Legendary Edith Piaf, The - Edith Piaf

Advantages: Their lives are worth remembering
Disadvantages: Their lives are over

...This review was first written in response to a challenge for people to talk about their grandparents, now updated in the light of new material from my mother's papers. Unfortunately, the old photos haven't taken very well. Albert and Edith "Albert courted all my girls and then picked on poor Edith," my great-grandfather on that side of the family used to say. In writing about my grandparents, it is tempting to start with Edith, the one I knew best and loved most, but she would have thought it quite wrong to take precedence over her husband. Albert probably thought it was about time he had a few things his own way. The life into which he was born was a harsh one. He was the eldest son of a working family in a small mill-town on the moors... Read review

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Advantages: Superb characters, great use of theme, very humorous
Disadvantages: None in particular.

...the drawing rooms of illustrious families. Everyone is bound by tradition and even Newland, who is every inch the modern gentleman, bows to it once he is married, deciding that it requires too much effort to allow his wife to live his declaration that women - like men - should be free. Naturally, hypocrisy is an integral part of society. There is a wistful side to The Age of Innocence, with an edge of regret that (thankfully) doesn't creep into nostalgia. To wonder what might have been is a huge part of human experience and a major theme in this novel; it's woven in subtly throughout, showing Edith Wharton's great writing skill. Indeed, The Age of Innocence won Wharton the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature - making her the first woman to be awarded it. Although this is her probably her most famous work, Edith Wharton also wrote The House... Read review

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Advantages: Thought-provoking, a useful insight into one woman's survival
Disadvantages: None really, unless you don't want to know about what went on

............................................................................................................. Intro I bought "The Nazi Officer's Wife" from the charity book list at work (books for 25p) knowing that it was an autobiographical account of 'How one Jewish woman survived the Holocaust' (subtitle of the book), an area of history which I'm interested in. I think it's important that we learn about what happened, not just because it's so important that we remember, but because it makes all our own little worries (and even the bigger worries) seem that much more bearable. The Book My copy of the book is a yellowy brown colour with a picture of Edith on the front. As far as covers go, it isn't eye catching, but I don't think it wants to be. Of course the title itself is designed to draw the reader in, perhaps it... Read review

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