literary hoohah
I came across Bookish Beck's review of No Place to Lay One's Head last month and knew I just had to read it. It is the memoir of Françoise Frenkel, a Jewish woman from Poland who opened the first French-language bookshop in Berlin, in 1921. She had studied in France, and when on a visit… Continue reading No Place to Lay One’s Head by Françoise Frenkel (1945), trans. Stephanie Smee
Like many people, I was aware of, and liked, Busy Philipps from her various TV shows and movies, and my liking of her only grew when I followed her on Instagram and witnessed the joy and brilliance of her Stories on the app. I love that she is honest and frank on Instagram, and shows… Continue reading This Will Only Hurt A Little by Busy Philipps (2018)
I came across The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial in my GoodReads recommendations, and thought it seemed almost like the perfect book for me - a memoir about family history, women, and crime. The crime element particularly appealed to me as the book details Maggie Nelson's experience of the trial of the man of may… Continue reading The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial by Maggie Nelson (2007)
I'm back! As you may have seen on my Instagram, I was recently on holiday (again) and so everything was a bit quiet... but I'm now back and ready to get back into blogging. I am right at the end of Emma by Jane Austen, so I will be writing about that soon, as well… Continue reading Half-year review: best books of 2018 so far!
Like the last book I read, I found Once We Were Sisters through my GoodReads recommendations. I had never heard of Sheila Kohler but soon discovered that she is well-established writer of fiction, and this is her first memoir. It centres around her relationship with her older sister Maxine, and the devastation of Maxine's sudden… Continue reading Once We Were Sisters by Sheila Kohler (2017)
I discovered this book through the wonder that is GoodReads recommendations, which are surprisingly good at times. I have found a number of unknown-to-me books this way that I ended up loving. I've been on a non-fiction kick recently, and have always loved reading unusual or off-beat memoirs, especially by women. The Bridesmaid's Daughter has… Continue reading The Bridesmaid’s Daughter by Nyna Giles (2018)
A disclaimer: I did not manage to finish this book, even though it's not very long. I love Joan Didion's journalistic writing, as well as the two other memoirs of hers that I have read (The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights), but I just could not get on with Where I Was From.… Continue reading Where I Was From by Joan Didion (2003)
I first read Jean Rhys at university when her novel Good Morning, Midnight was on the reading list for a course about the 20th century novel. Since then she has been on my radar and I have kept most of her books on my long term TBR. I read Wide Sargasso Sea a few years… Continue reading Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography by Jean Rhys (1979)
It's a funny thing, how I came to read this book. I love Instagram - I follow people I know, bloggers, and a handful of celebrities (ok, quite a lot). One of these is the actor Busy Philipps, who I have always liked, but after following her on Instagram for over a year, I love… Continue reading Live Fast, Die Hot by Jenny Mollen (2016)
I recently tweeted about this - apologies to any of my followers for the repetition here. It's just that I have often, in my life, thought about writing a book. I used to want to write a novel, and actually managed to write one in my late teens, though I fear it is just over-emotional… Continue reading Things I Think I Could Write a Book About
