Extraordinary Lives

Here is a list of books discussed at our Book Talk Tuesday on January 11, 2022 – Extraordinary Lives – Biographies/Autobiographies.

• One Canada Volume One – The Crusading Years 1895 to 1956
  One Canada Volume Two – The Years of Achievement 1956 – 1962.
  Autobiography by John Diefenbaker – Canada’s 13th Prime Minister (1957 – 1963)
• A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court
  Autobiography by John Wooden – Highly respected and accomplished basketball coach and player.
• Jean Val Jean – as told by Solomon Cleaver
  Retelling of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables (Jean Valjean)
• Becoming
  Autobiography by Michelle Obama, wife of the United States’ 44th President.
• Kitchen Confidential
  Autobiography by Anthony Bourdain. “… both a professional memoir and an unfiltered look at the less glamorous aspects of high-end restaurant kitchens…”
• Forgiveness
  A family history written by Mark Sakamoto chronicles the lives of Ralph McLean, who became a Japanese prisoner of war, and Mitsue Sakamoto, whose family lost everything as they were exiled from Vancouver along with their neighbours.
• The Notorious RBG
  Biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, remarkable Supreme Court Justice, written by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik.
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  An autobiography written by Maya Angelou, a poet and civil rights activist who rose to respected stature from an extraordinarily difficult childhood.
• Walk in the Woods
  Bill Bryson’s autobiographical memoir about an attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail  “Written in a comic style, the book mixes accounts of Bryson’s walk with broader discussions about the Trail’s history, and the sociology, ecology, conservation status and people of the places Bryson walked through…”
• All Over but the Shoutin’
  Autobiography written by Rick Bragg who rose from incredible poverty in Alabama to becoming a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for The New York Times.