Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Some Interesting Memoirs Currently in the Store

I’ve read all these books and enjoyed each one.

Honeymoon with My Brother, by Franz Wisner. Shortly before his wedding, the bride backed out and so Franz took his brother on the honeymoon. They then decided on a world wide tour. An interesting book with a different look at the various places they went. I started out not liking Franz much, but liked him much more as I continued through the book.

Garlic and Sapphires Comfort Me With Apples, by Ruth Reichl. Foodies know who she is. I did not but enjoyed the books a lot. She was Food Critic for the New York Times when these were written and the books tell of her adventures as a food critic. Who knew such interesting things happen when reviewing a restaurant?

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, by Janisse Ray. The author grew up in a junkyard along U. S. Highway 1. From her isolated childhood grew a passion to save the nearly vanished longleaf pine ecosystem that once covered the South. She grew up poor but gained intangible riches along the way. A fascinating book.

She Got Up Off The Couch, by Haven Kimmel. You would think that a childhood in a small Midwest town would be less then an interesting read, but you would be wrong. This book tells of her mother’s battle to be more then a couch potato and her efforts to go to collage and get a master’s degree and then to become a teacher. It is also the story of Kimmel’s own coming of age.

West with the Night, by Beryl Markham. The classic east Africa story, beautifully written. Is it all the truth?—does it matter? It is the truth as written by this woman who was one of the early women fliers, as well as horse-lover and child of a plantation owner. Lyrical and engaging, it will be hard to put down.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just had to say, you write such lovely little soundbites about books. Even things I wouldn't ever think to read sound fun when you write about them!

CurtsBooks said...

Thank you. That is what I am aiming for. I found all of these to be good reads. However, if you have not read Beryl Markham's book, you really need to do so.