Tag Archives: Memoirs

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

January 10, 2020Book ReviewElizabeth Gilbert, Memoirs, Non-fictionskyebjenner

Image result for book cover committed elizabeth gilbert

Title: Committed: A Love Story
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Marriage, Memoirs, Non-fiction
Dates read: 10th – 12th December 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year: xx
5th sentence, 74th page: Anyhow, to be perfectly honest, I find it a bit crazy that social conservatives are fighting so hard against this at all, considering that it’s quite a positive thing for society in general when as many intact families as possible live under the estate of matrimony.

At the end of Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born Australian citizen. Resettling in America, they swore eternal fidelity, but also (each a survivor of a divorce. Enough said) swore never, ever, to get married. But when providence intervened in the form of the US government, they faced a stark choice: either marry, or Felipe could never return to the US. Effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert delves into the subject of marriage and, debunking myths, unthreading fears, celebrating love, suggests that sometimes even the most romantic of souls must trade in amorous fantasies for the humbling responsibility of adulthood.

This is one of the best memoirs I’ve read in a long time! It’s realistic, honest, and most of the flaws that Gilbert highlights in herself are the ones that I see in myself. And this is the most realistic approach to marriage, love and happily ever afters that I have ever read. There isn’t this party line that just because you love you should get married and everything will work out perfectly… rather, it’s a commitment that you make and a discussion that you constantly have.

I love that rather than wanting to be married, Gilbert spends the entire time within this story finding her reason to tie the knot for the second time. Rather than just trying to fit her ideals into the more traditional outlook of marriage. I’m at a point in my life myself that I’m not sure what I want out of it. How I want to fit in with the ideas surrounding family, career and womanhood. And reading a novel with a woman who is juggling similar issues (although coming at it from a different point of view) actually helped to make me feel far more settled than I have been in a long time.

For someone like me who is in a forever relationship, but not actually married, I loved how Gilbert was able to make the distinction between this. That just because you want to be with someone for the rest of your life, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are married – or that you have to get married. At least, that’s what I get out of this – marriage is a pathway you can choose to take, but if you don’t, that’s also okay.

I would suggest this book for anyone who wants to get married. It is the most realistic and insightful take I have ever read on the institution. It is filled completely with love, but also a great dose of realism. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll love that it’s not about the sugar-coated sweet, happily ever after version. But more so about finding a way to have a marriage that will last.

<- City of Girls

The Gap ->

Image source: Goodreads

Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks

December 23, 2019Book ReviewHistory, Memoirs, Race, Rosa Parksskyebjenner

Title: Rosa Parks: My Story
Author: Rosa Parks
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: History, Memoirs, Race
Dates read: 20th – 23rd November 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Puffin Books
Year: 1948
5th sentence, 74th page: All this was to keep African Americans from being able to register.

“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. A year later, when the boycott finally ended, segregation on buses was ruled unconstitutional, the civil rights movement was a national cause, and Rosa Parks was out of a job. Yet there is much more to Rosa Parks’s story than just one act of defiance. In straightforward, moving language, she tells of her vital role in the struggle for equality for all Americans. Her dedication is inspiring; her story is unforgettable.

I’ve known the name Rosa Parks for years. It’s just one of those well-known names that you find impossible to forget. I didn’t really know much about her beyond the fact that she was a big mover in the world of equal rights and there was something to do with a bus. So, I was incredibly intrigued to read her biography. And I’m incredibly glad that I did – not only was it an engaging read, but it was also incredibly eye opening.

For someone who knows next to nothing about American history, this certainly helped to fill me in on some of the tensions that are still occurring throughout the country. I’ve been reading a lot of biographies and memoirs lately that seem to fill in this gap, but Rosa Parks: My Story was telling the same tale with no gloss whatsoever. Somehow, her frank, open honesty was so much more intense than any of the other books I’ve read so far. The rest try to politely talk about violence and racism, Parks doesn’t do this. She’s not angry or vindictive, but there is no softening the history and her experiences. As I said, there is just this intense honesty in her writing that I haven’t had the privilege to experience of late.

Although I’m not supremely interested in American history, I would still suggest this book to anyone. It is about race and standing up for yourself. Equality and understanding that you have the same rights as everyone else. Something that effects everyone, world-wide. Some of the racism that is experienced today might be more subtle, but many of Parks’ experiences are still relevant and need to be discussed. Definitely the kind of book I’ll pick up again and again.

<- This Will Only Hurt a Little

Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence ->

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Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

December 21, 2019Book ReviewBook to Film, Food, Inspiration, Julie Powell, Memoirsskyebjenner

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Title: Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously
Author: Julie Powell
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Book to Film, Food, Inspiration, Memoirs
Dates read: 18th – 20th November 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Year: 2005
5th sentence, 74th page: But I did not live in 1961, nor did I live in France, which would have made things simpler.

Julie & Julia, the bestselling memoir that’s “irresistible….A kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef” (Philadelphia Inquirer), is now a major motion picture. Julie Powell, nearing thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, resolves to reclaim her life by cooking in the span of a single year, every one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves’ livers and aspic, but a new life-lived with gusto. The film is written and directed by Nora Ephron and stars Amy Adams as Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia.

I absolutely loved the movie Julie and Julia, so when I found the book on sale, I was deliriously excited. Possibly a little too excited. But, as it turns out – I was probably all happy and hopped up on my new book purchase for a good reason. Because this novel is also amazing. I just couldn’t put it down. Actually, I think that my partner got kind of fed up with me talking about this non stop for about 24 hours.

Normally when I read a book that has been turned into a movie, I have a clear favourite. 99% of the time that favourite is the book – let’s face it, they just fit so much more in to a book than they can in a movie! That wasn’t the case with this! Both versions had amazing merit, but differed enough that I still couldn’t wait to read about the next insane experience that Julie Powell experienced in her year long quest for… something. She’s not entirely sure what, and neither am I. But I can tell you that it was a brilliant adventure regardless. And that I have to do something, but I don’t know what – well, that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately, so it was probably the best book for me to pick up at this point in my life.

One warning I do have about this book – don’t eat it while you’re hungry. Even if you’ve just eaten, you’re going to want to go into the kitchen and just whip up some random meal. At least, for my food obsessed self – I was constantly thinking about food and cooking while reading this. Sadly, I don’t really have the time to try and master French cooking… but it’s made me want to try!

Mostly this book is funny and cute. But, it’s also a great tale of finding yourself and figuring out what you want to do in your next life… or about a mid-life crisis. Either way, I could relate WAAAAAAY too much to this story. So maybe it’s not such a bad thing that I have NO IDEA what I’m doing with my life! Because you can find a random project to pursue and maybe find a little bit more about yourself in the mean time… although, a PhD could be that random project… I’m getting off track now.

<- Cleaving Review

One (Wo)man, One Vote Review ->

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The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

December 2, 2019Book ReviewBook to Film, Diane Ackerman, Memoirs, Non-fiction, Warskyebjenner

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Title: The Zookeeper’s Wife
Author: Diane Ackerman
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Book to Film, Memoirs, Non-fiction, War
Dates read: 23rd September – 3rd November 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Headline
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: If Jan were dressing beside the terrace door, Antonina wouldn’t have spotted him.

When Germany invades Poland, Luftwaffe bombers devastate Warsaw and the city’s zoo along with it. With most of their animals killed, or stolen away to Berlin, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski begin smuggling Jews into the empty cages.

As the war escalates Jan becomes increasingly involved in the anti-Nazi resistance. Ammunition is buried in the elephant enclosure and explosives stored in the animal hospital. Plans are prepared for what will become the Warsaw uprising. Through the ever-present fear of discovery, Antonina must keep her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and animal inhabitants – otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes – as Europe crumbles around them.

Written with the narrative drive and emotional punch of a novel, The Zookeeper’s Wife is a remarkable true story. It shows us the human and personal impact of war – of life in Warsaw Ghetto, of fighting in the anti-Nazi resistance. But more than anything it is a story of decency and sacrifice triumphing over terror and oppression. Jan and Antonina saved over 300 people from the death camps of the Holocaust.

This novel is intense, stunning and completely unforgettable. Most of the time I find memoirs relatively easy to put down, but that really wasn’t the case with this one. I looked forward to crawling into bed every night to read a few chapters before turning of the light and laying my head down. There was just something about the writing, the story and the fun tangents throughout that drew me in from the very beginning.

This year I seem to be on a bit of a memoir kick. I’m enjoying memoirs and biographies about WWII in particular. This was a completely different aspect of WWII though. One that I hadn’t really considered – what Poland went through throughout and before the war. The way in which Ackerman writes about this helps to expand my knowledge – she doesn’t just talk about Antonina and her family, but also the people and occurrences around them. It’s a rabbit hole of information that is impossible to forget.

Now that I’ve read this book, I would be fascinated to see how it was dealt with in the world of movies. Sometimes this happens in such a wonderful, natural way… but in others, not so much. I might just have to hunt out a copy to see if it meets the very high expectations that this book has given more…

Most of the memoirs I have read are filled with emotion and personal anecdotes. This one reads a lot more like a historical text. There’s some very dry facts interspersed throughout. Yet, these are balanced by foreshadowing, and the emotion comes from the plight of the people, not from the words. Likewise, Antonina’s comments and diary quotes are scattered throughout to help bring everyone even closer to life. Completely unforgettable and definitely a book I’m going to pick up again and again!

<- The Salt Path

Confessions of a Male Nurse ->

Image source: Goodreads

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

November 22, 2019Book ReviewHope Jahren, Memoirs, Nature, scienceskyebjenner

Title: Lab Girl: A Story of Trees, Science and Love
Author: Hope Jahren
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Memoirs, Nature, Science
Dates read: 21st – 27th October 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Fleet
Year: 2016
5th sentence, 74th page: I started to leave, but hesitated when Bill looked up at last.

Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.

Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work.

Yet at the core of this book is the story of a relationship Jahren forged with a brilliant, wounded man named Bill, who becomes her lab partner and best friend. Their sometimes rogue adventures in science take them from the Midwest across the United States and back again, over the Atlantic to the ever-light skies of the North Pole and to tropical Hawaii, where she and her lab currently make their home.

This book is absolutely freaking amazing!!! Not just because it is written so well and about the natural sciences. But also because I connected completely to what Hope Jahren was saying. She recalls her years in her PhD, the weirdness that is her obsession and just life as an academic in general. I might just be starting out in that life… but there was so much that was relatable. And it made me feel better about all of my multiple freak-outs and insecurities…

Lab Girl has most certainly become my all-time favourite memoir. Partly because it is in an area that I am more intimately familiar with than almost any other. But also because it deals with a lot of hidden issues in life. Talks about mental health. Focuses on what it takes to become who you want to be. Yet weaves throughout botanical knowledge and scientific principles that almost feel like coming home.

There is no one in the world that doesn’t have to deal with self-doubt. That doesn’t feel like others are judging them and querying their every move. That make them think they are somehow less. Add to that a mental health issue and being a female in a traditionally male-dominated career… it’s a tough world out there. And Jahren faces up to the realities of this fearlessly. Yet, she does so with a healthy dose of humour and light that doesn’t feel bitter and contrived. That doesn’t make you angry at the system, just understanding of the challenges faced.

Hope’s relationship with Bill is amazing. All throughout, he is her voice of sanity and reason. The person who has her back and supports her no matter what she does. We all need someone like that in our lives. Whether it is a co-worker, a friend or a lover… it doesn’t matter the amazing power of their relationship made me so incredibly jealous. I don’t know that I’ve ever had someone totally appreciate my world in that way, and it is something that I would love to find in my professional life – someone who is obsessed with invertebrates just as much as I am.

This is one of those memoirs that I’m never, ever going to forget. It is intense, wonderful and intriguing. The perfect miss of personal anecdotes, science and the telling of reality merge together fantastically. I can understand why it was on a summer reading list, and I’m so glad I succumbed to the compulsion to buy it!!!

<- A Gift from Darkness

When Breath Becomes Air ->

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The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

November 4, 2019Book ReviewComedy, Memoirs, Race, Tiffany Haddishskyebjenner

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Title: The Last Black Unicorn
Author: Tiffany Haddish
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Comedy, Memoirs, Race
Dates read: 7th – 13th October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Gallery Books
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: So we started being serious and being together all the time.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“An inspiring story that manages to be painful, honest, shocking, bawdy and hilarious.” —The New York Times Book Review

From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself.

Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, Tiffany learned to survive by making people laugh. If she could do that, then her classmates would let her copy their homework, the other foster kids she lived with wouldn’t beat her up, and she might even get a boyfriend. Or at least she could make enough money—as the paid school mascot and in-demand Bar Mitzvah hype woman—to get her hair and nails done, so then she might get a boyfriend.

None of that worked (and she’s still single), but it allowed Tiffany to imagine a place for herself where she could do something she loved for a living: comedy.

Tiffany can’t avoid being funny—it’s just who she is, whether she’s plotting shocking, jaw-dropping revenge on an ex-boyfriend or learning how to handle her newfound fame despite still having a broke person’s mind-set. Finally poised to become a household name, she recounts with heart and humor how she came from nothing and nowhere to achieve her dreams by owning, sharing, and using her pain to heal others.

By turns hilarious, filthy, and brutally honest, The Last Black Unicorn shows the world who Tiffany Haddish really is—humble, grateful, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. And now, she’s ready to inspire others through the power of laughter.

This might be the funniest, most ridiculous, and yet serious book I have read all year. Or maybe ever. It was intense, intriguing and made me have a whole new appreciation for some of the horrors that other people, and in particular, women are forced to endure. But there was also so much humour and hope, that it was incredibly difficult to get bogged down in the tales that, if anyone else wrote about them, would fill make me cry in the most horrible way ever.

To start with, this novel is just downright funny. The first two chapters allude to some of the more difficult aspects of Haddish’s life, but mostly they’re just really funny. High school days in which a smart arse found a way to fit in, mostly by pursuing a boy that really didn’t have much interest in her. But then it gets a little, alright, a lot more serious. She talks about abuse, death and the many, many bad situations that she found herself in throughout her life. But, it’s still tempered with humour. So that when I was telling my partner about this amazing book I was reading, he just stared at me in abject horror, wondering what the hell kind of book I’d found this time…

I didn’t realise until the last few chapters that Tiffany Haddish was the woman in Girls Trip. But when I did, I not only rushed to finish the book, but I also grabbed out my remote, flicked Netflix on and settled in for a great movie. Somehow, her role and character in this movie had way more meaning because I understood a little more of the very real shit she’d been through. Like The Last Black Unicorn, Girls Trip touched on some serious issues but with so much humour that it wasn’t until afterwards that you realised it wasn’t all just a good lark. Actually, writing this review, I’ve decided that I need to watch that movie again…

The Last Black Unicorn details a life that is full of hurdles and difficulties. But they’re not told with a sense of loss or woe. Rather, Haddish tells her tales with a great dose of humour, a dark sense of humour that I absolutely adored. It was a great reminder that you can overcome almost anything, if you can find a way to move on and not be bitter (alright, not always that simple, but Haddish gives me so much hope). I am now madly in love with this woman. This is just an amazing read for everyone. No matter what your literary tastes…

<- Marley & Me

The Truths We Hold ->

Image source: Simon & Schuster

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis

July 20, 2019Book ReviewAnthony Kiedis, Biographies, Memoirs, Musicskyebjenner

Title: Scar Tissue
Author: Anthony Kiedis
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Biographies, Memoirs, Music
Dates read: 18th – 25th June 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Sphere
Year: 2004
5th sentence, 74th page: So as far as they’re concerned, you and I are best friends, and we work on school stuff together, and that’s it.

In 1983 four self-described ‘knuckleheads’ burst out of the neo-punk rock scene in LA with their own unique brand of cosmic hard-core mayhem funk. Over twenty years later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, against all the odds, have become one of the most successful bands in the world. Though the band has gone through many incarnations, Anthony Kiedis, the group’s lyricist and dynamic lead singer, has been there for the whole rollercoaster ride.

Scar Tissue is Kiedis’s searingly honest memoir – a story of dedication and debauchery, of intrigue and integrity, of recklessness and redemption. It is a story that could only have come out of Hollywood.

I read this for the first time about ten years ago. And I was completely blown away. Rereading this as an adult my mind was still completely blown. But I also felt really quite uncomfortable by the stories that Kiedis was imparting. I just can’t fathom a childhood and life such as his. Which of course made it all the more enthralling to read…

Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of those bands that I’ve always loved and will continually return to (no matter how my tastes change). Which meant that reading about the story behind their creation and beginning was absolutely amazing. The fascinating journey that they took and the struggles that were faced are completely beyond anything that I could ever imagine. The amazing insight provided into a world that I had previously known nothing about also made this book nigh on impossible to put down.

I read a lot of good fantasy and fiction books. After all, it’s easy to be swept away in a world that is just not your own. And, although I love biographies, I don’t tend to pick them up as readily. I find that the author has to be very good to sweep me away into their world. After all, I already live in this world, and it can make the stories a little boring if not written well. Luckily, and maybe not surprisingly, Anthony Kiedis is an amazing writer. He foreshadows and builds suspense. Transports you in a way that makes you feel like you’re actually there. And, probably most importantly, makes all of the insanity and bad things that have happened to him, seem like no big deal. It doesn’t have a depressive feeling to it. But one of hope and wonder.

<- An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth Review

Yami Review ->

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Laughing All the Way to the Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz

June 20, 2019Book ReviewBiographies, Comedy, Memoirs, Muslims, Zarqa Nawazskyebjenner

Image result for laughing all the way to the mosque book cover

Title: Laughing All the Way to the Mosque
Author: Zarqa Nawaz
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Biographies, Comedy, Memoirs, Muslims
Dates read: 21st April – 7th May 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Virago
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: ‘Too late,’ said Dr McMaster.

Being a practising Muslim in a Western society is sometimes challenging, sometimes rewarding and sometimes downright absurd. How do you explain why Eid never falls on the same date each year; why it is that Halal butchers also sell teapots and alarm clocks. How do you make clear to the plumber that it’s essential the toilet is installed within sitting-arm’s reach of the tap?

Zarqa Nawaz has seen and done it all.

And it’s not always easy to get things right with the community either: Zarqa tells of being asked to leave the DBW (Dead Body Washing) committee after making inappropriate remarks; of undertaking the momentous trip to Mecca with her husband, without the children, thinking (most incorrectly) that it will also be a nice time to have uninterrupted sex; of doing the unthinkable and creating Little Mosque on the Prairie, a successful TV sitcom about htat very (horrified, then proud) community.

You have to laugh.

I’ve not really read much about Muslim culture and religion. I’ve really only recently started to delve into the world of non-fictional books. It’s an area that is absolutely fascinating and I can’t wait to continue to find more and more stories like this. Especially written as well as this novel. Nawaz is brutally honest about her life and her religion, but tempers everything that could feel quite serious with a lot of humour. I was constantly laughing out loud throughout this story. And at the end of every long day, I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again.

Most of the biographies that I’ve read lately follow a very linear storyline. They’re the kind of tales which work in a very obvious and understandable manner. They’re not jumpy, and they tend to cover a smaller span of years. Laughing All the Way to the Mosque was completely different. Each chapter was a whole new adventure. Which made the storyline overall incredibly jumpy. Actually it almost worked as a series of short stories together, rather than one big, long journey.

Zarqa Nawaz not only sweeps you away with her humour and wit. But, she also helps to conceptualise and help you to understand the ways in which a coloured, Muslim woman sometimes struggles to fit into contemporary Canada. I may be from Australia, but I imagine that many people are in the same situation. This insight provided a great way in which to understand just how difficult life can be from someone who is a minority. And just how funny some of the gaffs made when you are trying to marry different world views together and fit into the society that you call your own…

<- The Radium Girls Review

The Fish Ladder Review ->

Image source: Amazon

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

June 15, 2019Book ReviewFeminism, History, Kate Moore, Memoirs, Non-fictionskyebjenner

Title: The Radium Girls
Author: Kate Moore
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Feminism, History, Memoirs, Non-fiction
Dates read: 30th April – 5th May 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: The girls of Radium Dial, outside their studio; forever young and happy and well.

All they wanted was the chance to shine. Be careful what you wish for…

‘The first we asked was, “Does this stuff hurt you?” And they said, “No.” The company said that it wasn’t dangerous, that we didn’t need to be afraid.’

As the First World War spread across the world, young American women flocked to work in factories, painting clocks, watches and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous – the girls shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in dust from the paint.

However, as the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses. It turned out that the very thing that had made them feel alive – their work – was slowly killing them: the radium paint was poisonous.

Their employers denied all responsibility, but these courageous women – in the face of unimaginable suffering – refused to accept their fate quietly, and instead became determined to fight for justice.

Drawing on previously unpublished diaries, letter and interviews, The Radium Girls is an intimate narrative of an unforgettable true story. It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the Roaring Twenties, who themselves learned how to roar.

There are books that will completely change your world. Reconfigure everything that you think, believe and feel and make the whole world slot into a new form. That’s what this book was for me. When I bought this book, when I first started reading it, I was fully expecting an intriguing tale. One that would be about some amazingly strong women in the past. But not anything beyond a really good read. I was wrong. I felt like my entire reality was shattered and then remade as I read this.

I had no idea that radium was something that was once used in industrial processes. Really, my only knowledge of this element comes from the fact that Marie Curie discovered it. That, and I know that it is very, very dangerous and kills people who come into contact with it. Beyond that knowledge, all I knew about the potential for this story was that these girls used radium paint and were all going to die. That in and of itself was going to be a tragic enough story. But then the large companies and legalities of their fight started to make its way into the storyline… cue a number of very late nights because I couldn’t wait to find out how the bad men were going to get their legal comeuppance.

We don’t think much about many of the health and safety legislations that we all tend to obey. Or at least, I know that I don’t. I don’t really worry all that much about whether my place of employment is adhering to the laws. I just figure that they are, and I’m not going to get sick and die from their activities. Mostly, I still want to believe this, but after reading about a bunch of young girls who felt the same thing, and got burned for it… I’m a little less willing to follow anything on blind faith. After all, even when the girls questioned whether their activities were safe, they were still reassured. Repeatedly. And then they died.

This story might not have had an overarching happy ending. But it did have a triumphant one. Though so many women lost their lives before they could gain compensation for their trauma, many more were able to stand on the shoulders of those before them and find a way to get justice. And their legacy remains today in every moment that makes businesses culpable for their actions. In the amount of knowledge that we now have about the long-term effects of radioactivity, and in the understanding in why it is important to fight for what’s right. Even in the face of insurmountable odds.

<- Know My Name

Laughing All the Way to the Mosque ->

Image source: Simon & Schuster

The Fish Ladder by Katharine Norbury

November 4, 2018Book ReviewBiographies, Easy Reading, Katharine Norbury, Memoirs, The Coastskyebjenner

Title: The Fish Ladder
Author: Katharine Norbury
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Biographies, The Coast, Easy reading, Memoirs
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Circus
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: But if we were in the wrong place, so too had Ieuan Lleyn been, when he came here in 1799.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Katharine Norbury was abandoned as a baby in a Liverpool convent. Raised by loving adoptive parents, she grew into a wanderer, drawn by the beauty of the British countryside.

One summer, following the miscarriage of a much-longer-for child, Katharine sets out – accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter, Evie – with the idea of following a river from the sea to its source. The luminously observed landscape provides both a constant and a context to their expeditions. But what begins as a diversion from grief soon evolves into a journey to the source of life itself, when a chance circumstance forces Katharine to the door of the woman who gave her up all those years ago.

Combining travelogue, memoir, exquisite nature writing, fragments of poetry and tales from Celtic mythology, The Fish Ladder has a rare emotional resonance. A portrait of motherhood, of a literary marriage and a hymn to the adoptive family, this captivating story of self-discovery is, most of all, an exploration of the extraordinary majesty of the natural world. Imbued with a keen and joyful intelligence, this original and life-affirming book is set to become a classic of its genre.

I needed to read a book with a river on the cover. When I googled such a requirement, this is one of the few books that came up. And man, am I glad that it did. There is just something about the winding, lazy way in which Norbury tells her story that was both completely relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable. Although I have nothing to compare her adventures to, I almost feel like there is a part of me that has now been discovered and it gives me the inspiration to go forth into my own life and keep finding my own way forward.

Unlike a lot of the memoirs that I have recently read, there isn’t really a central story that is outlined here. Not one specific journey or moment of epiphany that really strikes out at me. Instead, there is the central theme of family and motherhood. The idea that even though she is adopted, there are strong familial ties between Katharine and her adoptive family. But there is also a strong tie to the woman who gave her up for adoption and it is this that really drives the feeling of longing forward and into the reader a Katharine’s beautiful words unfold.

This wasn’t one of those earth shatteringly amazing stories. It probably hasn’t changed my life in anyway. But it was incredibly beautiful. And immensely easy to read. It was a great lazy Sunday read to sink my brain into while I was trying to unwind at the end of the long day. And it certainly reminded me of how lucky and grateful I am to have the mother and family that I have.

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Image source: Bloomsbury

Earth and Skye

The ramblings of a bibliophile.