The Reader's Shelf

From Library Journal

Till Death do us part:  Scenes from Literary Marriages

Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter By Fraser, Antonia 2011-10 - Anchor Books 9780307475572 Check Our Catalog A moving and exquisite testament to one of the literary world's most celebrated marriages: that of the greatest playwright of our age, Harold Pinter, and the beautiful and famous prize-winning biographer Antonia Fraser. Based on Fraser's recollections and the diaries she has kept since October 1968, "Must You Go? "is the story of a thirty-year marriage, beginning with their initial meeting when Fraser was the wife of a member of Parliament and Pinter was married to a distinguished actress, and ending with Harold's tragic death after battling illness for many years. In between, we hear firsthand the joy of their love and partnership, as well as the mutual devotion both felt towards their work and the creative process. Courageous, powerful, and extraordinarily compelling, "Must You Go?" is a love story and a marvelously insightful account of the pleasures of married love. " " …More

The Year of Magical Thinking By Didion, Joan 2007-02 - Vintage Books USA 9781400078431 Check Our Catalog Didion chronicles the experience of losing her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, to a massive coronary, just weeks after the two of them watched as their only daughter was put into an induced coma to save her life. With honesty and passion, Didion explores this intensely personal yet universal experience. …More

A Widow's Story By Oates, Joyce Carol 2012-02 - Ecco Press 9780062020505 Check Our Catalog …More

The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon By Hall, Donald 2007-01 - Mariner Books 9780618773626 Check Our Catalog A candid memoir of love, art, and grief from a celebrated man of letters, United States poet laureate Donald Hall In an intimate record of his twenty-three-year marriage to poet Jane Kenyon, Donald Hall recounts the rich pleasures and the unforeseen trials of their shared life. The couple made a home at their New England farmhouse, where they rejoiced in rituals of writing, gardening, caring for pets, and connecting with their rural community through friends and church. The Best Day the Worst Day presents a portrait of the inner moods of "the best marriage I know about," as Hall has written, against the stark medical emergency of Jane's leukemia, which ended her life in fifteen months. Between recollections of better times, Hall shares with readers the daily ordeal of Jane's dying through heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring storytelling. …More

One Hundred Names for Love By Ackerman, Diane 2012-04 - W. W. Norton & Company 9780393341744 Check Our Catalog In this extraordinary memoir, Ackerman opens a window into the experience of wordlessness. In narrating the recovery of her husband from a stroke that reduced his vast vocabulary to a single syllable, she evokes the joy and mystery of the brain. …More

Jack's Widow By Pollard, Eve 2007-05 - Avon Books 9780060817053 Check Our Catalog The iconic First Lady, Jackie lived her life in a fishbowl yet she was shrouded in mystery. She was the epitome of style, poise, grace, and femininity, but her lifelong silence in front of the media has left many unanswered questions. In this juicy yet reverential examination of her life, Eve Pollard's insight into what made America's most admired woman tick is blended into a page-turning, believable thriller. Starting from the somber days following the shocking assassination of Jackie's husband, President John F. Kennedy, Pollard explores the emotions that guided her existence as the world's most famous widow. Everything in Jackie's life is encompassed: the painful childhood that prepared her for the dual role of dramatic chatelaine of the White House and cheated wife; the hidden mental torture behind her marriage to Jack as she attempted to maintain her self-esteem--an anguish that doubled when his debauched love life became public after his death. To cope, Jackie developed a self-defense system to deal with the friends and family who were revealed as the willing helpers in her late husband's constant quest for new sexual partners. And, finally, she used different methods from sunglasses to psychiatry, from remarriage to realpolitik to protect herself and her precious children. With brilliant storytelling, Pollard, one of the former First Lady's first biographers, entangles Jackie during her early days as a senator's wife in the complex world of espionage with startling and thrilling consequences after the tragic murder of her husband. Pollard's wealth of information on the adored Jackie produces a captivating and realistic tale that both surprises and entertains. …More