Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (Audiobook)

from bookchickdi

Jeanette Winterson wrote a critically acclaimed novel, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, loosely based on her life growing up in a Northern England industrial town. Her memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, is the non-fiction version of that story. The looming figure in both books is Wint...

from mjscott

Good overall. Winterson is a fascinating person, but for some reason there are endless passages about the history of places in which she lived. Some of it - the parts that shaped the personalities of the people who live in that area - is interesting. The rest I skipped. Also, she tends to make sw...

from tandah

OMG, this was such a great book in spelling out how shaping nurture is - and how spirit, determination (and a bright mind) can overcome abusive authority. But I so much wanted more. Jeanette Winterson has been spelling out how happiness results from clarifying (and living) purpose and meaning in ...

from baswood

A psychopath is a person who uses manipulation, violence and intimidation to control others and to satisfy selfish needs. They can be intelligent and highly charismatic, but display a chronic inability to feel guilt, remorse or anxiety about any of their actions. Why be Happy When You Could Be No...

from SandDune

'Why be happy when you can be normal?' asks Jeanette Winterson's adoptive mother (tellingly always referred to as Mrs Winterson, rather than anything more affectionate) on the day when, aged 16 and still at school, Jeanette is thrown out of the family home. But Mrs Winterson is anything but norma...