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Autobiographies and Biographies


Michelle

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I'm not a fan of celebrity type biographies, but I do read a lot of autobiographical/biographical books. I particularly like reading about authors whose books I've enjoyed and about people who have lived in challenging circumstances, whether it's because of remoteness or poverty or whatever.

 

My all-time favourite books are Gerald Durrell's trilogy My Family and Other Animals; Birds, Beast and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods.

Gerald spent some of his childhood growing up with his eccentric family on the island of Corfu. He is besotted with all creatures from a very young age and collects a large number of animals for pets. They are always getting into trouble. These books are delightful and very funny.

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I have two that I loved. Both are personal journeys but also follow earlier generations of their respective families.

 

White Swans, three daughters of China by Jung Chang documents the change in life in China, from the feudal system and the life the grandmother of the author had, her mother under Communism and then her life.

 

My Place by Sally Morgan documents the discovery of the Aboriginal family she never knew existed.

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A friend recently recommended an autobiography by Slash the guitarist from Guns 'n' Roses. She said she really enjoyed it but unfortunately I can't remember its title :welcome:

It's called Slash - The Autobiography (a very-imaginative title! :006: ). A friend of mine read it recently but he said although enjoyable he didn't think it was very well-written.

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A friend recently recommended an autobiography by Slash the guitarist from Guns 'n' Roses. She said she really enjoyed it but unfortunately I can't remember its title :006:

 

I loved this book, but then again I worship Slash! :welcome:

 

My review is here

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I loved autobiographies and 'true amazing stories' when I was a kid. One of my absolute favorite books was a biography of Helen Keller, a young girl who was blind, deaf and mute, learned to get along with it and went on to lead an amazing life. I cant possibly number the times I read it :welcome:

 

I havent read any of those for some time now but I might pick some ideas in all those suggestions you made!

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I loved autobiographies and 'true amazing stories' when I was a kid. One of my absolute favorite books was a biography of Helen Keller, a young girl who was blind, deaf and mute, learned to get along with it and went on to lead an amazing life. I cant possibly number the times I read it :welcome:

 

I loved this book too Chimera when I was a child. It was quite inspiring.

 

I recently read My Family and other Animals, it was such a fun book, I completely fell in love with Gerald's madcap family; I didn't realize the book was part of a trilogy Poppy, thanks for the imformation, I will have to keep a lookout for the other two books.

 

shelbel, there's one more book that sort of follows on from these called Fillets of Plaice. It's a collection of stories, some about Corfu.

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I loved this book too Chimera when I was a child. It was quite inspiring.

 

Chimera I'll second that one too. I had forgotten that book about Helen Keller. Quite a remarkable story.

 

It figures others loved it too... It's a book I got randomly in some contest or other and which I then kept as a personal treasure for years. Never really imagined others reading it :welcome: Though I have no idea where it might be now. I'll have to review it in the 'youth zone' if I can find it.

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It's called Slash - The Autobiography (a very-imaginative title! :006: ).

 

I guess it does what it says on the tin! ;) After the life he's had I imagine he could have come up with a better title though ;)

 

I loved this book, but then again I worship Slash! :welcome:

 

My review is here

 

I've just read you're review and I think I'll add this to my wish list,(must hoke out my G 'n' R albums) :D Its growing faster than I'm reading!!:D

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Not sure if I've already mentioned this or not, but my favourite has to be "Miles the autobiography" which was all about the life and times of Miles Davis. I'm not even that big a fan of his music, but I was captivated with his passion and drive to create.

 

GWA.

:)

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I just remembered another very interesting autobiography: Banker to the Poors: The Story of the Grameen Bank by Mohammad Yunus. Yunus is the man who invented the microcredit in Bengladesh, a concept which has since then spread everywhere in the world. The idea was of creating a bank which would lend very small sums of money to people who need it to start a small livelihood activity (a food stall in the street, some materials to make stools out of bamboo...) but cant go to normal banks as they are too poor to offer any garantee.

 

More than Yunu's life story this book is the story of the creation and development of the Grameen bank. A very insightful view in this system, the development questions in Bangladesh and the way a simple but unorthodox idea can grow into a very effective development tool.

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I've only read a couple biographies (auto-biographies), as I'm not a big fan of them. I loved Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox (but I love Michael J. Fox) & I've read On the Edge by Richard & Mindy Hammond, which was also a great book.

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