Category: Memoir
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Grief is for people
As the photo accompanying this article might betray, this is the second time I read Grief is for People this year. The first time in May, when my apple tree was still blossoming. The second time was today. The apple tree is now shedding its yellow autumn leaves and preparing for winter. Waiting several months…
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Somewhere towards the end
The photo of ‘Somewhere Towards the End’ was taken in front of Pultney Bridge and the Weir in Bath, England. I visited Bath this July and found a copy of this book in a charity shop. The house I used to live during my time in Bath is pictured as well. I used to spend…
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What Remains? Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking
In What remains? Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking Rupert – Ru for short- Callender has written a polemic against the funeral industry. Not being part of his father’s funeral, who died when he was just seven years old, and being sent to boarding school that same year has left a bitter taste….
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Fierce Appetites
Sometimes you read a book that offers you just what you need at that moment in time. Fierce Appetites: loving, losing and living to excess in my present and in the writings of the past by medieval historian Elizabeth Boyle was one of those books for me. Fierce appetites is filled with medieval history, nuggets…
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A Flat Place
I have made many a faux pas when it come to hilly places. Mountainous terrains. When I was 18 I solo-travelled around New Zealand for three months, and upon my arrival in Christchurch I was admiring the mountains, only to be scolded with a “those are hills”. When I came to Bath in 2013 to…
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The Owl At the Window
Happy 2023 everyone! I started this year off strong with the flu, which knocked me out (or at least my reading and writing abilities) for a good couple of weeks. But here we are, first review of the new year! The Owl at the Window: a memoir of loss and hope by Carl Gorham is…
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Stronger: Changing Everything I Knew About Women’s Strength
I recently read Poorna Bell’s Stronger: Changing everything I knew about women’s strength. The majority of this book is not about death or grief, but about strength. The power of women. The physical power of women and how culturally it is often expected for women to be petite, dainty, or weak. Yet, women have great…
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All The Young Men
December 1 marks World AIDS Day. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day. The covid-pandemic has shown…
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Good Mourning: a memoir
In Good Mourning, Elizabeth Meyer takes us to the world of funerals of the rich and famous on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It does not matter how wealthy you are: no one can escape death. It must be said that a book that has a pun in the title always sparks joy, and…
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Wave
I have always found the seaside to be very peaceful. Summer days spent at the beach, reading books and going for a dip every now and again. One of my last holidays pre-pandemic was to the island of Madeira, and staring into the water, watching the seemingly never-ending ocean was really soothing, and something I…
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Absolutely Delicious
One of the things I have absolutely enjoyed since starting this blog is the messages I received from authors, kindly offering their books. Alison Jean Lester is one of those authors, and I had the pleasure of meeting her for a coffee in Helsinki this summer, as she was making her way back from a…
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The Elements: a Widowhood
Disclaimer: I am currently recovering from Covid, which has caused some brain fog, so apologies if this review isn’t coherent… Close your eyes. I want you to picture a widow. Who do you see? What do they look like? How do they move? What do they wear? What is their story? Take a moment to…
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Tastes Like War
In April I wrote about Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner. Zauner eloquently describes the complexities of Korean-American dual heritage, about not fitting in, and how the death of a parent can also mark the death of having access to a cultural heritage. Or at least feeling you somehow lost the key to your own identity, as…
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When the Dust Settles
The opening of When The Dust Settles gives the atmosphere of a Nordic Noir. It rains. A taxi driver is taking a woman to the location of a plane crash. She could be a detective. A forensic anthropologist. A private investigator on her way to the scene. Lucy Easthope is none of these things, but…
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60 Postcards
A lot can happen in 16 days. Your whole world can change in 16 days. The last book I wrote about was Sixteen Days by Victoria Wilson-Crane. In this book she describes the 16 days between her niece’s death and funeral, and how messy those days can get. Rachael Chadwick similarly talks about 16 days in…
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Sixteen Days
As an aunt of two bubbly nephews, the thought that I might potentially outlive them is terrifying. While I am quite comfortable thinking about my own mortality, thinking of the possibility of people younger than me dying is haunting. In Sixteen Days. Victoria Wilson-Crane deals with exactly this topic, as she reflects on the unexpected…
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Between Two Kingdoms
In Between Two Kingdoms: what almost dying has taught me about living Suleika Jaouad reflects on being diagnosed with cancer at a mere 22. Being a twenty-something, cancer was definitely not on her mind. When she started to experience strange bodily sensations and itching it, perhaps unsurprisingly, took quite a while to get diagnosed with…
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Crying in H mart
I think I have never been as hungry reading a book as when reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. Zauner vividly describes the many Korean dishes her mother used to cook. The recipes sound fiddly and time-consuming but Zauner convinced me there is definitely a pay-off for this hard work. Whilst I have…
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Grief without guilt
Grief without Guilt: it gets better if you let it, even if it’s complicated by Rhiannon Spurgeon is the last book in this year’s Memoir March series; if you have any suggestions for next year’s Memoir March please write them down below! So, I have read quite a few memoirs about grief, death and loss….
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The Last Act of Love
Last year a book about books caught my attention. In Dear Reader: the comfort and joy of books Cathy Rentzenbrink talks about her relationship with books and how they very much bring her joy but, pertinently, how they helped her escape her own life after her brother was hit by a car and lived in a…