Book Reviews John K. Cox Jurij Koch / Courtesy of Domowina-Verlag In the 1950s, a girl whom Jurij Koch knew in high school moved away from their hometown of Cottbus in East Germany. It was a case, he says in his recent memoir, of “Weg von Ulbricht, hin zu Adenauer” (Away from Ulbricht, over to Adenauer). Her mother took the girl to the West, before the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. This is a familiar enough arc of events, but, as it turns out, the motivation behind the move is probably not something that most people outside of Germany would have considered. The reason was ethnic. Little Greta was growing up surrounded by Sorbs in the southeastern part of the country. The Sorbian language reminded her mother of Polish, and she had had quite enough of the Poles in her pre-1945 home farther east. In addition, Greta’s family was Protestant and they felt awash in a “Catholic sea.” So off they went, leaving the author of this autobiography—who, well, yes, had a crush on Greta—scratching his head. Like so many other scenes in this engaging book, this story blends the customary with the unexpected to stretch our understanding of what is “German.” Like so many other scenes in this engaging book, Koch’s memoir blends the customary with the unexpected to stretch our understanding of what is “German.” Windrad auf dem Dach (Domowina-Verlag, 2016) is the second volume of Koch’s memoirs to be published in German. Currently in his... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-27 20:47:13 UTC ]
The year’s best books include the novel “James” by Percival Everett and a memoir by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2024-12-18 16:59:22 UTC ]
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Dr. Guy Leschziner explores the science behind the more unsavory aspects of our personalities. | Lit Hub Science Sara B. Franklin on reading children’s lit in troubled times | Lit Hub Memoir What do we really need from our literary heroes? | Lit Hub Memoir “Every food tells a story, and like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-11 11:30:59 UTC ]
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Many celebrities’ books are actually written by others, the UK writers’ union says, and it’s time they were acknowledgedThe Society of Authors (SoA) is calling on celebrities and the publishing industry to properly acknowledge the writers behind celebrity books, particularly those aimed at... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-12-10 16:42:22 UTC ]
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Gypsy-Rose Blanchard spent years in prison for helping to kill her mother. Now she's about to become a parent herself — and is out with a memoir about her childhood Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-12-10 11:00:49 UTC ]
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Here are this week's bestsellers from the five biggest lists, including part one of Cher's memoir and THE SERVICEBERRY by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor, seems to inch closer and closer to running for mayor.He clearly hoped Mayor Eric Adams, indicted on corruption charges in September, would resign, triggering a special election. Cuomo, for now, seems less enthusiastic about taking on Adams directly.... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2024-12-03 18:43:26 UTC ]
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December's new mysteries and thrillers include a Japanese murder mystery, a true crime memoir of a woman raised by a serial killer, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-02 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Cher discovered that mom Georgia Holt had inadvertently put 'Cheryl' on the birth certificate. Luckily, her memoir gets much juicier. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-11-26 01:23:22 UTC ]
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One thing is clear from the get-go: Werner Herzog, the enigmatic German icon of all things Art, likes for things to be precise. He makes sure I know this within the first minutes of our meeting. He is in Paris for48 hours for the release of the French translation of his memoir Every Man for […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-11-25 09:57:37 UTC ]
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Cher’s memoir is a valuable document of a young girl thrust into the adult world. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2024-11-22 17:45:00 UTC ]
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Her own is called “Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me,” which follows anthologies that grew out of founding the Well-Read Black Girl book club. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-11-21 10:00:06 UTC ]
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Out of an impressive shortlist, Richard Flanagan’s Question 7 has won 2024’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Flanagan’s wide-ranging memoir and history weaves together H.G. Wells and Rebecca West’s affair, pre-war nuclear physics, his father’s imprisonment near Hiroshima when the American... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-11-19 22:15:16 UTC ]
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"This is the kind of book that's hard to imagine until you're reading it: it doesn't seem possible, and then it is." Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-11-19 13:00:00 UTC ]
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In the first volume of her memoir (which she hasn’t read), she explores her difficult childhood, her fraught marriage to Sonny Bono and how she found her voice. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-11-17 10:00:52 UTC ]
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Gabrielle Bellot on the radical and harrowing nature of being trans in Trump’s America. | Lit Hub Memoir Lili Anolik explores the tumultuous, iconic, and unmistakably literary friendship between Eve Babitz and Joan Didion. | Lit Hub Biography “I am glad not to be a Greenland shark; I don’t have... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
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Gabrielle Bellot on the radical and harrowing nature of being trans in Trump’s America. | Lit Hub Memoir “Goodness is neither wisdom nor wealth; ironically, like evil, in its purest form good is not instrumental, utilitarian, or even pragmatic.” Ed Simon on the Seven Deadly Sins and how good... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
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Red Tower takes prolific romance writer Devney Perry’s spicy new romantasy, S&S lands a memoir by major Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-11-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Born in Tehran: A Conversation with Porochista Khakpour, by Shohreh Laici Interviews [email protected] Tue, 11/12/2024 - 09:04 In June 2024 Pantheon published Tehrangeles, Porochista Khakpour’s latest novel (see WLT, Sept. 2024, 73). The novel... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-11-12 15:04:04 UTC ]
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If you’ve read only one book about the Spanish Civil War, chances are it’s either Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls or George Orwell’s memoir Homage to Catalonia. And if you’ve read only two, as to what they might be, I’d confidently push all my chips into the center of the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-11-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The latest thriller from Paula Hawkins, a new novel by Niki May, and an Indigenous environmental activist's memoir are among this month's selections from the nation's biggest book clubs. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-11-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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