Joan's Picks: Learned by Heart and Scattershot

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue, author of Room. Eliza Raines and Anne Lister met at boarding school when they were 14 years old, in 1805, and embarked on an intimate friendship, pledging undying love. It becomes apparent that true love did not survive through a series of letters written by Eliza to her friend some ten years later, when it’s clear that she’s in torment and her life has unravelled. These were real women – Anne Lister went on to become a famous diarist and the author has used those diaries to reconstruct the events of those years in what is a delicate, brilliant and utterly heart breaking piece of history. 

Scattershot by Bernie Taupin - the guy who wrote all the lyrics for Elton John’s music. He always flew under the radar, never wanted to have a profile for himself or the fame and glory - but certainly lived the rock n roll lifestyle and has loads of great stories and anecdotes. Interestingly, he doesn’t write much about the making of the lyrics or about his own really personal stuff - refers to a series of wives almost obliquely - but there are a lot of famous names and drugs and parties and good times. 

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