Tag Archive: memoir
Almost finished with my dragon.
Second sock nearly caught up with first sock. Heels start tomorrow.
And memoir is coming along.
Writing, dotting, knitting, chatting with friends. What a great day!
Saw this on Facebook:
Unfortunately, that is all the music of the day. 😥
But finally got the wordage flowing. With the 25k goal I’m at 13,462. I may have another thousand before bed. So it looks doable again.
Sock 1 is heading for the heel. I’ll probably get there tomorrow.
The end is in sight on this dragon.
How is it Saturday already?
How is it I didn’t realize it was AtoZ April?
How is it I can’t do anything I’m supposed to do but spending so much energy and time on everything but my tasks?
Well, three days behind on writing. But…
Slipper one at heel stage. Tomorrow slipper two heel.
Okay. Not to be hard on myself. Even though I had dilated eyes I opened a speech-to-text app. I talked out some memories to add to my project. Certainly not enough, but something.
Next task is yWriter and writing. Two and a half days of writing tonight. But how?
We are still walking. It’s become a part of our daily story. Above is one of the scenes we see. We went this way today.
We went straight until we heard the prompt say it was a mile. Then turned around.
So coming around back towards our street a neighbor came out to talk to us. She was concerned about a dog in a house closer to us. It seemed tangle in chains. They had tried to give the dog water as the chain was keeping the dog standing and unable to reach food or water.
The dog owner had been suffering from a stroke so none of us knew where he was.
We reported it to the sheriff looking for a welfare-check for the dog’s owner. My brother and husband untangled the chain and brought the dog here to chain in our front yard.
Anyway, that walk was short for milage but long on story.
I’ve set up my yWriter7 for my memoirs. CampNano started today. I think my goal is a little too high, 50k. My imagination is good for that. But real life? I can already see it will be a bit of a psychological trip but to get to nuggets to share I need to walk in the mully grubs.
In other news…
Now back to the mully grubbing.
Apparently There Were Complaints: A Memoir by Sharon Gless
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sharon Gless was on the View not that long ago promoting this book. Though I am not a cop show fan, I like shows about strong women. Cagney and Lacey was that kind of show for me. I still love these two actors in everything I’ve seen them in. So I looked at the library link for Libby and found this book in audio form there. Yay! I knew it would be in Ms. Gless’s voice.
As with all autobiographies, I feel it hard to give a review. This is, after all, her life. Her trials and triumphs. Who am I to judge? Still, it was less and more than I expected. But it was heartfelt and her truth. And I was glad to have read/heard it.
Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by Carrot Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book will stay with me for a while. Erin Spencer (Narrator) made me feel like I was right there, on the trail, soaking wet or extremely tired. Sometimes a narrator is so good that you think it has to be the author as they seem to maintain the cadence of the written speech as if it were their own. It was fantastically done.
That means the writing was natural and felt genuine. This was a journal of sort of the hiker, Carrot Quinn. She was honest and told the good and the bad of her travels. There were times that I laughed out loud at what happened. And there were tears of seeing the incredible scenery and tears of hurt along the way.
I have to admit I want to do this. But it seems so far away from possible when just getting the dog and I out for our mile walk is tough. A windy day will keep us in. Rain is my dog’s least favorite. She won’t go out, yet I have the raincoat and boots and plenty of umbrellas. Snow is my favorite, but my dog can’t handle it very long, even with coat and pad coverings, so we walk around the yard. So much for my trek.
So it is fun to live vicariously through those who do the long hikes or marathons. Inspiration helps with daily life and gives hope for more.
I want to read this again soon.
Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a lot more fun than the last book I read. I really enjoyed hearing Lulu Miller tell her story and someone else’s while showing what had influenced her life.
I wanted to be a marine biologist in my way younger days. So this book was up my alley in many ways. Of course, that only lasted for ninth grade, and I learned that math was required for that and being an astronaut. Still, the love of the non-existent fish (and space travel) lingers in my life.
My friend recommended this, and I was able to find it on Libby. I didn’t want to do anything but listen to this story, so I got it done far quicker than most books. Lulu Miller did a great job weaving her life with one she admired. I felt like I was with her experiencing everything with her.
If you get the chance to read/listen to this book, I highly recommend it!
The Carolina Diaries: Belle
The Carolina Diaries: Belle by Darlene Winters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I don’t know. This was hard to read. It is hard to review. It feels autobiographical. Though it–
I don’t do this often as I figure people will go read the blurbs themselves. But this and the reviews make me wonder if I read the same book.
“Her cousin wants to die. She has the whole roadtrip to convince her otherwise.
Darlene only knows of one way to help her cousin Belle after a life of disappointments–go with her on a cross-country road trip, head back to California where Belle was born… and where she intends to die.
But deep family resentments and drama rides with them across the country, shedding light on heavy themes like sexual abuse and depression, as well as religion and politics. Growing up in North Carolina, these cousins have a lot of stories to share: some sad, some comical, and some just down right disturbing.
If you enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine and Girl, Interrupted, you’ll want to read The Carolina Diaries with its unique blend of dark humor and even darker perspectives of life past, present and future; the real take-aways being how to cope and heal.”
I found no humor. I wish I hadn’t picked it up. It was exactly what I don’t want to read before bed. All the reality of our daily news lives during this pandemic. And though I agree with the author on a lot of stances, I couldn’t deal with it in my bedtime fiction.
My fault. I saw road trip, my first name, and didn’t read the description.
Maybe if I read it during the day I could see the humor in a suicidal cutter who had lived with so much abuse, of every kind, during a pandemic during the political turmoil of 2020. No. I don’t think so.
The reason I am not giving this a lower rating is the list of good books and ideas the author presents. Unfortunately, the way it’s presented makes me sure the ones who need the information will not see it. Still, there’s a chance I could be wrong.
Darswords 
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