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Original poster

I've never read biographies and I'd like to start

58 replies

Hoolahoophop · 18/01/2022 11:15

I'm trying the 50 book challenge this year. So far iv read 3
Mrs England by Stacy Halls
Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Passing by Nella Larsen

I've never really got into biographies by id like to splatter a few in between the easy reads I enjoy and a few classics.

I've just got into audiobook so think biographies might be good for the walk to work.

I've reserved Michelle Obarma, Louis Therox and Dave Grohl from the library as I was scanning through and they caught my eye.

Can anyone recommend biographies that are easy reading, funny and uplifting. Maybe someone inspiring in a gentle way. I'm a Mum, an accidental business woman (who procrastinates terribly, so could do with some kick up the arse inspiration).

Or someone who takes a completely opposite path, a homespun natural healer of mystic!

Any ideas. Thanks

OP posts:
stringbean · 19/01/2022 18:53

The Mitford Girls by Mary S Lovell was a really interesting read!

DisforDarkChocolate · 19/01/2022 18:49

The Right Sort of Girl - Anita Rani. Fantastic autobiography.

Jenjenn · 19/01/2022 18:46

Open Andre Agassi's autobiography is fantastic. I am not a fan of tennis or any sports at all but that was a great read.

Ihopeyourcakeisshit · 19/01/2022 18:44

@magicstar1 I'm also a fan of old movies and Hollywood icon biographies, just reading one of Bette Davis' books. She's fabulous.

ToastieSnowy · 19/01/2022 18:37

David Attenborough’s Life on Air; Betty Boothroyd’s autobiography is really interesting; my favourite is Marc Almond’s “Tainted Life”

tearinghairout · 19/01/2022 18:35

I really enjoyed a biography called Cold Cream by someone called Ferdy Mount. He was a Fleet Street journalist who later became Margaret Thatcher's speechwriter although that's only a very small part of the book, and he wasn't a fan of hers. It's a very funny and interesting read.

coronabeer · 19/01/2022 18:21

I quite often like to listen to audiobooks when walking the dog.

Ones I have recently enjoyed have been:

"Me"- Elton John autobiography. Not especially an Elton John fan (don't dislike him, either) , but what a fascinating life. Full of anecdotes and funny stories but also quite thoughtful at times about, for example, his addictions and his relationship with his mother.

"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Journey" by Albert Lansing. It really was an incredible story - very gripping and all true.

"Mutiny on the Bounty" by Peter FitzSimmons. A saga of sex, sedition, mayhem and mutiny, and survival against extraordinary odds. Covers the events leading up to the mutiny - and what happened next.

Manteo · 19/01/2022 18:08

@PersonIrresponsible

You could try mine if you're looking for inspirational...I walked across America whilst forty-sob-sob-sob something, fat, funny and four years sober. Oh, and then there was the small matter of a pandemic starting..

Hence, living in a tent in the wilderness seemed perfectly reasonable after the world went to hell in a handbag.

Previously I had hiked from the sofa to the fridge and back. It's available in Paperback and on Kindle.

]]

That sounds so exciting, I'd love to do that, how did you find the trip??
Fluffymule · 19/01/2022 18:01

Anne Glenconner's 'Lady in Waiting'.

I'm waiting to read Joan Collins' recently released 'My Unapologetic Diaries', it's somewhere in my reading pile, and should be a good gossipy light read.

Not quite an autobiography, labelled as a memoir of childhood reading, I enjoyed Lucy Mangans 'Bookworm'.

highlandcoo · 19/01/2022 17:51

YY to The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid. Very honest but not self-pitying _ and occasionally funny in a dry way - account of her experience of becoming tetraplegic following a riding accident.
Additionally, if you are lucky enough to have good mobility it makes you very grateful for it.

magicstar1 · 19/01/2022 15:59

I love old movies and read a lot of biographies such as Clark Gable, Robert Mitchum etc. David Niven wrote a few which are full of funny anecdotes and interesting stories - Bring on the Empty Horses, and The Moons a Balloon are two of them.

Talipesmum · 19/01/2022 15:51

More of a diary via letters, but if you haven’t read “Love, Nina” by Nina Stibbe I would hugely recommend it.

TimeforaGandT · 19/01/2022 15:48

I came on to say Hungry by Grace Dent and see others have beaten me to it - one of my favourite reads of last year

Tsuni · 19/01/2022 15:27

If you want inspiration/a kick up the arse how about “The Pursuit of Happyness”?

yoshiblue · 19/01/2022 15:20

Hungry - Grace Dent
The World I Fell Out Of - Melanie Reid
Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother - Amy Chua (if you want a laugh!)

BackBackBack · 18/01/2022 21:25

I love biographies, autobiographies and memoires. I've just finished Miriam Margolyes which was very funny and also quite poignant in places.

I'm currently reading Michael Buerk's and Ken Clarke's (I like having a couple on the go). Next after that is Sasha Swire's Diary of an MP's wife.

For classics - Roald Dahl's Boy and Going Solo are very good, as is Stephen Fry's Moab is my Washpot.

Nopetryagain · 18/01/2022 21:16

Another vote for Bob Mortimer, I am also enjoying Taste by Stanley Tucci

Original poster
Hoolahoophop · 18/01/2022 21:03

Thanks so much, loads more great suggestions, my reading list will be full for the year. Smile

OP posts:
suckingonchillidogs · 18/01/2022 20:25

I really enjoyed Bruce Springsteen's autobiography - Born to Run

LittleDiaries · 18/01/2022 13:53

Seconding Anne Glenconner's autobiography, Lady in Waiting. It's so good, and she's a good writer, too, which makes it all the more enjoyable. I had to abandon Rick Stein's autobiography- it was so dull.

Also seconding Hungry by Grace Dent. I loved it. I've listened to her podcast, Comfort Eating, and thoroughly enjoyed that too.

TheLeadbetterLife · 18/01/2022 13:21

The Anne Glenconner one is fabulous, I agree with pp.

Anita Roddick - Business As Unusual would be up your street.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

I've just started This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes, which is good so far.

Not a biography, but if you like interesting non fiction, The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe is a wonderful read (there's a fantastic film based on it too).

highlandcoo · 18/01/2022 13:14

@DelurkingAJ

Not a biography but consider ‘The Powerful and the Damned’ by Lionel Barber. Edited diaries of the Chief Editor of the FT during the financial crisis years. I alternately howled with laughter and was horrified all the way through.
Perfect present for my husband - thanks - I would never have come across this myself
helpfulperson · 18/01/2022 13:14

David attenborough's is really interesting. I've listened to it on audible and he reads it himself.

DelurkingAJ · 18/01/2022 13:05

Not a biography but consider ‘The Powerful and the Damned’ by Lionel Barber. Edited diaries of the Chief Editor of the FT during the financial crisis years. I alternately howled with laughter and was horrified all the way through.

Beamur · 18/01/2022 13:03

Roald Dahl. Boy and Going Solo. Read by Dan Stevens. You can listen to an extract on roalddahl.com
Delightful. Funny and cracking storytelling.