Best biography you’ve ever read?
My serious book club–as opposed to our Good Time Book Club and my we only read books that make us glad to be alive Book Club is currently reading Barack Obama’s A Promised Land. You’d think we’d love it. We’re all Obama fans, the book has five full stars at Amazon from over 100K readers but… nope. Only two women, enviable overachievers both of them, have managed to finish this 753 page book. It’s just too long or too detail oriented or the sentences are too hard to follow or too something.
Memoirs and biographies are the best-selling genre of nonfiction print books and the second most popular in e-books. Currently, seven of the top best selling books on Amazon fall into that category. People are raving about Matthew McConaughey‘s Greenlights which for some reason amuses me–the book is a 4.5 star reading from over 35K readers.
I couldn’t get through A Promised Land. My daughter is still upset with me for not reading Becoming. In fact, the last biography I read all of is Girls Like Us and that was three years ago. The last memoir was Educated. (I loved both books.) It can’t be my fault, right? It must just be that I haven’t found the perfect book yet.
So help me out. What’s the best biography or memoir you’ve ever read? And what made it so damn great?
Do sort of group biographies count? Because I really enjoyed Jenny Uglow’s Lunar Men, about a groups of friends involved in science and technology at the end of the 18th century. But I really prefer memoirs, which give a glimpse into the way people thought even if the facts may get a bit skewed. One of my favorites is Seventy Years Young: Memories of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall. It had never occurred to me, but even with saucers, those candles in the chandeliers must have dripped on the dancers by the end of the ball.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a biography. The closest I’ve come would be first person travel diaries, like In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (his travels across Australia) and An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof, both of which I enjoyed immensely. But I struggle to think of one book I’ve read that is the story of one person’s life. (If I think of one, I’ll add another reply to this).
Just a bit late to the party but I wanted to chime in the best biography I have ever read: The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras. Why is this my favorite biography? Because I knew about him already; because the science of tornados was mixed into it; because it inspired me to take the same classes he took; and finally because I was still talking about him and the book 3 months later.
For some reason, I don’t read many biographies today. But I did like Stephen King’s “On Writing,” which was part memoir and part book on writing. Hearing about what Stephen King had to go through after he was struck by a minivan made me wince. He is also open about his alcoholism and drug addiction.
I think I read more biographies when I was in school, probably because I was picking up bios after I saw TV miniseries or other shoes about famous figures. For example, I picked up an FDR bio and a Johannes Kepler bio after seeing TV shows.
On Writing is excellent!
I’ve read and loved many biographies and memoirs in my life but their are two that continue to stand out all these many years later:
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s look at the relationship of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt during WWII in No Ordinary Time posit’s that Eleanor and Franklin were uniquely suited to deal with the country’s situation at a critical moment in time. She makes a very readable and compelling case; and if nothing else, creates a sense of appreciation and wonder for what the American people here at home were able to contribute to the war effort, once we as a country became committed to it.
Katherine Graham’s A Personal History is very long and rightfully needed a good editor. But I thought it was a page turner. Holy cow what a life that woman led. Her story begins with the silver spoon she was born with (her father’s business successes begin at the turn of the 20th century), her political marriage to a brilliant but mentally ill husband in the middle of the century, inheriting a business she was never trained or expected to run (The Washington Post), and the influence she wielded until her own death in 2001. Can you imagine having Warren Buffet as your personal tutor in how to run a business?
My mother feels that A Personal History is second only to Hamilton.
I was struck by KG’s honesty about (among many things) 1) being raised to be a socialite with no real skills for running a business but finding herself at the helm of a major newspaper during the Pentagon Papers and Watergate eras, and 2) her husband’s mental illness in a time and place when it “just wasn’t discussed” and therefore there was no hope of treatment. And yet, if I remember correctly, she never proclaimed herself a feminist – maybe even spoke out publicly against the whole idea for many years? – yet pretty much epitomized the very issues the feminist movement existed to ameliorate.
I don’t read many biographies/autobiographies but over the years I have enjoyed some memoirs by women in Hollywood who have shared both personal and professional life experiences. The funniest would be Mindy Kaling’s books Why Not Me? and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? These are really more series of essays. I also enjoyed Lauren Graham’s Talking As Fast As I Can (she was one of the lead actresses on the show Gilmore Girls) and Tina Fey’s Bossypants.
I guess I read more biographies and autobiographies than I first thought . I never cared much for Amy Schumer as a comedian, the.n I read her autobiography, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo. Such a funny book and it made me rethink my view on Ms. Schumer. Other enjoyable reads are The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by .Rebecca Skloot, Educated by Tara Westover, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance and Permanent Record by Edward Snowden. I recommend all of these books. Most of these I listen to the audio version, my preferred method for biographies and autobiographies.
I’ve read the Westover, the Walls, and the Vance. All are excellent.
Have you read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks? It was so interesting. My kids and I listened to it on a 25 hour road trip to Florida. My youngest (who is now 18) recommends it to everyone.
Two of the best I have read are Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” and Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime.” I listened to both on audio, both read by the author, and their readings were phenomenal. Trevor Noah’s descriptions of growing up in South Africa under apartheid with a black mother and white father are horrifying, but his descriptions of his childhood are often hilarious. I also really liked Katharine Graham’s autobiography “Personal History.” It’s been years since I’ve read that one, but she is a fascinating person.
I also really liked Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime”. So interesting. I didn’t realize when I got it from my library that I was reading the “young adult” version. Evidently it’s not quite as graphic? I enjoyed it nevertheless.
I listened to both of these and enjoyed them as well. I particularly recommend listening to Trevor Noah’s BAC because of his excellent dexterity with language and accents.
Born a Crime is a wonderful audiobook.
I rarely read nonfiction books since I consume shorter nonfiction articles online. However, my husband loves anything by Malcolm Gladwell especially his podcasts about historical events and people. Occasionally, I will overhear and listen in too or just let him retell me the synopsis when we walk the dog.
Hmm… I don’t know about best biography ever, but I gravitate toward any reasonably well-written, minimally padded biography or memoir about entrepreneurs, especially those who had humble beginnings. For me, the motivation to read biographies isn’t so much about funny anecdotes (although they are definitely welcome in context, and I love humor) or rambling grievances (please, no) but specifically how they overcame obstacles to ultimately succeed. Lately, I’m on a bit of a hiatus with biographies as so many of them are ghostwritten, vague, rambling, or thinly veiled pity parties. Don’t prattle on for several chapters about how much your next door neighbors sucked or how everyone underestimated your awesomeness. Say what specific steps you took to overcome each challenge so the reader can be inspired by doable actions rather than cutesy platitudes. Anyway, that’s my take on it.
For this reason, I recommend Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, founder of Nike. It’s down to earth, funny, informative, and inspiring all at once. The Ghost of the Hardy Boys by Leslie MacFarlane gets an honorable mention/runner up for its fascinating look into freelance writing in the 1920s – 1950s with some hysterical memories tossed into the mix.
You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe, a rather irreverent biography of George Washington. It’s short as far as biographies go, around 300 pages, and very honest. The author talks about his slave ownership, ambition and and political mechanizations but also about what a great father and husband he was. It was an NPR Concierge Best Book of the Year and NYT Bestseller, so I’m not alone in saying this is a good book, well worth a read.
I’m not very interested in reading about one person’s life from start to finish usually. The closest I’ve come since reading biographies to my kids while schooling have been non-fiction books about famous horses, like Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, Secretariat by William Nack,and The Eighty Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Letts. Or books by Simon Winchester, which I love (like The Meaning of Everything, and The Professor and the Madman). These types of non-fiction books take an event or achievement, like the Oxford English Dictionary or the tale of a mistreated horse making good, and delve into the people involved. I also enjoyed Dava Sobel’s Galileo’s Daughter, and Longitude, which take a part of a person’s life and dive deep.
This may be completely beside the point and I apologize in advance if that’s the case, but I wanted to pop in and say…
Simon Winchester is a great guy! He moved to my small hometown and in addition to being an incredibly smart human being, he’s unfailingly modest, generous, and down to Earth with everyone he comes into contact with. I’ve seen him at tiny library events where 5 people show up and glitzy events with the super rich and my ex-boyfriend regularly waited on him at a cafe near his house and in each instance, he was just very polite and consistently kind.
In an age when authors act crummy or weird on social media and it can be disappointing to learn about the private lives of people whose work you’ve enjoyed, Simon Winchester is just…not that, in my experience. I wanted to share because I always enjoy supporting good humans, especially when they’re also good writers.
Thank you for sharing that! I’ve really loved his books because he takes such a warm, human approach to the people. I guess that’s just part of his personality.
You’re welcome! And yes, that’s exactly what I meant. :)
That is just lovely to hear.
I’m a bit of a history nerd, so I enjoyed Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses Grant even though it took a long time to read (close to 1,000 pages). In the same vein, Doris Kearney Godwin’s A Team of Rivals is an excellent book about Lincoln.
Someone else here also listed The Black Count as one of their favorites and I totally agree. A black man, born to a slave on Haiti but raised as an aristocrat in France in the 1700s, who went on to become one of France’s most beloved Generals until he fell out with Napoleon during the Egypt campaign. His journey home from Egypt included capture and imprisonment. He was the father and grandfather of Alexandre Dumas pére and fils. It was a fascinating book.
Damn autocorrect. It’s Doris Kearns Goodwin.
I’ve heard her speak twice. She is a phenomenal speaker.
One of my favourites is “The Hero Dies at the End” by Michael Ausellio who runs the TVLine website. It is both his story and the story of his boyfriend who dies (this is the blurb I’m not spoiling anything. It is moving, heart-wrenching and funny all at the same time. I’m not one to get teared up but I definitely did for this one. I can’t recommend it enough.
I haven’t read many biographies, but one that I enjoyed is “The Passion of Ayn Rand”, by Barbara Branden. It describes her family’s poverty and near-starvation in Russia, her struggle to emigrate, how she started from scratch in the US, became a writer, and finally achieved fame (in 1943, she insisted on fifty thousand dollars for the movie rights to one of her books and got it, so after learning the good news, she and her husband went out to eat and happily selected the sixty-five cent meals instead of the forty-five cent ones).
The book also examines the less pleasant side of Ayn Rand as a person – her intransigence and her controlling nature – and the doomed affair she has with Barbara Branden’s husband Nathaniel, something their spouses reluctantly agreed to allow because Rand convinced them that two superior intellects like her and Nathaniel belonged together. She was clever and determined, but she had almost no empathy or emotional intelligence (and would probably have dismissed those as useless). I don’t agree with many of her political views, but I did find her life very interesting to read about.
I haven’t heard of that one. Thanks for the rec! It’s now on my never ending TBR.
You’re welcome! It was also made into a movie starring Helen Mirren. The film is pretty true to real life, including the moment when someone in a crowd challenges Rand to state the essence of her philosophy while standing on one foot – which she promptly does. And Helen Mirren’s eyes, accent and personality in the film are exactly how I imagined Rand’s had been.
Ayn Rand is one of those people I know nothing about and have read zero of their works yet I hear discussed all the time so I feel like I should educate myself on them and their writing (and all the talk has made me curious).
I am going to add this to my reading list as it seems like it gives a very balanced overview of her and her views. Thanks for the rec.
I hope you enjoy it! I didn’t know anything about Rand either, but then I started dating a guy who was an Objectivist, and since he was so into her work, I checked out a couple of her most famous novels as well as her biography. The cult of personality that sprang up around her is fascinating (and pretty ironic considering how much she stressed the value of individualism).
I tend to gravitate to historical bios and memoirs. Some I’ve really enjoyed:
–The Black Count by Tom Reiss (about the father of Alexandre Dumas)
–Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford (life of Edna St. Vincent Millay)
–American Prometheus by Kai Bird (life of Robert Oppenheimer)
–The Past Is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg (WWII memoir)
–Forty Autumns by Nina Willner (a family memoir of life in East Germany after WWII)
–Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman (fascinating story of a Gilded Age heiress)
I loved The Black Count. It read like an adventure story, which I think was intentional.The author was letting the reader know that Alexandre Dumas got some of his story ideas from his father’s life. I especially loved the parallels to The Count of Monte Cristo. The book also illustrated the life of an aristocratic colored man in pre- and post-revolutionary France.
I’ve heard good things about The Black Count as well and I’m a Dumas fan so I will likely pick this one up to read too.
I enjoyed Queen Noor or Jordan’s autobiography, Leap of Faith.
If you are willing to be experimental with graphic novels, that is a great genre for memoirs and biographies. I strongly recommend Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Vietnamerica by GB Tran, and March by John Lewis.
I enjoyed Perspolis and March!
With everything that’s been going on internally in Jordan these past few weeks I’d be curious to read Queen Noor’s book.
King Hussein was such an amazing and beloved figure. I can’t think of anyone who received the accolades upon their passing of such a diverse group of countries and heads of state than him.
I went through a phase about a decade ago where I read a number of biographies written by Claire Tomalin, whom I think of as a biographer without peer. The best of the ones I read (and they were all good) was SAMUEL PEPYS: THE UNEQUALLED SELF. It was so good, it made me read all of his diaries (not just the “good parts” we used to snicker about in high school).
I also enjoyed Tomalin’s book about Pepys. We think we know it all, but after reading about Pepys, realise we really don’t!! Wouldn’t it be fun to have dinner with him?
It’s interesting that he’s best known to us as a diarist, but in his time no one even knew he kept a diary! He was in the Naval Department and assumed he’d be remembered for the work he did there.
I also enjoyed Tomalin’s biographies of Charles Dickens and Dorothea Jordan, (an actress who was William IV’s mistress and mother of ten of his children).
I read so much that I can scarcely keep up with myself. I probably should have adopted Mark’s wholly admirable record keeping years ago! I’ve been reading biographies since I was 8 years old. One that I read about ten years ago sticks in my memory because it was about a person who has figured over and over again in Regency HR: “Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style” by Ian Kelly. It was a great look into the life and times of a most influential man whose edicts on male style of dress reverberate down to the 21st century. Another is “Lord Rochester’s Monkey” by Graham Greene, the story of the confidant and pornographer-in-chief to the court of Charles II; amazing life and incredibly lewd poetry but the book gets to the heart of the Restoration Court. And, finally, I loved “Napoleon & Wellington” by Andrew Roberts. I have a long-standing interest (shared with my husband) in the Peninsular Wars and Wellington in particular so this was a great read about two men of huge importance and Roberts is an excellent historian and writer.
I’ve just taken delivery of “The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster” by Helen Carr – just published. It should be a good companion to another old favourite: “Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess” by Alison Weir.
John Wilmot was great because he managed to be completely lewd and witty at the same time. Once you read one of his rhymes they are stuck in your head forever.