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Post by pixie on Jan 11, 2009 20:38:26 GMT -5
Do you guys read any books that are biographies or autobiographies? If yes, name the ones you liked. Have you run across any biographies that you found inspiring?
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Michelle
First novel published
Posts: 2,563
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Post by Michelle on Jan 11, 2009 21:37:21 GMT -5
Barack Obama's Dreams from my Father (but I guess that's a given) What Fresh Hell is This? by Marion Meade (Dorothy Parker bio)
I think that may be the only two that I've read.
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Post by Hanna on Jan 12, 2009 3:52:26 GMT -5
I've read a lot of biographies and such, and I think one of my favorites is An Autobiography by Agatha Christie, it was so well written, I felt like I was reading a novel, and she lead a very interesting life! I also enjoyed Franz Kafka by Ernst Schultz a lot.
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Isa
Administrator
Posts: 6,995
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Post by Isa on Jan 12, 2009 8:50:52 GMT -5
I usually prefer memoirs to biographies and autobiographies, but I did enjoy Carold Shields's "Jane Austen" and Mollie Gillen's "The Wheel of Things: A Biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery".
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Post by Lucky on Jan 12, 2009 10:11:49 GMT -5
I'm reading George Orwell's biography by Gordon Bowker, but I can't finish it, because I have to give it back to library (and I have a lot of stuff to school, so I have no time), but I like it! And I've read Hillary Clinton's autobiography which I really liked!
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Post by Dominique on Jan 12, 2009 17:55:35 GMT -5
I'm not sure I've read any, but there are tons I want to. One of the next few books I'm going to read is The Duchess, the biography that Keira Knightly movie was based on.
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sylviaplath
First short story featured in regional newspaper
Posts: 192
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Post by sylviaplath on Jan 12, 2009 18:16:45 GMT -5
Like Isa, I also tend to prefer memoirs to biographies or autobiographies. I especially enjoyed Julie Andrews' memoir Home and any autobiographical work by Augusten Burroughs. I recently picked up a Dorothy Parker biography (What Fresh Hell is This?) which I'm excited about. And I also enjoy journals and letter compilations (especially those of Sylvia Plath).
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zeldafitzgerald
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
ancora imparo
Posts: 1,948
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Jan 13, 2009 8:09:52 GMT -5
I tend to read memoirs mostly as well, but there are a few biographies I own and really want to read soon:
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson
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Halie
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
Posts: 982
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Post by Halie on Jan 13, 2009 9:48:42 GMT -5
I've read a lot of biographies and such, and I think one of my favorites is An Autobiography by Agatha Christie, it was so well written, I felt like I was reading a novel, and she lead a very interesting life! I also enjoyed Franz Kafka by Ernst Schultz a lot. Thanks for mentioning this. My mom loves Agatha Christie and was recently lamenting the fact that she knows nothing about her, so I'll recommend this to her.
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Lu
Administrator
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Post by Lu on Jan 15, 2009 8:51:38 GMT -5
I really liked Carol Shield's Jane Auste and I recently read a biography of Sylvia Plath written by an italian, it was ok but I'd already read The Journals of Sylvia Plath and her Letters Home, so I didn't find that biography very interesting.
I'd like to read Agatha Christie's autobiography (I don't know much about either) and also What Fresh Hell is This? (I loved The Portable Dorothy Parker!!).
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Post by pixie on Jan 15, 2009 22:23:40 GMT -5
Thanks guys. I think I'm gonna buy some of the ones you mentioned and give them a try.
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Post by Hanna on Jan 16, 2009 4:09:25 GMT -5
I've read a lot of biographies and such, and I think one of my favorites is An Autobiography by Agatha Christie, it was so well written, I felt like I was reading a novel, and she lead a very interesting life! I also enjoyed Franz Kafka by Ernst Schultz a lot. Thanks for mentioning this. My mom loves Agatha Christie and was recently lamenting the fact that she knows nothing about her, so I'll recommend this to her. Anytime! I can't remember which magazine it was, but it actually praised her autobiography as the best thing she'd ever written. I don't know about that, but it really is very good.
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bookishgirl
First piece published in the school’s newspaper
"Love all. Trust few. Do wrong to no one." --Skakespeare
Posts: 74
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Post by bookishgirl on Jan 30, 2009 16:59:14 GMT -5
i've read The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, Becoming Jane Austen, A Chainless Soul: The Life of Emily Bronte, and Anne Frank's diary if that counts as a bio or autobio.
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Post by belle on Feb 7, 2009 7:02:45 GMT -5
I can recommend John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek. It is really well written. I also liked the Romy Schneider biography by Günter Krenn and there is a gorgeous illustrated book/ biography about Audrey Hepburn by Ellen Erwin which includes replicated memorabilia like several photos, old letters and tickets which you can actually take out of the book: The Audrey Hepburn Treasures: Pictures and Mementos from a Life of Style and Purpose.
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Post by Hazy on Feb 10, 2009 21:36:53 GMT -5
I really liked Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir. It was very well written and it was interesting to see how her life had such an influence in her writing.
Other than that I haven't read very many, I liked The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, but I don't think that counts.
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