It’s Week 3 of Nonfiction November, this week hosted by Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working From Home. The task? Pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. This is my absolute favourite #NFN exercise.
What happens when a whale dies? Soundings by Doreen Cunningham and Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor.
I feel like the integrity of memoir as a genre has cropped up a bit lately. I mentioned it in my review of Unquiet (Ullmann classes her book as a blend of fiction and memoir) but before that, I was discussing it with a friend who saw Leslie Jamison speak about her memoir, Splinters, which focuses on the break-up of her marriage. I haven’t read Splinters yet, but my friend said that Jamison emphasised the importance of not casting her ex wholly as the bad guy, that in memoir you had to show the ‘good bits’ as well, or risk losing the trust of your readers.
I had that in mind as I began journalist Kate Legge’s memoir, Infidelity and Other Affairs. It’s also about her marriage, which eventually ended after her husband had an affair. In terms of my curiosity about portraying the ‘bad guys’ in memoir, I was rewarded early in the book: Continue reading
Cathy at 746 Books is hosting the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge again this year. As Cathy explains, it’s the most relaxed reading challenge you’ll participate in (swap books out, change your target, do whatever). The challenge is straightforward – read the books between June 1st and September 1st. Continue reading
It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading