, well, that's an entirely different matter.  She (and it still usually is a 'she') can tell us exactly what goes on.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784700827</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Rick Stein
+
|isbn=0241446732
|title=Under a Mackerel Sky
+
|title=Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis
 +
|author=Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Beata Thunberg and Svante Thunberg
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Politics and Society
 +
|summary=The Ernman / Thunberg family seemed perfectly normal.  Malena Ernman was an opera singer and Svante Thunberg took on most of the parenting of their two daughters.  Then eleven-year-old Greta stopped eating and talking and her sister, Beata, then nine years old, struggled with what was happening.  In such circumstances, it's natural to seek a solution close to home, but eventually, it became clear to the family that they were ''burned-out people on a burned-out planet''.  If they were to find a way to live happily again their solution would need to be radical.
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=191280493X
 +
|title=Coming of Age
 +
|author=Danny Ryan
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Rick Stein was born if not to wealth then certainly to privilege. He was raised on an Oxfordshire farm and spent holidays at the family's home in Cornwall. His parents were gregarious and intelligent and he was one of five children who led the sort of open-air life that country children did in those days before we worried about stranger dangerHe enjoyed school and loved Cornwall, where he gained a reputation as he got older for giving riotous parties in a barn on the Cornish propertyIt was idyllic - until the day that his father (who was bi-polar) committed suicideStein's reaction to this was to head to the Australian outback where he worked in a variety of jobs (some more palatable than others) and finally came back to England, via America and Mexico.
+
|summary=''He began writing novels and poetry at the age of twelve, but it was to take him a further forty-eight years to realise that he wasn’t very good at either. Consistently unpublished for all that time, he remains a shining example of hope over experience...''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091949912</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
 
 +
''This a memoir from someone you have never heard of - but will feel like you have.''
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=190874572X
 +
|title=Letters from Tove
 +
|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Autobiography
 +
|summary=Back at the beginning of the century, I went on holiday to Nepal. I met a wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort-of-friends. I can't remember if it was on that holiday or a later one that Paula told me I really had to read Tove JanssonI do know that it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer Book, and that I eagerly awaited the ''Sort Of'' translations of the rest of Jansson's work and devoured them as soon as I could get my hands on them.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1908745819
 +
|title=Surfacing
 +
|author=Kathleen Jamie
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Autobiography
 +
|summary=Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so, unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told whyThe blurb speaks of the author considering ''an older, less tethered sense of herself.'' Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am.  Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it.  It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually.  I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=Me After You
+
|isbn=1906852472
|author=Lucie Brownlee
+
|title=Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Ian Mathie
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=People die all the time. I’m not trying to be crude, they just do. It’s the circle of life, or some less Disney-fied sentiment. And if everyone whose partner or parent died wrote a book about it, well, to say that would be less than good would be a severe understatement. For a book on such a theme to be worth reading, it has to have a pull, a twist, something to make you look twice. In Lucie’s case it’s the fact that her husband Mark was only 37 years old when he died. And not only that, he died during a bit of nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Talk about going out with a bang.
+
|summary=For Ian Mathie fans there is good and bad news. Ian has come up with the missing link in his narrative, the story of a very unusual childhood (yes, the very years that made him the amazing man he became). The bad – well it's hardly news two years later – is that the book is published posthumously. As always, it's beautifully written, with many exciting moments. What I most enjoyed was the feeling that many of the questions in Ian Mathie's later books are answered in ''Wild Child'' with a satisfying clunk. Seemingly all that's now left in the drawer is unpublishable.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753555832</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Ellie Laks
+
|isbn=1999811402
|title=My Gentle Barn: where animals heal and children learn to hope
+
|title=Painting Snails
 +
|author=Stephen John Hartley
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=As a child Ellie Laks was abused, but not only did she suffer at the hands of her abuser, she also had to endure parental indifference to what was happening to herHer only relief came through animals - and even then she had to cope when the animals were taken from herAs an adult she discovered that she had a real talent for healing animals - and that they helped her to heal tooIn a brilliant leap of intuition she realised that if the animals could help her to heal they could do the same for  others and so the Gentle Barn was born - a place where animals were brought as a place of safety and where disadvantaged children and special needs groups could use as therapy.
+
|summary=It's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best resultsThe answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part-time)I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the book's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either.  Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'?  Yep - that's the one. It's an autobiography.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099584883</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Any Other Mouth
 
|author=Anneliese Mackintosh
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Short Stories
 
|summary=With a title like ''Any Other Mouth'', you know from the outset that this is, shall we say, a rather niche book. It’s not all about orifices, though. Partially autobiographical, this is the messy, ludicrous, wildly entertaining story of a girl who’s just a little bit different. Ok, make that a lot different.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908754575</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Biography Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 14:14, 16 December 2024

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Review of

Memories of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy

4star.jpg Autobiography

Mary McCarthy describes herself as an amateur architect, obsessively digging into the past to piece together the broken mosaic of her life. She attributes her burning interest in the past to her orphanhood, as she lacked any second-hand memories from her parents, who died in the 1918 flu epidemic. This memoir chronicles her early years, beginning with her orphanhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she lived under the harsh guardianship of her late father's Irish Catholic parents and her abusive Uncle Myers and Aunt Margaret. Later, she moved to Seattle to live with her maternal grandparents—her grandmother being Jewish and her grandfather Presbyterian—who provided her with a different kind of upbringing. Full Review

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Review of

King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes

4star.jpg Autobiography

King Kong Theory is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays. Full Review

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Review of

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear. Full Review

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Review of

You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here by Benji Waterhouse

5star.jpg Popular Science

I was tempted to read You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here after enjoying Adam Kay's first book This is Going to Hurt, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. You Don't Have to be Mad... promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. Full Review

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Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. Full Review

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Review of

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet by Sion Rowlands

3.5star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballer. Full Review

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Review of

Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey by Edel Rodriguez

4star.jpg Graphic Novels

We're in childhood, and we're in Cuba. The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the country, has proven himself a Communist, and not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for all. Well, those hours-long speeches of his were kind of taking his time away. Our narrator's family weren't in the happiest of places here, an uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, and not liked for his successful photography business, success being frowned upon. The mother gets the couple jobs with the party to ease some of the heat, but in this sultry island country, it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the kitchen… Full Review

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Review of

Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe

4star.jpg Autobiography

Nina Stibbe is returning to London for a sabbatical after being away for twenty years. She's been at Victoria's smallholding in Leicestershire which isn't all that conducive to writing, as there's always something smallholding happening - as you might expect. The other side of the decision was sealed when a room became available (courtesy of Deborah Moggach) at a very reasonable rent. Full Review

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Review of

Word Monkey by Christopher Fowler

5star.jpg Autobiography

It's the first of August in the middle of a cool wet summer in East Anglia. I decided not to swim at the pool in favour of going to my beach hut. The weather closed in, rain arrived, and I decided not to do that either. When I finished reading this book, I realised it was because (a) I wanted to finish reading this book and (b) I did not want to do so anywhere near my shack. No spoiler alerts, the dust jacket tells us who Christopher Fowler 'was' – and his first chapter tells us about his terminal diagnosis. There is something very strange about being made to laugh by a man who repeatedly reminds you that he is dying, and you know he actually is at that point, because he does. He did. Full Review

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Review of

Without Warning and Only Sometimes by Kit De Waal

4star.jpg Autobiography

As Philip Larkin so eloquently put it, “They f*** you up, your mum and dad/ They may not mean to, but they do” Without Warning and Only Sometimes by Kit De Waal focuses on this idea of parenthood and the bonds that bind family. This book is a memoir focussing on the author’s formative years as a teenager living in a lower class area of Birmingham. Her father is from St. Kitts in the Caribbean and her mother is an Irish woman ostracized by her family for becoming pregnant by and marrying a black man. This intersectionality plays a large role in the autobiography. Kit De Waal faces multiple hurdles due to her race, her class and her gender. Her parents loom large and are written with care, love, and the kind of anger only a child can express to their parents. Full Review

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Review of

Black, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement by Frederick Reynolds

5star.jpg Autobiography

Corruption is not department, gender or race specific. It has everything to do with character. Period.

One more body just wouldn't matter.

The murder of George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man, on 25 May 2020 by Derek Chauvin, a forty-four-year-old police officer, in the US city of Minneapolis sent shock waves around the world. We rarely see pictures of a murder taking place but Floyd's death was an exception. The image of Chauvin kneeling on George's neck is not one which I'll ever forget and the protests which followed cannot have been unexpected. There was a backlash against the police - and not just in Minneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were all tarred by the Chauvin brush. Full Review

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Review of

I May Be Wrong by Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and Agnes Bromme (Translator)

5star.jpg Autobiography

When the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, I'm inclined to think it doesn't really matter how the rest of the world responds to your book. I know, having read the book in question, that Lindeblad would disagree with that thought. He knows (and at core so do I) that it matters very much how the rest of the world responds to this book, because it tells the truth as it is, in the early 21st century. Full Review

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Review of

Never Work With Animals by Gareth Steel

4star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with Never Work With Animals it seems to be appropriate. Stories of a vet's life have proved popular since All Creatures Great and Small but Never Work With Animals is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the author would argue that All Creatures lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the book is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He says that he's written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and eating. Full Review

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Review of

Speedy: Hurled Through Havoc by Dave Letterfly Knoderer

4star.jpg Autobiography

How to summarise the life of Dave Letterfly Knodererv in a pithy sentence to kick off a review of his memoir? Do you know, I really don't think I can.


Dave is an author and an artist. An inspirational speaker and a professional horseman. And a recovering alcoholic. The son of a Lutheran minister, he's struggled with a controlling father, run away to join the circus (not a metaphor), trained horses, painted caravans, designed and painted theatre sets, and hit rock bottom when the bottle took over. Full Review

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Review of

We Need to Talk About Money by Otegha Uwagba

5star.jpg Politics and Society

To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts... We Need to Talk About Money by Otegha Uwagba

0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a book by a woman. The Bookseller 29 June 2021

Otegha Uwagba came to the UK from Kenya when she was five years old. Her sisters were seven and nine. It was her mother who came first, with her father joining them later. The family was hard-working, principled and determined that their children would have the best education possible. There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything: it was simply carefully harvested. When Otegha was ten the family acquired a car. For Otegha, education meant a scholarship to a private school in London and then a place at New College, Oxford. Full Review

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Review of

My Mess is a Bit of Life: Adventures in Anxiety by Georgia Pritchett

4star.jpg Autobiography

Georgia Pritchett has always been anxious, even as a child. She would worry about whether the monsters under the bed were comfortable: it was the sort of life where if she had nothing to worry about she would become anxious but such occasions were few and far between. On a visit to a therapist, as an adult, when she was completely unable to speak about what was wrong with her it was suggested that she should write it down and My Mess is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety is the result - or so we are given to believe. Full Review

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Review of

A Tattoo on my Brain by Daniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker

3.5star.jpg Autobiography

Alzheimer's is a disease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of self. I have been directly affected by this cruel disease, as have many. Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time affected the elements. It seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs' memoir so admirable. Daniel Gibbs is a neurologist who was diagnosed with Alzheimers and has documented his journey in A Tattoo on my Brain. Full Review

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Review of

Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey by Hannah Jackson

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

I want the image of a British farmer to simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation. I don't think that is too much to ask.

The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where his family have farmed for generations. He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to what he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a farmer. It's not always the case though. Hannah Jackson was born and brought up on the Wirral: she'd never set foot on a commercial farm until she was twenty although she'd always had a deep love of animals. Her original intention was that she would become 'Dr Jackson, whale scientist' and she was well on her way to achieving this when her life changed on a family holiday to the Lake District. She saw a lamb being born and, although 'Hannah Jackson, farmer' lacked the kudos of her original intention, she knew that she wanted to be a shepherd. With the determination that you'll soon realise is an essential part of her, she set about achieving her ambition. Full Review

0008333173.jpg

Review of

Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More by Grace Dent

5star.jpg Autobiography

I'm always relieved when Grace Dent is one of the judges on Masterchef. You know that you're going to get an honest opinion from someone whom you sense does real food rather than fine dining most of the time. You also ponder on how she can look so elegant with all that good food in front of her. I've often wondered about the woman behind the media image and Hungry: A Memoir of Wanting More is a stunning read which will make you laugh and break your heart in equal measures. Full Review

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Review of

Single, Again, and Again, and Again by Louisa Pateman

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own. You are not complete until you find a man.

This was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: it was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her. It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after. Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up without the expectation that they will marry and have children. It was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that a belief is a choice. Full Review

1999791282.jpg

Review of

Hunter School by Sakinu Ahronglong

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

The flyleaf to this little collection tells us that it is a work of fiction. That's possibly misleading. I am not sure whether it is "fiction" in the sense that Ahronglong made it all up, or whether it is as the blurb goes on to say recollections, folklore and autobiographical stories. It feels like the latter. It feels like the stories he tells about his experiences as a child, as an adolescent, as an adult are real and true. But memory is a fickle thing, and maybe poetic licence has taken over here and there and maybe calling it fiction means that its safer and therefore more people will read it. More people should. Full Review

1544641923.jpg

Review of

Ambassadors Do It After Dinner by Sandra Aragona

4star.jpg Autobiography

It's tempting to think that the diplomatic life is privileged and luxurious. It might be privileged, but family connections tell me that it is far from luxurious. Now you're not going to get many ambassadors telling you what it's really like (it's not diplomatic to do so, you know), but the diplomatic spouse, the accompanying baggage, well, that's an entirely different matter. She (and it still usually is a 'she') can tell us exactly what goes on. Full Review

0241446732.jpg

Review of

Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis by Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Beata Thunberg and Svante Thunberg

5star.jpg Politics and Society

The Ernman / Thunberg family seemed perfectly normal. Malena Ernman was an opera singer and Svante Thunberg took on most of the parenting of their two daughters. Then eleven-year-old Greta stopped eating and talking and her sister, Beata, then nine years old, struggled with what was happening. In such circumstances, it's natural to seek a solution close to home, but eventually, it became clear to the family that they were burned-out people on a burned-out planet. If they were to find a way to live happily again their solution would need to be radical. Full Review

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Review of

Coming of Age by Danny Ryan

4star.jpg Autobiography

He began writing novels and poetry at the age of twelve, but it was to take him a further forty-eight years to realise that he wasn’t very good at either. Consistently unpublished for all that time, he remains a shining example of hope over experience...


This a memoir from someone you have never heard of - but will feel like you have. Full Review

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Review of

Letters from Tove by Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)

5star.jpg Autobiography

Back at the beginning of the century, I went on holiday to Nepal. I met a wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort-of-friends. I can't remember if it was on that holiday or a later one that Paula told me I really had to read Tove Jansson. I do know that it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer Book, and that I eagerly awaited the Sort Of translations of the rest of Jansson's work and devoured them as soon as I could get my hands on them. Full Review

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Review of

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

5star.jpg Autobiography

Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you this one has your name on it. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so, unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why. The blurb speaks of the author considering an older, less tethered sense of herself. Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly. Full Review

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Review of

Wild Child: Growing Up a Nomad by Ian Mathie

5star.jpg Autobiography

For Ian Mathie fans there is good and bad news. Ian has come up with the missing link in his narrative, the story of a very unusual childhood (yes, the very years that made him the amazing man he became). The bad – well it's hardly news two years later – is that the book is published posthumously. As always, it's beautifully written, with many exciting moments. What I most enjoyed was the feeling that many of the questions in Ian Mathie's later books are answered in Wild Child with a satisfying clunk. Seemingly all that's now left in the drawer is unpublishable. Full Review

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Review of

Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

It's very difficult to classify Painting Snails: originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part-time). I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from Casualty, but that isn't really what the book's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one. It's an autobiography. Full Review

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