The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

 

 

Please overlook the politics (whatever yours are) and give this thoughtful well written and mind changing book a go.

 

This is not exactly biography and certainly she doesn't presume to be able to offer self-help advice.  But I found her thoughts on how we think about (and talk to) people that are outside our normal scope of things very insightful.

 

I enjoyed her first book – which was autobiographical – I posted about it here.  But this book is even better.

 

Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott

 

 

This is the second book by Mary Laura Philpott that I've read and is, if anything, even better.  If you are in the mood for a funny honest moving account of the family life of a slightly neurotic (my take) New York woman, then this is for you.

 

You'll understand why there is a turtle on the cover – don't worry.

 

The subtitle is "Love, Time and Other Explosives"

 

I found it wonderful.  I posted about her first book here.

 

The Dark is Light Enough Ralph Hotere by Vincent O'Sullivan

 
 

If you aren't into New Zealand art this book probably won't interest you.  It is a biography of Ralph Hotere which is notable for the quality of its writing and the fact that there are no illustrations of his art.

 

The reason for this is not explained.  The artist himself asked the author to do it and presumably intended him to be able to include some works but it was finished after his death so maybe other obstacles came up.

 

But Hotere's life was so interesting and the book illuminates what drove him.

 

He came from a large Maori family in the rural Far North.  He moved to Auckland.  He then went to Europe with his wife– not very successfully in art terms.

 

He became famous after basing himself in Port Chalmers – in the South Island.  He never explained his art – and was incensed when intellectual snobs tried to put labels on it.

 

The artist was famously non-confrontational and would just slope off.  His personal life was complicated… read it to see how.

Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet

 
 

This fantastic book is going to my Top 20 book tab!  I found it that good.

 

This is a biography of E.B. White of Charlotte's Web fame.  It is said to be written for children – but I found it suitable for adults as well.

 

The author writes well and has done fabulous illustrations as well as photos and copies of White's letters and extracts from drafts of his books.

 

White's life was interesting as was his approach to writing.  This is a book you could give to anyone and be sure they would be uplifted.

 

White was born in Mt Vernon, New York state but gained much of his inspiration from a rural part of Maine.

 

You will be seeing some of White's quotes coming up soon.

Bella by Annabel Langbein

 

Annabel Langbein is a Kiwi celebrity chef.  I got her newest book, Bella, from the library thinking it was a cookbook.  There are a few recipes (60) but basically it is a memoir.

 

She writes well and has a colourful past.  So I enjoyed this, particularly all the photos. Whereas I have sometimes felt she was a bit 'posh' in her TV series (The Free Range Cook etc), her background is variegated to say the least.

 

I ended up with a lot of respect for what she has done in her life. Amongst many things she is New Zealand's most successful self published author.

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

I enjoyed this gentle memoir – A Homemade Life – after I read it I checked out the author's blog and found that she has written a subsequent memoir dealing with, among other things, her divorce from the husband that is firmly eulogised as 'the one' in the earlier memoir.  And the blog, Orangette, has been closed.

The perils of writing about your life when a lot of it is still to happen!

But still it is a food based memoir and includes quite a few recipes – no pictures, though.

If you liked Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin you'll probably like this one.

Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Thanks to Katie of Doing Dewey I gave this 'memoir' a try.  The writer is both a journalist and a psychotherapist – and manages to tell stories about her therapy practice and her own therapy in an engaging and mostly non-technical way.

I put quote marks around 'memoir' because it is clear that details have been altered to protect identities and so how much is fact and what is fiction is not clear.  The stories do feel authentic though.

I even learned things from this book – like the difference between therapy and counselling.  I gained quite a bit of insight from this book.  Avoidance anyone?  I'm a master at it.

I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott

I wish I could remember who recommended this delightful book to me.  I would thank them specially.

This is a non-fiction work.  The author is not only perceptive but also very frequently hilarious.  It isn't an autobiography but more a series of essays about topics such as parent's anxiety about the safety of their children – often illogical but very real.

She also deals with a period in her life when she was depressed.

It was interesting how she analysed the effect of having been brought up very goal driven.  Wanting to get everything right.  Wanting to do things without wasting time.

I have taken years to get over a similar mind set.  Looking at the state of my home, I think I have over-succeeded!

If you would like a friend to talk to you and tell you funny yarns about family and modern day life, give this a go.

Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl

I've enjoyed previous books by this author so I read this one too (See here for My Kitchen Year (post Gourmet) and here for Delicious, a novel).  I wasn't quite as enamoured of this one until I was hit by Chapter 17 and this amazing story made the whole book worthwhile.

So ignore the bad reviews on Goodreads and give this a go.  Get it from the library and read Chapter 17 at least.

There are a few recipes but no illustrations or pictures – so it's not really a cookbook at all.

The time period of this memoir is from just before Ruth accepts the editor's job at Gourmet until the magazine's demise 10 years later.  A salutary tale.

By the way the title is from a poem by William Carlos Williams.