Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (3990)

Content

House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family

Hadley Freeman

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

After her grandmother died, Hadley Freeman travelled to her apartment to try and make sense of a...

Becoming

Michelle Obama

8.9 (8 Ratings) Rate It

Book

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States. In a...

Non-Fiction

Don't Stop Believin'

Olivia Newton-John

6.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

With candor, humor, and warmth, legendary musician, actress, activist, and icon Olivia Newton-John...

Olivia Newton-John cancer memoir music film health

Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated The Outrun in Books

Sep 23, 2017

The Outrun

Amy Liptrot | 2016 | Biography

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

An important read, but a little haphazard

Dealing with an addiction is no mean feat, it's an illness as Amy Liptrot explains in this memoir where she battles alcoholism. Some of the incidents are truly horrifying, not because of 'what she does to herself', but more so what the illness does to her and as a result her life spirals downwards. And while that part I can truly engage with, the random long explanations about her newfound passions for astronomy, sea and bird life seems to go off in a tangent.

You can definitely recognise her addictive personality manifesting in new hobbies, and obsessing in the same way. And at least that's healthier, but as a reader, I seemed to lose concentration on her rural lifestyle. Very good insight into mental health and addiction though.

Kudos

Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor in Books

Mar 2, 2018

A fantastic and bittersweet insight into the NHS

Adam Kay's memoir of his time as a junior doctor is hilarious, stomach churning and tragic at the same time. In this, he discusses the inhumane conditions health professionals are faced with working ridiculously long hours for minimal pay. All the while celebrating the importance of accessible treatment for everyone, as well as the rather disconcerting cases that arise on a day to day basis.

However, while there are many funny moments of things being stuck in unusual places, it's his last case where a mother dies that strikes me most. Watching life and death is traumatic and there are no support systems for doctors to deal with these issues. But Kay does a wonderful job of bringing his experiences alive.

Kudos

Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) rated Below Stairs: The Bestselling Memoirs of a 1920s Kitchen Maid in Books

Sep 3, 2018

Margaret Powell's memoir Below Stairs is growing up in a poor in money but rich in love with her family in a small village near London, England and her life in domestic service in the 1920s. It is simply wonderful. Her other memoirs Climbing the Stairs and Servants Hall and her Cookery Book are next on my list. It's more like listening to your favorite aunt sitting at the kitchen with you over fresh-baked cookies and glasses of homemade lemonade while retelling stories of her childhood and life in the early part of the 20th century. You HAVE to read it!. Julian Fellowes read her books and they were the inspiration behind the extremely popular BBC series Downton Abbey, that is watched by us in the states on PBS Masterpiece.

Kudos

Roxanne (13 KP) rated Accidentally On Purpose: A One Night Stand, My Unplanned Pregnancy, And Loving The Best Mistake I Ever Made in Books

Nov 14, 2018

4 stars!

I really enjoyed reading this book, I thought it was well written, well edited and it kept my interest from beginning to end. This is not the type of book that I usually go for but going through an unplanned pregnancy alone (under different circumstances) I wanted to read something that I might possibly be able to relate to...and in some way I did. The reason why I knocked off a star was because some of the author's decisions made me a bit twitchy eyed...but hey it's each to their own. Overall, I did enjoy this memoir about an unwanted pregnancy after a one night stand and I felt good to be able to follow the journey of a woman in a similar situation as me but from a different world.

Kudos

Emma (519 KP) rated World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars in Books

Aug 13, 2019

I was a bit dubious about this book,having attempted to read it two or three times a while ago,I wasn't sure if I would be able to get into it or not. However once I had persisted with it and got into the writing style Max Brooks uses, it is s really good and very interesting book. It is so very well written that whilst reading it you do actually feel like you are reading a memoir of a war that actually happened. The only reason I haven't given it ten is because it took me a long time to read it, it isn't a book you can pick up and zoom through in a week, you have to spend a bit more time on it than usual.