Memoir genre books (511)


1.

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows : A Memoir by Ai Weiwei EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / China flag China
Description:
The “intimate and expansive” (Time) memoir of “one of the most important artists working in the world today” (Financial Times), telling a remarkable history of China over the last hundred years while also illuminating his artistic process “Poignant . . . An illuminating through-line emerges in the many parallels Ai traces between his life and his father’s.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, BookPage, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews Once a close associate of Mao Zedong and the nation’s most celebrated poet, Ai Weiwei’s father, Ai Qing, was brande... continue

2.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff EN

Rating: 4 (5 votes)
Description:
"Those who have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel comprised of only letters between the characters, will see how much that best-seller owes 84, Charing Cross Road." -- Medium.com A heartwarming love story about people who love books for readers who love books This funny, poignant, classic love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a char... continue

3.

A Book of Days by Patti Smith EN

Rating: 2 (1 vote)
Description:
A deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids and M Train, featuring more than 365 images and reflections that chart Smith’s singular aesthetic—inspired by her wildly popular Instagram. In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message “Hello Everybody!” Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat... continue

4.

A Child of Four Women (in: So Many Islands: Stories from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific Oceans) by Marita Davies EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Oceania / Kiribati flag Kiribati
Description:
So Many Islands breaks out bold new writing from the distant shores of countries in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific oceans. Here you will find poems about revolution and protest. You will be transported to Marakei, 'the women's island', and join the battle to save a beached whale. Alongside family politics, So Many Islands tackles nuclear testing and climate change – global issues that are close to the heart of these precariously poised communities. Giving voice to their challenges and triumphs, these writers create a vibrant portrait of what it is like to live and love on the... continue

5.

A Daughter of Han; the Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman by Ida Pruitt, from the story told her by Ning Lao T'ai-t'ai EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / China flag China
Description:
2011 Reprint of 1945 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In "A Daughter of Han" author Ida Pruitt presents the autobiography of a Chinese working woman. Through this story the reader gains insight into the China of the poor, of women, and of the provinces. The subject of the autobiography, Ning Lao Tai-Tai, is also interesting as she lived in the period, the late 19th to mid 20th century, during which China underwent its most dramatic changes. This is a genuine, warm-blooded, dramatic chronicle of a woman's life, of the life of one... continue

6.

A Fort of Nine Towers : An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar Omar EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Asia / Afghanistan flag Afghanistan
Description:
A carpet designer in Kabul describes his childhood before the Mujahedin took over, his family's struggle for survival after fleeing their home and how his secret carpet factory provided both employment and education for neighborhood girls.

7.

A Guest in My Own Country: A Hungarian Life by George Konrad EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Hungary flag Hungary
Description:
Winner of the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Biography, Autobiography & Memoir A powerful memoir of war, politics, literature, and family life by one of Europe's leading intellectuals. When George Konrad was a child of eleven, he, his sister, and two cousins managed to flee to Budapest from the Hungarian countryside the day before deportations swept through his home town. Ultimately, they were the only Jewish children of the town to survive the Holocaust. A Guest in My Own Country recalls the life of one of Eastern Europe's most accomplished modern writers, beginning with h... continue

8.

A Long Way Gone : Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah EN

Rating: 4 (18 votes)
Description:
My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life. “Why did you leave Sierra Leone?” “Because there is a war.” “You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?” “Yes, all the time.” “Cool.” I smile a little. “You should tell us about it sometime.” “Yes, sometime.” This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them... continue

9.

A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Asia / India flag India
Description:
"When Saroo Brierley used Google Earth to find his long-lost home town half a world away, he made global headlines. Saroo had become lost on a train in India at the age of five. Not knowing the name of his family or where he was from, he survived for weeks on the streets of Kolkata, before being taken into an orphanage and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite being happy in his new family, Saroo always wondered about his origins. He spent hours staring at the map of India on his bedroom wall. When he was a young man the advent of Google Earth led him to pour over satellite images of the c... continue

10.

A MiG-15 to Freedom : Memoir of the Wartime North Korean Defector Who First Delivered the Secret Fighter Jet to the Americans in 1953 by No Kum-Sok, J. Roger Osterholm EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / North Korea flag North Korea
Description:
On September 21, 1953, U.S. airmen at Kimpo Air Base near Seoul, Korea, were startled to see landing a MiG-15, the most advanced Soviet-built fighter plane of the era, piloted by Senior Lieutenant No Kum-Sok, a 21-year-old North Korean Air Force officer. Once he landed, Lieutenant No found that his mother had escaped to the South two years earlier, and they were soon reunited. At his request, No came to the United States and became a U.S. citizen. His story provides a unique insight into how North Korea conducted the Korean War and how he came to the decision to leave his homeland.