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Original poster

Recommend me fastastic (auto)biographies

34 replies

BoogleMcGroogle · 15/03/2019 20:24

Having spent the past week engrossed by Lindsey Hilsum's superb biography of the equally superb Marie Colvin, I've realised I need to read more books about fascinating people.

Please recommend me your favourites. I'm not that into 'slebs, but would love anything that portrays an interesting life fully lived.

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Fr3d · 13/04/2019 17:47

I've just finished Christopher Reeves "Still Me" and while it's not always riveting like a good novel, it is very compelling (and hearrbreaking). And inspiring.

Mammajay · 24/03/2019 14:57

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali..her amazing autobiography. From Somalian refugee to Dutch mp to seeking refuge, from danger in Holland, in America.

hackmum · 24/03/2019 14:47

Jonathan Coe's biography of the novelist BS Johnson, Like A Fiery Elephant, is brilliant. I hadn't even heard of BS Johnson, but that doesn't make any difference.

cucumbergin · 23/03/2019 23:55

"Let IT Go" by Dame "Steve" Shirley.

She arrived in the UK in 1939, age 5 on the Kindertransport with her sister. She went into computing as a young woman, realised that she would never be promoted, quit and started her own company (her husband suggested she'd get more contracts if she signed as "Steve Shirley" rather than "Stephanie") and hired women programmers who'd left/been pushed out when they had kids, all working from home. Built it into a multi-million pound business. Her son was severely autistic and she set up a charitable trust fund focusing on autism related projects.

Utterly remarkable woman!

BertrandRussell · 23/03/2019 23:44

I don’t usually read autobiographies but I have just enjoyed “Everyone Died so I Got a Dog” by Emily Dean.

Original poster
BoogleMcGroogle · 23/03/2019 23:39

Thanks so much everyone for these recommendations. I'm really keen to read outside my normal comfort zone, so I promise I'm going to look every single one up on Amazon Smile

OP posts:
MyKitchenIsATip · 23/03/2019 19:44

Funnily enough I just recommended I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell. One of my very favourite books.

BridlingtonSand · 21/03/2019 21:30

Not autobiographies but two memoirs I’ve recently loved are Michelle Obama’s Becoming and The World I Fell Out Of.

HepzibahHumbug · 19/03/2019 11:48

Many years ago I enjoyed Vera (mrs Vladimir Nabokov) by Stacy Schiff.
More recently I read a great bio of Arthur Ransome.
Captain Scott by Ranulph Fiennes.
Also Cold Cream by the inimitable and sylish Ferdinand Mount.

theyellowjumper · 19/03/2019 11:35

Margaret Forster's biographies of Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are both fabulous and read as easily as good novels. I also loved her autobiography/family history, Hidden Lives.

Other autobiographies I've enjoyed recently:
Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford
Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? - Jeanette Winterson
Fingers in the Sparkle Jar - Chris Packham
Toast - Nigel Slater
The Outrun - Amy Liptrot

CountFosco · 18/03/2019 19:26

Maya Angelou's autobiography series beginning with 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings' is a classic.

NottonightJosepheen · 18/03/2019 13:34

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TurquoiseLagoon · 18/03/2019 13:21

Andre Agassi's Open was great
And A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown tells of her life. She was taken into the American care system at the age of 11 (in the 70s I think) and had a terrible life - abuse, drug addiction, homelessness. Though it sounds miserable it's actually uplifting and funny. I read it ten years ago but it sticks in my mind

elkiedee · 18/03/2019 12:38

In addition to the memoirs by Jeannette Winterson, Tara Westover, Alan Johnson, which I also enjoyed:

Xiaolu Guo, Once Upon a Time in the East
Jackie Kay, Red Dust Road
Hope Jahren, Lab Girl
Aminatta Forna, The Devil that Danced on the Water
Claire Tomalin, A Life of My Own
Jessica Mitford, Hons and Rebels

On biographies, I also recommend Prairie Fires, and I read the Marie Colvin bio a few months ago.

PierreBezukov · 17/03/2019 21:13

Another vote for Prairie Fires - an astonishing book.

I must read the John McGahern one - he's a fantastic writer.

weebarra · 17/03/2019 21:01

The books on Dickens and Austen by Claire Tomalin are great. Also Mary Lovells Mitford book.

RustyBear · 17/03/2019 20:58

Agatha Christie's autobiography is fascinating, from her late Victorian childhood to archeological explorations with her second husband. It's written in a very conversational style; she called it a 'lucky dip' of her memories - put in your hand and see what you come up with.

Harumphharagh · 17/03/2019 20:42

God what IS IT with me and the word brilliant today! Sorry again.

Harumphharagh · 17/03/2019 20:41

Also Nella Last’s War.

Harumphharagh · 17/03/2019 20:41

The Evelyn Waugh recent biography also brilliant.

Harumphharagh · 17/03/2019 20:41

A lot of love for Mary Lovell!

I think the Mitford letters to each other are a brilliant sort of biography, brilliant if you’ve already read the Lovell biography itself.

DonPablo · 17/03/2019 10:30

Yy to educated. I couldn't put it down. By Tara Westover

marilynmonroe · 17/03/2019 10:28

I would recommend the Mitford sister by Mary s Lovell. It's fascinating.

I've read 2 biographies of authors which I loved. One on elizabeth Jane Howard and Claire tomalin. Such interesting lives.

Also Martha gellhorn by Caroline Moorhead. She was a war reporter in the 30s and 40s and was also married to Hemingway. What a life!

MothershipG · 17/03/2019 09:57

You have to read Alan Cumming's autobiography, 'Not my Father's Son', well written, moving, absolutely fascinating.

CountFosco · 17/03/2019 08:55

Oh, and the wonderful Jenni Murray wrote
A History of Britain in 21 Women: A Personal Selection which is well worth a read and will have you chasing other biographies as well.

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