Memoir genre books (766)


721.

Veertig zweepslagen by Lubna Ahmad-al Hussein NL

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Sudan flag Sudan
Description:
Op 3 juli 2009 zat Lubna Ahmad Al-Hussein met vrienden in een groot restaurant in Khartoum. Plotseling viel de politie binnen en arresteerde haar en nog elf andere vrouwen wegens hun `onfatsoenlijke kledij : onder hun traditionele tuniek en sluier droegen ze een `sarwal , een soort broek die door de politie als verboden wordt beschouwd. Ze werd veroordeeld tot veertig zweepslagen. Lubna was niet de enige die dit overkwam: in Sudan worden hiervoor jaarlijks meer dan 40.000 vrouwen gearresteerd. Lubna besloot haar veroordeling wereldkundig te maken en het vonnis uit alle macht aan te vechten. Ze... continue

722.

View from the summit by Sir Edmund Hillary EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
In a memoir by the first man to reach the peak of Everest, Hillary discusses the adventures that shaped his life, from the South Pole to the Ganges River.

723.

Vivre vite by Brigitte Giraud FR

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Algeria flag Algeria
Description:
"J'ai été aimantée par cette double mission impossible. Acheter la maison et retrouver les armes cachées. C'était inespéré et je n'ai pas flairé l'engrenage qui allait faire basculer notre existence. Parce que la maison est au coeur de ce qui a provoqué l'accident". En un récit tendu qui agit comme un véritable compte à rebours, Brigitte Giraud tente de comprendre ce qui a conduit à l'accident de moto qui a coûté la vie à son mari le 22 juin 1999. Vingt ans après, elle fait pour ainsi dire le tour du propriétaire et sonde une dernière fois les questions restées sans réponse. Hasard, destin, co... continue

724.

Voyager : The Constellations of Memory by Nona Fernandez EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
One of the world's foremost spots for astronomical observation, the Atacama Desert in Chile is also where, in October 1973, twenty-six people were executed by Pinochet's Caravan of Death. Decades on, a petition gathers for a constellation's stars to be dedicated to them. Nona Fernández is made a god-mother to Mario Argüelles Toro, star HD89353, and asked to write a message to his family. When her own mother begins to suffer from fainting spells, Fernández accompanies her to neurological examinations. There, the mapping of her mother's brain activity - groups of neurons glowing and sparking on ... continue

725.

Waiting for Snow in Havana : Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire EN

Rating: 4.6 (5 votes)
Country: North America / Cuba flag Cuba
Description:
A survivor of the Cuban Revolution recounts his pre-war childhood as the religiously devout son of a judge, and describes the conflict's violent and irrevocable impact on his friends, family, and native home.

726.

Walk Through Walls : A Memoir by Marina Abramovic EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Europe / Serbia flag Serbia
Description:
“I had experienced absolute freedom—I had felt that my body was without boundaries, limitless; that pain didn’t matter, that nothing mattered at all—and it intoxicated me.” In 2010, more than 750,000 people stood in line at Marina Abramović’s MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramović is truly a force of nature. The child of Communist war-hero parents ... continue

727.

Walking : One Step at a Time by Erling Kagge EN

0 Ratings
Country: Europe / Norway flag Norway
Description:
A lyrical account of an activity that is essential for our sanity, equilibrium, and well-being, from the author of Silence ("A book to be handled and savored." --The Wall Street Journal) Placing one foot in front of the other, embarking on the journey of discovery, and experiencing the joy of exploration--these activities are intrinsic to our nature. Our ancestors traveled long distances on foot, gaining new experiences and learning from them. But as universal as walking is, each of us will experience it differently. For Erling Kagge, it is the gateway to the questions that fascinate him--Why ... continue

728.

Walking Since Daybreak by Modris Eksteins EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / Latvia flag Latvia
Description:
Part history, part autobiography, Eksteins relates the tragic story of the Baltic nations before, during, and after World War II through personal stories from his family. Photos and map.

729.

War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans EN

Rating: 4 (5 votes)
Country: Europe / Belgium flag Belgium
Description:
Shortly before his death in 1981, Stefan Hertmans' grandfather gave him a couple of filled exercise books. Stories he'd heard as a child had led Hertmans to suspect that their contents might be disturbing, and for years he didn’t dare to open them. When he finally did, he discovered unexpected secrets. His grandfather’s life was marked by years of childhood poverty in late-nineteenth-century Belgium, by horrific experiences on the frontlines during the First World War and by the loss of the young love of his life. He sublimated his grief in the silence of painting. Drawing on these diary entri... continue

730.

Wave by Sonali Daraniyagala FR

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / Sri Lanka flag Sri Lanka
Description:
The book opens and we are inside the wave: thirty feet high, moving at twenty-five mph, racing two miles inland. And from there into the depths of the author's despair: how to live now that her life has been undone? Sonali Deraniyagala tells her story - the loss of her two boys, her husband, and her parents - without artifice or sentimentality. In the stark language of unfathomable sorrow, anger, and guilt: she struggles through the first months following the tragedy -- someone always at her side to prevent her from harming herself, her whole being furiously clenched against the reality she ca... continue