i love learning about incredible lives and people who are just so resilient in the face of adversity or talented despite circumstances or giving over all else. i have an ever-growing list of biographies and memoirs that i want to read, and i thought i would share the ones at the top of it.
i recently read this biography of audrey hepburn written by her son and i loved it. audrey was really an incredible woman and just so full of love. reading about the more intimate moments and relationships in her life was fascinating and learning about her work with UNICEF was very moving. this book also includes a lot of lovely family photographs that i'd never seen before. i loved getting to see that different side of her, as a mother rather than a movie star. this was a beautiful book and you should read it. especially you, lauren.
i got this book for christmas and started reading it on the plane ride back to utah. somehow i've gotten distracted and haven't finished it yet, but i've loved it so far. as a francophile and food lover, that's probably no surprise, but julia's voice in her writing is passionate and engaging and so full of life and emotion, you can't help but love it. from her fish out of water experiences as an american in paris, to her falling in love with france and with food, her writing is so personal and illustrative that it feels almost as if i am having these experiences right beside her. i can't wait to finish this.
i've read this memoir once before, but it's been quite a while. i have always loved amelia earhart. something about her resonated with me as a little girl, and anytime i was asked to name someone i considered a role model or inspiring figure, amelia earhart was the first name out of my mouth. she really was incredible. the things she achieved as an aviator were amazing on their own, but she did them as a woman in a world not open to equality or female achievement. she was a pioneer in many more aspects than flight, and i think her life is fascinating and inspiring.
a different kind of story of human triumph during the holocaust, this autobiography is one of my sister's favorite books and one that i've been meaning to read for years. jesse owens was an amazing athlete, and in a time of racial segregation in the united states and racial genocide in europe, his success was especially significant. i'm very excited to read this.
i just love thomas s. monson. he is just the sweetest, most loving man, and he has had a truly incredible life. i love hearing him speak because of the personal stories he always tells, and i think there's a lot we can learn from his experiences. i have always been so touched by his example of selflessness and constant sacrifice for others. i particularly remember hearing one bittersweet story which caused him to make a commitment that he would never again ignore a prompting of the spirit, and i was so moved that i made the same commitment for myself. i love president monson and i hope that i can apply the great lessons from his life to my own.
i think helen keller is one of the most inspiring women i have ever heard of. i can't even imagine what it is like to be blind or deaf, but she had the amazing strength of character to move past both of these disabilities and make an improbable difference in the world. i can't fathom the experience of learning words when you cannot see or hear what they describe, let alone mastering a language to be able to write so eloquently. helen keller is a highly quoted individual, and she elaborated thoughts that are new and complex and moving and profound to us even as fully capable people. she learned to sign and to speak with her amazing power of will, she has touched so many lives, and i truly respect, admire, and am in total awe of her.
i read this book a long time ago, but i think it's time i read it again. i think few books have touched the world as widely and deeply as this one has. i am amazed at anne frank's optimism and hope in even her personal writings throughout such an unimaginable hardship. i am amazed at how she could look at the world and see so much beauty and love, even as she suffered through one of the most ugly and terrible events in human history. this book is an inspiring example of endurance of the human spirit and a real gem.
vincent van gogh is perhaps my very favorite artist, and although he lived a difficult and unhappy life, his paintings are among the most beautiful and inspiring the world has seen. when i go home in april, i'm going to the van gogh exhibit at the philadelphia museum of art with my family and i plan to read this biography as well as this book of his letters before then. i think it's such a shame that van gogh is often simply thought of as that crazy artist who cut off his ear, because if you've ever read any of his quotes or writings, you see that he was a sensitive, spirited, and tragically brilliant soul. i think this song says it perfectly.
I admire your eloquence. Also I love that Don McLean song, it always makes me think of mom because she loves it. And I want to read these.
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