Thriftwood: A Personal History of Scouting by Alice Wickenden
great memoir about youth and scouting
Tag: life writing
The Years by Annie Ernaux
cracking under lockdown and stunning books
Happening by Annie Ernaux
feeling sad so read a sad book on abortion
The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm
stunning essay on the ethics and impossibilities of biography
Ushant by Conrad Aiken
a sub-mediocre memoir
Eulogy for Josephine Bunyan
the eulogy I read at my grandmother’s funeral in 2014
Found Diary Entry from April 17th, 2010
bizarre note to self from 2010
I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
near death experiences in a bad blog post
Sursum Corda! The Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry Volume One: 1926 – 46
700 pages of Lowryian bliss…
Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
ideologically, i’d love to tear this apart, but i cannot…
Design as Art by Bruno Munari
i read a book that’s aged badly and reflect on bad times
#TotNTV: Writing From Life
What does it mean to turn life into art?
Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
Finally, a book about race that makes me angry at myself
Dark Chapter by Winnie M Li
An important new novel about sexual assault. Long post.
Extravagant Stranger: A Memoir by Daniel Roy Connelly
A book that describes itself as “Ian Fleming meets Rimbaud”
Nicotine by Gregor Hens
If Gregor Hens can give up smoking, I can give up booze.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
this is not a test, it’s a memoir
White Girls by Hilton Als
Off the booze (again), I enjoy a book but despair of life.
The Man With The Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters edited by Fergus Fleming
He always writes while others talk
The Last Holiday: A Memoir by Gil Scott-Heron
The ‘Godfather of Rap’ offers a rose-tinted memoir.
On a Chinese Screen by W. Somerset Maugham
Very Colonial travel writing from author of The Painted Veil
Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
Fantastic Mr Fox is an ode to adventure capitalism. My life is an ode to wine.
One of Us by Åsne Seierstad
A beautiful book about a horrible thing.
Specimen Days by Walt Whitman
The life and memories of Walt Whitman, focusing on war and nature.
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
In America alone, 281 pounds of pig shit is produced for every one person per year. I don’t know if that’s a lot as I don’t know what a pound is.
The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District by James Rebanks
Living in the city is bad for the soul
From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
This is my first blog post in a while, and even then it’s still happening a little earlier than expected.Continue Reading
Recovery by John Berryman
Long before James Frey was breaking Oprah Winfrey’s fragile heart by fictionalising his time in addiction therapy and the behaviourContinue Reading
Some Rain Must Fall: My Struggle Book Five by Karl Ove Knausgaard
It’s taken me a few more days than I’d hoped, but I’ve just finished reading the fifth book of KarlContinue Reading
Shaking Hands with Death by Terry Pratchett
When I was young it was normal practice for supermarkets to fill the spaces around the tills – where peopleContinue Reading
You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] by Andrew Hankinson
My new puppy hasn’t been very well. I’ve spent the day taking him to the vets and watching him sleep,Continue Reading
But You Did Not Come Back by Marceline Loridan-Ivens
I haven’t cried this much at a book in a while. I haven’t cried this much at a non-fiction bookContinue Reading
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Iran. Who knows much about it? We’ve all seen Argo, we’ve all heard of nuclear weapons, we’re all aware thatContinue Reading
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
This is a late novella of Tolstoy’s, and one famous for espousing a narrative rooted in his late-life, anti-sexuality, opinions.Continue Reading
Dancing in the Dark: My Struggle Book Four by Karl Ove Knausgaard
For the past four years, the big literary release (for me) has been the continuing publication of Karl Ove Knausgaard’sContinue Reading
Lonesome Traveler by Jack Kerouac
Last Summer, whilst twatpacking* around the Mediterranean, Tunisair lost my backpack between Casablanca and Tunis. Though it contained nothing ofContinue Reading
The thing about life is that one day you’ll be dead by David Shields
David Shields’ The thing about life is that one day you’ll be dead manages to be simultaneously heart-breakingly depressing whilstContinue Reading
Father and Son by Edmund Gosse
Hurray! I read a book at an adult speed for the first time in weeks, and this one I thoughtContinue Reading
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
This is a book I’ve read a lot about. It is referred to repeatedly in both Ben Yagoda’s Memoir: AContinue Reading
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is an engaging and somewhat strange book. It is, actually, the autobiography of GertrudeContinue Reading
Love’s Work by Gillian Rose
A few weeks ago, I was recommended this short memoir by a customer in the bar I work in. Obnoxiously,Continue Reading
If This Is A Man and The Truce by Primo Levi
Primo Levi was a chemist, young (younger than I am now), when he was rounded up by the anti-Semitic ItalianContinue Reading
A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again by David Foster Wallace
As I’ve mentioned on here many, many, many, many, many times, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace* is one of theContinue Reading
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
I haven’t read a huge amount of Vladimir Nabokov’s novels, only the very obvious one and probably the second mostContinue Reading
Another Great Day At Sea by Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer is one of my favourite writers, despite two of the books of his I’ve read being pretty mediocre. TheContinue Reading
Boyhood Island: My Struggle Book Three by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard is one of my favourite writers. It would probably be fair to say that he is one of (inContinue Reading
Memoir: A History by Ben Yagoda
This will probably be my last blog for a while, as I have a couple of essays to write over theContinue Reading
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey
Thomas de Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is basically a mediocre 19th century Trainspotting, but without the funny, sad or exciting bitsContinue Reading
Giving Up The Ghost by Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel’s 2003 memoir, Giving Up The Ghost, far preceded her arrival as the “Best Writer in Britain”, but it isContinue Reading
Take Me Home by Jonathan Taylor
So I’ve read another memoir by a British academic, but this one isn’t the “Books Conquers All” disappointment of LornaContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 