Literary Hot Goss

englishpete's profile picture englishpete Host

4 participants (111 books)

01 Jan 2025—31 Dec 2025

Overview

Read books throughout the year related to the personal lives of famous writers. As sophisticated  or trashy as you prefer. Range of books can include biographies/autobiographies, memoirs, semi-autobiographical elements found in their fiction, author’s private journals, essays, letter collections, travelogues, etc. 

Challenge Books

All books added
Love Letters: Vita and Virginia by Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West

Love Letters: Vita and Virginia

Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West

280 pages • first pub 1984 (editions)

nonfiction biography lgbtqia+ emotional reflective medium-paced
Andre and Oscar: The Literary Friendship of Andre Gide and Oscar Wilde by Jonathan Fryer

Andre and Oscar: The Literary Friendship of Andre Gide and Oscar Wilde

Jonathan Fryer

268 pages • first pub 1997 (editions)

nonfiction biography lgbtqia+ informative medium-paced
Catholic Literary Giants: A Field Guide to the Catholic Literary Landscape by Joseph Pearce

Catholic Literary Giants: A Field Guide to the Catholic Literary Landscape

Joseph Pearce

425 pages • first pub 2005 (editions)

nonfiction religion challenging informative slow-paced
Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961 by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961

Ernest Hemingway

976 pages • first pub 1981 (editions)

nonfiction memoir emotional medium-paced
The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants by Alexandra Popoff

The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants

Alexandra Popoff

352 pages • first pub 2012 (editions)

nonfiction biography history informative slow-paced
The Book of Awesome Women Writers: Medieval Mystics, Pioneering Poets, Fierce Feminists and First Ladies of Literature by Becca Anderson

The Book of Awesome Women Writers: Medieval Mystics, Pioneering Poets, Fierce Feminists and First Ladies of Literature

Becca Anderson

336 pages • first pub 2020 (editions)

nonfiction feminism reference challenging informative inspiring medium-paced
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

Simon Winchester

237 pages • first pub 1998 (editions)

nonfiction biography history reference informative slow-paced
Writing Away the Stigma: Ten Courageous Writers Tell True Stories About Depression, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, OCD, PTSD & more by Lee Gutkind

Writing Away the Stigma: Ten Courageous Writers Tell True Stories About Depression, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, OCD, PTSD & more

Lee Gutkind

96 pages • missing pub info (editions)

nonfiction classics essays literary
Literary Legacies of the Federal Writers' Project: Voices of the Depression in the American Postwar Era by Sara Rutkowski

Literary Legacies of the Federal Writers' Project: Voices of the Depression in the American Postwar Era

American Literature Readings in the 21st Century

Sara Rutkowski

110 pages • missing pub info (editions)

nonfiction classics literary medium-paced
The Black Cultural Front: Black Writers and Artists of the Depression Generation by Brian Dolinar

The Black Cultural Front: Black Writers and Artists of the Depression Generation

Brian Dolinar

missing page info • first pub 2012 (editions)

challenging informative reflective medium-paced