Favorite Biography or Autobiography

What's you favorite? It could be about a Band, a Celeb, a Politician, or an Author.

 

I Me Mine and Dark Horse.

 

It would have to be the Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant. An average person with a lot of problems who ended up changing the world.

 

Belle de jour. the intimate adventures of a london call girl. Its a very interesting book.

 

"Marilyn Monroe Confidential"- It was written by her housekeeper from the later years of her life up to her death. It's stunningly real with hundreds of little details that compliment the story of her final days.

The housekeeper, Lena, recounts Marilyn's strange behaviour including Bloody Mary's for breakfast, constant nudity and Marilyn's neglect for hygiene. I love this book and have read it more than a few times, and I'm sure in the future, I'll read it again.

PS There's also a lovely section of glossy photos of Marilyn from baby shots to pictures taken at her funeral.

 

George Orwell: "Down and Out in Paris and London" was good to read and the way it showed the differences between the abjectly poor in London vs. Paris was quite stark. Their treatment was horrific in some cases, yet in others there was such a dark humour about it all it was a real mass triumph of spirit.

G.I. Gurdjieff: "Meetings with Remarkable Men" was one of those ones that broadened my mind and made me shake my head in disbelief. There was controversy over the truth of his stories but even if some are fiction, I enjoyed them. Probably similiar to the Carlos Castaneda "Teachings of Don Juan" series where people doubted that it was all a factual recount of real events. It doesn't matter too much though as it still is fascinating reading and makes you realise how homogenized modern life is and that there are wonders out there if you're willing to seek.

W. Somerset Maughan: The Razor's Edge. An account of a part of the author's life where he knew a circle of people from the UK and USA. But mainly, there's an interesting character who was a seeker of spiritual truth, the meaning of life, eastern philosophies etc.. even going to India, but all in the 1920's when it was certainly not a common thing to do, unlike today. It's a gem of a book.

These aren't my all time favorites but certainly good ones that come to mind.

 

the life of an art addict, its about peggy guggenheim, the american heiress who basically supported abstract expressionism and surrealism in the 30's, 40's and 50's. she's sort of my hero...in the movie pollock about jackson pollock, she is the one who has the party where he pisses in the fireplace...true story by the way...

 

memoirs of a revolutionist ....by peter kropotkin .

 

heavier than heaven, but its the only biography ive read, so i'm kind of, um, biased. but i thought the amount of detail was great.

 

Janis Joplin's
Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
His child hood was miserable, worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic Childhood.

Ingrid Bergman (My Story)

 

Yeah I am reading Down and Out in Paris and London and it is great so far. It is funny, it makes you think, and Hunter S Thompson said in an interview it was one of his favorite books.

 

Night by Eli Wiesel. Its not a biography but his accounts of the holocaust are very moving in a terrible way

 

Viktor E. Frankl's book "Man's Search For Meaning" which is about how he survived the concentration camps in the holocaust was really interesting and also quite moving. It's the only book i've read about the mass-murders of jewish people at that time actually, but it was stark and deep enough to be one of the only ones I think i need to read really.

He developed a psychotherapy of sorts called "Logotherapy" from his experiences in the camps and went on later when free to help other people out, using the insights he gleamed from coming face to face with pure terror and lack of hope.
The fundamental premise really is that humans need a meaning in their lives. When there is no meaning, then neuroticism and other things rear their heads.
But also there were some really interesting little techniques in there such as "paradoxical intention" where if you have a phobia of sweating in public for example, he would tell you to TRY and sweat more and more. See if you can sweat more than the last time you sweated, see if you can drench your shirt this time etc...go really crazy and TRY to sweat.
Apparently this worked for many vicious-cycle type anxious disorders in some of his clients, as they tried harder to do exactly what they were afraid of, and then it just would go away rather quickly.

 

manson in his own words by nuel emmons

 

I've never been much of a biography reader, but I loved Lyle Leverich's "Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams," and also a biography of Gertrude Stein (can't remember the author's name, but it was so interesting--what a time that must have been with Picasso and Hemingway coming to dinner!)

 

this book called "Misha" (i gave it away as a wedding present, and cant remember the author). It was about a six yr old girl, that ran away from the roundup of the jewish people in poland i think, then walks all the way across europe, and catches a boat to italy. it is an amazing story (autobiography). She even gets taken in by a female wolf for a winter! full on man, the wolves fed her by regurgitating meat and everything. then she crosses the freaking alps on foot, just amazing.

 

Miles Davis' autobiography is great especially the parts about his days in Charlie Parker's band

 

whats the name of it ? my friend met charlie parker once in massachusetts ....a good auto is ' prison memoirs of an anarchist ' by alexander berkman ....and the long 'living my life ' by emma goldman

 

It is "Miles-The Autobiography" Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe

 

Angelas Ashes, Frank McCourt

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

and Ive been reading a bit of Ben Franklin's autobiography......kinda enjoying that one!