Here are 100 books that In Memory of Memory fans have personally recommended if you like
In Memory of Memory.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Having worked in archives, I know that they are utterly magical places full of hidden treasures, precious memories, and poignant, tiny moments that tell us so much about our humanity. I’ve spent a lifetime living in the past, hunting through unusual objects, reels of film, letters, and documents that may have once been discarded, but form an essential part of microhistories that might otherwise be forgotten. That’s why I’ve written about the marginalised filmmakers of Northern Ireland – amateur and independent creatives who were shooting alternative images of a place whose conflict was seen all across the world, but whose daily life was not recorded in any meaningful way by broadcast cameras.
This is the best book out there about the ups and downs, the value and the degradation, the profundity and the shallow pettiness of universities.
It is also an achingly profound commentary on the disappointment of life, when beauty and fulfilment are always just out of reach.
Stoner reminds me that the vast archive of books out there is always growing, and there’ll never be enough time to read the best of what’s already been written, never mind try to grapple with a steady stream of new classics. Even so, I know I’ll read this book again and again.
'It's the most marvellous discovery for everyone who loves literature' Ian McEwan, BBC Radio 4
Colum McCann once called Stoner one of the great forgotten novels of the past century, but it seems it is forgotten no longer - in 2013 translations of Stoner began appearing on bestseller lists across Europe. Forty-eight years after its first, quiet publication in the US, Stoner is finally finding the wide and devoted readership it deserves. Have you read it yet?
William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Having worked in archives, I know that they are utterly magical places full of hidden treasures, precious memories, and poignant, tiny moments that tell us so much about our humanity. I’ve spent a lifetime living in the past, hunting through unusual objects, reels of film, letters, and documents that may have once been discarded, but form an essential part of microhistories that might otherwise be forgotten. That’s why I’ve written about the marginalised filmmakers of Northern Ireland – amateur and independent creatives who were shooting alternative images of a place whose conflict was seen all across the world, but whose daily life was not recorded in any meaningful way by broadcast cameras.
Having worked in several archives, I know they are magical places, full of treasures that must be protected and cared for with a delicate touch and a responsibility to both past and future. Although people often think of archives as official institutions housing government records, artefacts can be personal documents, films, or objects, capturing tiny moments that make up grand histories.
This book interweaves the poetry and factual background of T.S. Eliot with the life of the fictional archivist who protects his collections. Both men struggle with difficult marriages, and the fact that their wives are institutionalised due to mental health issues.
It’s a story about the importance of remembering and understanding the past. It’s also a book about why certain writers create archives around their work, and how these documents help us understand their creativity.
A battle of wills between Matt, a careful, orderly archivist for a private university, and Roberta, a determined young poet, over a collection of T.S. Eliot's letters, sealed by bequest until 2019, sparks an unusual friendship and reawakens painful memories of the past
Having worked in archives, I know that they are utterly magical places full of hidden treasures, precious memories, and poignant, tiny moments that tell us so much about our humanity. I’ve spent a lifetime living in the past, hunting through unusual objects, reels of film, letters, and documents that may have once been discarded, but form an essential part of microhistories that might otherwise be forgotten. That’s why I’ve written about the marginalised filmmakers of Northern Ireland – amateur and independent creatives who were shooting alternative images of a place whose conflict was seen all across the world, but whose daily life was not recorded in any meaningful way by broadcast cameras.
A stunning collection of images of actors captured across a generation in the elusive space of “the half” – the thirty minutes of intensity just before the curtain is raised.
It’s a window into the private space of the actor as they prepare to share their craft with the audience. It also demonstrates how an archive of photographs, captured over several decades, can take on new meaning when represented as a full collection.
For me, the most striking image is one of Natasha Richardson, arms outstretched, in a partially transparent flowing gown as she prepares to appear in The Seagull by Anton Chekov. She is ghostly and ethereal in this breathtaking black-and-white portrait from 1985. Her sister Joely adorns the opposite page, taking to Old Vic in the same year.
For twenty-five years, actors have given Simon Annand unprecedented access to photograph them in the intimacy of their dressing-rooms during the 30 minutes before curtain-up - 'the half'. This magnificent book offers not only a dazzling gallery of actors - including Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, Daniel Day Lewis, Judi Dench, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent, Jeremy Irons, Glenda Jackson, Jude Law, Charlotte Rampling, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Martin Sheen, Felicity Kendal, Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes - but also a meditation on the mystery of the final stage of an actor's journey.
Olivia Thrift, a.k.a. the superheroine Captain Fantastic, is excited to be meeting fellow Canadian superheroines for the first time. However, when their gathering is violently interrupted, it quickly becomes a savage fight against evil.
And, when Olivia suddenly loses her powers, will she be able to set things right when…
Having worked in archives, I know that they are utterly magical places full of hidden treasures, precious memories, and poignant, tiny moments that tell us so much about our humanity. I’ve spent a lifetime living in the past, hunting through unusual objects, reels of film, letters, and documents that may have once been discarded, but form an essential part of microhistories that might otherwise be forgotten. That’s why I’ve written about the marginalised filmmakers of Northern Ireland – amateur and independent creatives who were shooting alternative images of a place whose conflict was seen all across the world, but whose daily life was not recorded in any meaningful way by broadcast cameras.
I felt incredibly voyeuristic reading the letters of an eager child, a sensitive teenager, and an impressive young student.
These are letters by someone with a ravenous appetite for all that life has to offer: food, company, experiences, books, history, and travel. We see the writer blossom through the excerpts of her poetry that are included, but also in the heartfelt, lyrical, and eloquent letters to family, friends, and boyfriends.
Her life is packed full of a dizzying array of activity, and, as she admits herself, she loves to alternate periods of intense study with social life and excursions with friends as far as she can travel.
Not a minute is wasted, even during the dark times that she documents, and the melancholy that is felt by the reader who possesses hindsight intensifies the feeling that we have no right to read these words, and yet they are so compelling,…
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was one of the writers who defined the course of twentieth-century poetry. Her vivid, daring and complex poetry continues to captivate new generations of readers and writers.
In the Letters, we discover the art of Plath's correspondence, most of which has never before been published and is here presented unabridged, without revision, so that she speaks directly in her own words. Refreshingly candid and offering intimate details of her personal life, Plath is playful, too, entertaining a wide range of addressees, including family, friends and professional contacts, with inimitable wit and verve. The letters document Plath's extraordinary…
A proud native of Stockton, CA, Jennifer Laam resides in California with a temperamental tabby cat named Jonesy. Her other works of historical fiction are The Secret Daughter of the Tsar, The Tsarina’s Legacy, and The Lost Season of Love and Snow. When not reading or writing, she enjoys planning cosplay for the next San Diego Comic-Con, experimenting with vegetarian recipes (to mixed results), cooing at Baby Yoda, or obsessing over House Targaryen.
Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia: the four daughters of Nicholas II are sometimes known as OTMA and often seen as a collective. With their carefully curated public images, Rappaport refers to them as the “Princess Dianas of their day.” At the same time, their individual personalities come to life via diary entries, correspondence, and fascinating reconstructions of their experiences as young women coming to age in the last days of imperial Russia, nurses during WWI, and prisoners after the Revolution.
On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only seventeen. Together with their parents and their thirteen-year-old brother, they were all brutally murdered. Their crime: to be the daughters of the last Tsar and Tsaritsa of All the Russias.
Much has been written about Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their tragic fate, as it has about the Russian Revolutions of 1917, but little attention has been paid to the Romanov princesses, who - perhaps inevitably - have been seen as minor players…
The Romanov saga has intrigued me since I was an undergraduate student in history many moons ago. Three hundred years of Romanov rule were filled with exotic beauty, violence, and tragedy. I went on to teach Russian history at university and was able to share some of the stories of the tsars and tsarinas with my students. Having authored books and articles in my academic field, my teaching career has ended. Now it is historical fiction that has captured my imagination and spurred me to pen my own novels set in 19th-century Africa and Afghanistan, as well as Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
The tragedy and mystery surrounding the murders of Tsar Nicholas and his family at the hands of the Bolsheviks has been well documented. Author Lawhon goes a step further through the eyes of Anastasia, the tsar's youngest daughter who was thought to have survived. But it is also the story of Anna Anderson, fished out of a canal in Berlin, and later claiming to be the lost Anastasia. This book is a splendid blend of stories of two young women caught in perilous times. The massacre of the Romanovs in the Ipatiev House is told in chilling detail, yet the fight by Anna Anderson to be recognized as Anastasia is equally as absorbing.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An enthralling feat of historical suspense that unravels the extraordinary twists and turns in Anna Anderson's fifty-year battle to be recognized as Anastasia Romanov. Is she the Russian Grand Duchess or the thief of another woman's legacy?
Countless others have rendered their verdict. Now it is your turn.
Russia, July 17, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia, where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed.…
Of the 918 Americans who died in the shocking murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, in the tiny South American country of Guyana, a third were under eighteen. More than half were in their twenties or younger.
The authors taught in a small high school in San Francisco where Reverend Jim…
I’m a child of the Cold War. Until the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989 this strange standoff between the Soviet Union and the Western allies informed everyone’s life, but my own case was particular because my father served in the Royal Air Force. For three years he was even in command of three squadrons of nuclear bombers. With a background like that, how could I not be interested in the larger picture? Since then I have gone on to write novels with all kinds of settings but the other side of the now defunct Iron Curtain has always held a fascination... and has directly led to at least three of my own books.
Svetlana Alliluyeva was Josef Stalin’s daughter. In 1967 she fled to the West bringing this memoir with her. It was published to universal acclaim in the same year. An epistolary memoir it gives remarkable insight into her life growing up in the Kremlin. Haunting, at times lyrical, always affecting, she shows Stalin as something other than the monster we take him to be. She makes no excuses for him but it is salutary to see him portrayed as a father and a human being. An antidote to the all-too-easy dismissal of him as ‘a monster’.
In this riveting, New York Times-bestselling memoir—first published by Harper in 1967—Svetlana Alliluyeva, subject of Rosemary Sullivan’s critically acclaimed biography, Stalin’s Daughter, describes the surreal experience of growing up in the Kremlin in the shadow of her father, Joseph Stalin.
Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only daughter of Joseph Stalin and Nadezhda Alliluyeva, his second wife. In 1967, she fled the Soviet Union for India, where she approached the U.S. Embassy for asylum. Once there, she showed her CIA handler something remarkable: A personal memoir about growing up inside the Kremlin that…
Because I love to see how an author progresses in their storytelling abilities. Whether they continue with the same characters or move on to new worlds and new storylines, the art of writing changes as the author becomes more comfortable with their craft. I love knowing that the mind that created Dorian Grey and recorded his story also created Lord Saville. Even though they came from the same mind, they are their own entities, and the author was willing to give life to both. I love when an author is committed to the art of storytelling and not just of genre.
This book is an interesting spin on a well-known fairy tale. I really enjoyed this one because the "princess" isn't a damsel in distress and the "charming" isn't always charming. They are written as multi-dimensional characters with character flaws and imperfections. They don't instantly fall in love. They bicker and disagree, but then learn how to work together to free her family from the curse that put her in the middle of the forest. I like the reality of having to learn how to work with someone else and the growth that comes from that learning.
In Enchantment, Orson Scott Card works his magic as never before, transforming the timeless story of Sleeping Beauty into an original fantasy brimming with romance and adventure.
The moment Ivan stumbled upon a clearing in the dense Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed. Atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves, the beautiful princess Katerina lay still as death. But beneath the foliage a malevolent presence stirred and sent the ten-year-old Ivan scrambling for the safety of Cousin Marek's farm.
Now, years later, Ivan is an American graduate student, engaged to be married. Yet he cannot forget that long-ago day…
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern is the Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and a Professor of Jewish History in the History Department at Northwestern University. He teaches a variety of courses that include early modern and modern Jewish history; Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah; history and culture of Ukraine; and Slavic-Jewish literary encounters.
One can read this book in two ways: as a highly representative collection of Marc Chagall’s works from different periods of his almost century-long life – and as an insightful study of the meaning of Chagall’s works. Harshav’s short analytical essays of Chagall’s major paintings emphasize how Yiddish idioms and the images of traditional Jewish world of the shtetl shape much of Chagall’s later artistic endeavors. Whatever the painter from Vitebsk put on canvas, he was bringing to life his recollections of the language his spoke as a child and artifacts among which he grew up.
This is the first book to focus on Chagall's Jewish roots. Chagall is one of the most popular artists of the 20th Century, with work in every major museum in the world. The book includes 200 illustrations, many from the little-known Russian theatre works, that have rarely been published before. The Russian-born French painter Marc Chagall is recognized as one of the most significant painters and graphic artists of the 20th century. This new book, "Marc Chagall and the Lost Jewish World", is the first book on Chagall, to illustrate succinct interpretations of Chagall's world and iconography, and the nature…
LOT 16 WAS NEVER TO BE SOLD. Generations pass and the estate’s directive is overturned.
Situated on a grassy hilltop overlooking a lake and wildlife preserve, the 30-acre parcel is perfect for Nora and Dex. They’ll escape their city’s rising crime, build a home with an amazing view, work remotely,…
My maternal great-grandparents were Irish immigrants. My paternal grandfather left Liverpool in the late 19th century to go to Australia. I’d love to know their children’s stories! Some of the families I visited as a social worker (mid-1960s) were immigrants, struggling to make sense of a new language and a new culture. I met a child who had come here alone as an illegal immigrant and had been a house slave until the social services settled her with a foster family. I met author Hanna Jansen and her many adopted children from war-torn countries. Fiction gives us many powerful stories about children forced to flee from their homes because of war, tyranny, hunger, poverty, natural disasters.
Letters from Rifka is immediately appealing because the author tells us that it is based on memories.
I was immediately drawn into the story by the engaging voice of the 12-year-old narrator, who writes her story in letter form. Rifka is a Russian Jew fleeing with her family from persecution in 1919. It is a story of a desperate flight, across Ukraine and into Poland, and from there, hopefully, to America. But, so close to freedom, Rifka is detained in a hospital for contagious diseases on Ellis Island, and may not be allowed to travel on with her family. Rifka’s character is so well drawn, her impish, positive voice so lovable, that MG readers won’t fail to love this book and care deeply about the plight of people who are forced to leave their homes forever.
From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America.
"America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?" I was silent for a little time. "I will do everything there," I answered.
Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and their harsh treatment of the Jews. Throughout her journey, Rifka carries with her a cherished volume of poetry by Alexander Pushkin. In it, she records her…
