Play Book Tag discussion

Well, we had a very close vote, but slightly more people threw more participation points at:

autobiography

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below!

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as autobiography on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.

To find books to read for this tag, please visit:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

So, I have questions on this one.

Does autobiography = memoir?

If not, what is the difference.

I always try hard to pick a book that fits the strictest definition of the tag, but I see Steve Jobs is tagged autobiography a LOT. Can that be right? I'd love to read that, but it feels wrong.

How about memoirs of unknown people? Not sure that really is an autobiography either ...

Help! I don't know what to read. I have TONS of memoirs on my shelves, but not sure if they really fit the bill.

Memoirs are traditionally more emotionally based and can deal with only small portions of the author's life. My understanding is that all memoirs are autobiographies but not all autobiographies are memoirs. The two terms are definitely used interchangeably.

The Steve Jobs book you're looking at is neither. Since it is not authored or co-authored by Steve Jobs, it is a biography and not an autobiography. Looks interesting though ...

Hope this helps!

I had been researching online a few days ago,as I was wondering the same thing, Anita. Some definitions call memoirs a specific subset of autobiographies and are used interchangeably.

From Memoir Writing for Dummies: (Certainly not meaning anyone asking the question is a dummy ..... This just had a thorough explanation online).
http://www.dummies.com/education/lang...

An autobiography:

Focuses on the trajectory of an entire life

Starts at the beginning and progresses chronologically to the end

Feels more like a historical document; tons of fact-checking and very specific dates/information

Strives for factual, historical truths

Typically is written by famous people

A memoir:

Focuses on a key aspect, theme, event, or choice in a life

Starts anywhere and can deftly move around in time and place

Feels more personal; less intense fact-checking

Strives for emotional truths

Can be written by anyone

After posting that, my question is do we need to be strict about following the "definition" of an autobiography or can we use the tag/shelf list? The book I had hoped to read probably is a memoir.

Adding: Just quickly scrolling through the autobiography shelf list, it looks as though many books are memoirs. Hmmm ....

Q: What’s the difference between a memoir and an autobiography? —Marty

A: In some general contexts, memoir and autobiography can be used interchangeably. In fact, Amazon.com puts them in the same category. But there’s a key difference that publishers use to define each—the timeline covered in the writing.

An autobiography focuses on the chronology of the writer’s entire life while a memoir covers one specific aspect of the writer’s life. So, if I chose to write about my complete life up to this point—including growing up in Cincinnati, my time in New York, the few years I spent in Chicago and eventually landing at Writer’s Digest—I’d write an autobiography. If wrote a book about the winter of my sophomore year in high school where I got my tongue stuck to an icy pole, I’d write a memoir.

Source: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-e...

Thanks everyone for the great information! This is definitely helpful.

Lisa, you absolutely do not need to be strict. We trust our members to try to read something that fits, and if memoir is a subset of autobiography, then you are all good! This certainly appears to be the case.

However, to personally challenge myself, I try to stretch by using the strict definitions of the tags (if such a thing seems to exist, lol), so I'm going to try to find something that covers a greater chronology. Annoyingly I already finished Trevor Noah's book which would have been great . . .sigh.

I hope I can find something suitable. Looks like Steve Jobs is NOT it. Looking forward to seeing some suggestions . . .

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a good one. I've also read Johnny Cash AB and it was enjoyable as well.

I'll read Trevor Noah

Thanks, Anita. I will stick with my original book choice then. Sorry about Born A Crime timing.... Jason, I hope you enjoy it though. One of my favs from 2017. :-)

I actually voted for autobiography (2 votes), but completely expected classics to win. Born a Crime fits, and that's been a big winner for PBT. I had lists for all three. But on my TBR or on my mind also includes Just Kids, What Happened, the two Carol Burnett books, This Time Together, and In Good Company, (I just love her, and I watch her every night, or record it on the DVR. Its timeless and it reminds me of watching it with my family together when I was growing up. It still makes me laugh. I treasure them and never get tired of them. Dirty secret.)

Also on my list and somewhat starred include Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith, The Amazon Wisdom Keeper, and The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan. Maybe one of these 8 will cross with the Decathlon for March.

Jason, we could be reading at least two books together this year!

Note that The Autobiography of Malcolm X is available as an ebook deal for $1.99. I thought it was very educational and worth reading.

https://www.goodreads.com/ebook-deals

Amy, That would be great.

I finally made it to a computer. Autobiographies I recommend
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Twelve Years a Slave
The Glass Castle
Cash
Clapton: The Autobiography
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Night

And on a side note, members of Goodreads do not know what a memoir is.

Jason wrote: "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a good one. I've also read Johnny Cash AB and it was enjoyable as well.

I'll read Trevor Noah"

I loved his book. The audio book is read by him and really adds to the story.

Oh, I own Twelve Years a Slave so that's a possibility. I will check that out.

Has anyone read West with the Night? Does that cover the whole lifespan, or is it more of a memoir?

YAY!!!!

This is definitely not official definitions, but I use autobiography to pretty much cover someone's entire life (or, at least up to the point when they've written it!). And memoir to be a portion of one's life, so weight loss or a medical issue that happened or somesuch.

Both need to be written by the person the book is about.

Jason wrote: "If wrote a book about the winter of my sophomore year in high school where I got my tongue stuck to an icy pole, I’d write a memoir. ..."

LOL! Sounds fascinating, Jason!

And, my Listopia list covers biographies, autobiographies and memoirs, so I'll see if one of the ones I wanted to get to for that might fit...

ETA: My mistake. My listopia list is only biographies.

I tend toward the memoir side of things, but I suppose that is because one finds them in more abundance. As for my recommendations:

Autobiographies
Life by Keith Richards
Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances by Leland Melvin
I Am the Blues: The Willie Dixon Story by Willie Dixon

Memoir
The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantu
A Hole in the Wind: A Climate Scientist's Bicycle Journey Across the United States by David Goodrich
Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way by Jimmy Wayne
The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey by Dawn Anahid MacKeen
Trespassing Across America: One Man's Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland by Ken Ilgunas
It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and WarLynsey Addario
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North by Blair Braverman
In the Darkroom bySusan Faludi
Bitter Lemons of Cyprus: Life on a Mediterranean Island by Lawrence Durell

I might read:
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride , I love his writing and it is about the only one I haven't read.

I'm currently trying to decide between A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway or Cash by Johnny Cash. I'm doing four reading challenges this year so may not be able to get to both.

Nicole wrote: "The Steve Jobs book you're looking at is neither. Since it is not authored or co-authored by Steve Jobs, it is a biography and not an autobiography. Looks interesting though ... "

I could actually argue for this counting for autobiography under a less strict definition.

Steve Jobs hand-picked Isaacson to write his only official life account, they spent a massive amount of time together talking about Jobs's life and Jobs did have input on content, and, as I understand it, Isaacson was more or less the scribe (and also a better writer) for the story of Jobs's life and the way Jobs wanted it told.

Along the same lines, the Autobiography of Malcolm X was not really written by Malcolm X. It was written by Alex Haley as told to him by Malcolm X.

Just food for thought.

Anita wrote: "So, I have questions on this one.

Does autobiography = memoir?

If not, what is the difference.

I always try hard to pick a book that fits the strictest definition of the tag, but I see [book:Ste..."

Hi Anita.
As an undergraduate with a minor in history, we read an article in oir Research Methpds class called "Biograghy as History". The main argument: If we had the biograghy of ever one who has ever lived, then we would hafe the history of humanity. Continuing the argument, the article writer pointed out that in the late 20th century that we had no comphrensive books of women's history, that we were only starting collect biograghies amd memiors and starting to shape collections of those works--for example, a collection of politcal Texas women or a collection of letters women wrote while away at boarding schools. So a biograghy of an unknown person can be important or enjoyable or otherwise worthwhile.
So that was me being long-winded and supporting you in your reading the autobiograghies you want to read.

My plan is to read autobiographies that fit into my plan to read for Women's History Month in March:

1. I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
2. How to Be a Woman
3. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
or perhaps
4. The Complete Persepolis

I am always happy when things mesh, like my March reading plan :-)

For recommendations, I would suggest:

If you like her humor, anything by Chelsea Handler. Her books are hilarious.
Hard to read, but very moving, is A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer
If you're in to music, The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx is really good

For what I'll read, I'll probably go with either:
Slash by Slash
or
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

Oof. This one is hard for me. I LOVE memoirs of all shapes and sizes and especially those by women. BUT, like Anita, I try to apply the tag fairly narrowly in order to really stretch my personal boundaries.

To that end, I think I am finally going to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

I may also squeeze in a memoir for my culture challenge, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom

But, if it gets close to the end of the month and I see that I won't finish either of these fairly heavy books, then I am just going to sneak in Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood, which I have been wanting to read FOREVER.

~*Kim*~ wrote: "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer "

Oooo....this could be a good option.

I do think autobiography is a label that indicates a detailed telling of a whole life while a memoir is limited to a specific time or event .... but the line is fuzzy.

I'd recommend these that I think are definitely autobiographies:
The Story of My Life - Helen Keller

The Autobiography of Malcolm X -(although it was co-written, does that make it also biographical?)

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis - A self-stated memoir, but as it deals, in detail, with his childhood, I think it's autobiographical.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou


These are on my TBR :
My Beloved World -Sonia Sotomayor

Goodbye to All That- Robert Graves

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism -Temple Grandin

Jgrace wrote: "The Autobiography of Malcolm X -(although ir was co-written, does that make it also biographical?)..."

I do think there is something to be said for people who want to tell their life story but recognize that they do not have the ability/skill to do it themselves, so they authorize an official biographer who spends time with that person and really captures their life how the person wants their life to be portrayed.

I have never in my whole life seen that categorized as an autobiography, but in my mind it makes total sense! lol. It at least captures the intent of the person to tell their own story in a semi-autobiographical manner.

Cynda wrote: "My plan is to read autobiographies that fit into my plan to read for Women's History Month in March:

1. [book:I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Tali..."

Good point about Women's history month. Definitely going with the Sotomayer book.

Anita wrote: "Oh, I own Twelve Years a Slave so that's a possibility. I will check that out.

Has anyone read West with the Night? Does that cover the whole lifespan, or is it more of a memoir?"

Be prepared to sob. I listened to it this month for Black History Month, and it was really good. Narrated by Louis Gossett, Jr.

I voted for this to push myself since autobiographies are not really my thing. So I haven't read many, but I can highly recommend (like many) Trevor Noah's Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood. Others I have enjoyed, but will be for a limited audience, are Gretzky by Wayne Gretzky (though I think he had a co-author) and The Sport of Queens by Dick Francis.

I'm going to try to finish two books my husband has been pushing me to read:

So, Anyway... by John Cleese
A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston

Anita wrote: "Has anyone read West with the Night? Does that cover the whole lifespan, or is it more of a memoir?"

I have read West With the Night. The detailed portions begins during Beryl Markham's childhood in Kenya and continues on well into mid-thirties. There is some mention of her life and accomplishments beyond that point but it is only included as a short passage. This one is a toss up for me, assigning it to a specific genre. It does cover a significant portion of her life but not her entire life. Hope that helps.

Good choice. I have just added to my TBR list My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor.

Kim, I read Slash, but as you can see I did not recommend it. It wasn't good, nor really insightful into the struggles of Guns and Roses. The only thing I learned is how artistic Slash and Axl were. That was interesting

Cynda wrote: "Good choice. I have just added to my TBR list My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor."

Crap, I also have My Own Words by RBG sitting on my coffee table...

*sob sob*

It looks like most of what's on my tbr is biography or memoir. There are a few that might fit, or at least come close, so these are options

- Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir / Lorna Crozier
- In The Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran / John Taylor
- Michelle Remembers / Michelle Smith

ETA: I"m thinking the John Taylor one might be the closest, but I'd rather get to one or the other of the other two first!

I originally had the same question as Anita so I'm glad she asked.
My understanding was the same, memoir is a subset of autobiography. As a kid, I read tons of biographies and autobiographies. As an adult, I tend to read more memoirs.

I'm a bit torn --- I was thinking about The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, but I'm not really sure that it works since I'm not sure that she intended it to be published. I will continue to search.

I do recommend Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood. I also really like The Winter of Our Disconnect which was about a mother who decided that she and her 3 kids need to turn off their electronic devices; it was really interesting.

I've read a lot of memoirs that are about chefs and/or people moving to farms if anyone wants to check out my shelves --- bio/memoir. None were absolutely amazing, but they were interesting.

I think I’ll read The Glass Castle, and if I’m feeling particularly brave I might read Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

I always get muddled up with auto/biography!

I've got my choices down to two: A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets or A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle

If you thought about I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban for February's tag but decided against it you could use it here instead :-)

Also, the March book means that I've been on Play Book Tag a year now as Ireland was my first tag!

Ireland was my worst month in PBT ever. Probably even worse than Space Opera. If we ever do it again, there are so many wonderful books I would pick. Its fun to have your PBT anniversary. One was February or March of 2016. So I guess I'm on my two years. Feels longer. Its a pleasure reading with you guys.

Jenny wrote: "Also, the March book means that I've been on Play Book Tag a year now as Ireland was my first tag!"

Happy one year anniversary! We look forward to many more years with you.

Cynda wrote: "Anita wrote: "So, I have questions on this one.

Does autobiography = memoir?

If not, what is the difference.

I always try hard to pick a book that fits the strictest definition of the tag, but I..."

I appreciate your thoughts and the support! I love memoirs beyond all measure so I read tons of them normally . . .so feel a slight desire to at least try to stretch. I'm confident I will fine one good autobiography that covers a full life, and then will go on to reading a few memoirs too!

Susie wrote: "*sob sob*"

No crying in PBT, Susie . . .you liked Lab Girl. There's some hope.

Susie wrote: "I think I’ll read The Glass Castle, and if I’m feeling particularly brave I might read Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?"

Thumbs up for The Glass Castle as a choice. It reads like fiction.

Jenny wrote: "I always get muddled up with auto/biography!

I've got my choices down to two: A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets or [book:A Charmed Life: Gro..."

Congratulations on your one year anniversary with us! I feel like you've always been here . . .

This one was published yesterday, Educated: A Memoir. It sounds really interesting. But the library request queue makes it look like I won't get to it for the March tag.

Jgrace wrote: "This one was published yesterday, Educated: A Memoir. It sounds really interesting. But the library request queue makes it look like I won't get to it for the March tag."

This one is on my TBR as well....

Lisa A wrote: "Anita wrote: "Has anyone read West with the Night? Does that cover the whole lifespan, or is it more of a memoir?"

I have read West With the Night. The detailed portions begins during ..."

This sounds like an autobiography to me . . .or at least very close to it.

Susie wrote: "I think I’ll read The Glass Castle, and if I’m feeling particularly brave I might read Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?"

I loved Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal- Jeanette Winterson is so good, you don’t realize it’s a memoir.