Tigerlily
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Question of the WeekLives in Writing.
Which biographies and autobiographies are your favorites, and why?
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blueflower
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Got to admit I don't really go for these. I read some travel books and I do have quite a few books by people like John Simpson and other news correspondence but haven't read them. So after all that, I don't have a favourite.
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Karen
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Me neither Gwen, although all this talk of Enid Blyton and then Glynis mentioning her biography, I thought that might be one I'd have a go at ... maybe.
I noticed that you picked up a copy of To War With Whittikar recently, I still have mine to read, but I have had a flick through and I quite like the feel of it with the photos and so on. That is more of a memoir of the time and based on a diary, but is about as close as I am likely to get to a biography. Looking forward to our reading group session on that, the girl who picked it did so at the suggestion of her partner - apparently he knows someone who has the original diaries.
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katey
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I loved Martin Kemp's autobiography, and also Frank Skinner's-so funny! I have also recently enjoyed Notes From a Small island so will look out for more Bill Bryson.
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Tigerlily
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I love Bill Bryson. Have his Thunderbolt book to read. Ideal summer reading. I've enjoyed memoirs that read like a novel. I'm tempted to read my dad's copy of a Winston Churchill biography. One of my fave ever reads is a book by Gay Daly about the Pre-Raphaelites. It reads like a novel in parts and you get caught up in the drama of their lives (lots of extra-marrital affairs with models).
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Karen
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I have read Notes on a Small Island, about 10 years ago, but would not class that as a Biography? My book reading pal and I were new in America at the time and thought it would be a good idea to read this and another (which was actually much better but which I can not remember the author or title now!) so that we had something of an idea as to how Americans viewed British people. The other book was written by a former ambassador/diplomat and was his memoir on the time he was posted to the UK.
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blueflower
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I was looking through some old Waterstones mags this afternoon and I came across a book Call Blood Red Snow White, which is a novel about Arthur Ransom's life and it sounding really good as I didn't realise what an interesting life he had before Swallows and Amazons. I have just looked on Amazon to see if there was a proper biography and there is, so I may just be tempted to read it.
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charlottestar
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I've got a few favourite biographies....
A Voyager Out: The Life of Mary Kingsley by Katherine Frank is one of my all-time favourites. Mary Kingsley was an intrepid Victorian lady who travelled to some of the most inhospitable places in Africa and it's such a well written book it's engrossing.
I'm really interested in the Carlyles and I've got a biography of them called The Carlyles at Home by Thea Holme which is published by Persephone now I think but it's really entertaining and has since made me read more about them.
I really liked Claire Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen and also she wrote one about Katherine Mansfield as well which is great. 
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Tigerlily
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Reading your post Charlotte you reminded me of Samuel Pepys! Loved reading a biog on him. Forgot to mention in my previous post I like biographies of famous artists. Last one I read was about Edward Hopper. I like to read about their lives as well as their works of art. For a concise biography, I like kids' versions from the library.
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charlottestar
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| Tigerlily wrote: | | Reading your post Charlotte you reminded me of Samuel Pepys! Loved reading a biog on him. Forgot to mention in my previous post I like biographies of famous artists. Last one I read was about Edward Hopper. I like to read about their lives as well as their works of art. For a concise biography, I like kids' versions from the library. |
lol I thought for a second you meant I 'sounded' like Samuel Pepys!
I've not read many biographies of artists. I've read a few on John Constable because he's always been my favourite artist and I've got one on Vermeer to read as well.
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Tigerlily
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Hehee!! I can see why you might have thought that!! 
Would like to read the Vermeer biog. I'd like to read more writers' biogs too, but I never go out of my way to find them. I tend to spot them in passing in libraries and pick them up that way.
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katey
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Thought about this lots and I think I prefer mainly non-fic life experiences rather than biogs. Don't know if that makes sense, I mean things like 84 Charing Cross Road, Tuesdays with Morrie, that kind of thing. Non-fic based around part of a persons life.
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lisa2062
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| Tigerlily wrote: | | Would like to read the Vermeer biog. I'd like to read more writers' biogs too, but I never go out of my way to find them. I tend to spot them in passing in libraries and pick them up that way. |
Have you managed to read Vermeer's biog yet Glynis, I remember my art teacher used to be a fan, and would always go on about Vermeer.
Lisa x
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Tigerlily
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No I haven't Lisa. Tell you what, I saw a gorgeous illustrated copy of Girl With a Pearl Earring in the Works for £2.99. Wish I'd bought it now. I love illustrated works of fiction - there should be more of them. I really like the illustrated Da Vinci code.
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