Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

We are halfway done with Week 26! You're surrounded by the thoughts and memories of one person.

This discussion thread is solely for your progress. (Book discussions go in individual threads.)


What did you read this week?

This memoir is devoted to...

Did you enjoy the book?

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?

What did you read this week?
A Three Dog Life

This memoir is devoted to...
Abigail Thomas and her husband

Did you enjoy the book?
It was a pretty good book. I felt it ended quite abruptly.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
I learned that there are people out there who will still be 100% loyal and devoted to the ones they love no matter what may happen. It was sad at parts but very inspiring.

What did you read this week? The Diary of a Young Girl

This memoir is devoted to... Anne Frank and her life during WWII

Did you enjoy the book? Yes! It was amazingly well written and thought-provoking.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? I learned more about what WWII did to people.

What did you read this week?
Orange is the new black

This memoir is devoted to...
prison life for female inmates

Did you enjoy the book?
YES YES YES!!!! I absolutely fell in love with this book when I started reading it and loved it even more when I finished it.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
I think the most interesting thing I found out was how little advise and help the inmates get before being released back into their everyday life.

What did you read this week?

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest TrailStrayed, Cheryl

This memoir is devoted to...Cheryl Strayed's memoir about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail in the 1990s.

Did you enjoy the book?

Yes, very much.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?

I found it interesting to see how Cheryl dealt with her grief about her mother's death.

What did you read this week? It's Not About Perfect: Competing for My Country and Fighting for My Life

This memoir is devoted to...Shannon Miller's memoir about gymnastics and cancer.

Did you enjoy the book? Yes.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? Yes. I grew up watching Shannon Miller compete at the Olympics and so it was interesting to read about it and how they helped her battle with cancer.

What did you read this week? Fire Shut Up in My Bones

This memoir is devoted to... Charles Blow's memoir about growing up in the South and how it shaped his life

Did you enjoy the book? Yes-more poetic than straight-forward

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? Yes, We are about the same age, and I was surprised at the level of poverty and racism that he endured. It is always good to read other people's life experiences so that we can see the world in different ways.

What did you read this week?
The Last Lecture

This memoir is devoted to... This terminally ill computer science professor decided to leave this memoir of life lessons for his young sons as they would be too young to remember him after he is gone.

Did you enjoy the book? To be honest I found him to be strangely emotionally detached (computer science professor, remember) and the life lessons were kind of hum-drum and obvious. I was expecting much more. If you want to read a book about how a person should approach the end of their life, read Tuesdays with Morrie.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? I learned that a person's personality will show in their writing.

What did you read this week?
Lucky Man: A Memoir

This memoir is devoted to...
Micheal J. Fox, his rise to fame, and dealing with his diagnoses of Parkinson's Disease

Did you enjoy the book?
Yes, very much. He writes as if he is having a conversation with a friend. He admits to failings with no God complex.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
It reinforces that all people are scared of losing their jobs no matter how good they are at their profession.

What did you read this week? Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

This memoir is devoted to... Marcus Samuelsson is a chef in New York, and this was about him growing up as an Ethiopian orphan raised in Sweden, and about his climb through the ranks of the food world.

Did you enjoy the book? I did! I've read a few other food memoirs, but this is the first one I've read from the chef inside the kitchen - I've read some Anthony Bourdain, but haven't yet got around to Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. I found it fascinating how difficult it is to become a chef, and I didn't realize how, even today, high end restaurant kitchens are still very much the white male's territory.


Did you learn something interesting about life or people? Not life in general, but definitely life in the world of restaurants. Also a little about African food traditions and Harlem, New York.

What did you read this week?
Orange Is the New Black

This memoir is devoted to...
Piper Kerman's experience in a women's low security prison

Did you enjoy the book?
Yes, but not as much as I enjoy the show.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
How ineffective the prison system is� not preparing people at all for re-entering society, thus setting them up to repeat offend.

What did you read this week?

An Age of License: A Travelogue and Displacement: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley

This memoir is devoted to...

The author's travels on her own and with her aging grandparents.

Did you enjoy the book?

Yes, I loved her book Relish: My Life in the Kitchen and these memoirs were great, too!

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?

Yes, there were lots of great tidbits plus I learned not to try to take my 91 year old father on a cruise! Luckily, he decided on his own 3 years ago that he didn't want to take trips anymore!

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I am only a few chapters in, but really enjoying this memoir. This book is translated from the Japanese and I find the language kind of interesting.

What did you read this week? Steve Jobs

This memoir is devoted to...
Steve Jobs and his part on the high tech industry.

Did you enjoy the book?
I enjoyed it as an historical book, it was really interesting to see how Apple and Pixar became what they are now, or how the Apple's products were created. On the biographical side, the external point of view lacks lots of things I'd like to know about Jobs.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
Yes, currently you have to be creative in lots of works, it's almost a required quality. But people can make great things without this creativity, Jobs for example was a visionary man, not a creative one. I like the idea of a world balanced between different personalities and that the combination of different people is the way to build great things.

What did you read this week?
Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison .

This memoir is devoted to...
Holly Madison and her experiences with the Playboy mansion and Hugh Heffner.

Did you enjoy the book?
Yes I did!

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
I learnt a lot of interesting things about a world which we all think we know about but we truly have no idea about what goes on there. I was always quite neutral when it came to Hugh Heffner, I didn't particularly like or dislike him although I still thought he was strange. Any really old men that go after really young women, I find strange. This memoir made me really dislike him though, the man is vile. I didn't really know who Holly Madison was before this, I never saw 'The Girls Next Door' and I never bought or owned a Playboy magazine, so the only thing I really knew her from was her cameo role in 'The House Bunny'. This memoir made me really care about her and, although I've never had anything against any women that pose for Playboy anyway, I got a new found respect for Holly. I think this book showed me a lot about not judging things by their appearance or by face value and also that we can make judgements without even realising we are doing it.

What did you read this week?
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years

This memoir is devoted to...
Julie Andrews

Did you enjoy the book?
Yes, though the first part felt like a bit of a slog as there was a lot of family history (and that puts me to sleep).

Did you learn something interesting about life or people?
Mostly a reminder that although an actor may seem sure of themselves on-screen, they have a lot of anxieties even when they become successful.

What did you read this week? A Moveable Feast

This memoir is devoted to ... Ernest Hemingway's years in Paris with his first wife, Hadley.

Did you enjoy the book? Yes, but I didn't love it. Paris is one of my favourite places in the world, so that helped a lot.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? I learned that Ernest Hemingway was a bit of a douche.

What did you read this week? I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

This memoir is devoted to... Maya Angelou's life while growing up

Did you enjoy the book? I did but I didn't love it.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? I learned about the hardships Maya Angelou faced while growing up.

What did you read this week? Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

This memoir is devoted to...the 8 years the author spent traveling around the world after she and her husband divorced

Did you enjoy the book? Very much so.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? One reason I read this book was my daughter was planning a similar trip. Rita's trip began in Mexico and so did my daughter's. Consequently, I have learned that while many people do similar things, they do them in their own way with different outcomes.

What did you read this week?
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: Travels through My Childhood by Bill Bryson

This memoir is devoted to...Bill Bryson 's childhood and the life in the 50s in USA

Did you enjoy the book? Yes, I did.

Did you learn something interesting about life or people? I learned a lot about the american life in the fifthies and about the love and admiration of Bill Bryson to his familiy.