Tag Archives: Biography

A Reading List a Mile Long: Books I Wish I Was Reading Right Now

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My love for lists is not at all casual; I’m serious, hardcore, obsessive with my list making and  maintenance. As a writer, publisher and all-around busy person without an assistant, I make and refine several a day. Every day. It keeps me focused and on-track, whilst allowing for instant gratification when I finish a task and cross it off. The swoosh of a sharpened pencil across the paper is never more satisfying than when eliminating a line from a list. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 83: Savage Beauty

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  • Title: Savage Beauty The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
  • Author: Nancy Milford
  • Year Published: 2001 (Random House)
  • Year Purchased: 2002-2004
  • Source: Barnes & Noble
  • About: This distinguished biography of the Maine-born poet is one hell of an intense, engaging read. It’s well-researched and superbly written, pulling you with ease and throbbing immediacy into the bohemian haunts of the Greenwich Village and Paris of the early twentieth century. Thanks to Milford’s contact with the poet’s younger sister, Norma, she was able to access Millay’s personal archives. It is at once nuanced and immense, revelatory and re-affirmative; the result is one of my favourite literary biographies.
  • Motivation: Edna. St. Vincent. Millay. Seriously, her talent, intellect and life were breathtaking and bewitching. I also may or may not bear a striking physical resemblance to the red-haired poet. Really, I should write a one-woman show based on her life and cast myself in the role. Hmmm. Maybe I should start practicing that Down East accent.
  • Times Read: Countless
  • Random Excerpt/Page 78: “That was a remarkable note of affection, and it would not be the last time Edna St. Vincent Millay would win to her side an older woman who was in a position to help her. They were taken with Edna Millay. They wanted to assist her in any way they could, perhaps because in the careful structure of their lives they felt diminished. Her life would be grand, sweeping, urgent. Incapable of this themselves, they would help her.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10
    Photograph of Edna St. Vincent Millay

    Photograph of Edna St. Vincent Millay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 80: An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers

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  • Title: An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers Revised and Expanded Edition
  • Editors: Paul Schlueter and June Schlueter
  • Year Published: First Edition/1988; This Edition/1998 (Rutgers University Press)
  • Year Purchased: Early 2000s
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: From Eliza Acton to E.H. Young, every British woman writer of note, ever, is discussed here; comes complete with important life dates. It’s a rich source for many little-known wordsmiths.
  • Motivation: I write a lot about female writers. I’ve seriously dedicated tens of thousands of words to the ladies who came before me. They remain a huge source of personal inspiration. I bought this book to use as a reference tool.
  • Times Read: Cover-to-cover/1; As reference tool/countless.
  • Random Excerpt/Page 57: “B. (Hester Biddle) published nothing after 1662, although she was still an active speaker. Records show that in 1664 she was seized, punched, and imprisoned at Bridewell. And the following year she was sent to Newgate Prison for speaking in the street. She also had three sons between 1663 and 1668. Few details of her later life remain, although in 1694, only two years before her death, she visited France in order to meet King Louis XIV and plead for peace.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

A Year in Books/Day 75: Madame Tussaud A Life in Wax

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  • Title: Madame Tussaud A Life in Wax
  • Author: Kate Berridge
  • Year Published: 2006 (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)
  • Year Purchased: 2010
  • Source: A gift from my lovely Momma.
  • About: Even though an autobiography exists under her name, there is so much about Madame Tussaud’s life that has been lost to time. A lot of the information that remains is untrustworthy or muddled. This only adds to the burden carried by any biographer. Kate Berridge’s account is better than expected yet still suffers in spots from lack of original source material. Fortunately, she almost makes up for that deficiency by her unusual approach of treating her subject as a historian, instead of merely as an artisan-impresario. By the end of the book, she succeeds in making Madame Tussaud at least as life-like as her statues-not a small feat given the circumstances.
  • Motivation: History + Biography + Unusual Female Subject= an irresistible trio for me. My Mother knows this!
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 21: “The waxworks were the ideal forum to cater for a phenomenal human interest in public figures that was distinct from respect for their work. In fact cultural achievement was not necessary at all to appear there: the admission requirement was to have attained sufficient public interest to guarantee a crowd; notoriety was as compelling as admiration. From the recently executed criminal to society beauties, Curtius guaranteed a close-up view of the most talked-about people of the day. As each person had their time in the spotlight of public interest, they would take their turn in his pantheon.”
  • Happiness Scale: 7 1/2
    English: The wax statue of the creator of &quo...

     

A Year in Books/Day 71: Passionate Pilgrim

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  • Title: Passionate Pilgrim The Extraordinary Life of Alma Reed
  • Author: Antoinette May
  • Year Published: 1993/First paperback edition,1994 (Marlowe & Company)
  • Year Purchased: 2000/2001
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: This is one of those books whose front cover tag line lets you know exactly what you are in for: Heroine of Mexico, Pioneer Archaeologist, and Acclaimed Journalist. She certainly had one of those rollicking, magically adventurous lives that makes even the highest of achievers look like dull, stay-at-home types.
  • Motivation: See above. I was also sucked in by the fabulous photographs of her no-less fabulous exploits. I adore kick-ass ladies!
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 82: “It took nearly ten minutes of spirited cranking before Alma’s car was galvanized into action. As it jolted down the road, the jungle closed in around them. Distance ceased to exist, as strangely contorted trees, towering plants, feathery ferns, and spongy fungus all crowded together. Then, the last corner turned and instead of another vista of unchanging forest, a clear straight road led for another mile or so to a sight of breathtaking grandeur. A great white pyramid towered high above the forest, capped by a temple. There was a moment of stunned silence, followed by excited gasps, and then the crew were pummeling one another deliriously.”
  • Happiness Scale: 7

A Year in Books/Day 66: Marcel Proust

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  • Title: Marcel Proust A Life
  • Author: Jean-Yves Tadie (Translation by Euan Cameron)
  • Year Published: 1996/Translation Copyright: 2000 (Penguin Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2005
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: This is one of the most complex, obsessively detailed and clear-eyed biographies I have ever read. Don’t let the hefty 779 pages deter you; it’s a smooth read and well worth your time.
  • Motivation: Proust fascinates me like few others. I first came across his name as a teenager, when I discovered that I share a birthday with the great writer. That was all it took for me to decide to find out more about the Frenchman (yes, I’m that kind of self-absorbed). Fortunately, I never looked back; my life is infinitely richer for that decision. He is one of my favourite authors. I ended up reading this biography in 2006 whilst on a cruise. This is definitely my idea of vacation reading!
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 577: “This explains why, shortly after 24 December, Proust asked Louis de Robert if he would take his book to Ollendorff, pointing out that he would offer to have it published at his own expense; the choice of this publisher, whose list consisted mainly of books on nature study, was scarcely a fortunate one; his response was to become famous.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9
    Marcel Proust in 1900

    Image via Wikipedia

     

A Year in Books/Day 65: Alone! Alone!

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  • Title: Alone! Alone! Lives of Some Outsider Women
  • Author: Rosemary Dinnage
  • Year Published: 2004 (The New York Review of Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2005
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: A study of women-some famous, others obscure-who fought against the expectations of mainstream society to forge spaces of their own, however tenuous or unappreciated.
  • Motivation: I’ve always had an adversarial (if amiable) relationship with institutionalized normalcy; it’s something I’ve never worried about emulating. I love kooky and strong and talented women. Those profiled in this book just happen to be some of the most amazing creative and intellectual ladies to ever come along.
  • Times Read: 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 269: “Katherine Mansfield’s diaries cannot be considered the equal of Virginia Woolf’s-she died too young for that, for one thing-but there was a strong bond between them. They were in search of the same kind of writing, the same kind of honesty, in spite of a difference in age and experience; and-notwithstanding ambivalences-they recognized it.”

    Alumna, Katherine Mansfield

    Katherine Mansfield-Image via Wikipedia

  • Happiness Scale: 9 1/2

A Year in Books/Day 60: The First Elizabeth

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  • Title: The First Elizabeth
  • Author: Carolly Erickson
  • Year Published: 1983 (St. Martin’s Griffin)
  • Year Purchased: 1990’s
  • Source: Antique Barn at The Ohio State Fair, Columbus, Ohio
  • About: My favourite historical personage and all around kick-ass woman receives an above-average biographical treatment here.
  • Motivation: See above. Also, I love my fellow redheads.
  • Times Read: 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 187: “There were more festivities in the coming days. The queen went to Woolwich to launch a fine new ship for her navy, christened the ‘Elizabeth’, and returned to Greenwich to watch more military games-among them a “great casting of fire, and shooting of guns, till twelve at night.” The recent peace, these exercises proclaimed, had not dimmed England’s warlike spirit; let other nation’s take warning.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10
    English: The "Darnley Portrait" of E...

    Image via Wikipedia

     

Book Spree

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As a writer, I naturally spend a lot of time writing. Shocking, I know! On my down-time, I can usually be found reading a book or four. I’m always cycling amongst a weird combination of disparate volumes. If I’m not engaged in those activities, there’s a very good chance that I am thinking about one or the other. Writing and reading are the fuels that fire my passion for life. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 47: The Girl from the Fiction Department

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  • Title: The Girl from the Fiction Department A Portrait of Sonia Orwell
  • Author: Hilary Spurling
  • Year Published: 2002/This Edition: 2003 (Counterpoint)
  • Year Purchased: 2010
  • Source: My Mom
  • About: A thoughtful, even-handed biography of George Orwell’s controversial second wife (and widow). Although it was written by a later-in-life friend of Sonia’s with the stated goal of setting the record straight, it’s the real deal: well-researched, compassionate and honest.
  • Motivation: My Mother knows me well! Biography + complex woman + literary theme= winner!
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 87: “This was the Sonia who bewitched others all her life, and whose abrupt disappearance invariably came as a shock. Maurice didn’t care for the second self who replaced the first, the wary, reticent Sonia whose uncertainty made her overbearing, the Sonia who could never trust herself or anyone else, especially not someone who seemed in retrospect to have surprised her into an intimacy she feared and could not sustain.”
  • Happiness Scale: 8