recommendations on presidents, president wives, actors, actresses, and musicians biographies.
Looking for recommendations on biographies. Presidents, president wives, actors, actresses, and musicians are my preferences.
Thank you.
76 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
I really enjoyed Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the founder of Nike., easy to read and a great inside in the early struggles of a once small company.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah great read.
I already read that. I didn’t connect with it. I am not really a Trevor Noah fan. I didn’t even know who he was when a friend recommended it to me. I still don’t really know much about him presently, but I do know about his past now. ?
@Kelly I think you’re the first person I’ve come across who didn’t rave about Born a Crime! I liked it OK but wasn’t blown away by it like most seem to be. Maybe it’s because I was already pretty familiar with South Africa during that time …? But anyway, nice to know I’m not alone ?.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s autobiography is amazing. Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg is about Katherine Hepburn and excellent. He actually interviewed her extensively.
Also, if you listen to country music, Born Country by Randy Owen (lead singer of Alabama) was good too.
Both books by Rob Lowe. Boys in Trees-Carly Simon. Unscripted by Ernie Johnson (NBA announcer).
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cummings.
Terrific book!
These are great! Keep them coming!
It’s a Long Story: My Life by Willie @Nelson
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearny Goodwin. It’s about Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt.
Howie Mandel and Jodie Sweetin are my faves.
If you’re willing to go memoir or autobiography:
Cash by Johnny Cash
Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox
Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi
This Time Together by Carol Burnett
Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball
I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short
Truman by David McCullough
Not Dead Yet by Phil Collins
John Adams by David McCullough
Washington: A Life Ron Chernow
If you want more, let me know.
Sisters-in-Law about Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg was amazing by Linda Hirshman. Also, Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a Fist Lady by Susan Quinn. Fiction about same, The White House by Amy Bloom too!
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli and High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips
Bossypants by Tina Fey is one of my all time favorite books!
Yes, that book is hysterical!
Also Jenny Lawson’s books-
Let’s pretend this never happened & Furiously happy.
She isn’t an actress or anything but her books are so funny and very relatable.
Born With Teeth by Kate Mulgrew, John Adams.
Anything by Ron Chernow, Jon Meacham, Stephen Ambrose, or Walter Isaacson
Ooh… How could I forget Doris Kearns Goodwin?
Destiny of the Republic by Millard
Yes! I was going to look that up on Goodreads to post the details. Great book!
You’ll love the biography of James Garfield. https://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Republic-Madness-Medicine-President/dp/0767929713
I was going to recommend this one! Fabulous book.
Garfield was so beloved. The drs were monstrous. The train ride to the ocean when people pushed the train up the hill was very touching. The story was amazing.
I recently finished Chernow’s new biography about Ulysses S Grant. It’s a brick of a book at 1,000 pages. (I listened to the audiobook.) but it was REALLY good. I learned so much. Book title is ‘Grant’.
Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick. (Benedict Arnold and George Washington)
Truman by David McCullough. Pulitzer Prize winner. (well, really anything by McCullough including ‘John Adams’)
Yes Please by Amy Poehler, The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes, A Little But Wicked by Kristen Chenowith
Abridged Lincoln by Carl Sandburg. The unabridged is 3 volumes
Is Kate Mulgrew the one who is an actress also?
Yes
@Krista she plays in Orange Is The New Black
Years ago she was Mary Ryan on Ryan’s Hope, and Captain Janeway on one of the Star Trek iterations.
Oh, and Mrs. Columbo too.
Grant by Ron Chernow. It’s a long read though.
Leonardo Di Vinci……fabulous
First Women by Kate Anderson Brower
Chernow’s Grant, and Alexander Hamilton. Robert Caro’s LBJ series
Size Matters Not by Warwick Davis. He reads it himself in the audiobook which I loved.
Leonardo, such a beautiful book! Educated is a new bestseller, really a great read.
Bruce Springsteen’s Autobiography.
Jennifer Lewis
The Mother of Black Hollywood
Broken Music by Sting
Hidden in plain sight
Saddam hussains pilots daughter
Gave an insight into the goings on in Iraq
I read Moby Porcelain recently and it was well worth a read.
John Adams book and miniseries.
I read that! It was awesome!
David Crockett Lion of the West Michael Wallis and Hamilton. Not presidents but very influential in early history
Book of Ages by Jill Lepore about Ben Franklin’s sister
The Biography of Sir Elton John by David Buckley.
I could not put this down!
@Stephanie have you read Blue Jean Baby?
I read that and loved it!
I have not, will check it out
Boys in the trees… Carly Simon
Blue Jean Baby. Tells the life of one of the baby groupies from the 60s
Who’s the author?
@Kelly Sally Parmer
Really awesome read.
I think that is out of print. I tried to get it once before and couldn’t
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/little-girl-lost-drew-barrymore/1001922468/2679117914258?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_New+Marketplace+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP164994&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5tfiiZO_2gIVi9lkCh0bAAMeEAQYASABEgIBi_D_BwE
@Amanda thanks!
I really enjoyed Patti Smith’s memoir “Just Kids” I’m not a memoir person but this was interesting, set in NYC in the 1970’s
I tried this one and just couldn’t get into it
I really liked it and loved her later one, M Train
Upstairs at the White House by JB West; John Adams by David McCullough; Mornings on Horseback by D. McCullough; 1776 by sane; Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin;
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; DKG; The Bully Pulpit by DKG; No Ordinary Time by DKG; The Fitzgerald’s and the Kennedys, DKG;
America’s First Daughter, by Stephanie Dray
Enjoy! I am sure there are more!
If you listen to audiobooks, this was good: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22750498-first-ladies
Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far by Amy Grant, Get To the heart by Barbara Mandrell, Read My Mind by Reba McEntire, Coming Home To Myself by Wynonna Judd, Broken On the Back Pew by Sandy Patti, Love Can build a Bridge by naomi Judd, The Man In Black by Johnny Cash. Anchored in Love a memior of June Carter Cash by son John Carter Cash, I Lived To Tell it Al;l by George Jones, Nickle Dreams and Dimes by Tanya Tucker, Forever Yours, Faithfully by Lorrie Morgan, My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton, Love, Patsy, a memoir of the president of patsy Clines fan club. letters backand forth from patsy to the author are weaved throughout the book.
A friend of mine loved Rob Lowe’s biography
I quite liked Candace Bergen’s A Fine Romance.
I’m reading it now. She’s funny.