Author Topic: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people  (Read 2928 times)

Online Ruskie

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #18 on: Sunday 19 March 17 23:54 GMT (UK) »
What I find frustrating about diaries, is that I always want to know what happened next in these people's lives, but they generally stop abruptly.

Most diaries are written by upper and middle classes so we learn about their worlds rather than that of the less affluent or the poor. Still, very interesting. There are a surprising number of dairies which have survived and been published. What always amazes me is the amount of walking the characters did, how sociable they were (always in one another's houses) and in the case of Thomas Turner, how his friends often slept over and shared his bed!

Some sleuthing around the internet will probably find Jess Welsby so if anyone is interested in reading her story she should be able to point you in the direction of where to purchase. Second hand .... probably not, though some of the online auction sites might be worth a look.

Offline Rosinish

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #19 on: Monday 20 March 17 01:02 GMT (UK) »
What I find frustrating about diaries, is that I always want to know what happened next in these people's lives, but they generally stop abruptly.

Ruskie,

This brought back memories of being a teenager with diaries which seemed to be the 'in thing' then!
I don't know what happened to them but whoever found/finds them will need a code book to decipher them  ;D
I wrote everything in acronyms for my own use & if anyone had ever looked at them they'd have thought I was a 'nutcase' but I knew what letters stood for what  ;D

Of course, if I was to read them myself now they would be Gobbledigook  ::)

Annie
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Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

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Offline Rosinish

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #20 on: Monday 20 March 17 01:47 GMT (UK) »
Another book I've read;

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Yellow_on_the_Broom.html?id=f_8KAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y&hl=en

although I can't remember if I read the follow up;

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EIUEAAAACAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks

So I don't stick to one type of story as people's lives/how they lived (differently) interests me.


Annie

South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"

Offline Rosinish

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #21 on: Tuesday 21 March 17 01:33 GMT (UK) »
Good afternoon,

The book given in the link by Ruskie looks fairly interesting. Being out of print or not readily available secondhand  doesn't mean it is completely unavailable.

Try your local library

Hi John,

Yes, I will certainly ask at the library as that's where I have ordered in a few of the 'very few' books I have read although I have bought some too  :)

I live in Scotland but we do or at least, used to be able to get books delivered from elsewhere.

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"


Offline brigidmac

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #22 on: Tuesday 21 March 17 05:32 GMT (UK) »
Yes i love true life stories .I like every kind but often autobiographies are written in a dull way as the people concerned are not writers .

I like insights into the early ,20 th century how grandparents lived ....Ordinary people and poor people's lives interest me more than the aristocracy .

Specific interest would be people who have travelled and lived in different cultures or came to GB from another culture. 

Roberts,Fellman.Macdermid smith jones,Bloch,Irvine,Hallis Stevenson

Offline andrewalston

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #23 on: Thursday 23 March 17 12:02 GMT (UK) »
I came across one in a charity shop recently "The Road to Nab End" by William Woodruff.

As it described the author's experiences of poverty in the early 20th century in the town where I went to school, I snapped it up. I knew many of the places described, though they are much cleaner now!

Having a "hook" is probably essential for me to enjoy this type of book. If it had been about a place I knew nothing of, I would probably have given up in the early chapters.
Looking at ALSTON in south Ribble area, ALSTEAD and DONBAVAND/DUNBABIN etc. everywhere, HOWCROFT and MARSH in Bolton and Westhoughton, PICKERING in the Whitehaven area.

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Offline Treetotal

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #24 on: Thursday 23 March 17 12:14 GMT (UK) »
I enjoyed reading "Empty Cradles" by Margaret Humphries which is a true story of the search for Families of orphans who were sent to Australia believing that they had no living relatives:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004RPINXK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I tend to read stories of people's lives who have made a difference such as Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth and Dame Vera Lynn, also Kate Adie but I don't do the celebrity genre.

Carol
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Offline ThrelfallYorky

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Re: 'True Life Stories' written by everyday people
« Reply #25 on: Thursday 23 March 17 15:24 GMT (UK) »
I've read the "Nab End" book - certainly forwarded mine to a Charity Shop. All the "Eeee by gumm, we 'ad it bad back then" memoirs are very worthy, but rarely worth reading more than once. Better content than style.
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