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Original poster

Best autobiography you have read

137 replies

newnameagain1976 · 01/01/2024 21:16

Im going to try and read more this year. I enjoy autobiographies. Can anyone recommend a good one please?

OP posts:
Labello · 07/01/2024 19:37

Brian Keenan - An Evil Cradling. It's only on a short period of his life but one of the best books I've read.

Megjobethamy · 07/01/2024 19:22

Alan Cumming's Not my Father's Son is a facinating book about his relationship with his father and his childhood in Scotland. It is beautiful read.

tobee · 05/01/2024 23:22

Two very different Hollywood ones:-

Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx; particularly his early life.

Haywire by Brooke Hayward who is the daughter of stage and screen actress Margaret Sullavan and agent and producer Leland Hayward. It's a fascinating story of growing up in a show business family and their relationships. Warning: there is lots about mental health and suicide.

Askmeanything1 · 05/01/2024 15:47

An unquiet mind

Askmeanything1 · 05/01/2024 15:47

Once in a house on fire
The color of water
Running with scissors

Mrsjayy · 05/01/2024 14:36

BarbaraBuncle · 05/01/2024 14:33

You're not the only one. I read it last year (before he died) and it took forever. I kept having to take a break and read something else. I feel guilty now but I called him Moaning Matthew to DH.

Fwiw his Chandler was always my favourite character in Friends and I feel so sad that his life was destroyed by addiction.

Show quote history

its tragic, i will finish it i bought it last year to listen to on a plane journey and im still ploughing through it !

BarbaraBuncle · 05/01/2024 14:33

Mrsjayy · 02/01/2024 12:37

im still listening to it i get he was an addict but i am finding it quite "whingy" i know thats awful.of me .

Show quote history

You're not the only one. I read it last year (before he died) and it took forever. I kept having to take a break and read something else. I feel guilty now but I called him Moaning Matthew to DH.

Fwiw his Chandler was always my favourite character in Friends and I feel so sad that his life was destroyed by addiction.

BarbaraBuncle · 05/01/2024 14:27

Lady In Waiting by Anne Glenconner. She was Lady In Waiting and friend to Princess Margaret, but had a tough life - difficult marriage and some horrible tragedies.

Phonedown · 05/01/2024 02:35

Evanna Lynch - The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting ( Memoir by the actor who played Luna Lovegood in the HP series), detailing her childhood eating disorder.

Gowlett · 05/01/2024 02:15

DH bought me the Matthew Perry. I dunno. Tears of a clown & all that. The Elton one was very entertaining, with all his stories! And funny, as he can really laugh about how awful it was. But, he survived. It’s sad what happened to Matthew…

LadyWithLapdog · 02/01/2024 12:38

Guys, how did we forget Prince Harry’s? I’ll admit that I liked it. Obviously not on a literary level or anything like that and it doesn’t compare with the other thoughtful books mentioned above.

Mrsjayy · 02/01/2024 12:37

SkaterGrrrrl · 01/01/2024 23:25

Matthew Perry's is excellent.

im still listening to it i get he was an addict but i am finding it quite "whingy" i know thats awful.of me .

Mrsjayy · 02/01/2024 12:34

newnameagain1976 · 01/01/2024 21:16

Im going to try and read more this year. I enjoy autobiographies. Can anyone recommend a good one please?

Barbara Windsors i loved them.

Askmeanything1 · 02/01/2024 12:31

Also Britney Spears is not what I expected and quite heartbreaking.

Askmeanything1 · 02/01/2024 12:30

Joyce Grenfell's autobiography is very good.

If you like horses at all, Pat Smythe's Jump for Joy is brilliant.

Maria Von Trapp is fascinating.

Maggie O' Farrell's I am, I am, I am.

Winterdance is well worth reading.

MrsW9 · 02/01/2024 12:22

Period Piece - Gwen Raverat. A charming and very funny memoir of childhood in a rather unusual family (Charles Darwin was her grandfather).

NerrSnerr · 02/01/2024 12:00

Just ignore him by Alan Davies was very good, very sad though.

A bit of a random one but I enjoyed In the time of Nick by Nick Owen. It was bought as a bit of a joke present when I lived in Brum as I used to see him and Shafali the weather lady in the Mailbox a lot but it was a good read.

crackfoxy · 02/01/2024 12:00

Tim peake
Super inspiring

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 02/01/2024 11:57

Spaghettieis · 02/01/2024 11:51

Maria von Trapp!

Yes, I loved that one. So interesting!

Spaghettieis · 02/01/2024 11:51

Maria von Trapp!

SerafinasGoose · 02/01/2024 11:49

Cazaletto · 01/01/2024 21:47

Claire Tomalin’s biographies are all terrific, particularly Samuel Pepys.

On a completely different note, there is an audiobook on BBC Sounds of Beth Mead’s autobiography, which is ace and well worth a listen.

How could I forget Clare Tomalin? +1 for this.

Ahna65 · 02/01/2024 02:42

Roald Dahl - Boy and Going Solo

ChristmasFairywings · 02/01/2024 02:29

Reading Dave Grohl, The Storyteller enjoying it, then next up and well recommended Geddy Lee, My effin life, hes (and Rush) are a big part of my life so looking forward to reading it.

smalltreethisyear · 02/01/2024 02:11

Christopher Reeve’s Still Me.
I read it 20 years ago and it has stayed with me.
He writes about his accident and the many feelings he went through in the early days to ‘accepting’ his situation. He writes so beautifully and with great humour and bravery.
I was never a fan prior to reading the book and still haven’t watched any of his films but the book is brilliant.

Gowlett · 02/01/2024 01:15

Elton John - Me.