Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

What books are you reading that are not Bio, autobio, or memoir?

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
4 stars


I enjoy reading books about the immigrant experience. The main character is a first generation American whose parents are from Bengali. It is very difficult for him to navigate the two worlds between his parents ways and the American ways. His biggest problem is his name and that is a recurring theme throughout the book. Having an unusual name myself, I kind of wanted to tell him to get over it. But the book was interesting and I can see there would be a lot of good discussion for a book group.

There's a biographical element to Hiding Mengele: How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death, but it's mostly about the Nazi sympathizers who hid the guy from justice for over 30 years and the people who survived being "treated" by him at Auschwitz.

The Lonely Girl
Edna O'Brien
4/5 stars
Caithleen and Baba, first encountered in The Country Girls are now living in Dublin, where they discuss men, drink gin, and try to look fast. Cait, in the pursuit of true love, becomes involved with the fanatically domineering Eugene Gaillard. Painful disillusion and occasional moments of bliss in her life make this a bittersweet tale, and it is told with all the perception and wit that is the hallmark of Edna O'Brien. Synopsis From Good Reads Fiction

More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
4 stars


Lisa Genova is excellent at getting into the minds of her characters. Her books are based on people that have medical problems. This book deals with bi-polar. At the end of the book she details her research and it shows that she has deeply researched the conditions she writes about. While this wasn't my favorite of her books, it did give a good look at what having a mental illness is like.

The United States of Strange: 1,001 Frightening, Bizarre, Outrageous Facts About the Land of the Free and the Home of the Frog People, the Cockroach Hall of Fame, and Carhenge by Eric Grzymkowski
3 stars


Just in case you are ever on a game show....this book is filled with trivial information followed by a humorous comment. If nothing else, read it for the humor. Some of them are very clever.

Koren wrote: "The United States of Strange: 1,001 Frightening, Bizarre, Outrageous Facts About the Land of the Free and the Home of the Frog People, the Cockroach Hall of Fame, and Carhenge by Er..."

This sounds great!

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
4 stars


Second time reading this book and now half-way through watching the movie. Love Whoopie Goldberg in the movie. It takes a while to get used to the writing style but once you get into it, there is a lot to think about.

Murder on Black Swan Lane
Andrea Penrose
3/5 stars
The Earl of Wrexford, is a scientist who has been accused of murder. Along comes the widow Charlotte Sloane who takes over her dead husband's persona to help solve the murder of Josiah Holworthy and tries to clear the Earl. Mystery

Birdseed Cookies: A Fractured Memoir by Janis Jaquith
4 stars


Short essays that were written for broadcast on NPR radio. I thought it was witty and funny. A little out of date as she writes several times about what was going to happen on Y2K. I looked for more from this author but it doesn't look like she has written anything else.

The Serpent's Tooth

Building Motivational Interviewing Skills: A Practitioner Workbook

Moby-Dick or, The Whale

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
3 stars


The title says it all. It tells the history of bookshops (not bookstores) going back to Ben Franklin. I found the more current stuff to be more interesting. The older history dragged at times for me.

See Jane Run
Joy Fielding
4/5 stars
Jane Whittaker, married with children in Boston, finds herself lost with blood splattered on her and $10,000 dollar in cash on her. She ends up in the hospital and a nurse recognizes her and her husband comes to get her. But she is still not sure why she is not getting better. I really enjoyed this book and the ending. 1991

People of the ER by Philip Allen Green
2 stars


I see some people have shelved this book as memoir and nonfiction, but at the beginning of the book it states that this is fiction based on true experiences, which spoiled it for me. It would be extremely rare that an ER doc would know their patient's life story. The chapter with the patient he sees from birth to death at 90 years old was just dumb as the doctor would have had to be around 130 years old. The dream chapter would have been better if we knew before the last sentence that it was a dream, although shortly into it we can pretty much figure it out. I only stayed with this book because it was short.

Been reading "Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White" by Paul Baker for some research for a Gilded Age book I have been writing the last year.

Quite fascinating, he was a man who led a double life. Kind of the Jeffrey Epstein of the Gilded Age.

The book is deeply researched and quite good.
Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White

I'll mention this because it's a fictionalized biography, called a "novelized biography" but I'd call it a novel based on a life story, personally. I gave it 1 star but it has a high average rating.

Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet by Xinran

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Patron Saint of Liars
Ann Patchett
4/5 stars
In Kentucky, there was St. Elizabeth, a nun's home for unwed mothers. A young woman, Rose became pregnant, and she came to stay there while she gave birth to her child, Cecilia though she was wed. She wanted to give up her child. However, she stayed there and made a place for herself but Rose's past eventually comes to her new home. 1992

Karin wrote: "I'll mention this because it's a fictionalized biography, called a "novelized biography" but I'd call it a novel based on a life story, personally. I gave it 1 star but it has a high average rating..."

Fiction based on a true story always leaves me wondering what is true and what is not.

Koren wrote: "Karin wrote: "I'll mention this because it's a fictionalized biography, called a "novelized biography" but I'd call it a novel based on a life story, personally. I gave it 1 star but it has a high ..."

Agreed. I wonder that a bit even with purely nonfiction books, especially memoirs, but with this stuff I just treat it as a novel. If I hadn't needed an author with a name starting with X, I'd have dropped it.

The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation, by Fred Pearce



I am learning so much from this book! The author points a wide-angle lens at all the invasive species hysteria we hear about constantly and then looks at it, point by point, to see how much of it is true. Spoiler: the news is not nearly as bad as we keep hearing. I am learning a lot from this book, for instance the fact that the dingo is an introduced species to Australia and that the zebra mussel has had a powerful role in rehabilitating Lake Erie. Highly recommended.

Fishface wrote: "The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation, by Fred Pearce



I am learning so m..."

This will be interesting, since I suspect this is a mixed bag. Many important species have truly been put in peril by invasive species. Much of the time we hear the extreme instead of the balanced perspective on how invasive species affect the ecosystem. I added it to my to-read shelf here.

Steve wrote: "Been reading "Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White" by Paul Baker for some research for a Gilded Age book I have been writing the last year.

Quite fascinating, he was a man who led a double ..."

Good to know! So many bios set this far back in time are dry as dust...

Strange Bedpersons
Jennifer Crusie
3/5 stars
Tess Newhart is attractive to two men but each has their own personalities. Who will she choose! Fiction

The Unworthy
Agustina Bazterrica
3/5/2025
This was an unusual science fiction story set in a catastrophic world in a convent. As a nun delves into her past she must try to find her past history and how she got into the Sacred Sisterhood. Not my favorite book but interesting. Science Fiction

The Appeal by John Grisham
5 stars


Unfortunately, this fiction story is more relevant today than it was 17 years ago when it first came out. This is a story about how big business is taking over in America. I was surprised at the ending, thinking the good guys would win in the end, but this ending is probably more realistic.

Koren wrote: "The Appeal by John Grisham
5 stars


Unfortunately, this fiction story is more relevant today than it was 17 years ago when it first came out. This is a..."

Of course, the classic book on big business taking over the world is 1984 by George Orwell

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris
3 stars


Short and sweet review, because that is about all the time I want to spend on this one.

Sometimes funny, but usually not. There are a lot of recipes here but I didn't really find anything I wanted to make. At times it was kind of weird.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye
John Scalzi
3/5 stars
A science fiction tale about the moon which has turned into cheese! The citizens of Earth view it many different ways, from profiting from it, to spiritual redemption. Interesting! Science Fiction

Julie wrote: "
When the Moon Hits Your Eye
John Scalzi
3/5 stars
A science fiction tale about the moon which has turned into cheese..."

I can see this being three stars. I've read a number of his books, but didn't find Starter Villain that funny. (there are a couple of his space opera books I quite liked, though.)

Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts
4/5 stars
This book revolves around Novalee, a seventeen-year-old who was about to leave her family to be with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, he dumps her in Oklahoma, and she ends up living in a Wal-Mart. Luckily, she meets someone who can her out. I enjoyed this book! 1995

In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases

Julie wrote: "
Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts
4/5 stars
This book revolves around Novalee, a seventeen-year-old who was about to leave her family to ..."

An oldie but a goodie. I remember reading it when it came out as an Oprah book club book.

Beach Music by Pat Conroy
4 stars


At over 600 pages I think there were parts that just seemed to ramble. The part I hated most was when they were marooned at sea. It didn't seem possible that they could have survived all that happened. I do like the author's style of writing. It just seems to flow. However, at times it seemed like he just used more words than were necessary.

Koren wrote: "Beach Music by Pat Conroy
4 stars


At over 600 pages I think there were parts that just seemed to ramble. The part I hated most was when they were mar..."

Since it hasn't been that long since the Beach Boys came up here (was it you who read a biography about one of them?) when I first thought of it, I though of them immediately event though this has nothing to do with them.

Karin wrote: "Koren wrote: "Beach Music by Pat Conroy
4 stars


At over 600 pages I think there were parts that just seemed to ramble. The part I hated most was when..."

Yes, it was me that read a book about the Beach Boys. I read this one because I needed a book with a beach scene for a challenge.

Obitchuary: The Big Hot Book of Death by Spencer Henry and Madison Reyes
3 stars


Kind of funny. Not really anything that had me rolling on the floor. I thought this would be more about funny obituaries, but there really wasn't a lot of that. Just a lot of strange facts about death.

Deep Cuts
Holly Brickley
4/5 stars
Interesting book about Percy Marks who is into music but gives her own opinion about music. She ends up meeting Joe Morrow, a song writer. They end up becoming a partnership over the years but it is not an easy road between the two of them. I enjoyed this book. Fiction

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough
5 stars


Lisa Marie died before this book was finished and before her death she asked her daughter, Riley, to help her. Riley was able to listen to tapes that Lisa Marie had made. Listened to this on Audible. In the beginning it was difficult to keep track of who was speaking. Once I realized that Lisa Marie's voice was spoken by Julia Roberts then it was easier. Riley's voice is not that different from Riley Keough's. The audio version has Lisa Marie speaking now and then, but mostly it is Julia Roberts voice. There were things I knew in the book and a lot of things I didn't know. I knew that Lisa Marie was a wild child when she was younger and she was into drugs. I didn't know about her relationship with her mother and that Lisa Marie was actually a very good mother. I had forgotten that her son committed suicide and that was a really sad part of the book. Lisa Marie loves the F word, but I imagine that is the way she usually speaks, but if that offends you then beware. This was an interesting memoir and a lot of sad moments. It is also fairly short so doesn't get bogged down in being overly detailed.

By Invitation Only by Dorothea Benton Frank
3 stars


I don't read chick lit very often but when I do I like to read Dorothy Benton Frank. This one was kind of cute, but predictable. Rich girl, poor boy gets engaged and the families clash at first. Right away you can probably figure out which ones get together in the end. This was ok for a quick, light read.

Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread
Leila Taylor
This is quite an interesting non-fiction book about sick/haunted houses. Non-Fiction

Uncultured: A Memoir, my first stab at reading a memoir by a former member of the Children of God cult.

An American Killing by Mary-Ann Tyrone Smith
3 stars


Picked this up at a used book sale for probably 50 cents so I probably just glanced at it and thought it was true crime and it might have even been in the true crime section. The back cover starts with "A bestselling true crime author....but I failed to see at the top it said it was a novel. So when I started this book I was a little puzzled, thinking it was a true crime story, but it was soon apparent it was not. It is about a fictional true crime author. The story is not all that interesting and I ended up skimming to the end.

Fairy Tale
Stephen King
3/5 stars
Interesting but very lengthy story about a young man, Charlie who meets Howard Bowditch who lives alone. Charlie ends up doing chores for him and he later finds out that Bowditch knows of a portal to another world! Horror

Motherless Brooklyn
Jonathan Lethem
3/5 stars
This is the story about Lionel Lessrog who lives in a home for boys during the 1970's and has Tourette Syndrome. One his friends Frank is a hero to him and helps him out. But there is a lot of mischief and stealing. When Frank is knifed and killed. Lionel wants to help solve the crime and tries to solve the crime! 1999

Koren wrote: "An American Killing by Mary-Ann Tyrone Smith
3 stars


Picked this up at a used book sale for probably 50 cents so I probably just glanced at it ..."

Even publishing companies don't seem to understand the difference between mystery novels and true crime. I looked at the author's page and she wrote a memoir, but everything else is fictional mysteries, except for a novel she wrote about the 1944 Hartford circus fire, which was at least a real crime.

Fishface wrote: "Koren wrote: "An American Killing by Mary-Ann Tyrone Smith
3 stars


Picked this up at a used book sale for probably 50 cents so I probably just ..."

I agree, unless it was a fictional story about it. I know that Laura Ingalls Wilder fictionalized her life--it was based on real things, but some people were made into one (Nellie Olson, for eg, was really two different girls, one in each place), etc