Book Review: Tuesdays With Morrie by: Mitch Albom

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Biography, Book, Book Review, Book Worm, Inspirational, Memoir, Mitch, Mitch Albom, Morrie, Morrie Schwartz, non-fiction, Tuesdays, Tuesdays With Morrie

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning” –Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom

Initial Thoughts: I had found this book lying in a heap of various novels at a book fair at my local library. I had seen Tuesdays With Morrie on the Goodreads list “Books you have to read before you die.” As I am an absolute overachiever, I am currently trying to read all the books on that list in spite of interest. I had no idea what Tuesdays With Morrie was about or that it is a true story, I only knew that I should read it according to Goodreads.

Summary

Tuesdays With Morrie documents the conversations between a young man, Mitch, and his professor, Morrie, during their meetings every Tuesdays. But these were not ordinary meetings. Morrie was slowly dying of ALS and wished to pass on his life lessons to his beloved student from the perspective of a dying man. Morrie imparts his wisdom of his life experience in this thought-provoking memoir.

Goodreads

Book Review: The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë by: Daphne du Maurier

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Author, Biography, Book, Book Review, Branwell Bronte, Daphne du Maurier, English Literature, non-fiction, review, The Bronte sisters, the Brontes, The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte

He belonged, by blood and by temperament, to the first freckles group from across the water which might beckon him; to the eloquent unpublished poets of many a Dublin side-street, to the painters with canvases untouched […] He belonged to the great company of gifted, wasted Irishmen who, in their mother country, are content to fail and dream, but, transplanted into another, break body and soul” – The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, Daphne du Maurier

Initial Thoughts: The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë… doesn’t this title send delicious shivers up your spine? It does for me.  It took me a few months to get my hands on a copy of this book. For the most part it is out of print. I was lucky to have found an old battered copy at my library.

Summary

In 1960, Daphne du Maurier (author of Rebecca, The Birds, and Jamaica Inn) published The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, the story of the forgotten Bronte sibling. Branwell Brontë was the brother of Charlotte Brontë (author of Jane Eyre, Villette, Shirley, and The Professor), Emily Brontë (author of Wuthering Heights), and Anne Brontë (author of Agnes Grey, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). Although Branwell showed signs of promise from a young age, he quickly spiraled down an infernal path to self destruction. Daphne du Maurier’s biography of Branwell tells the story of a man with infinite potential who couldn’t overcome the demons haunting his own mind.

Goodreads

The Review

A month ago, I watched the BBC biopic on the Brontë sisters, To Walk Invisible. What struck me the most was the stark contrast between Branwell Brontë and his sisters. Unlike his sisters whose ambition motivated them into writing novels to support themselves, Branwell fell into a cycle of addiction. Branwell’s addiction to

Book Review: The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by: Thomas King

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Book Review, Canadian Literature, History, Indigenous, Indigenous literature, Native American, non-fiction, North America, review, The Inconvenient Indian, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Thomas King

But most Canadians, like most Americans, have a shockingly poor grasp of their own history. Dates, people, the large and small nuances of events have all been reduced to the form and content of Classic Comics. This isn’t a complaint. It’s an acknowledgment that people are busy with other things and generally glance at the past only on holidays” – The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Thomas King

Initial thoughts: When I was assigned this non-fiction account of Indigenous people in North America, all I could think was… oh great. I usually don’t read  many non-fiction books . I know I should, but generally, my heart gravitates towards fiction. This book really surprised me in many ways.

Summary

Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian provides a portrait on the treatment of Indigenous people in the past and present. King’s book touches on all aspects of how Indigenous people are viewed by society such as in the media, popular culture, the government, and in Indigenous communities.

The Review

As you are probably aware by now… I am an English major, and most of the books that I read 8 months out of 12 months of the year is part of my required reading. It is only from April to early September that I can actually choose which books I want to read. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Natives in North America by: Thomas King was part of my required reading for a course on Canadian Indigenous literature.

First of all, I decided to enroll myself in Indigenous literature because