Recommend me fastastic (auto)biographies

I love a good biography. I'm reading Mary Lovell's 'Bess of Hardwick Hall' at the moment in preparation for a trip to Derbyshire and really loving it, she's done a book about the Mitford sisters which is also suppose to be good. And since we are on the Mitford's then Nancy's biography of Madame de Pompadour is worth a read.

I'm a scientist and have enjoyed the following science biographies:
'Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA' by Brenda Maddox
'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot
'Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life' by Georgina Ferry

The Alan Johnson memoirs, excluding the latest which is about music.
He had a dirt poor upbringing in the London Kensington slums, largely raised by an older sister. Then he became a postman and started getting politically active.

I am not a die hard Labour supporter so it has wide appeal.

It is a celeb one, so maybe a bit lighter than those above, but I loved Paul O’Grady’s series of autobiographies, which take you from his life as a child in Birkenhead, his work as Lily Savage in the pubs and clubs of the UK then eventual stardom and all the stuff that brought with it. Heartwarming as well as laugh out loud funny in places.

Ahem sorry I do know some words other than brilliant!

I just read a biography of the Churchill’s which was absolutely gripping - by Mary Lovell.

Prairie Fires about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder is brilliant.

Educated also brilliant.

Angela’s Ashes brilliant.

Memoir by John McGahern brilliant and beautifully written and heartbreaking in places.

I am thoroughly enjoying Becoming Michelle Obama

I’m not normally a fan of biography, but I loved Richard Ellman’s biography of Oscar Wilde. It’s a few decades old now, so you can pick it up second-hand very cheaply.

I’ve also been dipping into a collection of Byron’s letters, which are lively and often very funny - I think I might have downloaded them from Project Gutenberg for nothing, so a bargain. Not sure if letters count, but I enjoy encountering someone in their own words.

I loved Jeanette Winterson’s memoir, ‘Why be happy when you can be normal?’.
It’s really honest, funny and sad at the same time. Also full of wisdom. I was going to give it to the charity shop, but I’ve kept it because I want to reread it one day.