This or That? A book tag for People April
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- Опубликовано: 29 апр 2024
- Join me this Tag Tuesday as I answer the "This or That?" book tag, created in celebration of People April-a Booktube celebration of life writing (biography, memoir, etc.).
This tag was created by Ros @scallydandlingaboutthebook2711 and Elisabeth @bouquinsbooks.
OTHER BOOKTUBERS AND BOOKTUBE EVENTS MENTIONED:
#MiseryMay -- Hosts @GunpowderFictionPlot & @GemofBooks (Just to be clear, when I said this event was "totally created for me," I only meant that it fits perfectly with my own tastes!)
Aaron Facer @aaronfacer
Steve Donoghue@saintdonoghue
My review of Six Walks: www.ronslate.com/on-six-walks...
My review of Every Day the River Changes: www.ronslate.com/on-every-day...
PROMPTS:
1) Big, fat and detailed biographies or short and succinct biographies?
2) Celebrity memoirs or average Joe memoirs?
3) Complete correspondence or selected letters?
4) Memoirs written when the events are fresh or memoirs written with hindsight?
5) Gossipy biographies or scholarly biographies?
6) Diaries of ordinary life or diaries of extraordinary events?
7) Arty memoirs or sporting memoirs?
8) Gritty autobiographical writing or inspirational autobiographical writing?
9) Biographies of historical figures or biographies of contemporary figures?
10) Memoirs of happy days or memoirs of tragic days?
Elisabeth’s BONUS prompt: The Complete Diary of Samuel Pepys (over 4000 pages or 116 hours and 16 minutes of audiobook) or Selections from the Diary of Samuel Pepys (which can be as short as 120 pages or 3 hours and 55 minutes of audiobook)?
BOOKS AND AUTHORS MENTIONED:
Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary Dearborn
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland
Red Comment: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark
Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama
Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau
Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena by Jordan Salama
Stranger in the Desert: A Family Story by Jordan Salama
Madeleine’s World by Brian Hall
Samuel Pepys’s Diary
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Happy month of May, Hannah! I loved this discussion of biographies, short and long. Cheers! 🌸🌺🪻
Thanks! I love People April and its focus on biographies!
I knew you'd have great answers and book suggestions for this prompt, Hannah!
Thanks you! And I squeaked it in while it was still April…
I loved your answers, Hannah. And Pepyspril 2025 definitely needs to happen now! There's a part of me that wants to be more adventurous with the biographies I read, and another that just wants to constantly reread Red Comet.
♥️ Constantly rereading Red Comet sounds pretty good to me, too.
Enjoy this cup of coffee in honor of May Day!
That is so kind of you! Thank you!
Have you read Intervals by Marianne Brooker? It would be the perfect Misery May memoir!!
No I haven't! Thanks for the suggestion!
I enjoy the shorter bio’s that focus on a new or specific aspect of their subjects life, but it is nice to have read a thorough, comprehensive biography first.
I do prefer to read the longer first, but there are definitely times when I read the small ones first--and often it too can feel like a good choice, especially in the case of authors or other people about whom I know very little.
Very thoughtful answers, as always. I loved Salama’s book on the Magdalena river. I will keep an eye out for his bew book. Pepyspril for 2025? I like the idea!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed Salama’s book! And yay Pepys!
The best memoir I’ve read is by Marina Abramovic
Walk Through Walls? It looks fantastic! I have access to the film The Artist is Present through my library but haven't seen it yet. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
@@HannahsBooks that’s the one!
Hi Hannah! This was a great video. I’m impressed by how nuanced your answers were. And I’ll have to look into that Barack Obama memoir you mentioned. It sounded really good.
Thank you so much, Joshua. I’d love to hear what you think of it if you choose to read it!
Just added that 6 Walks with Thoreau to a tbr as well as Every Day the River Changes. Thanks for some good recs! Great answers and thoughts Hannah
Do let me know if you try either! They are both quiet books, in a way, and quite wonderful.
@@HannahsBooks will do
I ordered 'Red Comet' due to watching a previous video of yours, I had no idea how long it was! I'm sure I'll get to it. Thanks for the recommendation, all the same.
Oh no! My apologies. I should have made it clear how big a book it is. If you are at all a fan of Plath, or if you just find her intriguing, or if you're just interested in women's lives in the midcentury, it really is a wonderful read.
@@HannahsBooks The risk of purchasing ebooks! It was 99p so a super bargain.
Madeline's World sounds fantastic
I loved it at the time-and I think I should really look at it again!
I was looking forward to your version of this. I knew your answers would be interestingly different from mine. And they were. Contemplative sounds good though. And Pepys in 2025? Maybe!
It is such a wonderful tag, Ros! I think I might do it again next year, with the opposite answers instead-almost all of which would be equally true.
@@HannahsBooks perfect 🥰
I’m interested in reading the new book about ten letters of Byron’s. I remember enjoying reading the Letters of E B White .. I generally enjoy reading collections letters.
I do not enjoy celebrity biographies.
I like reading arty memoirs. Most recently: Thunderclap.
I just put Red Comet on hold at my library. Thx.
I enjoy reading biographies of artists, poets and authors.
I too really want to look at the ten letters book. I always love when authors highlight major themes of someone’s life by looking very closely at specific moments. I’m eager to see what you think of the book!
I feel so much better about my answers after watching your picks dear Hannah 😉Definitely agree with your reflections. I am quite intrigued by Six Walks by Ben Shattuck since I had recently read Thoreau's Civil Disobedience and loved it!
I mentioned to Ros that I might try this tag next April and give exactly the opposite answers, which will be equally true!
@@HannahsBooks 😅 exactly!
Very interesting answers. I haven't read nearly as many biographies as you. I was a little surprised that you read the long biographies first and the short ones second, but once you explained that the short ones reanalyze the material in enterprising ways, I understood why. I had hoped that a short book would help me get familiar with a new person to see if I wanted to read further into their life.
Absolutely! Reading short bios first can definitely work out very well sometimes! Although I already knew quite a bit about McCullers, I read Shapland's book before Dearborn's. Worked out just fine. Thanks for the comment.
Wonderful responses, Hannah! This was a great tag all around!
Thanks, Pat! It is a terrific set of questions--and I think I could do it several times and come up with different and even conflicting answers each time!
@@HannahsBooksyes! I know exactly what you mean!
No! Not scholarly!! 😂 But high five on contemplative. 🎉 (I joke about scholarly.) I’ve mostly read biographies of writers, but the first adult memoir I recall was celebrity: _Harpo Speaks._
What an excellent title! My father would have loved that!