William KuhnBesprekingen

Reading an advance copy & enjoying it, but left it at the summer place so will have to finish later...
Had to start all over, but really enjoyed it the second time; it was a fun read & very cute. I was very impressed with how well the young male American author did older female English characters!

The first thing I do when I pick up a non-fiction book is flip to the back to check out the bibliography, notes, etc. to get a feel of what kind research the author did. The notes in Swimming with Lord Byron immediately sent up red flags for me because the author cites Wikipedia as a source. *facepalm*

The biographical details will be familiar to anyone with a fair-ish knowledge of Lord Byron's life; the difference here is that everything is interpreted with a thoroughly 21st century viewpoint.
½

‘Swimming with Lord Byron’ fascinated and absorbed me from the start. It reads like a great work of fiction, partly due to Byron’s complex character and eventful life, but also due to the engaging way it is written. The author shows how the poet’s art and life intertwined and affected each other and speculates on how early experiences shaped his character and work. It gave me a lot to think about and I came away feeling a deeper and more personal understanding of Byron. The author has clearly researched and thought about Byron’s life in depth and provides extensive notes and references at the end.

I don’t usually enjoy biographies, but I was curious about Lord Byron and I’m glad I took the opportunity to read and review an early copy of this one. It changed my perceptions and will remain with me a long time.

Though at times I really wonder why we always should hear about someone's same-sex relationships as where we never hear about some people's relationship with the opposite sex, I can see the importance in the light of the life of Lord Byron.
The author manages to make you feel like travelling through time and get acquainted with Lord Byron himself. But you also will feel the athmosphere of the places you visit in the book.
If empathy seems to be a fashionable word these days (often for the wrong reasons), in this case the author get exactly that done with the reader, empathy for Lord Byron.
Being a biography I would have appreciated some illustrations, but that is personal.

I think the only flaw is that the author mentions the age at the beginning of each chapter. But maybe others do value exactly that.

Surprise for me was to read that Lord Byron came to the Southern Netherlands!

I've read some Lord Byron but I was not aware of his history and this biography puts his writings in a new perspective for me. Lord Byron was a complex man according to this book, and it sounds like he projected his own personal life in a lot of his work. I'm eager to reread some of his writing with a new view.
Excellent research done for this book and in an easy to read format that will keep you interested throughout.

A scholarly biography that was brilliantly researched using primary sources. The book was not without its uncomfortable moments. That said, the author's critique of UK academics who overlook Byron's same-sex experiences underscores the prevalent ignorance towards LGBTQ+ narratives in historical biographies. If speculation is avoided entirely, LGBTQ+ stories from the Victorian and Edwardian era would never be told. An essential read for anyone interested in Lord Byron's story.

Extraordinarily good biography and all the better for being a double biography given the very close marriage enjoyed by the couple. Very revealing about Queen Victoria's methods of working and attitudes.

Great idea but never really reaches it's full potential.

Jackie Stories continues with stories 7-8, An Expert in the Ballet World and A Harvard Professor’s Wife, both quick and intriguing. I like how you can listen to the entire audiobook in one sitting, but I do wish the stories were a tad longer. Learning more about Jackie is always fascinating to me and I feel like these stories just skim the surface when I am craving a deeper dive. I know these audiobooks are to point you to the author’s main text, Reading Jackie, but I do wish there was more here.

From learning about Jackie being approachable, which goes against what many have always presumed, to her relaxed way of traveling India with an expert in Indian art and artifacts when you would assume she would be her more couture, regal self is refreshing to hear. It’s these little known facts from those that knew her best that make these audiobooks worth a listen.

Adding to the tone of the two stories was the narrator’s always soothing voice and perfect cadence. It still throws me that the narrator is female and the author is male, (for some reason this bothers me) but this is just a personal preference, and I still enjoyed the listen nonetheless. I am currently listening to another Jackie Stories as I write this, and I can honestly say that I am enjoying this series so far. It does lend to a deeper understanding of Jackie, while also shining a light on those that shared her life with her. A truly fascinating journey indeed.

Jackie Stories 2-3 was a quick story that I listened to while getting ready during our family’s spring break vacation. It was the perfect thing to pop on while putting on my makeup, setting my mind onto the publishing world of yesteryear and thoughts of Jackie, someone I’ve always admired and secretly wanted to emulate. It was pretty cool getting a glimpse of the behind the scenes thoughts and notes from the author’s research for his novel “Reading Jackie.”

These are two stories from two people who were in Jackie’s life, Nan Talese, one of Jackie’s longtime colleagues, and Louis Auchincloss, a distant cousin and someone who knew Jackie early in her adult life. It was so neat getting to hear stories that I have never heard before about a woman that I greatly admire, helping me to see a side of her I did not know before.

Adding to the tone of the stories was the narrator’s soothing voice, though it did tend to throw me, as the author is male, and the narrator is female, but I still enjoyed the listen nonetheless. I have several other Jackie Stories that I am currently listening to and really love this series.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.

The author, William Kuhn is an academic historian. He taught at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin for 15 years before turning to writing full time. The book is a compilation of interviews with 8 friends of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. The stories tell some interesting facts about the friends and their relationship to Jackie, but I found them to be rather drab. There were some interesting moments providing insight into how Jackie thought and behaved. For example. Jackie treated her constant companion since finishing school with disregard while alive and very ungenerously upon her death.½

This is a great companion read to William Kuhn's Reading Jackie, almost like a bonus feature. It was an interesting read to hear about Jacqueline from people from various points in her life. There were new insights into her story and personality.

Although one thinks this book would be about Jackie Kennedy, it really is about one of her life long friends—Nancy Tuckerman. Jackie and Nancy were friends for over 70 years. Through the course of many interviews with Tuckerman, Kuhn gives a perspective about Jackie from these interviews. The story about Nancy Tuckerman is intriguing. She sounded like a formidable woman who had an amazing but possibly lonely life. I liked this book, despite it being different than I expected.
The narrator did a great job. I loved how several accents were done by her. If you like recent US history, I’d recommend this book. Kuhn has 7 additional books in this series that will give retrospectives from additional friends and colleagues of Jackie.

This was received as a part of the early reviewers program.
I read, or rather, listened to the first chapter of this collection. I have to say that I wasn’t a fan. It seemed more like a stream of consciousness writing in many places. The author frequently is focused on himself during the story. This book is for you if you're a fan of mid-century history and class distinctions. I found it great to listen to as I was falling asleep. It just wasn’t that interesting to me.
Here’s hoping library thing counts this review as having been completed.

There wasn't a WOW factor with this book (I listened to it on audio). It was a seemingly fireside chat with Jackie's friends. You were left with the fact that Jackie surrounded herself with trustworthy friends who shared NOTHING. I did find it interesting that the male author had a female do the audio. I honestly think that helped with listening to the blase' stories. I think b/c the title is highlighted as 'Jackie Stories' I had expectations of learning more about the infamous woman and I didn't come away with anything more than meeting her friends.

Jackie Stories 2-3 is a continuation of Jackie Stories 1 and is contained within the book Jackie Stories. Jackie Stories contains information about interviews and the relationship between the author and 8 others who were close to Jackie Kennedy Onassis. The author’s goal was to help those of us who are infatuated by Jackie’s glamour and class to understand her better through interviews with work colleagues, friends, and in one story, an adversary. Book 2-3 contains observations and anecdotes with Nan Talese, one of the most important people in American publishing and Lous Auchincloss, a novelist of Manhattan’s elite. It is an interesting mission. However, the book is rather dry with excruciatingly presented details about the interviewees that do not add to a deeper understanding of Jackie: “He was wearing a brown suit. He asked me to come in.” I suppose that I have a better understanding of the struggles Jackie experienced as a celebrity and a woman and that she was not always cognizant of how her needs affected others, but I think that knowledge could have been gleaned with fewer words and unrelated details.½

The author, William Kuhn is an academic historian. He taught at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin for 15 years before turning to writing full time. Perhaps that explains why he includes so much detail in his book Jackie Stories: 1 A Boarding School Friend. The book is the first in a series of 8 books written about the relationship between Jackie and these 8 friends of hers. This book describes interviews with Nancy Tuckerman, Jackie's school age friend and assistant during her time in the White House and at the Doubleday Publishing Company. The book contains semi amusing anecdotes of their interviews and dull details about what clothes she wore and whether she drove or not to the interviews. It is a bit light on revelations about Jackie although it does draw a picture of Jackie's dependence on Nancy and her less than generous consideration of Nancy's life both during and after Jackie's death.½

These eight chapters about eight friends of Jackie Onassis were subtle yet interesting. They do not exactly define the woman she was but kind of filled in some of the blanks with background information. These interviews with her 'friends' if you can call them that were bittersweet and a bit sad. My take away from this book: I would not have liked Jackie Onassis. She was a manipulative spoiled snob. However I came to feel sorry for her, she never was able to gain the approval and appreciation from the academic/intellectual community she so desperately wanted to impress. Her desire was to be a talented, transformational editor, but she basically just edited coffee table books full of beautiful photography. That in itself is sad, she could have been so much more.

Definitely not what I anticipated. Was more about other people than Jackie in my opinion and not very informative or even interesting. I struggle to find anything in particular that I enjoyed about this book at all.

This was cute. Like other recent books that attempt to humanize the Queen (The Uncommon Reader), the author takes on an aloof story telling air (or maybe that's just a British literary thing?). It was a nice diversion, and an interesting thought experiment about what goes on inside the Queen's head.½

This volume by William Kuhn discusses Jacqueline's life after JFK and Onassis. Kuhn talks about Sarah Giles, an editor at Vanity Fair, Ruth Ansel, whom Jacqueline knew through photographer Peter Beard, and Rosamond Bernier, a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was an interesting look at Jacqueline from her time as a book editor and the connections and misconnections she made.

Interesting stories, good book to listen to. Only wish a man had narrated it, as the author is male. Enjoyed this!

Entertaining listen. It's as much about her friends, as it is Jackie. Good stories, an easy listen!

Very interesting book based on interviews the author conducted with Nancy Tuckerman, former White House Social Secretary in the Kennedy administration and boarding school friend of Jacqueline Kennedy. The book reads almost as a companion piece to Kuhn's Reading Jackie. Kuhn interviewed Tuckerman for his book about Jackie's time as a book editor. This book captures not only tidbits from Tuckerman's life but also includes Kuhn's research journey and process.

This one is much like the first one to me. Its not that it has bad information, its just that there really isn't much too it to actually paint a portrait of Jacky.