Episode 205: Biography

Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to Reading with Libraries! This week we are discussing biographies of all sorts

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we support all types of libraries. This is our book group podcast, where we discuss different genres of books each week, while we all sit in our comfy chairs and drink our beverages. And you are, of course, an important part of this book group. So if you do not already have a nice beverage please go get one, so you can join the experience.

There are no “right” or “wrong” books to read and chat about for our book group – we are just here to explore all kinds of books. We love books, and want to talk about them – and we want you to share what you are reading. All of us will take away at least a title or two that we want to read at the end of our time together!

Who is joining our reading group this week? This week we welcome Guest Host Lydia, from St Cloud Public Library!

 

Beverages

We have guests, we have our genre. We just need our beverages. Fortunately, we all came prepared with something to sip while we talk about our books. Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages. Each beverage will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself!  Obviously, feel free to sip along with us with any beverage that is right for you. Just join us in celebrating books, and discussing books!

This week we are drinking beverages named for people.

 

Charlie Chaplin

Recipe:

1 ounce apricot brandy

1 ounce sloe gin

1 ounce lemon juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add ingredients. Shake, and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

 

 

Mary Pickford

Sweet but with a real kick, just like its namesake.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1⁄2 oz White rum
  • 1 1⁄2 oz Pineapple juice
  • 1 tsp Grenadine
  • 6 drops Maraschino liqueur

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker and fill with ice.

Shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

 

Ginger Rogers

Ingredients

  • 6 to 8 mint leaves, plus 1 mint sprig for garnish
  • 2/3 ounce Ginger-Pepper Syrup
  • Crushed ice
  • 1 1/2 ounces gin
  • 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • 2 ounces chilled ginger ale

How to Make It

In a collins glass, muddle the mint leaves with the Ginger-Pepper Syrup. Add crushed ice, then add the gin and lemon juice. Spin a swizzle stick or bar spoon between your hands to mix the drink. Stir in the ginger ale, top with more crushed ice and garnish with the mint sprig.

 

Shirley Temple

This Shirley Temple recipe is great for holiday parties with family, expectant mothers, or designated drivers! It’s the ultimate Kiddie Cocktail!

Ingredients

  • 1 (12 ounce) bottle Grenadine
  • Ice
  • 1 (2 Liter) bottle lemon-lime soda
  • Maraschino cherries for garnish, optional

Pour 1-ounce Grenadine over ice in a glass. Top with 8 ounces lemon-lime soda. Garnish with maraschino cherries if desired.

 

Genre Suggestions

This week we spend time focusing directly on looking at people, rather than just books. It is always interesting to read a well-done biography, because learning about people’s lives can give us so many ideas for ourselves. They can be inspiring; they can be horrifying. They can help us to improve ourselves because we are excited by what the subject did; they can encourage us to improve our own lives by seeing the terrible things some subjects have created or survived. There is always something to take from a biography, so they are going to be interesting to read!

 

“A biography is simply an account or detailed description about the life of a person. It entails basic facts, such as childhood, education, career, relationships, family, and death. Biography is a literary genre that portrays the experiences of all these events occurring in the life of a person, mostly in a chronological order. Unlike a resume or profile, a biography provides a life story of a subject, highlighting different aspects of his of her life.”

 

There are three types of biography:

  • Autobiography
    • An autobiography tells the story of a person’s own life. While that person writes his own account, he or she may take guidance from a ghostwriter or collaborator.
  • Memoir
    • This is a more focused writing than an autobiography or a biography. In a memoir, a writer narrates the details of a particular event or situation that occurred in his or her lifetime.
  • Biography
    • A biography narrates the life story of a person, as written by another person or writer. It is further divided into five categories:
      • Popular biography
      • Historical biography
      • Literary biography
      • Reference biography
      • Fictional biography

 

From author and media strategist Ryan Holiday: “Smart people read biographies. Generalizations are usually worthless, but you can pretty much take this one to the bank. Look at their libraries and you’ll see, one biography and memoir and autobiography after another. Of course, they read other things–it’s called being well rounded–but biographies are usually the core. There’s a reason—it’s some of the most actionable and educational reading you can do. Think about it, a biography is a sweeping portrait of a life or a career. It covers vast swaths of material that the author must make immediately understood within the context of an individual and ‘their life.”

He wrote the article: “25 Recommendations For Life Changing Biographies For The Voracious Reader In You” that we link to on our site.

If you are not currently adding a few biographies into your usual reading habits, we hope this podcast will provide some incentive to try a few – and the resources to find some good ones!

We found a variety of resources you can use for classrooms, or in other library work to help you work with your community members to find the best biographies for their interests. Check out our website for these links!

 

Books Discussed

 

  • The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, by Issa Rae
  • Digging Up Mother: A Love Story, by Doug Stanhope
  • Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life, by David Treuer
  • Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, by Eddie Izzard
  • Running with a Police Escort: Tales from the Back of the Pack, by Jill Grunenwald
  • Housebroken: Admissions of an Untidy Life, by Laurie Notaro
  • Where Am I Now?, by Mara Wilson
  • You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, by Phoebe Robinson
  • This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett
  • I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, by Margaret Cho
  • Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness, by Suzy Favor Hamilton
  • The Bag Lady Papers: The Priceless Experience of Losing It All, by Alexandra Penney
  • Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram, by , Đặng Thùy Trâm
  • Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer, by Lynne Cox
  • Elf Girl, by Reverend Jen
  • Choose Your Own Autobiography, by Neil Patrick Harris
  • For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago, by Simon Baatz
  • Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons, by by John Carter and Robert Anton Wilson
  • Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons, by George Pendle
  • The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright, by Jean Nathan
  • Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet, by Mark Adams
  • I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage, by Mary-Ann Kirkby
  • Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I by Jane Resh Thomas
  • Pretty In Ink: Women Cartoonists 1896-2013, by Trina Robbins and Various Arstists
  • The Warrior Queens: The Legends and the Lives of the Women Who Have Led Their Nations in War, by Antonia Fraser
  • Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow
  • Anna of Byzantium, by Tracy Barrett

 

 

Fictional biographies:

  • Paris Wife, by Paula McLain (about Hadley Richardson, and Ernest Hemingway)
  • Loving Eleanor, by Susan Wittig Albert (about Lorena Hickok, and Eleanor Roosevelt)
  • Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan  (about Mamah Borthwick, and Frank Lloyd Wright)

 

Conclusion

Thank you so much for joining us this week! We will be back next week with a new genre, new books, new beverages, and all new discussion! Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app, so you don’t miss a single moment of this book group!

If you want more info on our other work, check out our library and nonprofit training podcast: Linking Our Libraries. Check out our website: cmle.org, where you can hit “Subscribe To Us!” and get our weekly newsletter, join our monthly Goodreads book group, dive into our Goodreads book challenges (it’s never too late to find good books!), and follow us all over social media!

We are looking forward to talking about books with you again next week!