Category Archives: Biography

The Silent Woman

Posted on December 1, 2016 by

I started Janet Malcolm’s book The Silent Woman in the belief that it was a biography of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. I’ve never read much Plath — just the most-anthologized poems — and even less Hughes, and I only … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Patrick O’Brian: The Making of the Novelist

Posted on December 21, 2015 by

As some readers here may know, I am a huge fan of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series of seafaring novels. When I was in college, my father introduced me to them, and after one false start (it took me two tries … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction | 9 Comments

The Darkest Jungle

Posted on May 7, 2015 by

In Todd Balf’s book The Darkest Jungle, he explains that by 1854, after the spectacular and expensive failure of the Franklin expedition, the search for the Northwest Passage was sliding off the front pages. The new great hope was Panama. … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | 4 Comments

Thomas Hardy

Posted on October 24, 2014 by

I was irrationally worried when I started reading Claire Tomalin’s biography of Thomas Hardy. You see, Hardy is my favorite writer, and I didn’t want to find out he was terrible, that he kicked puppies or something. Generally, I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction | 8 Comments

One Art: Letters

Posted on October 17, 2014 by

Years ago, I bought a copy of One Art: Letters for my husband. How many years? I’m not sure: it came out in 1994, but it was probably not quite so long ago as that. Ten years ago? Twelve? Anyway, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Poetry | 17 Comments

Elizabeth and Hazel

Posted on August 4, 2014 by

David Margolick’s book, Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock, revolves around the by-now iconic civil rights photograph of two fifteen-year-old girls:           This photo, taken by journalist Will Counts, shows Elizabeth Eckford, one of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Nonfiction | 13 Comments

Louisa May Alcott

Posted on March 21, 2014 by

I’ve posted here before that the book I’ve re-read most in my life is probably Little Women. I started reading it when I was about ten or eleven, and I’ve read it over and over since then, understanding it differently … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Nonfiction | 20 Comments

The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

Posted on February 3, 2014 by

At age 30, the poet Sylvia Plath committed suicide, leaving behind two children, a husband from whom she’d separated, and a body of work that he would be left to guard, along with both their reputations. Plath’s husband, the poet … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction | 23 Comments

How to Live: Or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

Posted on January 29, 2014 by

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted! I’ve been teaching January Term at my university, and it’s an intense class: three hours a day every day, plus all the concomitant prepping and grading, plus I’m still department … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction | 11 Comments

A Labyrinth of Kingdoms

Posted on September 25, 2012 by

When you think of the great 19th-century explorers of Africa, what names spring to mind? Livingston, Stanley, and Burton, sure. Speke, Denham, and Baker, if you’ve done your reading. But Heinrich Barth? Who’s he? In A Labyrinth of Kingdoms, Steve … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction, Travel/ Exploration | Tagged | 11 Comments