Biographies and autobiographies

[clementine74]

I read Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries" in college and it had a huge impact on me. Everytime I go to look for another one of his books in Barnes and Noble, I fail!! WHAT UP?

[chonies]

From my time as a Borders drone, I think most of his other books are in poetry. They're still in print, so they should be easy to find or order.

[Auroranorth]

Just finished In a Gilded Cage: From Heiress to Duchess, about five American millionairesses who married British Dukes in the Gilded Age. Very gossipy and fun if you like the period.

I'm currently finishing up Christine : SOE Agent & Churchill's Favourite Spy about Polish countess Krystyna Skarbek who spied for the British in WWII. She was a very enigmatic but interesting person, and one of the most successful women agents of the war.

[groovethang]

The best rock 'n' roll bio is the Dirt by Motely Crue, I don't even like the band but a friend told me to read it and it was awesome. The best is you know how sometimes you feel the person is holding back or that the full story isn't being told (some of the Rolling Stones books have this feeling and the Beatles ones) you don't get that. You get info from all sides, plus you can see how the relationships have changed and its even a bit introspective.

I just finished this last week and it was a great read, although I'm still incredibly skeeved out by it. Those boys certainly threw themselves into that trashy rock 'n roll lifestyle and I'm amazed they're still alive.

[monkey]

auroranorth said:

Just finished In a Gilded Cage: From Heiress to Duchess, about five American millionairesses who married British Dukes in the Gilded Age. Very gossipy and fun if you like the period.

I'm currently finishing up Christine : SOE Agent & Churchill's Favourite Spy about Polish countess Krystyna Skarbek who spied for the British in WWII. She was a very enigmatic but interesting person, and one of the most successful women agents of the war.

Wow, both of those sound great. My to-read list has just gotten even longer. Does the first one include Winston Churchill's mother?

[kanding]

cinchona said:

Right now, I'm reading three biographies concurrently:
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. My favorite of the three so far, and a very worthwhile read. I'm especially enjoying all the detail that Chernow used. You get the sense that he didn't leave out anything without feeling that he put too much in. Reading about the adolescent Hamilton's work ethic makes me feel like such a laggard by comparison.

Based on your post, I ordered this book. It's amazing! I love that you don't just get the story of the man's life but also a real sense of the times in which he lived. Secondary characters are fleshed out without dragging the book down. Great recommendation!

[mariposalabrown]

I just bought the Jenna Jameson book with a Barnes & Noble gift card I got for Christmas, and haven't put it down. She has a really good sense of humor fo rherself, but thirty bucks for a hardback?!? I get everything from Amazon, so I forgot how expensive new books are!

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Has anyone here read Carol Burnett's autobiography?

I read it years ago and would love to have the time to read it again (or anything sans syallabi for that matter).

One thing I will never forget is that an anonymous donor put her through UCLA. My recollections are rather muddy, but I think someone saw her perform somewhere, recognized her talent, and decided to put her through college with the only stipulation being that she never named the person.

To my knowledge, she hasn't named that person, but if anyone here has read her autobiography, are there any guesses as to who put her through college?

[Deleted]

FWIW it sounds like Carol Burnett didn't actually graduate, from what I can Google an anonymous donor gave her $50 to enroll, she took some liberal arts classes, and then somehow she wound up going to New York, where she was loaned $1,000 by a different anonymous donor, who she paid back and has apparently never revealed to this day.

[Margo]

mariposalabrown said:

I just bought the Jenna Jameson book with a Barnes & Noble gift card I got for Christmas, and haven't put it down. She has a really good sense of humor fo rherself, but thirty bucks for a hardback?!? I get everything from Amazon, so I forgot how expensive new books are!

I just finished reading this one, too! I got it from the library though - I very rarely buy books (except Dawkins, gah).

I agree about her sense of humour. She also comes off as really smart and in control of her career. She sounds like a person I'd love to have a conversation with over a cup of coffee, and her sense of humour actually is pretty similar to the Greecies'.

Do you think the book came mostly from her? I know that she had a ghostwriter (Neil Strauss), but I keep wondering whether he only fixed grammar, spelling, and flow, or also worked on presenting her in a better light to the people.