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Good autobiographies?

49 replies

megnog · 03/12/2008 22:21

Any suggestions for good autobiographies? Open to all suggestions, so long as they're well written!!

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megnog · 03/12/2008 22:21

The autobiographies I mean... not your replies

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Quadrophenia · 03/12/2008 22:23

moab is my washpot by Stephen fry

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DoubleBluff · 03/12/2008 22:23

just read Rupert Everet that was fun
Alan bennett
lauren bacall was really interesting

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MrsThierryHenry · 03/12/2008 22:23

Nelson Mandela
Barack Obama
Kerry Katona







(spot the odd one out! I only included it because it fits in rhythmically with the others!)

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ilovemydog · 03/12/2008 22:24

Alan Clark diaries (from the right)
Tony Benn diaries (from the left)
Golda Meir
Wild Swans

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ilovemydog · 03/12/2008 22:25

Walk to Freedom - absolutely

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elkiedee · 03/12/2008 22:28

Generally the best written ones are by people who are good writers rather than celebrities. Can you tell us what you've enjoyed?

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Bink · 03/12/2008 22:29

Particular kinds of things/people you like?

I like development of a reflective mind stuff (quite serious) so, The Education of Henry Adams; Edmund Gosse's Father and Son; Gorky's trilogy My Childhood, My Youth, My Universities.

But that wouldn't suit if you want rollicking rampages through colourful decades of recent history, featuring thinly disguised portraits of recognisable celebs ...

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AussieLou · 03/12/2008 22:32

Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know
Ranulph Fiennes

Really fascinating life he has had. Loved the book.

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daffodill6 · 03/12/2008 22:44

Really like auto/biogs
Faves have been ( in no partic order) Rupert everett, Alan Clarke, David Niven, Howard Marks, Lord Hailsham, Alan Bennett, Alec Guiness, Harry Patch, Joyce Grenfall.... All entertaining and give an insight into lives/times different from mine. I do like to have lived in their era though and be able to put a face to a name.

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megnog · 04/12/2008 10:13

Definitely NOT into ghost written celeb autobiographies...! I like quite serious stuff, I'd like to read autobiographies that really give an insight into different lives, I'm not interested in Jordan or the like. Thanks for your suggestions! Keep them coming!

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constancereader · 04/12/2008 10:14

Bad Blood by Lorna Sage.
It is brilliantly written.

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ClaudiaSchiffer · 04/12/2008 10:52

Apols Constance but I though Bad Blood was one of the worst books EVER. Dreary childhood in wet dreary Wales as far as I remember (or was it wet dreary Shropshire?).

But, more positively . . . how about Don't lets go to the dogs tonight - Alexandra Fuller. Another non-famous person auto-biog but rather splendid and life-affirming.

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cyteen · 04/12/2008 11:08

Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, by Florence King. Riproaringly funny, poignant and interesting.

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rockcake · 04/12/2008 11:46

Not into autobiographies generally - especially the celeb variety - but read the most brilliant one about 20 years ago called Working Girl by an American ex-prostitute, now happily married apparently. Her story was hilarious, quite sad (as you'd expect), credible and unbelievable all at the same time. Wish I could remember her name! Does anyone else know the one I'm talking about?

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rockcake · 04/12/2008 11:49

... now I think about it, I think maybe the title was Working Woman, not Working Girl...

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notnowbernard · 04/12/2008 11:49

Nelson Mandela - Long Walk To Freedom
John Seargant's was v funny
Danniella Westbrook - v honest and quite shocking tale of addiction
Clive James - funny

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elkiedee · 04/12/2008 19:28

New Zealand writer Janet Frame wrote about her experiences of growing up and as a young woman, including mental health problems, in a 3 volume memoir - I have a single volume edition published under the title An Angel at My Table. It was also filmed and shown on television some years ago.

A long time favourite for me is Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels, about growing up in an eccentric posh family between the wars. Jessica became a Communist while two of her sisters supported British and German Fascism, and Nancy became famous as a novelist (Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love are her best known books).

It's hard to recommend others when I'm not sure what's still in print. Two I liked when I was growing up were Esther Hautzig's The Endless Steppe about a girl in a wealthy Polish family who were deported to Siberia by the Russians (it probably saved them from the Nazis as they were Jewish), and Ilse Koehn's Mischling Second Degree about a young German girl in the 1930s/40s whose mum's parents had her live with them and enrolled her in the Hitler Youth, separating her from her Jewish father to try and keep her safe.

As I write this post I'm watching a programme about Vera Brittain, her Testament of Youth about growing up during WWI and losing several loved ones is an excellent read.

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snigger · 04/12/2008 19:32

Blake Morrison "When did you last see your Father", but particularly "Things my Mother never told me",

and Ruth Reichl "Tender at the Bone".

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littlelamb · 04/12/2008 19:34

Good ones I have read recently are Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry and Boy & Going Solo by Roald Dahl. Am looking forward to reading Carrie Fisher's new one too

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constancereader · 04/12/2008 20:36

Claudia - did you not see the funny side? All the hilarious bits passed you by obviously! Her mother's method of making gravy was worth the purchase price all by itself

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ClaudiaSchiffer · 04/12/2008 20:56

Gosh no Constance - I must have had a total sense of humour failure on that one . Really, was it funny? Ha ha how odd, I just remember lots of gloomy weather.

Snigger, I too thought the Blake Morrison one was great. Also good recommendations from elkiedee.

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constancereader · 04/12/2008 20:59

oh, there WAS a lot of gloomy weather

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janeite · 04/12/2008 21:01

I hated "Bad Blood" - thought it was very mundane.

I have said this several times before but hey ho: the best autobiography, ever, ever, ever, is "Paula" by Isabel Allende. It is the most astonishing, heart rending, thought provoking book and she is an incredibly brave woman for having written it.

Does "The Colour Purple" count as autobiography?

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itcameuponamidnightexpress · 04/12/2008 21:03

Antonia White - Frost in May
Vera Brittan - Testament of Youth
Jung Chang - Wild Swans

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