Lives lived to the full… some recent memoirs
Book Choice for September 2011
"Why be happy when you could be normal?" Jeanette Winterson
This book is the story of a life's work to find happiness. It is the story of how the painful past Jeanette Winterson thought she had written over and repainted returned to haunt her later life, and sent her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her real mother.
"Season to taste: how I lost my sense of smell and found my way" Molly Birnbaum
From a young chef who suddenly lost her sense of smell comes this personal exploration of this most nebulous of senses and the role it plays in how we eat, how we perceive the world, how we remember the past, and how we attract each other.
"Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue: the story of an accidental family" Lynn Knight
It is said that you can't choose your relatives but some of Lynn Knight's family did. Three generations were adopted, and adopted in three distinct ways. 'Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue' tells their extraordinary story.
"Black by design: a 2-Tone memoir" Pauline Black
Lead singer for platinum-selling 2-Tone band The Selector, Pauline Black has been in the music business for over 30 years. Combining her recollections of the 2-Tone phenomenon with her search for her birth parents, this book is a funny and enlightening story of music and roots.
"The Yellow duster sisters" Susan Kennaway
Evocative, funny and charming, Susan Kennaway writes about the difficult challenges of growing up during the Second World War with rare honesty and insight. 'The Yellow Duster Sisters' is a moving exploration of the often ignored, and often destructive, nature of shifting war-time family relationships.
"Looking for adventure" Steve Backshall
This is the story of how, through three journeys into the wilds of Papua New Guinea, Steve Backshall realised his childhood dream of becoming an explorer. As he and the team discovered species new to science while filming the BBC's 'Lost Land of the Volcano', he felt that, for the first time, and despite all the setbacks, he'd succeeded.
"A Walk-on part: diaries 1994-1999" Chris Mullin
This third and final volume of Chris Mullin's acclaimed diaries begins on the night John Smith died in May 1994, and continues until the moment of Mullin's assumption into government in July 1999.
"Little gypsy" Roxy Freeman
Born in 1979, Roxy Freeman grew up travelling around Ireland and England in a traditional horse-drawn wagon with her mother and father and six siblings. Life was harsh but it was a childhood of freedom spent in harmony with nature. Her story is a frank portrait of what life is really like for women and girls of traveller communities.
"Engage: the fall and rise of Matt Hampson" Paul Kimmage
'Engage' tells the shocking, controversial, moving story of Matt Hampson, the rugby player who dislocated his neck and was paralysed in a England training session.
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