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 judge in two obscenity cases in Virginia that targeted two books—Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas—has dismissed the cases, saying that the books are not obscene under the law and the law that pertains to the litigation is itself flawed.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-31 13:48:46 UTC ]
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“If it weren’t for Beyoncé, another girl like us with an untraceable name, we wouldn’t have had much in common.” Remica Bingham-Risher on stepmotherhood, lineage, and the weight of names. | Lit Hub Memoir Ben Mathis-Lilley on the inevitability of college football (and why it’s all Thomas... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-31 10:30:26 UTC ]
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“What better than a little donkey upon which to project my wonderings?” Martha Cooley reflects on emigrating to Venice in her mid-sixties… and befriending a little asinella. | Lit Hub Memoir Olivia Rutigliano ranks the 50 best fictional dragons, to mark the return of House Targaryen. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-26 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Promising an inside view of the White House, the book actually exposes Kushner's mind-set and values. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-26 10:00:57 UTC ]
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Based on Anne Deveson’s 1991 memoir about her son’s experience with schizophrenia, this play can be achingly sad. But it also offers hope. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2022-08-26 01:01:35 UTC ]
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"Knocking Myself Up," Michelle Tea’s "memoir of (in)fertility," will resonate across generations. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-25 12:00:17 UTC ]
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“It was an ‘I‘ of early days long gone who lived in these places, and that ‘I’ has already succumbed, for our days die before us.” Continue reading at The Paris Review
[ The Paris Review | 2022-08-22 15:42:39 UTC ]
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A memoir by Jared Kushner chronicles U.S. frustrations in negotiating a trade deal with Canada. It offers a peek into historic talks and insists there was method to the madness of his father-in-law, Donald Trump. But it sidesteps more disturbing... Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2022-08-20 08:00:00 UTC ]
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The actor Jennette McCurdy’s memoir is a confessional feat that asks what, if anything, adult children owe an abusive parent. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2022-08-19 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Former child star Jennette McCurdy has the #5 book in the country with the memoir 'I'm Glad My Mom Died.' Plus director Michael Mann writes a sequel to 1995's 'Heat,' and the Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman" drops. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sells an autobiography to Simon & Schuster, Gallery Books takes a memoir by ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I’m Glad My Mom Died details the abuse the iCarly actor suffered as a child star. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2022-08-18 20:31:47 UTC ]
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TEGAN AND SARA TRAILER DROP, TEGAN AND SARA TRAILER DROP—this is not a drill! If you clicked on this, you’re probably well aware that the beloved sister indie pop duo published a memoir in 2019 called High School. Amazon Freevee (boo) is adapting it into a TV show (yay) starring Railey and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-18 16:25:50 UTC ]
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Elizabeth Crane's new memoir is an excavation of a 15-year union that proves just how hard it is to talk about marriage, even when it's your own. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-18 13:00:19 UTC ]
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The first major review for Breaking History—odious lickspittle Jared Kushner’s memoir about his tenure at the Trump White House—has dropped, and it is a doozy. Published by Broadside Books (a lamentable neocon imprint of Harper Collins which boasts a stable full of prize grievance ponies like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-17 15:19:36 UTC ]
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Alice Sedgwick Wohl's 'As It Turns Out,' on power duo Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, is not a memoir but an investigation of a cultural obsession. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-17 13:00:01 UTC ]
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Jennette McCurdy's memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died has garnered attention for both its shocking title and her relationship with her abusive mother Debra. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2022-08-16 14:00:59 UTC ]
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In Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My (In)Fertility, Michelle Tea chronicles her path to pregnancy and motherhood as a 40-year-old, queer, uninsured woman. The tone is irreverent, the storytelling is hilarious, and the topic—choosing to exercise one’s reproductive freedoms—is extremely timely.... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In our conversations and emails, his determination to not let the fatwa define him has been evidentThat Salman Rushdie was nearly murdered at an event in New York while talking about whether the United States was a safe haven for exiled writers is an irony he’d have rejected as too far-fetched... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-14 12:39:00 UTC ]
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A new memoir on the unfinished sexual revolution explores the difficulty of enacting one’s political beliefs in intimate spaces. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2022-08-14 11:00:00 UTC ]
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