This brought back so many memories for me. I went to Moscow and Leningrad in 1988 as a trip with Art School. This is set later, after the USSR has becThis brought back so many memories for me. I went to Moscow and Leningrad in 1988 as a trip with Art School. This is set later, after the USSR has become Russia, but many of the things that Viv describes: the amazingly empty shops, the babushkas on every hotel corridor corner, the grim buildings and much more, were really evocative for me. When Viv is 20 she lives in Moscow for a year as part of her university degree, teaching English and living with a local family. She meets and falls in love with Bogdan (which translates as Gift of God), a Ukrainian rock musician. While he is off gigging she meets other people, changes jobs, changes who she's living with, and generally it seems, has a (mostly) good time, waiting for the summer, which Bogdan has promised they will spend together in his hometown. It's a long time coming, and when she does finally get there, it's not exactly as she was expecting. One Ukrainian Summer is witty, well written, and captures a particular time and place perfectly. And if you want to win a signed copy, visit my Instagram: @writerclairefuller...more
Andrew Leland is slowly going blind from retina pigmentosa. This is a non-fiction book about the culture of blindless, the history of support for the Andrew Leland is slowly going blind from retina pigmentosa. This is a non-fiction book about the culture of blindless, the history of support for the blind, and also a memoir about his personal journey. I found all of it fascinating, especially the thoughts and ideas around what if you're going blind slowly rather than suddenly being blind. There's lots of philosophical and psychological stuff here that I really enjoyed - especially how blind people 'see' themselves and how others 'see' them. My youngest child - an adult - uses a wheelchair and I could apply lots of the discussion around aides, disability, and the choices we all make, which definitely made me think about things differently....more
Just as Maggie Nelson is completing a book of poetry inspired by the murder of her aunt, Jane in 1969 - four years before Nelson is born - Nelson's moJust as Maggie Nelson is completing a book of poetry inspired by the murder of her aunt, Jane in 1969 - four years before Nelson is born - Nelson's mother is told that Jane's case has been reopened because new DNA evidence has been found. This is a memoir about what happened next - the trial and the conviction, how that affected her and her family, and how it raised new questions, interspersed with Nelson's memory of her own close family. Fascinating, affecting, and written with brilliance. ...more
My goodness, what a story: coming to terms with a horribly abusive father, while at the same time finding out the truth behind the family story that CMy goodness, what a story: coming to terms with a horribly abusive father, while at the same time finding out the truth behind the family story that Cumming's maternal grandfather died in a shooting accident. ...more
Miller's writing is great, as ever, but I didn't particularly connect with her father or what she and her family were going through. He dies from compMiller's writing is great, as ever, but I didn't particularly connect with her father or what she and her family were going through. He dies from complications around Alzeimers and this memoir is really about the disease and the last few years of Miller's father's life. There is one story about the 'cats house' which has really stuck in my head though. Where her father buys a house without having gone inside it from a man who has kept up to 80 cats inside it for many years. ...more
With punchy prose and a harrowing story of staggering resilience and fortitude, Fagan's memoir should be required reading. Many years in the writing, With punchy prose and a harrowing story of staggering resilience and fortitude, Fagan's memoir should be required reading. Many years in the writing, this memoir details Fagan's time growing up in care in Scotland. It's difficult reading at times, but so worth it. ...more
It doesn't feel fair to rate this book. I picked it up for research for the novel I'm writing now, and it was extremely useful for that. I felt for HeIt doesn't feel fair to rate this book. I picked it up for research for the novel I'm writing now, and it was extremely useful for that. I felt for Hewitt and everything he'd been through, but the book wasn't very well written, and could have done with a much more thorough line edit. Interesting how similar his childhood was to Lemn Sissay's: 10 or so years with a foster family, and then rejected; teenage years in two or more children's homes, stealing and some general bad teenage behaviour. ...more
I am about five months older than Lemn Sissay and it was impossible to read this book without reflecting on the juxtaposition of his childhood and minI am about five months older than Lemn Sissay and it was impossible to read this book without reflecting on the juxtaposition of his childhood and mine (I was for the most part provided with love, support, encouragement and truth by my family). This is Sissay's story from his birth to an Ethiopian mother who wouldn't sign the adoption papers that The Authority insisted on, to age 18 when he managed to move into his own flat. In between is his account of his foster family who abandoned him age 12 so that he was moved into several children's homes, the last of which was more or a less a prison. He intersperses his memories with the documents that The Authority's employees wrote about him which he didn't get to read until his late forties. It is powerful, moving, searing, and yes, shaming. ...more
This is a collection of seven essays published after Adina Talve-Goodman's death. At 19 she had a heart transplant and these beautifully written pieceThis is a collection of seven essays published after Adina Talve-Goodman's death. At 19 she had a heart transplant and these beautifully written pieces reflect on her chronic illness, what it means to have someone's else's heart inside her, her relationships with men and how they viewed her scars - literal and metaphorical, and what it means to be no longer ill (for a while at least). Honest and searingly written, it is clear that Talve-Goodman would have gone on to even greater writing if she had lived. ...more
I have always loved Vashti Bunyan's music - ethereal, unselfconscious, unpretentious - and the only part of her story that I knew was that she was theI have always loved Vashti Bunyan's music - ethereal, unselfconscious, unpretentious - and the only part of her story that I knew was that she was the sixties musician who gave it all up and went to Scotland on a horse and cart. Of course that was only part of the story and not quite true anyway. So, it was fascinating to read about what really happened with Bunyan's musical career and that journey north. And I was delighted that the style of her prose is so like the style of her lyrics - unpretentious. Very enjoyable. ...more
Nastassja Martin, a French anthropologist has been studying the Evens, a group of people in Siberia and their belief in animism when she encounters a Nastassja Martin, a French anthropologist has been studying the Evens, a group of people in Siberia and their belief in animism when she encounters a bear which bites her face and takes part of her jaw bone before she can stab its side with a pick axe. This is an account of that attack, the terrible rural Russian hospital she is taken to, and the French hospitals who also don't look after her particularly well. However grisly all that sounds, I would have liked more of it, and more of what life is like for the Evens when she decides to return to confront the bear (I had no clear sense of how and where they live exactly). Clearly she cannot really confront the exact bear who attacks her, but is grappling mentally with the encounter and who she has become, how connected she is now to the bear, what her dreams mean, and so on. Towards the end it becomes rather philosophical without making any strong point, but I still enjoyed it very much. Translated from the French by Sophie R. Lewis....more
Charming and moving and very well written, this memoir by the actress (and musician) Minnie Driver is a series of ten essays which start in childhood Charming and moving and very well written, this memoir by the actress (and musician) Minnie Driver is a series of ten essays which start in childhood when she is an unhappy boarder at her school in Hampshire (not too far from where I live), and finish with the poignant and wise (without being sentimental) essay about the death of her mother. In between are her first break into acting, the end of a significant relationship, and the birth of her son. Don't expect a celebrity tell-all, this is so much more. I'm looking forward to see what she writes next. I listened to it as an audio book, read by the author, which has a bonus interview at the end, but sadly (of course) not the photograph of Driver's mother which is included at the end of the other editions. I would have loved to see Gaynor, standing with her hands on her hips. ...more
This is an interesting one. I LOVE Deakin's Waterlog, and I assumed I would love this too. I did love his writing and his fine and detailed observatioThis is an interesting one. I LOVE Deakin's Waterlog, and I assumed I would love this too. I did love his writing and his fine and detailed observations about the nature around him in his Suffolk garden and even what flies and walks into his house at night - the young hedgehog beside the stove for example. But what I didn't enjoy was...I don't even know how to put this...his moaning. He doesn't like it when he hears people using chainsaws (although he uses one), he doesn't like it when people drive 4WDs, he doesn't like when people mess up streams and ponds. All with good reason. I don't have a problem with what he complains about but I do with what whoever edited this book (it was put together after his death from several years worth of journals) decided to include. There is a grousing and grumbling voice that comes across too strongly, when Deakin clearly also feels much joy. It made me start picking at his personal life choices - for example he writes often about his cats and how much he loves them, and yet domestic cats are estimated to kill 100 million animals each year in the UK. ...more
What to say? I have been meaning to read Primo Levi for years. This is his account of the 11 months he spent in Auschwitz just before the camp was libWhat to say? I have been meaning to read Primo Levi for years. This is his account of the 11 months he spent in Auschwitz just before the camp was liberated. It is extraordinary for the factual details, for the horror of course, and for the thoughts he expresses about suffering and survival. Translated from the Italian by Stuart Woolf. Sorry about this terrible cover. The book was left in my free little library and I think it was printed as cheaply as possible for school study. ...more
I could see the strange beauty in this book - sometimes described as fiction, but really memoir - but I didn't completely connect. Handke attempts to I could see the strange beauty in this book - sometimes described as fiction, but really memoir - but I didn't completely connect. Handke attempts to describe his mother's life and suicide at age 51 in 1971. It was first published very shortly after her death and his struggle with writing it and how he should write it is very clear (so interesting that he inserts commentary about what he's trying to do in the middle of writing about his mother). Perhaps that's the nature of more experimental work - that it won't ever, and isn't meant to, give the reader that deep emotional connection with the people in it....more
A book about memory and whether we pass on trauma to our children. Ouellette cleverly jumps time in the way she writes sections of her traumatic childA book about memory and whether we pass on trauma to our children. Ouellette cleverly jumps time in the way she writes sections of her traumatic childhood memories, the men she knew, the husband she left, and the children she had. I liked how this structure echoed how memory also jumps and is not linear. The writing is beautiful, with many perfect metaphors. My favourite section by far was her time with her husband when her children were young. After this, we hear the voice of one of her children, as well as her own, and this didn't work quite so well for me. ...more
Unfortunately, this wasn't for me. I did quite enjoy the stories of the office and how it refused to adapt to modern technology (I too used a dictaphoUnfortunately, this wasn't for me. I did quite enjoy the stories of the office and how it refused to adapt to modern technology (I too used a dictaphone transcription machine in my first job), but that, and the interactions with Salinger just weren't enough for me. I was most intrigued by a throw-away remark right at the end, that eventually she left her husband for her college boyfriend. It might have been really interesting to mix this life decision with the office / Salinger story. ...more
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