Autobiographies

A friend asked me on Facebook for recommendations on good autobiographies to read. After thinking about it, and writing it all down, I realised it would be too much text for FB. These are still short reviews for me but I hope that between my words and further reviews that are linked from Amazon, you'll be able to decide whether these books are also ones you'd like to read.

The Vow – the book is so much better than the movie! The movie changes who these two are and the motivations behind the way they act aren't always clear, though the message of love and commitment through difficult circumstances remains. The book is a Christian one and the movie isn't!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Vow-Events-Inspired-Movie/dp/143367579X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1364445168&sr=8-4&keywords=the+vow

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Andrew read this last year and someone else we know well is plowing through it. It’s on my list to take away on holidays. A long book but worthwhile, by all accounts.
http://www.amazon.com/Bonhoeffer-Pastor-Martyr-Prophet-Spy/dp/1595552464/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364445671&sr=1-3&keywords=dietrich+bonhoeffer

Diving Bell and the Butterfly – was just given this for my birthday and I read it in one day. Incredible story of a man who survived a stroke but was locked inside his own body, unable to communicate, except by blinking one eye. For a man at the top of his profession (as an editor of Elle magazine in Paris), this would have been all the more galling. Haunting, reflective, powerful, chilling, fantastical and poignant. It reminded me at times of my Grandfather and how he must have felt to be able to comprehend what people said but not able to communicate his own thoughts to others after his stroke. I was on the verge of tears several times, just thinking through some of those memories. It is a sober portrayal and one not to shy away from.
http://www.amazon.com/Diving-Bell-Butterfly-Memoir-Death/dp/0375701214

The Happiest Refugee – Anh Do
Wonderful, upbeat story about the challenges and privileges of living in Australia and how to make it home. My lack of words should not take away from this book - I highly recommend it!
http://www.amazon.com/Happiest-Refugee-journey-tragedy-comedy/dp/1459616057/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364446156&sr=1-1&keywords=happiest+refugee

Making the Cut – Khadra
How to mix poetry, poignancy and petty hospital drama into a telling and fascinating autobiography. Set at an unnamed Sydney hospital, it  is telling at times. I have stolen these words from the Amazon summary as they are so good:

In this compelling and beautifully written memoir, Mohamed Khadra recounts stories from his life as a surgeon, from the grueling years of training to the debilitating sleepless nights on call. He looks back at the doctors and patients who shaped his career; at the endless stream of humanity—courageous, pitiful, admirable, and dislikable—who passed under his knife; and at the shattered lives of doctors defeated by the stresses of the job. This dramatic account of a surgical life shows what happens when extraordinary events overtake everyday lives.


http://www.amazon.com/Making-Cut-Dr-Mohamed-Khadra/dp/1741668441/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1364446045&sr=8-7&keywords=making+the+cut

II own all of these, except The Vow so let me know if you want to borrow any of them :)

Posted on on March 29th, 2013