Books, Art & Movies

I’ve been on the hunt for a REALLY good memoir/biography – and I couldn’t go past a memoir by Michelle Obama, ghost-written or not!

I pretty much expected it to be a bit cheesy and peppered with vague, girl-power, life-inspo quotes.

But nope, she tells her story pretty straight.

Michelle retells big moments of her childhood, growing up in poor/simple/frugal circumstances, getting into a selective high school, going to university, her first big job, her passion for community and people. You get to know her and she’s surprisingly normal and refreshingly happy.

It does get a little too sweet when she describes falling in love with Barack – um, even I got a bit gushy?! She talks a lot about having a husband who is quite different to her, and needing to go to counselling.

Also no surprises, there’s a lot about campaigning, US politics and living in the White House.

Overall I DIDN’T find it earth-shatteringly inspirational. I found it refreshing, insightful, engaging and warmly inspirational. Which was nice. I felt that she and I were good girlfriends now!

Best takeaways for me:

She was unapologetic about putting her kids into childcare and going back to work. She grew up with an attitude: Male or female, you worked, and you worked hard.

She juggled being a mum, going to mother’s groups, volunteering at schools, racing around to music lessons, buying take away dinners and feeling guilty about all the rushing around. Very normal!

She always had a clear passion for people and giving back to the community. I liked that she put her hand up to help others, from very early on in her career.

I loved that she liked getting A’s and that she liked being smart.

Her words came across as someone who has genuine honesty, integrity and grace.

And when I listen to I her speeches they convey so much confidence and authority, yet she seemed so honest, vulnerable and was so likeable… like she was instantly your dependable best friend.

It made me – Ok ok I guess it INSPIRED me – to seek to convey that kind of warmth and confidence whenever I spoke.

Do you have a favourite biography or memoir?? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

I bought this book for my 16 year old. I wasn’t planning to read it myself.

As the cover says, it’s a memoir by the creator of Nike, Phil Knight.

My son loves shoes. He loves finding out about how people make money. And he’s a voracious reader.

My son loved it. His review: “Cool, but it all sounded a bit unbelievable.”

After he said that… I couldn’t help it. I had to read it for myself.

I loved it!

At the time of the book being published, Phil was 78 years old. He tells the story of his childhood, his education, his travels, his career pathway, the tales of setting up a business, launching NIKE, the struggles, his family life and his life lessons. He has a few “life regrets” which I do admire him for sharing.

I don’t usually read memoirs. Yet I found it exciting. Insightful. Gripping. It’s quite a ride.

It’s very easy to read. And it’s a brilliant story.

I learned so many things:

Phil was one of the first people to introduce Japanese-made sneakers into the American market.

He had to work as a full time accountant, while trying to run his shoe business.

At one point, his shoe selling business (the one he ran, before he created Nike) was making millions of dollars, but he was still flat broke.

He travelled all over the world as a young man and was introduced to different cultures and philosophies, which gave him a broad appreciation of the world and people.

And lastly… I finally realised that I will never become a billionaire. Phil’s life – as visionary and exciting as it was – was just waaaay too work focused, insanely stressful and he lived on the edge of financial ruin for years. Don’t think I could handle that, haha oh well!

I am currently completely obsessed with reading about Ancient Rome!

I’m ALSO obsessed with Victoria Beckham (front cover of Vogue Australia this month), Ultraceuticals 50+ SPF suncream, and my new Hexagonal Ray-Bans.

But getting back to Ancient Rome… why am I obsessed?

I’m not entirely sure why. It’s not a particularly natural interest of mine.

I never studied it in high school.

I didn’t know anything about Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Augustus – except on a very superficial level.

I pretty much avoided anything to do with politics, war, military history… but here I am, completely intoxicated by all the crazy stories!

What do I love about it?

I love the drama, the intrigue, the corruption, the ups and downs of a growing society.

I love hearing about all the leaders of Rome in chronological order, learning about the lesser known characters, the rise and fall of emperors, what made them a good leader, what made them a bad leader, the beginnings of western civilisation, the history of western politics, war strategies (surprisingly interesting!), the history of a war obsessed empire, the history of Christianity and beginnings of the Islamic Empire.

One particular topic I’m fascinated about is political propaganda. Why were the Romans so swayed by it? What is it about mankind that makes us all so susceptible political propaganda and savvy marketing?

I have already read 3 books about Roman and Byzantine History, and I have listened to 180 podcasts about the History of Rome (and now re-listening to them all – because they’re just so good!).

Someone asked me, why not go study Ancient History? I looked it up and discovered that it’ll cost me about $19,500 to do a 3 year degree – holy crap no thanks.

To me, it is just pure entertainment.

Some people watch tv in the evenings, I’m just happy to read.

And happy to tell people random facts!

The Ancient Romans were delighted by all the imported fruits from their growing empire (pomegranates, oranges, apricots, peaches) but they simply called them all “[country of origin] + Apples”. Everything was an apple! Ha so cute!

…

I recently read Rome by Robert Hughes (famous art critic for TIME magazine), pictured above, and oh boy, I don’t recommend it at all!

Yes, he had a very interesting perspective on ancient Roman art, but everything else was very hard to read as it jumped about, he repeated himself, he was so vague, he wrote as if the reader already knew all about the history of Rome (I have a basic understanding and I found it hard to follow).

So I’m picking up another book, considered to be an “undisputed masterpiece of English historical writing”  and I’ll let you all know how I go haha!

xxx

Earlier this year, I read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – and I loved it.

The plot rocked, the language was lush, the drama was intense and the characters were crazy!

It was also peppered with philosophical ramblings about society, theology and morality, which I kind of liked too.

So I bought Dostoyevsky’s other well-known book, The Brothers Karamazov. I did a bit of research and found an award winning translation of the book too haha!

It’s basically a murder mystery, with the story revolving around a despicable man, his three grown-up sons  and a love triangle and a murder trial.

What did I think?

Interesting story. But damn, it was a bit drawn out.

So much religious and philosophical ranting. All the characters were dysfunctional and horrible, all the relationships were messy. And I speed-read through the conversations with the devil.

Yes parts of it was pretty amazing, in particular, the language and depth of characters. You don’t read text like this anymore!

It is often rated as one of the greatest stories ever written. But I struggled to get through it. It’s not light reading.

Honestly, I don’t recommend it, unless you have a sudden burning curiosity about the book (which I had). And have 2 months of spare reading time in the evenings up your sleeve (which I had).

I do feel like I have a new level of bragging rights now, but given how I feel about the book, I might not be so quick to chime into dinner party conversations about 19th century Russian literature – haha!

One thing I love about my husband is that he is a fast reader. This means, I can pass him a book and say, “Please read this. I want to talk to someone about it”.

So we are our own little book club!

The two of us, snuggled on a couch on a Friday night, bitching about character development, writing style and plot arches haha!

While I read my last book, Istanbul by Bettany Hughes (I wrote about it here), my husband read this other book about Istanbul/Constantinople: Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler.

Then we swapped. But of course, he finished his book much faster than I did.

Richard Fidler is a well known Australian radio presenter, podcast interviewer and writer, with an interest in Istanbul starting since he was a teenager.

Richard goes on a journey with his teenage son to Istanbul and tells many, MANY fascinating stories about the city and it’s history.

But it’s not a typical historic book.

It is an easy-to-read, well-written, quick-to-digest run down about the BIG events surrounding Istanbul/Constantinople.

Personally, I found that it jumped around a lot and it wasn’t linear, which annoyed me.

But overall, it was a great read and I really enjoyed the way he brought the stories to life.

Ancient Roman history is like a real life Game of Thrones!