I enjoy reading memoir/biography books.
Have any you would recommend?
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I enjoy reading memoir/biography books.
Have any you would recommend?
A few ideas. Military, and very grim: Shake Hands with the Devil, by Romeo Dallaire.
A Carpenter's Life Told By Houses, by Larry Haun.
Rivethead, by Ben Hamper.
Nuremberg, by Airey Neave.
A People's History of the Industrial Revolution, by Emma Griffin. (This one's not exactly a memoir, but a history based on several dozen memoirs written at the time.)
My favorite biographical author is William Manchester. No idea if any of his subjects would be of interest to you.
All of Nathaniel Philbrick’s books are good reading. As to Manchester, I think I’ve read all of his books. “Goodbye Darkness” is the story of an American boy who in ‘41 became a Marine. My FIL, Army, Guadalcanal, New Georgia, New Guinea & Luzon. My Dad, Marine, Eniwetok, Pelilu & Okinawa both said it was one of the best descriptions of America, at the time, and the war.
Do you have a preference to what type of profession or subject the memoir or biography is about?
Antoine de Saint-Exupery's 1939 "Wind, Sand and Stars" had me in the seat of his rickety plane with him. I was white knuckling some stories. (He wrote The Little Prince)
I have been slowly working on 3 no-brainer "fun" books while I wait for my MIL when I drive her around to doctor appointments. Tina Fey's "Bossypants" is very witty. Matthew McConaughay (sp?) "Greenlights" has been like remembering stories with an old friend. Carol Burnett's "This Time Together" is nostalgic and a pleasant read.
I have been working on expanding my limited knowledge of the world around us and diving into random subjects.
Heather Sellers "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know" was interesting. She cannot recognize faces.
Trevor Noah's "Born A Crime" was educational seeing how life was like growing up as a mixed race child in apartheid South Africa.
Christina Lamb's "Our Bodies Their Battlefield" was by far the most difficult book I have read, but also the most educational one I have ever read. I will never look at war the same. So much is left out in war history books.
Selma van de Perre's "My Name is Selma" was also an educational read about a young Jewish woman & Holocaust survivor.
"The Reluctant Empress" by Brigitte Hamann was a genre I have never read before. Interesting and sad.
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is on my To Read list. She is "HeLa" when it comes to scientific cell research.
"The Lady in Gold" is also on my To Read List about a valuable painting. (It was the last book a dear friend was reading before she passed away.)
I'm not big on biographies, but the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant, was very interesting, not just for the Civil War parts, but the before, and especially the after.
Read about peter the great years ago. He got mad when he was undedcover and people did not bow down to him. Worked as a carpenter building ships in Holland and ddi not understand why they got mad when he went home and built a giant fleet using the secret methods he learned .
Bill D
"Marine Sniper" a great book about the legendary Vietnam veteran Carlos Hathcock. A great read about a true American Hero