3.77 avg rating — 101,866 ratings

"This is an unflinching, candid memoir about sexual assault. "

3.92 avg rating — 14,353 ratings

"This was a wonderful read. Most of the sisters ended up being successful writers, so this book belongs on this list. The main complaint I have is that Pam is hardly ever mentioned."

3.76 avg rating — 4,220 ratings

"Her memoir is more about being a widow than retelling much of her life with her husband. It was a very candid look at grief."

3.89 avg rating — 127 ratings

"JCO is a surprisingly uninteresting person except for the volume of words she puts out. I suppose that somehow makes this biography all the more interesting."

3.82 avg rating — 10,434 ratings

"I don't think it's very well known that she was a writer. I tried reading her work but didn't get very far."

4.13 avg rating — 617 ratings

"This was a very good biography - I have a feeling Deirdra Bair was quite upset when Simone's letters surfaced after this book was published; with Simone as her main original source, it's difficult to tell how much of this is true."

4.07 avg rating — 564 ratings

"One of my favorite memoirs! This was a truly fascinating read! Seeing America in the late '40s through her eyes was a refreshing way to read history."

3.83 avg rating — 809 ratings

"This is half depressing memoir and half Q&A."

4.06 avg rating — 14,522 ratings

"This was a very moving memoir of the last days of her mother's life ... an almost excruciating read for such a short book."

4.14 avg rating — 185 ratings

"I don't like love stories but this one was phenomenal! - I believe I read it within a few days."

3.73 avg rating — 52 ratings

"Benstock has a very engaging writing style. This is the first EW biography I've read and I'm looking forward to reading more."

4.21 avg rating — 245 ratings

"This was a splendid biography! It was chock full of detail."

3.77 avg rating — 1,839 ratings

"BB knew AR very well. This was fascinating to read, but I preferred her ex husband's memoir."

3.87 avg rating — 1,146 ratings

"This a truly wonderful biography! It was impossible not to read this without having her Collected Poems and "Johnny Panic ..." within reach. It's easier to understand and appreciate a lot of her writings after having read this biography. "

4.05 avg rating — 3,306 ratings

"This is basically a biography of all of the biographies written about Sylvia Plath up to the date of this book's publication. It was quite interesting."

3.97 avg rating — 952 ratings

"It is amazing the similarities Assia and Sylvia ended up having. This was a very good book that didn't paint Assia as the villain many people think her to be. (I believe she was a poet, so technically, she's allowed on the list.)"

4.23 avg rating — 665 ratings

"I never got into McCullers' fiction and now I know why. She was a perpetual childish adolescent who happened to live a semi-tragic life. Carr detailed Carson's life excruciatingly but it was still mostly readable."

3.97 avg rating — 1,176 ratings

"This is a very moving biography of what it's like to grow up with a mentally ill mother ... and what it's like to subconsciously maintain the death watch once you pass into adulthood."

3.85 avg rating — 1,615 ratings

"I was disappointed with this biography. I felt it was around 3/5 what was already written in the Brandens' memoir and biography; 1/5 synopses of her fiction and their public/critical receptions; 1/5 information that was new to me."

3.97 avg rating — 1,668 ratings

"I read this as an antidote to McCullers' biography and was glad I did. I disliked Flannery's novels so much I couldn't finish them, but I enjoyed reading about her life; I ended up reading her collected stories in conjunction."

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 563 ratings

"Shirley Jackson is the type of person I would love to have been friends with. Her life seems to have been a long stream of dichotomies that ended with her early death. This is one of the first biographies I've read that didn't go into great detail about the author's works."

4.03 avg rating — 884 ratings

"Very readable - reading this to '40s music adds a certain ambiance ..."

3.80 avg rating — 373 ratings

"This a fascinating read: you get a look into how Highsmith was in her relationships (at least the earlier ones) and lesbianism in the '50s."

3.91 avg rating — 758 ratings

"Reading this made me seriously think about learning French and going to France. The only criticism I have is that I would have liked to have read more about her relationship with her husband."

3.68 avg rating — 387 ratings

"Snippets of her experiences with death - even if it was just a newspaper article."

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 196 ratings

"I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. She has a way of phrasing things that is simply wonderful!"

3.92 avg rating — 213 ratings

"This was a fabulous read! She really did live the life of some of the characters that she wrote about."

3.80 avg rating — 10 ratings

"He was very honest (I'm assuming) and didn't skip/skim over things that put him in a really unfavorable light. "

4.03 avg rating — 5,354 ratings

3.69 avg rating — 2,608 ratings