This post began in my mind as something a little different than what it seems to have morphed into. I mentioned a few days ago that I have been making a mental list of biographies and memoirs (about and by women) lately. I was going to share that mental list today in the form of a Thursday Thirteen but when I started perusing shelves and looking through piles I realized just how many I own that sit unread. Should I admit this to you? I love reading memoirs, but in recent years I have been reading so little nonfiction that I am beginning to feel pangs of withdrawal as I am missing them. And my reading mood is moving decidedly in that direction, which I hope to continue on in earnest next year. So I had thought I would do a "Reading Women's Lives: A Thursday Thirteen" post but my list quickly surpassed a mere thirteen books!
The thing with memoirs and biographies is they are a genre in themselves but they also straddle other lines. The book could be a about a writer's life or an artist's or just an average woman. A coming of age story, the life of a scientist or First Lady or maybe even a queen. Maybe about a woman who battles addiction or maybe even a fictional woman. Hmm. Maybe I need to flesh these things out a bit. The thing is, I own so very many I could read one after another for the next year and probably not get even close to finishing them all. How did that happen? I love books. I love reading books, but I seem to be doing such a good job of collecting them, that I can't even begin to catch up with reading them. Hence the 'stop collecting, start reading title'. Plans are forming in my mind on what I want to accomplish (and I use the term in the loosest possible way--reading is my entertainment and pleasure and it is never meant to be a chore--but pleasures can still be accomplishments, right?) in 2016.
So, while plans percolate--I still have 2015 books to finish reading and writing about--I can think happily think about all the great potential reads I can discover next year--all (well, save for a few that I am hoping will be gifted to me) from those shelves and piles I have been sifting through. These books are memoirs and biographies and autobiographies, though I will not differentiate. Surely the three terms are mostly similar in what they are trying to do. Though each has its own spin and follows often diverse paths.
Let's see--I have lots of foodie books. I could read about M.F.K. Fisher (one of my literary heroines) or Julia Child. Ruth Reichl has several memoirs that I have heard many good things about. And then there is Diana Abu-Jaber that isn't just about food but about different cultures. And she has a new book coming out soon, too (but first things first-must read my own book before buying a new one).
I am not a religious person but I think you can be spiritual without being religious. I am still fascinated by religions and religious women. I am very keen to read Kathryn Harris's biography of Joan of Arc, I have an interesting book about Catherine of Siena that I often think of picking up. And Karen Armstrong is writing books faster than I can even think of reading them. A different kind of spirituality, what about yoga which I have been practicing and loving. I have no more classes now until mid-January . . . (sigh), but this gives me time perhaps to read about Indra Devi.
Of course I love reading about different places and cultures. So what about Sylvia Couturie's Ireland, Gabriella de Ferrari's Argentina, Fatima Mernissi's Morocco, Annie Caulfield's time in Jordan, Elspeth Huxley in Africa or Frances Osborne's India? Or I could travel down the Nile with Rosemary Mahoney.
I could just read about a girl's life--growing up in different places and times. Several women on my shelves have more than just one book to tell their stories--Kate Simon, Mary Cantwell, Patrice Chaplin, Emma Smith and Susan Allen Toth all come quickly to mind. I think Maureen Howard and Mary-Ann Tirone Smith would fit into this category nicely, too.
Oh, so many literary women. I have books about Jane Austen, Katherine Mansfield, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, M.M. Kaye, Maeve Brennan, Monica Dickens, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Ngaio Marsh, Jean Rhys, Colette--even Shakespeare's wife! Or artists, whether fine arts or of stage or screen--Dorothea Lange, Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Sarah Bernhardt, maybe an 'It' girl like Evelyn Nesbit or even more anonymous women who served as muses.
Science and nature are always fascinating and I bet Galileo's Daughter would make an interesting subject as would Beatrix Potter.
Royalty of a variety always makes a good subject--whether a duchess, or Aristrocrats or just a very Honorable family like the Mitfords.
And then there are women who don't just write about history but make it--like Antonia Fraser, Olivia Manning, or Sigrid MacRae. There are nurses, war workers, spies and even women in the Foreign Legion!
I'm even looking forward to reading about fictional women!
Whew. A fast run down but by no means a complete one. There are many other worthy mentions that I am not mentioning here but only due to lack of space and not lack of interest. Yes, so many women's lives. I need to not add a single memoir or biography more until I begin learning about a few of these fascinating women first!