Reading about Anne Rice's new book Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession in this months GR newsletter got me to thinking about this genre. It's one I haven't delved too deeply into. When I was going through my Elvis craze, I did read several books about him, my favorite being Pricilla's. And I think I would like to read this one by Anne Rice.

So do you enjoy this genre? And if so, what types of people do you like to read about...world leaders, musicians, celebs, unknowns, etc.

Who are some of the most interesting people you've read about?

*Lori - I hope this is in the right folder!

Heather,

I seem to be going through a bio/memoir type kick lately. I just finished the memoir by Lynne Spears (mom of Britney Spears) and A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs. He is an awesome writer and I highly recommend him...but start with Running with Scissors.

I am also waiting for Eat, Pray, Love and Kitchen Confidential to come in the mail. I will let you know how those go...

I haven't really read much but I want to read more.

I've read Claire Tomalin's biography of Samuel Pepys which is very interesting. He's a fellow from the 17th Century who kept a very detailed diary during the years of 1660-1669 and a not so detailed one afterwards due to poor eyesight. Very interesting diaries, but the biography is also very good.

I've also read Tomalin's bio of Jane Austen. Considering there is so little info on JA, it's a very detailed and intimate book. I love CT's style - she makes you feel as if you know them.

I want to read Antonia Fraser's book on Charles II.

I read the biography of Lady Diana by her very close friend Paul Burrell. It was a great read.

Psst... Heather, you are ok posting here!
I swear, my OCD frightens some of you... I feel so awful... (well, ok, not SOOO awful...) you know what i mean :)

I have only read Child Called It- which is a true story about the horrors that poor man lived through as a young child. I cant handle memiors well... and autobiographies just never caught my attn, so i cant offer too much feedback myself.

I read all of Jen Lancaster's memoirs... they are so damn funny!

Also read Stephanie Klein's Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp and Straight Up and Dirty

Come back- about a teenage daughter and her mother stuggling with her daughter's addiction.

Chelsea Handler- Are you there God, its me Vodka and My Horizontal Life

Augusten Burroughs- Running with Scissors and Possible Side Effects

A Child Called It, Lost Boy, and A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer

His Bright Life:Story of Nick Traina by Danielle Steel

Carrie Fischer - Postcards from the Edge. It was just rereleased two weeks ago.


Dewey the Library Cat - such a sweet story, I totally cried


The Soloist by Steve Lopez. This is a really good story, the reader gets insight into Skid Row and a look at the mind of a schizophrenic. The movie will be out this month.

Okay, it's my turn to plug Marley and Me in one more place!! :)

I also loved A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel, it's very funny!

This is one of my favorite genres.

First and foremost I must mention Audition by Barbara Walters. One of my favorites of this year and all time.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali was fantastic!

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls was fascinating.

A surprisingly good autobiography was The Dirt by Motley Crew

I love biographies and autobiographies.

Some of my favorites are ones about the presidents and/or first ladies. I just finished reading, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages that Shaped Our Recent History which was fantastic. Another good book about presidential families is All the President's Children.

Some other books in this genre I have enjoyed:
Love, Lucy, Lucille Ball's autobiography
The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of Vivian Vance
Angela's Ashes
Melissa Mueller's biography of Anne Frank

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel is on my to-read shelf. I know her story already, and just hearing her tell it is a nail-biter. She's led one hell of a life.

My favorite autobiography is If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell. Bruce Campbell, for those who don't know, is the star of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy. He's also appeared in movies like The Hudsucker Proxy, Bubba Ho-Tep, Sky High, and Spiderman 2 (he played the usher who wouldn't let Peter in to see MJ's play because the curtain had already gone up). The book, in Bruce's own words, charts his legendary rise to the middle. He's incredibly funny and it's really interesting to hear all his stories from various movie and TV shows throughout his career. The paperback version even has an extra chapter about his fans and what it's like to interact with them at various horror movie/sci fi/comic/various geekish cons. If ever there was a book for aspiring actors to read, it would be this one.

Do I sound like a shill? Yeah. But that's how much I enjoyed this book. :)

I enjoyed Lucky by Alice Sebold. I've also got a bunch of books on my TBR list about Audrey Hepburn and Jane Austen. Otherwise, I haven't read much from this genre.

I don't read much of this genre either. Which is really odd, because when I looked through my shelves, I see that I've loved all the ones I've read.

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy. I married into a Cuban family. I was curious. Very very good, but it got a little too political for me at the end. But it seems to be hard to talk about Cuba without talking politics.

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books I enjoyed reading about how even though our lifestyles are different, we're all alot alike once you get past that. I think I've phrased that badly, but I hope you see what I'm trying to say.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Again, I was curious. It's nice to feel like I know at least a little something about the man we've just elected president.

The Hiding Place A Christian woman who survived the concentration camps. Inspirational and fascinating.

I have Angela's Ashes and The Glass Castle at home on/around the nightstand. A co-worker informed me that I had to read The Glass Castle and shoved it at me. I've been a little hesitant about it, so I'm glad to see you liked it, Kellie. I just realized that it was a Kelly who gave it to me in the first place! Maybe it's the name... :-)

I have read many biographies and a few autobiographies. Usually I get interested in an era in history and read about the people that lived then. Usually, it is the biography of world leaders of the time. So I read about George Washington, John and Abigail Adams, The Tudors of England.

The Glass Castle is eye opening. You won't be disappointed!!

I thought of a couple more.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. She writes about her friend Luch Greely

AND

Autobiography of a Face-by Lucy Greely. Her story in her own words.

Both are very good.

Biography is also one of my favorite genres. I like to read about world leaders, business leaders, military heroes and anyone who has done something important. You can learn so much from these people.

Okay, I'm gonna give my two cents here (if it's even worth that...). There are certain types of biographies I like, but I think I have to like the person about whom it is written. I loved Stephen King's book On Writing. The first 3rd is his mini-autobiography, the middle third is about becoming a good writer, and the last 3rd is about his accident in 2000 (or was it 2001).

One thing I have found I don't like is memoirs that are written by nobodies that make them famous. I liked Tim Allen's and Steve Martin's, but HATED Running with Scissors and The Glass Castle (couldn't finish either and just felt incredulous when reading them).

I have also tried I Was Told There'd Be Cake and Me Talk Pretty One Day, but felt "ho-hum" about both.

For me, I think biography/memoirs serve to introduce me to "the other side" of famous people. If you're not famous, I'm seeing "your only side" and it's usually not entertaining to me. If it's supposed to serve to teach human-kind (aka-A Child Called It) maybe I'd feel differently.

I know this is just my opinion, but I feel like I've given the memoirs genre the "old college try" and it hasn't worked for me.

But, I'm reading more and more non-fiction, and feel like I've found the style I do like, so there's hope for me yet.

Leppaluoto-

Thanks! David McCullough will be the next new author on my TBR

JG, I thought the Hiding Place was fantastic. It's nice to know there are others out there who have read it.

I also read Dreams from My Father and the Audacity of Hope, The Glass Castle and am listening to Audition.

Winning Ganar|5562]

I Give You Oscar Wilde

David McCullough is a great author, good choice.

I just finished Rockabye: A Young Mom's Journey from Wild to Child by Rebecca Woolf. I loved it, even though I usually don't like this genre. She was just so easy to relate to. I follow her blog and she's very funny and real.

Okay, I'm gonna plug Three Cups of Tea again here too! Maybe not the most fantastically written biography, but certainly one of the most amazing stories of an incredible man who persevered and made some serious changes in the world! The book will change you!!

I'm really enjoying reading everyone's posts! There have been a lot of great books mentioned and I look forward to checking into the ones I'm not familiar with.

It's fun to see the different tastes that we all have in this particular genre!

I'm going to add one to the list:

The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts -- the entire book is comprised of interviews with friends, family and colleagues, so it is very broken up, but I feel you get the true story of Chris Farley that way.

I can recommend David McCullough unreservedly - his biographies, like his histories, are excellent.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln is an excellent biography of Lincoln as president.

And I've enjoyed James Thurber's My Life and Hard Times ever since I was a child. It was "The Dog That Bit People" that got me hooked, I think, on Thurber generally.

Hey Ken
Don't forget that one you read about Janis Ian....You seemed to like that one.

I read 1776 by McCullough. It was OK. It was kinda boring....

David McCullough - good stuff, just started reading his work/listening to them on disc - so far, very good.
Any interviews with Lucifer? Milton & Mark Twain did a good job on him with their works - any suggestions?

Have you read the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis? It's an interesting take on Satan himself.

I wanna read Three Little Words a memior and Her Last Death a memior they both look rllly good. Im going to the booksellers tomorrow to see if i can get some new books, you guys have any recomendations?

Of the three, I lean towards memoirs, and I'd second the Augusten Burroughs recommendation.


Also Craig Thompson's graphic novel Blankets, which is semi-autobiographical, I believe, and a very moving story.

Awesome, ive heard of Augesten Burroughs, and i want to read that book by his older brother who has aspurgers syndrome

I wasn't aware of such a book. Do you remember the title?

I think it was called look me in the eye

by John Elder

I like bios, autobios, memoirs (is there a diff between an autobio and a memoir, or just two words for the same thing?)

Bunch of years ago read "Postcard from the Edge" and Finding Fish: A Memoir, both of which I liked, even though they are completely different approaches to the genre. Also read a few things by Gore Vidal, but it was during the period of my life when I don't remember anything (nothing serious, just lack of sleep from new motherhood...) and I have the vague idea that I didn't like his style overly much, but I couldn't possibly tell you why.

I have Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird" coming in my box from Amazon, and will let you know.

Julianne, I think I have the exact opposite viewpoint than you! I really enjoy autobiographies and memoirs by people who are NOT famous. I don't care for the ones by famous people at all. The nonfamous ones give me interesting insight into how different people think and live...makes me more sympathetic towards the people around me knowing how different their lives could be.

I am listening to The Glass Castle right now and reading Books by Larry McMurtry. Have to run right now...I'll see about posting some of my favorites later tonight.

Can anyone recommend me any good like... biographers. I don't care who they write their biography of. I like Claire Tomalin and will probably read anything by her whether I'm initially interested in the subject or not.

There's Antonia Fraser - is she any good? I have two books on hers, one a bio of King Charles II and another on women called The Weaker Vessel. I know she's written one about Cromwell too...

Ron Chernow has to be the best biographer. He is so detailed that you feel like you have attended a full year of college about the person when you finish his books.

Michelle, I have A Girl Named Zippy and its sequel, She Got Up Off the Couch on my shelf to read. I don't know why I haven't gotten around to Zippy yet. I'm putting it on my short list. Also, I will have to read Marley and Me.

I hope this doesn't sound like self -promotion , but a lot of people feel my collection, Half-Past Nowhere is a literary memoir.It certainly covers an important part of my life, and is interesting,I believe ,not because I'm famous(I'm not--Yet), but because the experiences are so universal.I'm not very proud of quite a few of them.

I hope I am not out of line.
Best.

I enjoy this genre when something catches my eye. I'm reading (as I said above) the Brooke Shields book now. One that has really stuck with me all these years was called "Bear's Embrace" Patricia Van Tighem. Very tragic story of Patricia and her husband hiking in Canada and they are attacked by a grizzly. She is in worse shape than her husband but it tells of the journey to recovery although she never fully recovers. She is riddled with terrible pain throughout the rest of her life, had a disfigurement to her face and she started a group for people with facial disfigurements.

It was in the paper maybe 2 years ago that she had killed herself. Very tragic story.

I'm about to read Steve and Me by Terri Irwin - the crocodile hunter guy who died tragically last year. It's for a book group, and I can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but I'll give it a go. I generally like biogs of famous people ... but not keen on the 'tragedy' memoir type book, though sometimes I am in the mood for one.

Go ahead and promote, Joseph! It sounds interesting!!

Some of the best memoirs are the ones by people you haven't ever heard of. Then you don't know what to expect. That's why I liked Zippy so much.

That's very sad Paula. But reminds me of Aaron Ralston, did I get that name right? The guy who cut off his arm that was stuck in a rock? Very powerful story!

Yeah, Aron Ralston, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, excellent!

Ooh I remember reading about him in the paper! I didn't know he'd written book. I'll have to add that one to the pile!

You'll have to let us know about the croc hunter book. I'm not sure I'd read that one either, but maybe it'll be really good!

A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar (I never saw the flick, read the book a couple of years before it came out, loved it)
Einstein's Cosmos by Michio Kaku
Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath by Ann Stevenson
John Adams by David McCullough
Six Wives : The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey
Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore by Bettany Hughes

Oooo iIl check those out. I really love sad memiors, do you guys have any suggestions?

I like biographies about Marilyn Monroe.
The autobiorgraphies MY life by Bill clinton was very good. Also I think the last one by Hillary clinton, something like living the history. The one madeleine Albright wrote was really interesting, Madame the minister.
queen Noor her autobiography was very interesting too.