FRED HOLLOWS - MEMORIES BY PAT FISH AND MICHAEL JOHNSON
JO read this biography and said it was a very good book but would have preferred his autobiography with Peter Corris. It was written after interviews with many patients and people who worked with him. She enjoyed it.
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE BY GERALDINE BROOKS
ANN thought this autobiography would have been more about Geraldine's life as a foreign correspondent rather than her life as a lonely child who had been sick with rheumatic fever. She had few friends and started to collect overseas penfriends to whom she corresponded for many years, among them one from Israel, one from Paris and one from America. It became the road map for her life and it influenced her to go overseas to visit her penfriends.
WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL BY JEANETTE WINTERSON
CLAURENE thought this was a terrific book. It is semi autobiographical. Jeanette was adopted into a strange family of Pentecostals. Her adopted mother, who came from the North of England was horrific and Jeanette left home at 16. Her mother used to say "the devil lead me to the wrong creche". Libraries and book saved her life. She started from A and worked her way through the books She eventually got into Cambridge. Claurene said Jeanette Winterson writes beautifully.
JUDY DENCH -"WITH A CRACK IN HER VOICE" BY JOHN MILLER
CONNIE was very interested in the first part as it told about Judy Dench's life in York, England. Connie could imagine it as she was brought up in the midlands and born in the same year, 1934. Judy Dench was the youngest in a family of Quakers. Her two much older brothers went off to act when she was quite young. She eventually went to art school but decided she wanted to be an actress. She went to all the plays at the old Vic. She played Ophelia and one critic said she was too young and immature. She took this to heart and worked hard to improve it. She always made it a happy cast and nothing was too much for her. Acting was her whole life. Connie does not normally like autobiographies or biographies but enjoyed the first part of this book The last half was mostly about the plays.
BILLY BY PAMELA STEPHENSON
GINNY had been to see Billy Connolly perform and thought he was such a hoot. The author is his wife, Pamela Stephenson who is a psychologist. She helped him with the problems of his abusive childhood. He was brought up by his aunt Mona who was very cruel and beat him. His aunt was committed to an asylum when a neighbour reported the abuse. His father was also abusive, yet he was still devastated by losing both father and aunt.
STEVE JOBS BY WALTER ISAACSON
KRIS would not normally have chosen this biography but is thoroughly enjoying it.(only 2/3 into it) It is a biography requested by Steve Jobs but he wanted no control over it's content and did not want to read it before publication. He, along with his friend Steve Wozniak, a brilliant engineer with no business sense was the founder of Apple Computers. He was a very eccentric man who thought he did not need to wash or wear deodorant because of his strict vegetarian diet. He was rude and lied and sulked and even cried when he did not get his own way but he had a way of making people believe they could achieve the impossible. He had what they called a reality distortion field. The book is based on over 40 interviews with hundreds of family members, friends, colleagues and competitors. It's a riveting story of a man with an intense personality and a passion for artistry and perfection. Well written.
AGATHA CHRISTIE - AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
JEWELS thought this was a very good read. It was published in 1977 after Agatha Christie's grandson unearthed her tapes. She died in 1976. He compiled the book from tapes first made in the 1950's. It follows her romances, two marriages, the time she disappeared. She also writes about her second husband and her travels with him on archeological expeditions to places like Egypt. It was her work in a dispensary handling poisons, when she was younger, that gave her the idea to write murder mysteries. She adored her first husband and was very affected when he left her for another woman and it was at this time she disappeared. Although Jewels hasn't finished the book she finds it interesting.
HERO OF EVEREST - A BIOGRAPHY OF TENZING NORGAY by ED DOUGLAS
KATE found this book fascinating. It is a biography of Tenzing Norgay written by Ed Douglas. He was the Tibetan born Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hilary on his successful climb to the summit of Mt Everest. He was considered one of the best. The first photo at the summit was of Tenzing as Hilary did not trust him with the camera.
DAPHNE DU MAURIER BY MARGARET FORSTER
MARGARET is not a big fan of biographies or autobiographies. Daphne du Maurier was born in1907 and died at 81. She was brought up in London, the second of three girls. Her father was an actor. She was talented, shy and slightly odd. She went to finishing school at Paris. She loved Paris. She later stayed with a teacher in Paris and developed a lesbian relationship. When she returned to London she was introduced to society but it was not what she wanted. She felt women needed to be independent and were powerless without their own money. The first books she wrote were short bleak stories about men and women. Her anger at her father having affairs may have been an influence. She did marry and have children but had a nanny so she could continue to write books and newspaper articles. The battle between her two personas, loving men or women may have fueled her creativity.
BAD BLOOD BY LORNA SAGE
DIANE found every page a joy. It's an exquisite personal memoir spanning the generations. Her grandfather was a well educated vicar who married an ignorant woman from South Wales. She did not cook, do housework or continue marital relations so eventually her grandfather became a philanderer. Lorna learned everything from her grandfather who was a Latin scholar. Lorna loved Latin. Lorna's mother was the same as her grandmother and they lived in a council house. Lorna got pregnant young and Lorna's mother brought up the baby girl. Both Lorna and her boyfriend wanted an education so went on to university. Dianne was taken back to her time growing up in post war England and the changing times for women. She said it was beautifully written.
CLEMENTINE CHURCHILL- A BIOGRAPHY OF A MARRIAGE BY MARY SOAMES
WENDY read this book . It was a special book for her as an aunt sent it to her when Wendy's husband died 12 years ago. Wendy could not read it at the time. Clementine did not have a privileged childhood. Her father threw her mother out with the three children when she had a fling. Her father was a nasty man. Clementine was a private woman. She married Winston Churchill who was 11years older than her. She was his confidant. Winston gambled quite a bit and she was forced to sell jewellery to pay the bills. When Winston was forced out of politics he returned to the army and was sent to the front line. They wrote many letters to each other. Politics was his mistress and he was eventually back in politics. Clementine was his strength and they had a great love for each other.
THE MYSTERY OF THE BAYOUX TAPESTRY
PAMELA does not like biographies or autobiographies so she chose a story of a famous tapestry. It is a pictorial narrative describing the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Pamela found it endlessly fascinating. It is not actually a tapestry but a wool embroidery on linen strips sewn together to form a continuous panel. The final panel is missing. Although it is not definitely known who did the embroidery, it is believed to be English women as they were considered the best and nobody did that type of embroidery on the continent. Nobody knows who the patron is but may have been a Norman French. The last 1/3 of the tapestry is about the war and would be a great anti war statement.
LEONARDO DA VINCI - THE FLIGHTS OF THE MIND BY CHARLES NICHOLL
MERILYN only got to page 58 where he was about to start his apprenticeship. The story followed his life as an illegitimate child who lived with his father and then later his mother. He wrote fables. It waffled on a bit and Merilyn was not interested enough to finish it.
FRED HOLLOWS - AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY with PETER CORRIS
SHEILA said this was well written. It was almost like Fred Hollows speaking the words. Fred Hollows was a very interesting man born in New Zealand. His great grandfather, a miner came to New Zealand in 1870 .Fred's father was a railway man. Fred was born in Dunedin in 1929. His family were progressive in the Church of Christ. At 18 he did not know what to do. He studied art and then became a divinity student but felt suppressed. He got a job as a temporary assistant in a mental asylum and stopped being a christian. He then became a humanitarian. He changed to a medical course. He went to England in 1961 and studied eye medicine. He moved to Australia in 1965. He was a rough diamond. He was very interested in Aboriginal health and eye problems. He was an outspoken and outrageous man. Sheila thought he was a great man.
ENID our new member had also read Fred Hollows- An Autobiography with Peter Corris and really enjoyed it. She said it was like Fred Hollows talking to me. She said Peter Corris was skillful in the way he edited the book.
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