Reading, Watching and Listening Lately (September 2, 2024)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I originally intended to do a reading wrap-up, but then decided that I want to include things I’ve watched or listened to as well. I hope that means my post is still welcome with It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (#IMWAYR). I’m also joining Bookish Bliss, Musings and More.

Reading

I said this a few days ago already when writing about my love of memoirs, but I recently started reading a book by a relatively new foster care momoirist. The book is called Jacob’s Story and is written by Louise Allen. I think that title is horribly unimaginative, but the story is good. Louise mostly writes from her own perspective, but the prologue parts are written from other people’s perspectives.

I’m also reading a children’s book, Shamrock’s Seaside Sleepover (Unicorn University, #3) by Daisy Sunshine. The first two books in the series, I finished in one sitting but I apparently didn’t feel as much in tune with my inner child when first picking this one up.

Lastly, I’ve been diving deep into the Enneagram again by reading The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut. I’m not a Christian, so most Enneagram books don’t fully speak to me as they’re Biblically-based. I still, as a spiritual seeker, find some elements to be useful though. However, this book is totally accessible to people of all spiritual or religious walks of life.

Watching

I don’t currently have a subscription to any streaming services except for YouTube Premium. I also haven’t watched anything of note on YouTube recently.

Listening

First off is the podcast The Art of Growth. I listened to an episode published some months ago in the series Nine Love Languages, specifically the one on type 4. This was also what got me into reading Chestnut’s book.

I also am a lover of true crime podcasts. The episode of the podcast Cold Case Files I listened to recently had me totally chilled to the core. It’s called The Perfect Murder.

I usually listen to podcasts on the app Downcast. I used to love Overcast, but they stupidly revamped that app so I no longer use that one. Besides, though both apps are in English, only on Overcast does VoiceOver recognize that, which is a drawback since it then starts reading the titles of Dutch-language podcasts with a strong English accent. I’d rather have it the other way around, as on Downcast. Both apps will let you manually add podcasts from a URL, but both have a search feature too, through which I found the podcasts I mentioned.

Memoirs and Biographies

Posted on by Astrid

This week, there are many interesting prompts for the Writer’s Workshop. I am still thinking I might write on a different prompt tomorrow, but usually I don’t get to it. Today, I’m choosing the prompt about memoirs, biographies or reference books. They are, after all, my favorite genre to read.

I was not an avid reader as a child. Still am not a voracious reader, but I did discover the love of reading through memoirs and autobiographies. When I was in my late teens, I briefly was a member of the UK’s national library for the blind. They sent me Braille books. Yes, the clunky hardcover volumes (often eight or more per book).

I usually chose memoirs. Among my favorites were Planet of the Blind by Stephen Kuusisto and Emma and I by Sheila Hocken.

The first is an autobiography by a person blind from the same eye condition I have. If I’m correct, Kuusisto had some vision as a child but lost it later on, like I did too.

The second, which is the first in several books, talks mostly about the author’s experience of getting a guide dog.

I eventually got kicked off the library service for losing two volumes of a book, I’m not sure which one, in the mail back to them. However, this experience is probably what got me to love memoirs and autobiographies.

I currently often read foster care memoirs. My favorite authors are Casey Watson and Maggie Hartley. Cathy Glass is good too, but she stopped writing.

I recently discovered a new-to-me foster care memoirist, Louise Allen. That’s not entirely correct: I had heard of her a while ago, but because her books have horribly nondescript titles like Jacob’s Story, I didn’t fancy reading them. Now I am currently reading Jacob’s Story and think it’s fascinating. I must say though that the book is really a crossover between fiction and memoir, since the author writes from perspectives other than her own too. That makes it all the more intriguing, but I’m not entirely sure the books would count as memoirs.