A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson

Title: A Walk in the Woods
Author: Bill Bryson
Pages: 304
Published: 2002
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, travel
Edition: Paperback
Source: Library

Description:God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail.

The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas.

With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I got this book due to advertisement for the movie starring Robert Redford and I admit that I did see the movie prior to reading the book.  I actually quite enjoyed both, but thought the book was a bit better.  I found the book to be funny and smart and endearing and felt that there were times that Bryson's little jaunts on the history on the Appalachain Trial, which at times felt to be a little too much at times, when I was more interested in his own journey, rather than the information about the Appalachian Trail, which was interesting at times, but got a little long at times.

Bottom line: Overall, it was a really enjoyable read and would recommend the book to fans of Bryson's books or similar travel books.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Travelling to Infinity - Jane Hawking

Title: Travelling to Infinity
Author: Jane Hawking
Pages: 487
Published: 2014 (originally published 2007)
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Autobiography
Edition: Paperback
Source: Library

Description:  Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous and remarkable scientists of our age and the author of the scientific bestseller A Brief History of Time, which has sold more than 25 million copies. In this compelling memoir, his first wife, Jane Hawking, relates the inside story of their extraordinary marriage. As Stephen's academic renown soared, his body was collapsing under the assaults of a motor neuron disease. Jane's candid account of trying to balance his 24-hour care with the needs of their growing family reveals the inner strength of the author, while the self-evident character and achievements of her husband make for an incredible tale presented with unflinching honesty. Jane's candor is no less apparent when the marriage finally ends in a high-profile meltdown, with Stephen leaving Jane for one of his nurses and Jane marrying an old family friend. In this exceptionally open, moving, and often funny memoir, Jane Hawking confronts not only the acutely complicated and painful dilemmas of her first marriage, but also the relationship's fault lines exposed by the pervasive effects of fame and wealth. The result is a book about optimism, love, and change that will resonate with readers everywhere. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I quite enjoyed this memoir and how Jane describes her 25-year marriage to Stephen Hawking and the challenges she had trying to run her household while also trying to care for Stephen as well.  She provides an unique perspective of living with a famous scientist and the demands that he had.

What I really liked about the book is that she was determined to finish up her own education, despite the pressures that she had within her own home and how it had to take a back seat for quite a significant period.

Bottom line: If you enjoyed The Theory of Everything, you will enjoy this book, as this book was the basis for the movie, as Jane brings the reader into her world without making the reader sorry for her.  Highly Recommended.

Rating:  4.75/5

Pioneer Girl - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Title: Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder; ed. by Pamela Smith Hill
Pages: 400
Published: 2014
Challenges: Non-Fiction
Genre: Autobiography, Non-fiction
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Personal library

Description:  Pioneer Girl follows the Ingalls family's journey through Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, back to Minnesota, and on to Dakota Territory sixteen years of travels, unforgettable experiences, and the everyday people who became immortal through Wilder's fiction. Using additional manuscripts, letters, photographs, newspapers, and other sources, award-winning Wilder biographer Pamela Smith Hill adds valuable context and leads readers through Wilder's growth as a writer. Do you think you know Laura? Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography will re-introduce you to the woman who defined the pioneer experience for millions.  (via Goodreads

Thoughts:  I can't recall exactly where I first heard about the book, but once I did hear about it, I knew that I would be wanting this book and was almost immediately requested as a Christmas/birthday gift (for those that don't know, my birthday is January 25, hence why I have to request birthday gifts when I am requesting Christmas gifts and yes, I do request what I would like as gifts, as it makes it easier on my parents to know what I want to get and yes I don't get every request fulfilled).  I knew it was something I had to get my hands on, being as I had read all of Wilder's Little House books as a girl and was a big fan of the series.  I suppose the fact that it was promoted as the truth behind the Little House books didn't hurt either.

Anyways, when I was able to sit down and read the book, I really loved the book, despite the numerous annotations that are through out the book.  In fact, I really liked the annotations, as they brought the Little House books to life and also gained knowledge about was changed, omitted, etc. and the reasons behind those changes.

Bottom line: While those who haven't read the series will probably enjoy the book, those who have read the Little House books will probably enjoy the book that much more and enhance their reading experience of the series.  I should note that the book is not geared towards young readers, but rather it is intended for more mature readers (probably teens and up) due to the amount of information that is imparted.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.75/5

Pages for 2015:  4,089

Levels of LIfe - Julian Barnes

Title: Levels of Life
Author: Julian Barnes
Pages: 128
Published: 2013
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, I Love Libraries, Non-Fiction
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography, Memoir
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Part history, part fiction, part memoir,  Levels of Life  is a powerfully personal and unforgettable book, and an immediate classic on the subject of grief.

Levels of Life opens in the nineteenth century with balloonists, photographers, and Sarah Bernhardt, whose adventures lead seamlessly into an entirely personal account of the author's own great loss.  (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: I picked up this due to a suggestion on Hear...Read This! and while this book is a metaphor about the ups and downs of life (so I found out on a couple of reviews on Goodreads), I also felt the book on different levels while reading the book: from a little bored to being a little confused to being engaged with the book.  What I mean by this is that the first two sections left me "scratching my head" as to where this was going and by the end of the book, I really didn't want the book to end and wanted more of Julian Barnes' wonderful words.

There were a number of quotes from the third section that made me stop and write them down, but there were a couple that really struck me:

Grief makes your stomach turn, snatches the breath from you, cuts off the blood supply to the brain; mourning blows you in a new direction. (88)

Sometimes [grief-work] is passive, a wanting for time and pain to disappear; sometimes active, a conscious attention to death and loss and the loved one; sometimes necessarily distractive. (105)

Bottom line: If you are fan of Julian Barnes and his work, you probably will enjoy this one or even if you need a short book that that makes you think a bit.  Recommended.

Rating: 3.75/5

Pages for 2014: 15,166

If you have read this book, what did you think of it?

Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup

Title: Twelve Years a Slave
Author: Solomon Northup
Pages: 2008 (first published 1853)
Challenges: I Love Libraries, Non-Fiction
Genre: Non-fiction, biography, Memoir
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Here is the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in New York. He was kidnaped by unscrupulous slave hunters and sold into slavery where he, endured unimaginable degradation and abuse until his rescue twelve years later. A powerful and riveting condemnation of American slavery. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: After watching the movie, I thought that I would give this  a try and it would be interesting to see how much of the book was used in the movie (and from what I can recall, the movie was pretty accurate to what was written in the book).  Maybe it wwas the visual nature of the movie, but I honestly felt that the book was tad dull and lacked the emotional depth that the movie had.

It also felt like somebody was telling another person what they felt about a particular event and not as engrossing as maybe hearing it from the person talk about the events; it felt like I was reading the transcript of a really amazing speech after seeing the video recording of the same speech online or in person.

Bottom line: I would probably recommend this book to those that have a strong interest in African-American studies prior to the start of the American Civil War.  Recommended.

Rating: 2.8/5

Pages for 2014: 5090

The Reason that I Jump - Naoki Higashia; trans. K.A. Yoshida and David Mitchell

Title: The Reason that I Jump
Author: Naoki Higashida; translated by K.A. Yoshida and David Mitchell
Pages: 176
Published 2013 (first published 2007)
Challenges: I Love Libraries, Non-Fiction
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. Questions such as: “Why do people with autism talk so loudly and weirdly?” “Why do you line up your toy cars and blocks?” “Why don’t you make eye contact when you’re talking?” and “What’s the reason you jump?” (Naoki’s answer: “When I’m jumping, it’s as if my feelings are going upward to the sky.”) With disarming honesty and a generous heart, Naoki shares his unique point of view on not only autism but life itself. His insights—into the mystery of words, the wonders of laughter, and the elusiveness of memory—are so startling, so strange, and so powerful that you will never look at the world the same way again.  (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I can't recall where I had first hear about this book, but wherever I saw it, it definitely piqued my interest.

At first I was quite impressed with the author's ability to express his thought and feelings in a fairly coherent manner, but as I moved on in the book I started to become skeptical of how much a 13 year-old would truly know about living with ASD (Austim Spectrum Disorder), especially since it is something that is so varied.  I also found that the voice of the author to be irritating at times, especially towards the end of the book.  I really was hoping for more, but was unable to find what I was hoping for and actually quit reading the book with one section left to complete.

Bottom Line: If you enjoyed such books as Three Cups of Tea and other first person "non-fiction" narratives, you probably would enjoy this read.  Recommended, but with strong reservations.

Rating: 2/5

Pages for 2014: 4066

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen - Lucy Knisley

Title:  Relish: My Life in the Kitchen
Author:  Lucy Knisley
Pages:  192
Published:  2013
Challenges:  Foodies Read, Nonfiction, I Love Libraries, Eclectic Reader
Genre:  Graphic, Memoir, Nonfiction
Edition:  Paperback
Source:  Library

Description:  A vibrant, food-themed memoir from beloved indie cartoonist Lucy Knisley.

Lucy Knisley loves food. The daughter of a chef and a gourmet, this talented young cartoonist comes by her obsession honestly. In her forthright, thoughtful, and funny memoir, Lucy traces key episodes in her life thus far, framed by what she was eating at the time and lessons learned about food, cooking, and life. Each chapter is bookended with an illustrated recipe—many of them treasured family dishes, and a few of them Lucy's original inventions.  (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:  I can't recall how I had first heard about the book, but however I was able to hear about the book, I am glad I was able to find out about it.  It was a nice break from the heavier reading that I had been taking over the past month or so and really liked the illustrations that graced the book and particularly liked the recipes that ended each chapter.  

I had several favourite sections in the book.  My first favourite was the chapter on Junk food and how she craved it while on a trip with her dad.  I also enjoyed the sections on Mexico and Japan and her adventures there.  I also liked the one on when she and friend had some amazing croissants and how she tried to replicate them after coming back from that particular trip.

Bottom line: Overall, it was an enjoyable read and would consider purchasing a copy or at least request the book again and write/photocopy the recipes that I would be interested in making at some point.  The illustrations were really well done and the story really engaged me as a reader and really liked the small glimpse that I was able to get into Lucy's life and her love of food.  I look forward to whatever Ms. Knisley has in store next.  Recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Pages for 2014: 3392

Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth

Title: Call the Midwife: a true story of the East End in the 1950s
Author: Jennifer Worth
Pages: 376
Published: 2008 (first published 2002)
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Biography
Challenges: Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge
Edition: Paperback
Source: Library

Description: Life in London's docklands in the 1950s was tough. The brothels of Cable Street, the Kray brothers and gang warfare, the meths drinkers in the bombsites - this was the world that Jennifer Worth entered when she became a midwife at the age of twenty-two. Babies were born in slum conditions, often with no running water.

Jennifer Worth describes the romance and beauty of the great port of London, the bug-infested tenements, the spectre of disease, the sense of community and the incredible resilience of women who bore more than ten children. Funny, disturbing and moving, Call the Midwife brings to life a world that has now changed beyond measure. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I really quite enjoyed this book, although it took me quite a while to get going, but once I was able to get on a role with book, I didn't want to put the book down and I really didn't want it to end.  True I had watched the first season (series if you live across the pond) and was the initial reason as to why I picked up the book, but it was worth it.  The writing was really well done and the imagery of the neighbourhood in which Mrs. Worth worked in was amazing and made one feel as though you were going into those homes as she attended the births of these children, while they lived in what we would deem to be squalor, into families that wanted them and loved them.

Bottom line: I would recommend this book probably to most individuals, but especially those that are nurses and have interest in the subject of midwifery.  I would also recommend the book to those that have seen the show.

Rating:  4.725/5

Pages for 2013: 1944

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie - Wendy McClure

Title: The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie
Author: Wendy McClure
File Size (Pages): 475 KB (352)
Published: 2011
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Humor
Challenges: 2012 Support Your Library
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: Wendy McClure is on a quest to find the world of beloved Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder — a fantastic realm of fiction, history, and places McClure has never been to yet somehow knows by heart. She traces the pioneer journey of the Ingalls family—looking for the Big Woods among the medium trees in Wisconsin, wading in Plum Creek, and enduring a prairie hailstorm in South Dakota. She immerses herself in all things Little House — exploring the story from fact to fiction, and from the TV shows to the annual summer pageants in Laura’s hometowns. Whether she’s churning butter in her apartment or sitting in a replica log cabin, McClure is always in pursuit of “the Laura experience.” Along the way she comes to understand how Wilder’s life and work have shaped our ideas about girlhood and the American West. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I really liked the book and when I came across it late last year, I knew that this was the sort of book for me.  Yes, I am a fan of the Little House books (my favourites being the final 3 books in the series) and yes, my parents have taken to me to two of the sites, including De Smet, where we saw the Surveyors House and the house in town that her parents resided in after Laura married.  And yes, I did have romantic notions of the family when I was growing up, only to have them dispelled when I was 12.  But despite the fact the information that I have learned over the years, I still love them, as they represent a time and place that really doesn't exist and sort of reminds me of what my ancestors who settled in Kansas and Oklahoma must have gone through, to a degree.

What I like, in addition to Wendy's own story, was learning about the truth about the Ingalls family, or so what I was told. It was pretty interesting and really made me rethink the books and how much they were edited.  And it even goes into the debate of who actually wrote the books (there is discussion out there that the books were actually ghostwritten by Rose, Laura and Almanzo's daughter.

But that being said, I quite enjoyed it and understood it to was meant to Wendy's journey rather than what Laura and her family experienced.

Bottom line: I would recommend this book to Little House fans, but beware that some of your notions of the Ingalls family and their journey west will probably dispelled.  Overall, its a pretty good book.

Rating:  4/5

Pages for 2012: 20545

Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother - Amy Chua

Title: Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother
Author: Amy Chua
File Size (Pages): 1306 KB (195 pages)
Published: 2011
Challenges: 2012 Support Your Library
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercising in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards - and the costs - of raising her daughters the Chinese way. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I read this book because I had heard quite about the book during the course of the last calendar year and thought it might be interesting to read.  And it was.   While I don't agree with Ms. Chua's manner in which she has raised her daughters, it clearly prove effective with one of her daughters, but not the younger one.  While she comes as harsh, she does realize that her style of parenting was starting to alienate her youngest daughter  And while I understand that this her story of parenting, I want to know her husband's point of view on her style and am curious to see how he was effected by this sort of parenting, as it seems that Jed, her husband, was clearly not involved a lot, at least from her point of view.  One of the most effective chapters was when she was starting to realize that her style of parenting was starting to really effect her relationship with her daughter Lulu and started to lay off a bit.  I think she could have used the best of the Chinese way and the best of the western way of parenting and not have to readjust her style, at least for one of them.

Bottom line: Its a fairly quick and easy read and something that could be finished within a weekend.  While I am not a parent, I can understand the challenges that parents face, but I can also understand one doesn't need to be heavy-handed to be an effective parent and also you need to understand that each child needs to be parent differently (what works well for one, may not for other children).

Rating: 3.5/5

Pages for 2012: 7136

My Life in France - Julia Child with Alex Prud'Homme

Title: My Life in France
Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'Homme
File Size (Pages): 6828 KB (353)
Published: 2007 (first published 2006)
Challenges: 2012 Support Your Library
Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction
Edition: E-book
Source: Library


Description: Julia Child singlehandedly created a new approach to American cuisine with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she was not always a master chef. Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever with her newfound passion for cooking and teaching. Julia’s unforgettable story – struggles with the head of the Cordon Bleu, rejections from publishers to whom she sent her now-famous cookbook, a wonderful, nearly fifty-year long marriage that took them across the globe – unfolds with the spirit so key to her success as a chef and a writer, brilliantly capturing one of the most endearing American personalities of the last fifty years. (via Goodreads.com)


Thoughts:  I really enjoyed this book and loved the description of the restaurants that she and Paul went to when they first arrived and how she, a self admitted non-cook in her late 30s, became a cook by diving into French culture by learning the language, the customs of buying food at a local market and by taking classes at the famed Le Cordon Bleu in Paris (which was also attended by the author of Kitchen Counter School) in the late 1940s.  While I am not a cook myself (as you probably all know by know), I could really appreciate the chance that Julia took to learn to become an accomplished cook (she came across as the sort of person that has the expectations to become an accomplished cook; I think also the fact that she was trying to get to the same sort of level as Paul's mother had a large effect on her) and even though I probably will never get to the level of Julia herself (somehow we always compare ourselves to her), I think even taking the chance to cook or bake something is a step in the right direction.


I did appreciate her frankness about her frustration in writing the first cookbook and even though there was great success with the second one as well, she didn't bow into pressure into writing a third book.  I also appreciate that the book felt personal, even though it was only a glance into her private  life, and that not everything was perfect and how she worried about things just like we all worry about things and how concerns about what was going on in Paul's work in the 1950s was of equal concern for her and probably didn't make things any easier when living abroad in Europe, far away from family and friends in the States.


Also, I appreciated that she didn't constantly talk about food in the book and that you felt like you got to know Julia and her husband, albeit on a surface level, and the fun little facts that she passed along in the book (did you know that Judith Jones, the editor for Mastering Vol.1 & 2, was the person that got The Diary of Anne Frank into the hands of American readers in the 1950s, when it was just sitting on "the pile" of manuscripts that had been submitted to her while she was working for Random House in Paris?) that made the book enjoyable to read.


Bottom line: It's probably the best "foodie" memoir that I have read and for once it was more about the life of the person rather than the food, even though one could probably taste one of her famous dishes as you read the book (I haven't so I can't exactly say).  But whenever I would pick up the book, I would be transported into a world in which food wasn't just for survival, it was meant for feeding the soul and to be enjoyed by everybody around.  Recommended for those that are fans of Julia Child, those who have watched "Julie & Julia", or just generally like good food with a good glass of wine.


Rating: 5/5


Pages for 2012: 5430

Blood, Bones, and Butter - Gabrielle Hamilton

Title: Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
Author: Gabrielle Hamilton
Published: 2011
Pages: 304
Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction
Rating: 4/5

In a sense, Blood, Bones & Butter is a memoir set in kitchens and dining rooms. Gabrielle Hamilton grew up in the food business (her father still owns a restaurant in Lambertville, New Jersey) and many of her memories waft back to her family's grand parties and elaborate food preparations. A professional dishwasher at twelve, Gabrielle graduated to catering and cooking; now she owns her own restaurant, the critically acclaimed East Village Prune. By every evidence, she can write as well as she can cook; her memoir earned designation as a "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Books" selection for Summer 2011. (via Goodreads)


Thoughts:  I really liked this book, with the exception of a few spots where the writing was iffy, it was a really written book and I really enjoyed it.  It was one of the few memoirs that you could tell that the person who had decided on doing the memoir had actually written it and wasn't written by a professional writer, but instead by somebody who really cared about getting their story out in a way that they understood.    I haven't read a lot of food memoirs, but this one I felt like I was actually tasting the food and smelling and seeing Italy during July.  Highly recommended.

5763 / 15000 pages. 38% done!

Maus 1 - Art Speigleman

Title: Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale: My father bleeds history
Author: Art Spiegleman
Published 1986
Pages: 159
Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction, Graphic Novels
Rating: 4/5

Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive.

Reason I read this book: Read this book because I am doing it for a few challenges on Goodreads.


Thoughts: I really liked it.  I hadn't read the book in 9 years and forgot how powerful the book is.  While it is a lot like Holocaust survivor stories, it isn't a lot like them.  There is an uniqueness that the story is told and how it is expressed.  It is a brilliant book.  I probably should read the second part of the book, but I have other books that I need to read.


Bottom Line:  It is an excellent book and coupled with Maus II, it is a very powerful story that probably wouldn't have been as quite as powerful if it had been written in prose form.

The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Published: 2007
Pages: 352
Genre: Graphic novels, memoir
Rating: 3/5

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.


Reason that I read this book: I read this book because I had really enjoyed reading Blankets by Craig Thompson and also because I wanted to read another graphic novel (I am currently up to 4 with the completion of this book).


Thoughts: I felt that the first half was a little slow, as it dealt a lot with the political aspects of living in pre-revolutionary Iran and the war itself. The story from the time she left Iran for the first time till the end of the book had much more of a flow to it and was much better than the first half of the book.  It also helped that the second half of the story was more entertaining than the first half.

Bottom line: While it was an excellent book, I felt that the first half of the book was bogged down in the politics of pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Iran and not so much on the personal side of the story, like the second half of the book focused on.  If you are interested in graphic novels like Maus or Blankets, you should try the book out.