Reviews Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Forever Young Autobiographies

The Happiest Man on Earth: Bestseller by 100yo Auschwitz survivor Eddie Jaku

Book review: Amazing ways to live by a Holocaust survivor

Kicking off this year’s book reviews is the powerful life story by the late Eddie Jaku OAM: The Happiest Man on Earth: A Holocaust survivor shares how he found gratitude, kindness and hope in the darkest of places.

The bestseller was published in 2020 by Pan Macmillan Australia after Jaku turned 100.

And last year it won the Australian Book Industry Awards Biography Book of the Year.

So let’s find out what the book is about, why it is so interesting and what you can learn for your own writing …

Best life stories of 2021: Award-winning books to read this holiday season

How to choose must-read books to enjoy this year and into 2022

Holiday season calls for a good book or three!

Certainly my book stack is ever-growing with informative and entertaining life stories.

But I’ve selected a shortlist of must-reads for the latest Forever Young Autobiographies life-story reading list!

This best life stories of 2021 list features writers from Australia, the United Kingdom plus the USA.

And it includes bestsellers and award winners.

Also, stay tuned as I plan to review each book on the website during 2022 and include suggestions to help when we sit down to write.

So let’s take a look at what autobiographies, memoirs, biographies and other life stories made the list for the best life stories of 2021 …

Book review: Sontag: Her Life and Work, a biography of writer Susan Sontag

A 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner by Benjamin Moser with HarperCollins Publishers

Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser is a definite portrait of an emblematic genius.

The biography came out in 2019 and is published by Ecco/ HarperCollins Publishers.

In short, it tells the story of one of America’s greatest 20th Century writers: a girl from the suburbs who grew up to be an intellectual and cosmopolitan force.

Indeed Moser was well-placed to tackle this towering life story as the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector.

Furthermore, he has worked as a books columnist for Harper’s Magazine and The New York Times Book Review.

Certainly the 832-page work has been hailed a “landmark biography” and picked up a slew of awards including being named the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Biography.

Keep reading to find out more about Sontag, what makes it interesting reading plus tips it offers us as life-story writers …

Book review: Biography The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, a leader in racial equality

A Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards winner by journalist Les Payne and Tamara Payne with W. W. Norton & Company

Epic biography The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne is not just a life story but a lesson in history.

The Liveright/ W. W. Norton & Company publication was released last year and draws on hundreds of hours of interviews to present an unprecedented portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most politically relevant figures.

Renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Les Payne started the book in 1990 and was assisted by his daughter and principal researcher Tamara Payne.

However, after her father’s death in 2018, Tamara went on to finish his life’s work.

Notably the book has picked up a slew of awards including being named Winner National Book Awards 2020 for Nonfiction and most recently Winner 2021 Pulitzer Prize Biography.

So keep reading to find out more about the biography, its points of interest and lessons we can learn as life-story creators …

Book review: AFL coach pens When All is Said and Done while fighting MND

ABIA winning biography by Ungarie’s Neale Daniher, with Warwick Green

This week I’m sharing an award-winner: When All is Said and Done by Neale Daniher with Warwick Green.

Certainly many know Daniher as an Australian Football League (AFL) legend – on and off the field.

But in 2013 he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and soon after co-founded FightMND, which has invested over $40 million into research and care initiatives.

Indeed this biography began as a letter by Daniher to the grandchildren he will never get to know.

However, it was published by Pan Macmillian Australia in 2019 and awarded the Australian Book Industry Awards Biography Book of the Year 2020.

So read on for more about the book and what it can teach us as life-story creators.

Book review: Anxiousness, hope and Your Own Kind of Girl by musician Clare Bowditch

One ARIA Award winner’s memoir about dieting, breakdowns and beating anxious thoughts

This week’s book review is Your Own Kind of Girl: The stories we tell ourselves and what happens when we believe them written by Australian ARIA Award-winning singer and actress Clare Bowditch.

The memoir was released in 2019 by Allen & Unwin and has won many accolades including the Australian Book Industry Awards Matt Richell New Writer of the Year 2020.

In addition it has garnered the support of fellow musicians Bernard Fanning, Missy Higgins and Kate Miller-Heidke as well as journalists Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb, among many others.

Certainly the 352-page book has been a labour of love and decades in the making.

“This is the story I promised myself, aged twenty-one, that I would one day be brave enough – and well enough – to write,” Bowditch writes.

So keep reading to find out what the book is about, highlights and tips for those sitting down to create an autobiography, memoir, biography or other life-story project.

Book review: Love, desire and biography bestseller Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

The easy way to understand the New York Times bestseller released by Bloomsbury

Three Women is a life-story collection that can’t be ignored.

It was written by American journalist and author Lisa Taddeo and published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Circus.

In short, the biography “is a record of unmet needs, unspoken thoughts, disappointments, hopes and unrelenting obsessions”.

However, notably the Sunday Times and New York Times No. 1 bestseller has garnered sweeping endorsement from authors Elizabeth Gilbert to Marian Keyes and actor Gwyneth Paltrow.

And it has won numerous prizes including the British Book Awards Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year 2020.

Indeed the 320-page book is the result of eight years of reporting by Taddeo and has much to interest readers plus those sitting down to write life stories …

Book review: Walkley award-winning Fallen by investigative journalist Lucie Morris-Marr

Learn about the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell with this Allen & Unwin read

Kicking off this year’s book reviews is Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell by Lucie Morris-Marr.

This book was published by Allen & Unwin in 2019 and won Australia’s 2020 Walkley Awards Book Award.

Morris-Marr broke the story that the third most senior Catholic cleric was being investigated by police for historic sex crimes against children.

And the journalist was in court when ‘God’s treasurer’ was found guilty.

Indeed it was a conviction that sent ripples around the world (and again when quashed by the High Court of Australia last year).

So keep reading to find out more about this historic case and Morris-Marr’s Fallen.

Best life stories of 2020: Award-winning books to read this holiday season

What books a life-story coach is reading and reviewing into 2021

If you want to be a better writer try reading a book.

And if you want to be a truly better writer read the best books!

Indeed that’s the mission I’ve set myself for the latest Forever Young Autobiographies life-story reading list.

The best life stories of 2020 list features writers from Australia, United Kingdom and the USA.

And it includes first-time writers and bestsellers.

Plus the best bit is I’ll be writing a review for each book during 2021 with tips to help us all when we sit down to write.

So dive in and take a look at what autobiographies, memoirs, biographies and other life-stories made the cut for the best life stories of 2020 …

Book review: New York Times Best Seller The Yellow House by Sarah M Broom

A quick and easy review of the Grove Press memoir set in New Orleans East

The Yellow House by Sarah M Broom rounds out the Forever Young Autobiographies book review series for the year.

And what a way to finish!

This bestselling memoir was put out in 2019 by Grove Press and tells the story of many people, many families but one house – the Yellow House.

Indeed Broom’s family home in New Orleans East became the centrepoint of many worlds from the 1960s to its drawn-out demise after Hurricane Katrina.

Most notably the story won the National Book Awards 2019 for Nonfiction, was a New York Times Best Seller and named one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2019.

So let’s find out more about Broom, The Yellow House and what we can takeaway as life-story writers …