Memoirs/Biographies

[Night Fury]

I have recently discovered that I have a bit of a fascination with books that fall into the memoir/biography category.

I just finished reading the first 'Call the Midwife' book which follows the life of Jennifer Worth, a Midwife in 1950's East End London. I found it an absolutely fantastic read - thoroughly entertaining and informative, and at times gruesome and upsetting. I've just got myself the second book in the series and I can't wait to read on.

Anyone else like books like this? Any recommendations?

[Loony BoB]

I read some in my younger years and teens, but the only one I recall reading since leaving high school would be that of Sir Alex Ferguson, which was really interesting. I understand my uncle has written one, and perhaps some of my ancestors... so I hope to get hold of them someday and see how they lived.

[Jinx]

I'm currently reading Orange is the New Black, because I marathoned the show on Netflix and loved it. It's okay so far. Not nearly as sensational as the tv show, but a lot of it is pretty similar.

Back in the winter I read a book (there are three, but the second two are horrible, and really only lend to the idea that they're fake) called Princess, about a woman named Sultana (her name was changed, and her identity is anonymous) who is one of the hundreds of Saudi Arabian princesses. It really looked at the sexual abuse in Islam and was amazing. I cried several times. But there's a lot of controversy that the book is fake.

I do love memoirs, though. I'd love to read Running with Scissors and Girl, Interrupted.

[Chris]

My dad wrote a back a couple of years back, so you guys should totally check that one out.

I love reading memoirs. Other peoples' lives can be so fascinating! And to be honest, I love to judge their poor choices silently.

[Miriel]

I enjoy reading about other people's lives. A lot of times, truth can be stranger than fiction.

Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand is amazing. As is Seabiscuit which is a memoir sort of.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is lovely.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion is heartwrenching.

My Life in France by Julia Child is one of my favorite memoirs/food books ever. Along the same line, Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and Bill Buford's Heat are both hilarious and wonderful.

Everything by David Sedaris is gold, but his stories are admittedly embellished and exaggerated.

Tina Fey's Bossypants is pretty good too. I'm almost finished with Craig Ferguson's American on Purpose and finding it hilarious and surprisingly deep.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is not strictly a biography in the traditional sense. But it is all about her life and death and the global impact she's had (and continues to have) on all our lives. Pretty fascinating stuff.

[noxious.sunshine]

I have Girl, Interrupted somewhere I think.

I read a 600 page biography on the Romanov family once. It was quite fascinating.. IDK what happened to it though.

Enrique's Journey is really good. It's not exactly an entire life's story, but it follows one boy's struggles getting to the U.S. from El Salvador to be with his mother. The author, Sonia Nazario, still keeps in contact with Enrique and gives updates on his life every so often on the website. She's even actually emailed me back the couple of times I've sent her a message. I have the most recent one somewhere. I forget which email account it's in though -_-;;.

Go Ask Alice by an anonymous writer (it's been uncovered who it actually is, but I can't remember her name) was believed for awhile to be the actual diary of a girl back in the 70's who fell into drugs and stuff. There's a tv-movie of it that came out in 1973 with William Shatner in it. XDDD

[Shorty]

I bought Bossypants! I am leaving it closed until I finish atleast a few other books I'm reading.

I haven't read many memoirs or biographies. Anthony Kiedis' Scar Tissue is my favorite of the ones I've read.

I had super high hopes for Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs because I love love love his fictional work, but it didn't deliver as I thought it would and ended on a sort of flat note. I understand that writing a person's own story as opposed to making one up will align differently, but I was still disappointed. Probably the most anti-climactic thing I've ever read. Up until the ending, though, I was completely interested and fascinated. The stories he tells of his broken home and insane mother are so intriguing. He has others that I'm interested in reading, though - Dry, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf A The Table. I am hoping they will be more interesting or end on better notes than Running With Scissors.

I tried reading When Rabbit Howls because it is technically a memoir, but I found myself loathing it and thinking it was such a load of trout and couldn't continue to finish it. I can empathize with Truddi Chase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truddi_Chase) and her disorder, but the manner in which it was written did not seem believable at all, and seemed exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness.

Eat Pray Love is on my to-read list, among others, I'm sure.

[Miriel]

I had super high hopes for Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs because I love love love his fictional work, but it didn't deliver as I thought it would and ended on a sort of flat note. I understand that writing a person's own story as opposed to making one up will align differently, but I was still disappointed. Probably the most anti-climactic thing I've ever read.

Eat Pray Love is on my to-read list, among others, I'm sure.

I thought I would love Running with Scissors too but ended up hating it.

If you're gonna try Eat Pray Love, try the audiobook version. I listened to the audiobook and found it pretty entertaining. But when I tried reading the book itself, I found it to be horribly inane and entitled. Kinda weird how that works out.

[Jinx]

Gonna pull a Bluth family and only read the Eat Pray sections.

[Yerushalmi]

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman is one of my absolute favorites. The man is a personal hero.

[Flaming Ice]

Biographies are boring.



But I've been buying books that a company called DK makes...they have detailed encyclopedias on things like birds, battles, animals, the universe, all sorts of different ones...full of coloured pictures too http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/eoff_smilies/smile.gif!

[I Took the Red Pill]

The best one I've read is A Fan's Notes by Fred Exley. He claims it's fictional, so I don't know if it counts, but I get the feeling that most of it actually happened to him. Incredibly funny but also very depressing at times.

[noxious.sunshine]

Biographies are boring.



But I've been buying books that a company called DK makes...they have detailed encyclopedias on things like birds, battles, animals, the universe, all sorts of different ones...full of coloured pictures too :)!

Is it like that one thing that you get in the mail?

Fudge. What was that called?

It was a binder you got for free with some animal cards already in it and then a scratch off to tell you what you win... I had a few of these and I always got the big prize.

[Cuchulainn]

Just finished reading Stephen Fry's book. Absolute winner. Very honest about himself.

[noxious.sunshine]

Gordon Ramsay's autobiography is absolutely amazing.

I've respected him a lot as a chef - he speaks my language, and his passion for making great food is awesome.
He's a self-made man, and his story is one that proves if anyone has the desire to succeed, they can make it happen.

It may not be your original pick for a profession (his was playing English Football), but you can find something else that excites you just as much. He found that with cooking and running restaurants.. And he succeeded hardcore.

I've always loved watching him on T.V., because I understand his passion for food and everything going out perfectly, but this book made me respect him even more.

[Night Fury]

When I was younger I read Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, I'm now reading, I guess the 'adult version' Falling Leaves and it is well worth a read! amazing!

[Mo-Nercy]

Two of my favourite books fall into this category - El Magic, a biography on Hazem El Masri, one of the greatest rugby league players to have played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. The other one is The Edge of Greatness by James Allen on MIchael Schumacher. It covers his whole 'first' career (before coming out of retirement with Mercedes) and gives a real insight into the sometimes controversial character that he was. I had never really rated Schumi before reading this book because, like many others, I'd always considered him a bit of a cheat. I have a lot more respect for the man now, and the stats do speak for themselves (7 titles, almost 100 GP victories).

[Jinx]

When I was younger I read Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, I'm now reading, I guess the 'adult version' Falling Leaves and it is well worth a read! amazing!

I love Chinese Cinderella! How is Falling Leaves more adult? Even now when I read Chinese Cinderella it tears my heart apart. I don't think I could read something that was even more brutal.

[Night Fury]

When I was younger I read Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, I'm now reading, I guess the 'adult version' Falling Leaves and it is well worth a read! amazing!

I love Chinese Cinderella! How is Falling Leaves more adult? Even now when I read Chinese Cinderella it tears my heart apart. I don't think I could read something that was even more brutal.

It's the same story, but I think Chinese Cinderella is more 'abridged' and not as detailed, and the style of 'Falling Leaves' is written more for an adult reader as the language is a bit more sophisticated I suppose, whereas Chinese Cinderella was written more for younger readers.

I believe that Falling Leaves follows her story further than CC does.

[Heath]

I've read quite a sections of political biographies for a module I did at university, and returned to read a couple of them properly. Have to say, carrying around John Campbell's excellent two-volume biographer of Margaret Thatcher didn't do a lot for my street cred. Though had I done that this year rather than last year, I might not have stood out so much.

It's not a genre I read a great deal of, but always think I should. Not quite a biography or memoir as such, but I read large parts of the final journals of Robert Falcon Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole, which makes for powerful reading, particularly on their attempt to return home. Really tense reading, especially when the journals list the temperatures by each day.

[Flaming Ice]

Biographies are boring.



But I've been buying books that a company called DK makes...they have detailed encyclopedias on things like birds, battles, animals, the universe, all sorts of different ones...full of coloured pictures too :)!

Is it like that one thing that you get in the mail?

Fudge. What was that called?

It was a binder you got for free with some animal cards already in it and then a scratch off to tell you what you win... I had a few of these and I always got the big prize.




Oh no this is what I mean

DK Canada - Dorling Kindersley (http://cn.dk.com/)

[Yerushalmi]

Oooh oooh oooh.

How could I have forgotten Let's Pretend This Never Happened?

[Parker]

Gonna second the recommendation for anything Stephen Fry. Both his autobiographies are worth reading.

[Calliope]

I've just stacked up my next fifteen books to read (before allowing for further holds coming in), and nine of them are memoirs. I don't usually read that high a concentration of them, but I have read a lot of them and I plan to continue to do so while working on some memoir writing of my own.

My favourite memoirs are Augusten Burroughs' A Wolf at the Table, J.M. Coetzee's Youth, Dorothea Tanning's Birthday, and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. I admire authors such as Kurt Vonnegut and Junot Diaz who have successfully woven pieces of their autobiography into fiction, also.

[Jinx]

I'm currently reading Running with Scissors. I'll probably read the follow-up memoir as well.

[Calliope]

I've read 6/8 of his memoirs, not in any specific order. Running With Scissors may be my least favourite, perhaps because it makes me uncomfortable, perhaps because the narrator comes across as narcissistic (a trait that is common but not necessary in many memoirs I have read), and perhaps because in parts I just felt that even though this is someone writing about their reality, it still felt as if they were trying too hard.

Edit: I was about to post something else but I'll wait and see if anyone responds first.

[Shorty]

in parts I just felt that even though this is someone writing about their reality, it still felt as if they were trying too hard.

This is how I felt and this is why it bothered me, because he did try so hard and it ended so flatly. I didn't even feel the narcissism bit (though it would probably make sense if I were to re-read it). The fact that you say Running With Scissors is your least favorite gives me hope for his others, though.

Off-topic from memoirs and biographies - his fiction is flawless and I would highly recommend Sellevision to anyone, especially Chuck Palahniuk readers because Burroughs' writing reminds me of him, for some reason.

[Jinx]

I actually enjoyed Running with Scissors very much, but I rated it 3 on Goodreads. I really disliked the ending, and I disliked Augusten as a character. If by narcissism you mean that he only judged the crazy of the other people/characters and failed to see his own shortcomings, then yeah, I agree.

[Calliope]

Okay, I dug these two books out. Here are a few lines from Running With Scissors:


"You're the writer in your family"

And the look on her face told me that she believed this completely and felt slightly sad that I didn't see it and believe it, too.

"Because you've always been a writer. For as long as I've known you you've had that pointy nose of yours tucked into some notebook."

I only typed out a few lines, obviously, but in the next few pages Natalie goes on encouraging him to become a writer, and then we see some strong suggestions from his professors that he do so as well. Augusten makes sure it's clear that there are people who strongly believe he should pursue writing as a career.

And here are a few lines from Frank McCourt's Teacher Man which I find totally chilling:



(At the end of Chapter 17)

Someone calls, Hey, Mr. McCourt, you should write a book.

Chapter 18

I'll try.