I've decided to refocus my library.

So what's your favorite autobiography or biography or life story or whatever?

11/2/2008 3:42:27 PM

I don't know about favorite but the last two I've read were "Pistol", A biography on Pistol Pete Maravich and "My Lobotomy", the memoirs of Howard Dully who was lobotomized when he was 12. I enjoyed both.

11/2/2008 3:58:39 PM

"Straight Life" autobiography of Art Pepper, a jazz sax player who spent pretty much all of his adult life a heroin addict.

Also "Raiders of the Deep" wriiten by Lowell Thomas, the reporter who chronicled the exploits
of Lawrence of Arabia. Interviewed World War 1 submariners and tells their story.

11/2/2008 4:08:18 PM

Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman

11/2/2008 5:09:28 PM

I loved Gene Wilder's "Kiss Me Like a Stranger"

11/2/2008 5:16:53 PM

Alright, thanks for the suggestions, y'all!

11/10/2008 3:37:31 AM

Anthony Kiedis' Scar Tissue was pretty good

11/10/2008 4:23:52 AM

James McBride The Color of Water -- talks about what it's like growing up with a white mother and a black father. Some of his descriptions are amazingly vivid.

Dave Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day -- Some of the funniest memoirs that I've ever read. He seems to run in to some of the most interesting characters one could ever meet.

Oliver Sacks Uncle Tungsten -- Chronicles his life-time fascination with science and parallels his boyhood discoveries with those historical ones that changed our views on the world

11/10/2008 9:14:46 AM

bttt...

anyone read some great ones recently? i've been trying to think about who I would like to learn about next.

10/14/2011 10:41:07 AM

I enjoyed Slash by Slash

I also read the Vince Neil autobiography "Tattoos and Tequila" a few months ago. For some reason I'm always drawn to rock stars with crazy party stories

I HATE biographies, I cant read anything but autobiographies that are stories straight out of the subject's mouth. Give me a 1st person story over a 3rd person anyday

[Edited on October 14, 2011 at 11:37 AM. Reason : asdf]

10/14/2011 11:35:16 AM

Cash by Johnny Cash.

10/14/2011 11:43:31 AM

Me Talk Pretty One Day by Dave Sedaris (and his other collections too)
- Mostly self-deprecating stories about his adventures as a gay man growing up in the South

The Color of Water by James McBride
- Memories of being a black man raised by a white mother

Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
- Parallels his childhood experiences with many of the discoveries of the scientific world and his fascination with it

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Interesting enough to warrant a reading. I love how her poetry sort of colors her narration.

10/14/2011 12:06:04 PM

yeah you pretty much reposted your original list.

10/14/2011 12:11:39 PM

At least I'm consistent.

10/14/2011 12:13:50 PM

I do like biographies. Three excellent ones off the top of my head (assuming you're interested in American History, anyway) are John Adams by David McCullough, Truman also by David McCullough, and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

Also, if you want to get really in depth, Edmund Morris has written a three volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt. I've just started reading the third (Colonel Roosevelt) but the first two, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex are fantastic. The first volume won a Pulitzer, and the second the National Book Award.

[Edited on October 16, 2011 at 12:49 AM. Reason : format]

10/16/2011 12:46:36 AM