What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

It can be anyone

Any particular subjects you are interested in?
Movies, Music, Historical?

George Sand: A Biography

Also go to my shelves labelled Biography and Memoir - anything I rated 4 or 5 stars I would recommend.

Laurie,it can be any subject

Lobstergirl, ok I will take a look. Thank you :)

Jocelyn, this belongs down in the Books in General section, since you are looking for different suggestions. I've moved it for you, so that people will realize that you want any and all autobiographies/biographies recommended.

Having said that--if you like entertainment based ones, try Change Lobsters and Dance and Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope's Own Story

Ann aka Iftcan, oh ok thank you. I will read both they sound interesting, thanks!

Home: a memoir of my early years by Julie Andrews

I just picked up Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers, it's the book the recent movie "Saving Mr. Banks" is based on.

Chrissy, thank you! I am going to read it

Joseph, wow 416 pages! lol. But im still gonna give it a try. Thanks!

It's pretty old but "A Fortunate Life" was fantastic, especially if you are Australian.

Since any subject is ok, I'll recommend some of my favourite historical biographies: The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World, The Courtesan’s Revenge, Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self

I'm in the middle of The Glass Castle [audiobook] and I really like it.

Long Walk to Freedom about Nelson Mandela

Hey! Look at my shelf. I have read a lot of good ones!
/review/list...

Rainbow warrior about the founder of modern greenpeace.

I found this one that is now in my TBR and it's free on Amazon: Historic Girls Stories Of Girls Who Have Influenced The History Of Their Times

I don't think it's exactly bio but it looks interesting and it is based on real stories.

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison

This one is different.
I think it may have been done for tv recently. Wait, I'll look...
I found this:

Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel. This is a collection of diary enties and letters written by women as they made the journey out west. Can be very bleak, its amazing what these women went through as their husbands/fathers dragged them by wagon into the great wilderness that was the American frontier.

Some of These Days is a good light read. It's long been said that she is a relative, but we could never confirm that. I was hoping the book might help. It didn't, but it was still an interesting read if you enjoy old-time show business (like Vaudeville), or funny anecdotes, or someone with a larger than life personality. I'm glad she told her own story because I don't think anyone else could have.

Just finished James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon -- terrific bio of a very interesting woman.

You have a lot of great suggestions here, but I'll also offer Brian Jay Jones's Jim Henson: The Biography. I'm in the middle of it right now and it's fantastic. I don't know how interesting it'll be if you're not into Henson's work, though.

If you are interested in colonial Africa as a setting, The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood is about a young British girl just arrived in Kenya with her parents who have bought land and their goal is to have a coffee plantation. I don't know if they are successful (I just started it). It takes place in the early 20th century.

If you're interested in the Middle East: Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations.

If you're interested in WWII: I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941.

If you're interested in British history: The Six Wives of Henry VIII or anything by Antonia Fraser, e.g. The Wives of Henry VIII or Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration.

i really liked Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated when I read it

i'm also reading The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder right now and finding it interesting

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton for another suggestion. And no, this is NOT the actor Richard Burton. This is a 19th century figure who was a bit like Indiana Jones.

Wedlock: The True Story of the Disastrous Marriage and Remarkable Divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate by Wendy Moore.

Roald Dahl's Boy and Going Solo

Tomorrow You Die: The Astonishing Survival Story of a Second World War Prisoner of the Japanese by Andy Coogan

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

The Boy with No Shoes by William Horwood

With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows by Sandra Kalniete

Bevery Sills - Bubbles a Self Portrait; Audry Hepburn - Audry Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit; Julie Andrews - Home: A Memoir of my Early Years; Katherine Hepburn - Me: Stories of my Life; Ingrid Bergman - Ingrid Bergman My Story. All really good books about strong independent woman.

Lobstergirl wrote: "If you are interested in colonial Africa as a setting, The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood is about a young British girl just arrived in Kenya with her parents wh..."

They made a movie of this that I believe had Hayley Mills in it.

Liz wrote: "They made a movie of this that I believe had Hayley Mills in it. "

Correct. A miniseries, I think. In fact Hayley Mills (who must play the mother) and her co-star who plays the daughter are on the cover of the Penguin edition I'm reading.

Anna wrote: "...[book:How to Create the Perfect Wife..."

This sounds very odd and intriguing -- have added it to my list.

I haven't yet read Twelve Years a Slave, the autobiography that inspired this year's Golden Globe winning film, but it's on my must-read list. Written in the 1860s.

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills..." Do read OUT OF AFRICA by Isac Dinnesen (pen name of Karen Blixen.) Her true story is every bit as romantic and remarkable and the Meryl Streep/Robert Redford film. Have a box of Kleenex handy.

These are still on my TBR list:


Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader�s Edition

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness

Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website

I agree about anything from Antonia Fraser. I also enjoyed "The Women of the Cousins' War" by Philippa Gregory, et al. "She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth" is even better. If you have any interest in the FLDS and its treatment of girls, I would recommend "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop or or "Stolen Innocence" by Elissa Wall.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America was really good.

American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation if you like really in-depth political books and details of political corruption.

Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice was pretty good.

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

Madame de Pompadour is a classic.

The autobiographies of Frederick Douglass are incredible.

I'm reading Grant Wood: A Life and it's interesting. Includes color plates of some of his paintings.

The Story of My Life
A Girl and Five Brave Horses
Forever Today: A True Story of Lost Memory and Never-Ending Love
The Diary of a Young Girl
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated
A Stolen Life
3,096 Days
I Know My First Name Is Steven
Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron
The Fairy Ring
Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection
Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography