Memoirs and biographies

[whatausername]

What ones have you enjoyed? Also, has anyone read Britney's autobiography? I'm dying to read it.

Peter Kay's was very funny, although given I didn't watch his comedy that seems odd!
Matthew Perry's was interesting but it was a little hard to follow the sequence of events. It could be dull if you aren't interested in addiction. It stayed with me for a while.
I remember enjoying Dawn French's Dear Fatty but can't remember the actual book much at all.
Marguerite de Navarre's biog was so disappointing. Not many scholars or writers seem to be interested in her.
I can't remember who else's I've read.
Anne Frank's diary is, well, a diary rather than a biography or memoir but I found her teenaged big ideals, grand proclamations and youthful angst reminded me a lot of teenagers I knew/know, including me when I was younger. Needless to say the persecution, war and hiding were not so relatable.

What ones have you read or are looking forward to read?

Lady in Waiting , as mentioned above is superb. Its depicts howvtge other half lives, not all glossy, and touches on the lives of some of the royals. Really enjoyed it.

Boris Becker - read years ago (before recent problems) and found it fascinating

I've just finished the Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, it was very good and I have pretty much enjoyed all biographies written by the same author so far - Steve Jobs, Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin

Brian Blessed's autobiography is great – touching, really funny, and a massive uplift. The chapter on Peter O' Toole is fascinating.

Robert Graves' Goodbye to all That is my favourite autobiography of all time. Literally every paragraph is interesting.

Virginia Woolf's Moments of Being is good as well.

I,Cheeta is an enjoyable read

Another vote for Andre Agassi's memoir, Open - it's written with the same ghostwriter who wrote Prince Harry's one, Spare, and it's really excellent.

Incidentally, I don't know why people are sneery about celebrities working with ghostwriters - writing a book to a readable standard is very very difficult, and it's unlikely that somebody whose talents lie in an entirely different area would be up to the task. It's a completely different thing to the nonsensical scenario of somebody like Millie Bobby Brown putting out a novel that was in fact entirely written by someone else. I do think ghostwriters should be acknowledged on the front cover, though.

Some of the best I've read recently are:

My Name is Why - Lemn Sissay
Behind The Seams - Esme Young
Making It - Jay Blades
Hooked - Paul Merson
I Love the Bones of You - Christopher Eccleston
Windswept and Interesting - Billy Conolly

Dave Grohl's is a wonderful read as his success just seems so deserved. I read it after Taylor Hawkins died so that was a shadow over it, and was so sad to find out his mum has died since he wrote it too. The love for them both shines through.

Bob Mortimer's is fantastic for the 90s nostalgia alone!

I had no idea I would devour To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine. It's not even about her musical career but mostly her family relationships. Very well written.

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser - epic biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder

I really like the BBC radio dramatisation of Samuel Pepys's Diary. (I have actually read his diaries too, and the Claire Tomalin biography.)

I was laura ingils wilder obsessed growing up I read all her books they were brilliant I think they are up my mums loft

The Kenneth Williams Diaries are a great read as pp said. I read them on holiday and then Dh read them after me. We both were in very low spirits for a couple of days after finishing them. Pretty depressing.

My favourite thing to do is read diaries or an autobiography and then, if I'm interested, read a good biography of them afterwards to compare and contrast.

I like old Hollywood and enjoyed Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx and By Myself by Lauren Bacall. Also Haywire by Brooke Hayward whose mother was a Broadway and Hollywood actor and father was a producer/agent. Warning: it deals with family secrets and a great deal about suicide and mental health.

I particularly like to read the bits concerning people's lives before they became successful and the latter part of their lives.

I also really enjoy reading writings and diaries by ordinary people; Mass Observation and similar.

I love a good memoir. In no particular order:

Clare Balding - the animal one

Kate Mulgrew - both ones - although TW the first one is about giving up a child for adoption and very harrowing. The second one is about caring for a parent with dementia so also brilliant/harrowing.

Dirk Bogarde, i love all his books so much.

One of Judy Garland' s husbands (Sid Luft) wrote one which is partially a very interesting account of him as a Jewish American man going on a long holiday in Europe in the 1930s, this section is fascinsting in that it really captures a moment in time from an interesting perspective. (It's not all amazing but that bit is)

Agatha Christie "come tell me how you live" it's about her going on archaeology digs in thr ME in the 30s and also really captures a moment in time.

Oh that one is so good. I was obsessed with LHOTP as a child!

Brando’s Songs My Mother Taught Me was good.

Oh I’ll get this. Love her.

Good but depressing.

Bit low brow but I loved Nic Grimshaws

Bad Blood is incredible. As is Miriam.

Nic Grimshaw is such a gossip I bet his book is great 😄

If you want diaries Alan Clarks are very good. He's a nasty snob but they are well written and entertaining