Best autobiography or biography that you’ve read.. Thanks! ❤️???
Best autobiography
or biography that
you’ve read…
Thanks! ❤️???
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Best autobiography
or biography that
you’ve read…
Thanks! ❤️???
I’ve read a couple from Betty White that were pretty interesting. I did audiobook and she performed them too. She’s funny, and has had an interesting life.
Thank you!
I am reading one of hers now. Love it so far!
Young, Damned and Fair by Garett Russell about Katherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII.
Just getting ready to start Night by E Wessel…..
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White
“My Lobotomy” – I won’t say it was the best but it was probably the most interesting.
I read that, I agree it was very interesting
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (with the help of Alex Haley)
I really liked Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis but I’m a big music buff, too.
One of my favorites
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Highsmith by Marjane Meaker
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Glass Castle
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, and both of Janet Mock’s memoirs
Just read born a crime and loved it!
Born a Crime rocks!
Also, Robert Caro’s LBJ series
The Moons a Balloon David Niven
Did you read his Bring On the Empty Horses? Equally bright and charming.
Yes both great books and you are correct, charming
I love Robert K Massie- Nicholas and Alexandra and his autobiography
I really liked Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis! I also liked The Glass Castle and No One Comes Out Alive about the Doors
Unbroken or Glass Castle
Reading Glass Castle now
@Holly fantastic book
Ice man killer
Jerusalem the biography
Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
I can’t remember but I’ve read historical recollections of Pres. and Mrs. Lincoln.
“I Walked the Line” by Vivian Cash- Johnny Cash’s first wife. It gives a whole different perspective to the man in black.
Robert Caro. Re-read his bio on Robert Moses “The Power Broker.” Previously read volumes I to IV of “The Years of LBJ.” Waiting on the fifth (and final?) volume.
Not strictly an autobiography… Boswell’s London Journal 1762-1763, edited by Frederick A Potter.
My Life in France by Julia Child.
So good.
Marina Abramovic “Walk Through Walls”
I enjoyed Destiny of the Republic
Buried Alive about Janis Joplin and No One Here Gets Out Alive about The Doors. I wasn’t even a fan before reading them, but they are great!
How funny! What made you read them?
@Gail, I was 21 at the time so I think I just thought they would be cool — which they were!!
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. She is a woman who has had quite a difficult life but is smart & has a deep well of kindness. She also fills the room with energy & is boldly brave! And beware she uses F bombs and talks about sex. I loved this book.
I just started it and I agree!
Marcel Proust by Edmund White; Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
The Naturalist, About Teddy Roosevelt
Agatha Christie’s autobiography
Angelas Ashes.
Undaunted Courage By: Stephen Ambrose.
Personal History – Katherine Graham
Autobiography of a yogi by Paramahansa yogananda
Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh (John Lahr), about Tennessee Williams.
A Walk in the Woods and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson are both wonderful and very funny.
Gary Paulsen’s My life in dog years
Clementine, the Wife of Winston Churchilll.
Let’s Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. Isaac Asimov’s autobiography. Piers Anthony’s autobiography.
I enjoyed both The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.
Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Giant Steps by Kareem Abdul Jabaar
Following
John Lennons first wife Cynthia
The moons a balloon by David niven
Amy Poehler – Yes Please!
Losing My Cool Thomas Chatterton
The Habit of Being
Oh and American Sniper!
I cried when he died
Same ?
Chiang Kai-Shek’s biography
What is it called?
Chiang Kai-Shek: China’s Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost by Jonathan Fenby
Unbroken!
John Adams by David McCullough
I think everything he writes is great!
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield.
I need to remember this one
First bio I’ve read in a long, long while, but it made me remember why I love the genre when done right.
So many good ones here… A Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
Can’t decide between two of them. ‘Prairie Fires’ (Laura Ingalls Wilder) by Caroline Fraser; ‘Kennedys and Fitzgeralds’ by Doris Kerns Goodwin
I’m reading Prairie Fires now. Glad to hear you liked it so well.
I just bought Prairie Fires for my sister for Christmas. I can’t wait to borrow it now!!
Oh wait no best ever is Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. That guy was a character and a half!
At one read the new books by Walter Isaacson or Ron Chenrow?
Unbroken
It’s What I Do by Lynsey Addario her memoir as a wartime photographer. Amazing book
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming.
I thought this was…ok
OMG. I thought it was amazing!! Also, I listened to it and he reads his own book which gives it so much impact.
Live Original by Sadie Robertson
Howard Hughes, the Untold Story.
The Authentic Autobiography of Mark Twain
Bought it, haven’t bit into it yet!
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Katherine Graham, Personal HIstory.
Ted Turners on audio. He reads it and its fantastic
My Life and other unfinished business by Dolly Parton. 2nd place: Love Can build a Bridge by Naomi Judd.
Hunger by Roxane Gay
I love her writing! I agree!
“When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi
Some of the “Girls Next Door” ones are interesting. Hef’s ex gfs. I know how that sounds, but it talks about what life was really like in the mansion. Super interesting
Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Sacajawea is a fictionalized bio but it’s wonderful.
Malcolm X, with Alex Haley, a brutally honest and compelling book.
Dead end gene pool. Hysterical.
Open – Andre Agassi
Unbroken
That book broke me.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler
I Am Malala
The diary of Anne Frank
My autobiography by Charlie Chaplin, Life by Keith Richards and Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography.
Life After Death by Damien Echols
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Issacson.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
No Ordinary Times by D. Goodwin about the Roosevelts
Also Springsteen’s Born to Run
Loved this – along with Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds by the same author.
An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
Born to Run, Springsteen
I am Malala?
Angela’s Ashes. Such a fantastic read!
Teacherman is also fantastic!
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. An excellent foodie memoir…
“Harpo Speaks”
I’ve heard a fair few good things about Armistead Maupin’s “Logical Family”, as a fan of his work it’s on my TBR
A recent one about Angela Carter. Many years ago I read a biography of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley…..most amusing!
Pablo Neruda s Memoirs.
Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann (still to read Ellmann’s book on Joyce).
George Orwell by Bernard Crick.
Charles Dickens by Peter Ackroyd.
Thomas More by Peter Ackroyd.
Robert Caro LBJ
Unbroken
Excellent.
Me by Katherine Hepburn
I recently finished Andre Agassi’s autobiography and loved it!
Ava’s Man by Rick Bragg. It’s about his grandfather. So touching.
The Maya Angelou series without any doubt.
I wouldn’t call Wild by Strayed anything but fiction. You don’t go on a 1000 mile hike on your very first ever hike in boots that don’t fit, carrying a gross of condoms. I thought it was a disgusting book, I was reading it for book club so kept plugging away hoping it would get better. Gaaaaaaa
Claiming Ground by Laura Bell
Loved this book! Got a chance to meet her when the book first came out. Lovely woman. Her and author Mark Spragg who I also love are great friends
I’m jealous of that meeting!
@Holley I managed a bookstore at the time and they both dropped by unannounced to sign copies of their books!
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen, by Jacques Pepin.
Home by Julie Andrews
I have the book but haven’t read it yet. What do you think of it?
I love Julie and I’m a big fan. I haven’t read many biographies or autobiographies but it was well written and it was interesting to read about her early life. She is supposed to publish a second one I think
And if you are an audiobook fan, she reads her autobiography so Julie is telling you her own story. It’s wonderful! And yes, she’s supposed to be writing the second part.
2 ultimately upbeat, inspiring books:
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong
and
Wish You Happy Forever: What China’s Orphans Taught Me about Moving Mountains by Jenny Bowen, founder of Half the Sky
The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn.
Long Hard Road Out Of Hell
I don’t read all that many biographies tho
American sniper
Romantic Outlaws. (Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft)
Pablo Escobar’s.
https://www.amazon.com/Van-Gogh-Life-Steven-Naifeh/dp/0375758976/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514738342&sr=1-1&keywords=vincent+van+gogh
I would have a lot of trouble naming just one “best” but most inspiring is Ugly by Robert Hoge
Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo
I read An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison and loved it ?
Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis and Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo.
Grant by Ron Chernow.
Neither Shaken Or Stirred – The Biography of Sean Connery by Andrew Yule… I read it and loved it! I have a whole new respect for this wonderful man now.
American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin.
What a fantastic thread! I’m so glad I joined this group! Recently I read Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp and Blackout by Sarah Hepola. I also enjoyed Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants as well as The Book of Forgiving by Desmond Tutu and Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown (although the two latter might not fall into the biography/autobiography classification per se but are completely worth checking out)!
Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
Blackout by Sarah Hepola – amazing! I couldn’t put it down, super honest and moving.
Wild Swans- China