Task 6: Read a Biography (Not a Memoir or Autobiography)

[Book Riot]

This thread is for dropping ideas, questions, resources, comments, and discussion about Task 6: Read a Biography.

A few ideas to get you started:

http://bookriot.com/2015/09/29/4-biog...

http://bookriot.com/2014/12/18/favori...

http://bookriot.com/2014/10/18/women-...

http://bookriot.com/2014/12/08/buy-bo...

[Rainey]

I plan on reading The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

[Tatiana]

I could use some good ideas for this one. I was thinking of reading Steve Jobs but i'm not sure if that is considered a memoir...

[Allie]

Tatiana wrote: "I could use some good ideas for this one. I was thinking of reading Steve Jobs but i'm not sure if that is considered a memoir..."

The one by Walter Isaacson is a biography! A pretty hefty one, but it was an enjoyable read, especially if you are already an Apple die-hard/Steve Jobs fan (like I am).

I'm a little intimidated by it, but I really really liked the movie The Imitation Game, and wanted to read Alan Turing's biography (Alan Turing: The Enigma), but it's also kind of crazy long! I guess I needed this challenge to push me to do it...

[Leslie (updates on SG)]

I'm going to read Notorious RBG.

[Karena]

I'm reading Charles Dickens in Love.

[Tatiana]

Notorious RBG looks interesting.. I may read that one too!

[Cheryl]

I am going to read .

[Laura]

Rainey wrote: "I plan on reading The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo"

This one definitely grabbed my attention as I loved the 90s remake. Other choices include: Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis and Lincoln.

My boyfriend recommended that I read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but I'm not sure if it can be considered a biography. Does anyone know?

[Patricia]

My boyfriend recommended that I read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but I'm not sure if it can be considered a biography. Does anyone know?

I'd say go for it. I looked it up and it sounds very interesting. I may even chose it myself. :)

[Bea]

At home, we have several biographies of famous people - mostly presidents or other political figures. However, I found this one also and thought it might make for a change of pace for me: The Saga of Billy the Kid.

[Cheri]

Cheryl wrote: "I am going to read ."

This is a great book! I just recommended it in the nonfiction-book-about-science task.

[Robin P]

Patricia wrote: "My boyfriend recommended that I read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but I'm not sure if it can be considered a biography. Does anyone know?

I'd say go for it. I looked it up and it sounds very..."

It's definitely a memoir/autobiography since the person it is about wrote it (in this case dictated it). Depending on the edition, It might count for the book of 100 pages since it's pretty short.

[Laura]

Robin wrote: "Patricia wrote: "My boyfriend recommended that I read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but I'm not sure if it can be considered a biography. Does anyone know?

I'd say go for it. I looked it up a..."

Thought so. Thank you Robin! I seemed to have glossed over that category--as it's so short (terrible joke, I know)!

[Ollie Z]

Finally going to cross John Adams by David McCullough off my TBR!

[Bea]

Jeni wrote: "Finally going to cross John Adams by David McCullough off my TBR!"

Jeni, I read that one this year for another group. Very interesting! I will definitely try another David McCullough book in the future.

[[deleted user]]

I'll probably read the biography of a musician or band - I have Phillip Norman's "Shout: The True Story of the Beatles", but I'm eager to read a Bowie bio with all the excitement of a new album in January!

[Kathryn]

I read quite a few bios a year, but I'm putting down Groucho Marx: The Comedy of Existence if I can get a copy.

[Sean]

The recommendations at the top of this thread may well come in handy. I've given myself the additional restriction of reading a biography of someone who isn't a well-known white man and I've had a hard time choosing. Someone recommended Toussaint Louverture: A Biography, but I haven't been able to find a copy through my library and I'm desperately trying to not spend a ton of money on books this year (shyeah, good luck), so I'm considering both Ida: A Sword Among Lions and Virginia Woolf: A Biography if I can't pick up the Toussaint Louverture bio through ILL.

[Rainey]

Leftmost wrote: "The recommendations at the top of this thread may well come in handy. I've given myself the additional restriction of reading a biography of someone who isn't a well-known white man....

This is my pick that you might find it at your library. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

[Tammi]

Really looking forward to this one as it's probably the most out of my comfort zone! I'm choosing Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by Anita Anand.

[Robin P]

The Black Count is excellent, reads like a swashbuckler while giving some insight on the times

[Sean]

Rainey wrote: "This is my pick that you might find it at your library. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo"

Thanks for pointing this out! I had seen it mentioned (and seen it at the library!), but I hadn't been aware that he was a person of color. (In retrospect, the title sort of spells it out.)

[Shirley]

For a great bio on non white male I loved frida by Hayden Herrera., I also loved henrietta lacks
I'm thinking either a biography on collete, Jean Rhys , Madame sadako , Patricia highsmith or one called spy princess by sharbani basu. All have been either on my shelf or my kindle for a while

[Martha]

If I can get this from a local library, I'd like to read Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin.

[Bianca]

Rainey wrote: "I plan on reading The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo"

That is a great book, you will enjoy it.

[[deleted user]]

I'm going to go with Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter because I had it on my general shelf. I don't have any deep interest in the Kennedy family so I wasn't even aware she existed until I heard about the book.

[Karen]

I've been meaning to read "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
by Daniel James Brown" ....

[Thegirlintheafternoon]

I'm going to read Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard. I think I'll start the year with this one, actually.

[Kai]

I'm reading The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, the Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick, and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Feats of Genius about Thomas Young for this one. I'm a scientist/engineer, and this guy has popped up in so many of my classes it's amazing. Can't wait to read it and learn more about him.

[Megnews]

I have been reading through short biographies of the presidents with my kids, but I don't generally read biographies on my own. I'm excited about this task though and having trouble choosing between An Illuminated Life: Bella de Costa Green, Wrapped in Rainbows: Life of Zora Neale Hurston, and Ida: A Sword Among Lions.

[Martha]

Those are three I noted, too. I got Wrapped in Rainbows and Ida: A Sword Among Lions at the library. Both are long, but the little I've read has me wanting to finish both of them.

[Karin]

I am not sure yet, I might do a presidential biography like Alexander Hamilton or Washington: A Life, or W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919. This is also on the shelves here at my homeJames Madison and the Making of America

[Denise]

I finally got Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption from my library (I had been on the hold list for a while). Looks like I'll make this my biography book.

[Kate]

My shortlist:
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Alan Turing: The Enigma
Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

[Rokkan]

My choice: Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century

[Monica]

I have 3 on my 2016 to-read list:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever by Reed Albergotti
Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

[Bobby]

I have several biographies I have been wanting to read, but most of them are very long and detailed, so I am planning to go with a relatively short one: Tennyson by Peter Levi.

If I have time I may try to finish one of these tomes:

John Adams by David McCullough
Shakespeare: A Life by Park Honan
Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann

[Carolyn]

I'm thinking about The Talented Miss Highsmith or The Notorious RGB

[Jay Kay]

I'm thinking of Karen Abbott's Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War, but I'm not sure if it counts, as it tells the true stories of 4 women's lives. Anyone?

[Karen]

Liar, temptress, soldier, spy by Karen Abbott is the one you're looking for. I really enjoyed it.

[Jay Kay]

Karen wrote: "Liar, temptress, soldier, spy by Karen Abbott is the one you're looking for. I really enjoyed it."

Thanks Karen! I changed my comment when I found it via Google, but I'm still not sure if it will do for the bio task. Do you think so?

[Dee]

Jay Kay wrote: "Does anyone listen to the All The Books podcast? There was an episode in which Rebecca reviewed a book of four bios of four radical women in the US civil war. I'm trying to find the title and I can..."

I listen to all All the Books. I also moderate a group where I collect all the recs from All the Books and the other Book Riot podcasts. It's call All the Book Riots Recs.

It sounds like the book you're referring to is Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.

[Karen]

I think it will work.....

[Dee]

Jay Kay wrote: "Karen wrote: "Liar, temptress, soldier, spy by Karen Abbott is the one you're looking for. I really enjoyed it."

Thanks Karen! I changed my comment when I found it via Google, but I'm still not su..."

It may work, but it's a little iffy because I believe Abbott fills in some of the blanks with fiction. It would definitely work for historical fiction set before 1900, though.

[Daena]

This one has been sitting for a while, Cleopatra: A Life.

[Rainey]

Daena wrote: "This one has been sitting for a while, Cleopatra: A Life." ohh I have this one as well.

[Astrid]

Thinking of going with Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

[Eva]

I am reading The Wright Brothers.

[Kathy]

Years ago I read books by May Sarton, which I enjoyed. There's a biography of her, May Sarton: A Biography by Margot Peters that I'll read for this task.