Are there any good biographies/memoirs that you guys would recommend?
Hey book club! Are there any good biographies/memoirs that you guys would recommend? I’m having a hard time finding one that’s interesting
98 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
Graham Moore’s Last Day of Night. Fascinating story of Westinghouse, Telsa, and Edison and electricity. Sounds dry but definitely is not!
Angela’s Ashes, Glass Castle
Both great.
Fearless by Eric Blehm. LOVED that book.
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Boys in the boat
Choice of weapons
Henrietta Lacks
Devil in the White City
I’m always recommending Boys in the Boat, just loved it! I also very much enjoyed John F. Ross’s Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed, a fascinating story about a man of many talents.
Denise Levertov: A Poet’s Life by Dana Greene / Life by Keith Richards
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming. Funny and heartbreaking and narrated by the author.
An audio book read by Allan would be incredible!
Have you read Memories of a Geisha? The bio of SteveJobs was interesting to me.
The Purple Diaries about Mary Astor has been good.
Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. It’s sort of his memoir on running and also his book on writing and his voice is like a breath of fresh air.
Love girl, interrupted
Loving Eleanor
Loving Frank
Seems loving in the title is a hint for a good book
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White
Unbroken about Louis zamparini survival in the pacific and then captured. The movie did not do this riviting book justice. Enjoy.
If you’re into music, I highly recommend Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also anything by Chuck Klostermann. His books are kind of memoir, kind of opinion, but I love them
1971-Never a Dull Moment is great for music lovers as well
I found Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen to be very interesting, and very well written.
I so want to get that one, thanks for reminding
It’s in my stash. Thanks for the vote of confiance!
It’s fabulous!
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Very good.
Hunger by Roxanne Gay
I just read that, in some ways it felt like sitting in her therapist’s office. Like “important” but not necessarily “entertaining” if you know what I mean.
I’m currently reading Believe Me by Eddie Izzard & am really enjoying it. Born A Crime by Trevor Noah was also terrific. Both are funny, touching and well-written.
I dislike this genre. A lot. However, I thought Life After Death by Damien Echols was very good.
“Harpo speaks” is wonderful
Read biography of Nelson Mandela.
I really enjoyed Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe.
One of my favorites!
I liked Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Scrappy Little Nobody – Anna Kendrick
I’ve heard wonderful things about Lab Girl by Hope Jahren but I haven’t read it yet. It’s on my to read list
Born a crime
All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg…it’s a good one!
Excellent. Loved it.
Glass Castls by Jeanette walls
Let’s Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.
The Glass Castle and Love Warrior
Open by Andre Agassi
Coming of Age in Mississippi is a personal favorite.
I am not a silent movie fan or really a Clara Bow fan, but a friend is and he bought this for me so I read it. Have to say I did enjoy it. I learned a lot about the early film industry in addition to how wild she really was and her “down fall”
Ellman’s biographies of Oscar Wilde and James Joyce are both excellent
An hour before daylight by Jimmy Carter.
Empty Mansions is fascinating, about a strange heiress in NYC (and the Nook version is on sale today; that’s what made me think of it).
The Maya Angelou collection of autobiographies got me through a lot. If she can come back from being a prostitute I can get over my hang ups as well.
Just Kids by Patti Smith was good
My Life in France by Julia Child is Sooo happy and fun
A Lucky Child — he lived through auschwitz as a boy. Still alive today actually!
Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2127114531
The unedited – Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was way more interesting and hopeful than I expected. All the sadder that she didn’t live but she was full of life while she did.
Catch a Fire the life of Bob Marley … Great writing style. Big picture view of Jamaica and reggae and the music scene of the times and Bobs history and life all tied into the socioeconomic framework of the times.
I enjoyed Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller; One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty; The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan. All are about interesting women in very different circumstances.
I Loved Prize Winner!
Ordinary Extraordinary People
I liked this one. Japanese internment survivor. Really good writer.
Only pirate at yhe party by lindsey sterling
This looks good
So good! I listened to rhe audiobook which she also narrated and was well worth the time
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
“Grant” by Ron Chernow.
Assata by Assata Shakur Beautifully written a modern day revolutionary currently living in exile in Cuba and still on the FBI’s most wanted list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100322.Assata?from_search=true
Clementine–about the wife of Winston Churchill.
This looks good. TBR list!
the author is Sonia Purnell.
And after you read the bio, read “Everyone Brave is Forgiven”, an excellent and different WWII novel!
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It reads like fiction. Hard to belive it’s a true story.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah…loved it!
Promise me Dad by joe Biden
“Undaunted Courage” By Stephen Ambrose. It is the true story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition however it reads like a really great adventure novel. I loved it.
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah was the best I read this year ( the audio book is a treat). Sherman Alexie’s You Don’t Have to Say you Love Me (about his mom) was also very good.
Dead end gene pool. Hilarious
Born to Run, I am Malala, Just Kids, Yes Please
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wall. She went through a heart wrenching childhood and turned her life around.
Neil Patrick Harris’s choose your own autobiography.
Jeannette Walls and Alexandra Fuller both wrote several memoirs that are really good
what i talk about when i talk about running by haruki murakami
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/5-best-memoirs-of-2017/2017/11/09/c5cf40b6-af85-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.8e17846db2b2
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/best-memoirs-2017/admissions-marsh/
Thank you! Or not…? I just bought myself two Christmas presents…Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies and Gorilla and the Bird.
Both sound fantastic! Merry Christmas to me! ??
@Susan I have both those books on my “maybe” TBR. I have to be in the right mood to read brutally realistic stories of flawed families.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and Logical Family by Armistead Maupin.
First They Killed My Father
Falling Leaves
The Color Of Water
Jesus Land
Glitter and Glue
You’ve probably read The Glass Castle? Or Change Me into Zeus’s Daughter by Barbara Robinette Moss?
Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
Depending on what you like, but I loved Rick Springfield’s autobiography, as well as Billy Idol’s.
Hillbilly Elegy; Angela’s Ashes; ‘Tis;
I haven’t read ‘Tis, but I LOVE the first two!
@Susan ‘Tis is his memoir of his education and first years teaching.
@Jaye now that you mention it…I believe I have read it years ago! ??
There is also Teacher Man in the series.
LOVED Hillbilly Elegy! ❤️❤️❤️
The Other Wes Moore
Agatha C hristie’s autobiography is very interesting.
Anything by Carrie Fisher.
Carrie Fisher is a brilliant author… I enjoyed Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French as well… Jenny Lawson’s books are good as well x