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A Thousand Threads
A Thousand Threads: A Memoir | Neneh Cherry
6 posts | 6 read | 7 to read
*Named a Most Anticipated Book by New York magazine, The Associated Press, Town and Country, The Guardian, The BBC, and more* A vibrant memoir from Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry who shares an inside look at her fascinating career and globe-traversing journeys in a life of love and music. Born in Sweden in 1964, Neneh Cherrys father Ahmadu was a musician from Sierra Leone. Her mother, Moki, was a twenty-one-year-old Swedish textile artist. Her parents split up just after Neneh was born, and not long afterwards Moki met and fell in love with acclaimed jazz musician Don Cherry. Eventually, the strong pull New York City in the 1970s drew him them there, but they made a home wherever they traveled. Neneh and her brother Eagle-Eye experienced a life of creativity, freedom, and, of course, music. In A Thousand Threads, Neneh takes readers from the charming old schoolhouse in the woods of Sweden where she grew up, to the village in Sierra Leone that was birthplace of her biological father, to the early punk scene in London and New York, to finding her identity with her stepfathers family in Watts, California. Neneh has lived an extraordinary life of connectivity and creativity and she recounts in intimate detail how she burst onto the scene as a teenager in the punk band The Slits, and went on to release her first album in 1989 with a worldwide hit single Buffalo Stance. Nenehs inspiring and deeply compelling memoir both celebrates female empowerment and shines a light on the global music sceneand is perfect for anyone interested in the artistic life in all its forms.
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review
ChaoticMissAdventures
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Pickpick

Women's Prize nonfiction long list

I enjoyed this! It was a quick read, Cherry is an empathetic and understanding person. I love that her whole family and everyone in her orbit are true artists. I appreciate how she can see people's flaws and love them anyways
I thought she was a good storyteller, she reiterated issues she found important but always kept the story pushing forward
I honestly thought Eagle -Eye Cherry was a band name...
3.75/5

BarbaraBB I know little about her (and honestly am not that interested) but I love her song Woman! 6d
LeeRHarry Buffalo Stance was my anthem when I was 17/18 😆 6d
ChaoticMissAdventures @BarbaraBB I just approached this as a biography of artists. The whole family is very bohemian and you can tell pretty cool people, I didn't recognize her name when I saw the book but like @LeeRHarry Buffalo Stance was a vivid memory. What a song! 6d
42 likes3 comments
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ChaoticMissAdventures
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“If everything was amazing all of the time, I think we‘d all be speechless, and if you make that your starting point for creativity, you‘re going nowhere.”

I thought this was such an interesting take about creativity. About how you have to have downtime and sometimes some things that are not amazing are just as important as amazing things.

#WPNF25 Also I love this cover of her as a babe so cute!

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fredthemoose
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It took a long time for me to get into this—she spent a long time on her childhood and to me that part got bogged down a bit, but once she got to adolescence and adulthood and had more agency in her path and decisions it got more interesting. She seems wise and understanding and like a powerful matriarch, but also doesn‘t shy away from her imperfections. Ended up as a pick from #WPNF25.

Chelsea.Poole I just started this one today. So far so good, and glad to hear it gets better as it goes. 6d
48 likes1 comment
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youneverarrived
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Pickpick

I didn‘t know anything about Neneh but this was such a compelling listen. I loved hearing about her childhood in Sweden and all of her life experiences. The main thing that shone through was her love of/from her family. She comes across as very perceptive and I relate to the way she speaks about her children. I just wanted to keep listening 🩷 #wpnf25

squirrelbrain Loved this one! (Great pic too) 2w
andrew61 Great review so will try and read this one. 2w
youneverarrived @squirrelbrain I found it inspiring! 1w
youneverarrived @andrew61 it‘s good 👍 I hope you like it if you read it, it‘s got mixed reviews on here but I loved it. 1w
45 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Hooked_on_books
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Bailedbailed

From my perspective, Neneh Cherry is a one-hit wonder and I wasn‘t terribly interested in her story. But I tried since this book is part of #WPNF25, and I‘m afraid this just isn‘t for me. I made it about halfway through and it‘s just not holding my interest. I don‘t know why it was included on the longlist.

squirrelbrain Oh no! I loved this - I thought she‘d had such a fascinating, unusual life. 4w
Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain I think part of the issue is she spent a ton of time on her childhood and I‘m just not interested in childhood memoir. There are so many universals to the childhood experience that I‘m just bored by the recounting of it. So that made me tune out and I couldn‘t get back into it. 4w
fredthemoose I‘m struggling a bit with this now. It‘s fine, but I have no problem turning it off and picking up something else. It is heavy on the childhood background… 3w
Hooked_on_books @fredthemoose Glad it‘s not just me! 3w
50 likes4 comments
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TheKidUpstairs
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Pickpick

I knew next to nothing about Cherry going into this. I knew Buffalo Stance, and had a vague idea she was Swedish, but that's it. I started listening because it was long listed for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, and quickly fell in love with Cherry's voice, both as narrator and the poetic tones of her writing. This is a celebration of creativity, love, and families both born and made. Cont'd in comments

TheKidUpstairs Of cross cultural expression, of New York, London, Sweden, Sierra Leone, and Spain. Of food and music and art and the way they can be used to create community. Of all the beautiful, creative, life affirming people she has met and worked with (and there are SO SO many, coming into her life in such varied, interesting ways) cont'd 👇 1mo
TheKidUpstairs Cherry has also faced the darkness of the world, and she doesn't shy away from stories of addiction, racism, violence, and the AIDS Crisis. But as she says, "I know a story can contain some dark threads, without them dulling the brighter colours" 1mo
TheKidUpstairs I highly recommend this one, especially the audio, if you can. #wpnf25 1mo
See All 8 Comments
TheBookHippie I love her. 1mo
squirrelbrain Fabulous review! I‘m about 2/3 of the way through and I ❤️❤️❤️ it! 1mo
Amor4Libros This sounds great, stacked! 1mo
Chelsea.Poole Another to look forward to! Great review! I hope to get the audio soon/next month. 1mo
youneverarrived Great review 🤍 it‘s very inspiring - I‘m just over halfway through. (edited) 1mo
73 likes4 stack adds8 comments