"Everybody's Autobiography" by Gertrude Stein and "What Is Remembered" by Alice B. Toklas

Everybody's Autobiography is the second volume of memoirs by Gertrude Stein. The first is The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. I do not agree with some things that she wrote about some writers and artists. Some of her statements seem to have been written more for effect than to express a real views.Her writing is entertaining though. I wonder if she really thought that she was the most important writer of her time as she stated in this book. This book centers around a lecture tour throughout the USA. It is interesting to read about things that are mostly forgotten today, like nut stores or what she called "ten cent stores." He wrote about something she referred to as a camel pen, a pen into which one put water in order to write with ink. She did not give details about how this happened, but there must have been some form of powder or concentrated ink in the pen. She would have been an interesting person to meet. Of course she did not speak in the same way that she wrote. Some people seemed to be surprised by this for some reason. She did know a lot of interesting authors and artists. I am going to reread The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas soon.

What Is Remembered is a book of memoirs by Alice B. Toklas. She and Gertrude Stein were together for about forty years. While Gertrude Stein was alive she seemed to stay mainly in the background typing Stein's manuscripts and later publishing her works that were refused by publishers. She was not without influence concerning who was allowed to remain close to them. She published this book and two cookbooks after Gertrude Stein's death. She was not happy at all with one of the cookbooks. A book of her letters to various people was published after her death. This book shows some of the influence of Gertrude Stein, but Alice Toklas wit and wonderful way with words shine through. In reading these two books it is interesting to see their views of the American lecture tour.

Both of these books are entertaining books, and I may reread both of them again sometime.