Liars, Lisa Ridzen, and Debbi Voisey – welcome to episdoe 153!
In the first half, we talk about our expectations of truth in the non-fiction we read, inspired by the hoo-ha over The Salt Path. In the second half, we compare When The Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen with Only About Love by Debbi Voisey.
You can support the podcast at Patreon – where you’ll also get access to the exclusive new series ‘5 Books’, where I ask different people about the last book they finished, the book they’re currently reading, the next book they want to read, the last book they bought and the last book they were given.
And, of course, do get in touch at teaorbooks@gmail.com with any questions or comments!
The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
Deborah by Esther Kreitman
Isaac Bashevis Singer
May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry
Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
The Odyssey by Homer
Unsayable by Michael Cunningham
David Sedaris
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Grief Is For People by Sloane Crosley
The Memory Illusion by Julia Shaw
Rose Macaulay by Constance Babington-Smith
Rose Macaulay: A Writer’s Life by Jane Emery
Rose Macaulay by Sarah LeFanu
Beverley Nichols
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
All The Dogs of My Life by Elizabeth von Arnim
How The Heather Looks by Joan Bodger
The Crack in the Teacup by Joan Bodger
Curriculum Vitae by Muriel Spark
Letters to Gwen John by Celia Paul
Spare by Prince Harry
Marcel Proust
Temptation by János Székely (is the book Rachel couldn’t remember!)
The Book of Eve by Constance Beresford-Howe
Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
Rachel,
I recently heard about a book What I Know About You by Eric Chacour which is by a Canadian whose parents are Egyptian. It’s set in mid-twentieth century Egypt. I believe it was also written in French and has been translated to English.
An interesting topic. I certainly would never expect a memoir to be accurate – human memory is fallible, and we might choose to edit some parts. But what appalled me so much about SP was how fraudulent it seems and how many people were duped with regard to the health issues. That’s just cruel.
Really interesting discussion. I agree with Kaggsy and you two that the false hope offered to those with the condition that Moth was supposed to have had and was ‘cured by walking the coast path’ was cruel and hard to forgive. I haven’t read the SP (despite being given a copy after having walked the path myself (over five years of holidays not all at once!); I did start reading it but put it aside as I didn’t like the writing style. I did feel vindicated in my rather hasty DNFing when all the controversy broke!
I am not up for novels featuring characters with dementia right now as I watch my mother’s sad decline. It feels rather close to the bone. In a different season of life I would be tempted by both the novels you paired, even more so after listening to the podcast.
I was very pleased to learn the choice for the next episode. I’ve been meaning to read Jacob’s Room for ages (I have read the first 30 or so pages and then stalled) and The Waves is one that I loved so much that as soon as I finished it I started again. That’s very rare for me. I hope I will enjoy it again on another reread.
I definitely care if non-fiction works are exaggerated, that’s called fiction. Period. I was a journalism major in college and that was the worst possible transgression, it’s completely unethical. It’s one thing to write a memoir and say that you wearing a green sweater but it was actually blue, but to deliberately mislead people and call it truth is flat-out lying.
I very much remember the Million Little Pieces scandal, Oprah looked really bad because she’d endorsed the book and said how wonderful and inspirational it was. I read it and from the first chapter it was pretty unbelievable.
I also remember Three Cups of Tea and how that turned out to be mostly fake, and I personally have serious doubts about the memoir Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which is another dubious memoir about someone with no preparation hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which is pretty dangerous for experienced hikers much less someone with zero experience.
Would you consider doing an episode on Ellis Peters / Edith Pargeter? Perhaps Cadfael vs a Moray Dalton?
I’m afraid I haven’t read any of them! A poor omission.