March Non-fictionCAT: Biography

The March NonfictionCAT features biographies. This is an extremely wide field since it includes biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs of anyone in any field of endeavor, living in any geographic region, in any period of history. You may read a biography, autobiography, or memoir featuring an individual (although it would certainly mention other people since people do not live in a vacuum). Or you may read a book featuring the lives of several people, or a group of people (collective biographies). Of course, you are not limited to reading just one book.

Suggestions of books can be found doing online searches for biography books, autobiography books, memoir books, group biographies, etc.

A reminder: this is the NonfictionCAT so that it does NOT include the genre biographical fiction.

Please remember to add your selection to the wiki, https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2020_Non-fiction_CAT#March:_Biography

I plan to read Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility: The Lives of Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth by Marian Veevers. (Dorothy Wordsworth was the sister of the poet William Wordsworth and lived with him during her adult life.)

I've set aside Mike, the first volume of Lester B. Pearson's memoirs, for this challenge. It is one of several non-fiction books I own from my grandmother's collection.

I am planning on reading a memoir entitled Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran. It's about how she went into service at the age of 14 as a scullery maid for a wealthy English family and works her way up to eventually becoming a cook.

This is one I'll be doing for sure! Biographies (nonfiction) are one of my favourite "genres". Looks like I have over 100 in the tbr, so will take a bit to figure out which one I want to get to next month.

I have a couple books set aside for this challenge: An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew and "G" is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Millhone by Natalie Hevener Kaufman.

I'm thinking of either Eva Cassidy: Songbird by Rob Burley or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I am hoping what I choose will be more overall biography than memoir, but we'll see. Here are some that I'm leaning toward:

Helen Keller / Dorothy Herrmann
The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price
Woman in the Mists / Farley Mowat

I'm planning on reading In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum. I read On the Front Line which was a collection of all of Marie Colvin's newspaper and other media articles, and she was clearly a remarkable and complicated woman, and brave and dedicated journalist.

I'm going with Trump A Graphic Biography by Ted Rall. I purchased it last year after finding his book Bernie very informative.

I had been going to read Cromwell: Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser for this month's AlphaKIT but I suspect I'm not going to get to it, so I will postpone it till next month or make it a bridge book between February and March.

Some options from Kindle and print collections:
Conan Doyle, Detective: The True Crimes Investigated by the Creator of Sherlock Holmes by Peter Costello
Out of Zion by Lisa Brockman
The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy
This Is Your Captain Speaking by Gavin MacLeod
Out of the Shoebox by Yaron Reshef
C. S. Lewis: A Life Inspired by Christopher Gordon
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans by Eve LaPlante
Quiet Stength by Tony Dungy
Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life & Impact of G. K. Chesterton by Kevin Charles Belmonte
King Alfred the Great of England by Jacob Abbott

It's going to be a tough choice. I want to read several of these.

I just picked up Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird from the library after a few people here recommended it. It is rather large though!

I'm thinking of reading the Autobiography of Anthony Trollope.

Our book club read Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed our World by Andrea Barnet last year which was good.

I'm thinking of reading:
All the Land by Jo Lendle. A biography of Alfred Wegener, the German meteorologist who developed the theory of continental drift, plus other scientific theories.
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg - irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
and if I have time I might listen to the audiobook of Flea's memoir, Acid for the Children.

The American author group is featuring David McCullough in March, and I'm considering tackling John Adams. It should fit here, nicely.

Oh, different option for me. It's one I have sitting here that I've been wanting to get to for a few months, so I think this will be my push
My Secret Sister / Helen Edwards, Jenny Lee Smith

>16 VioletBramble: I want to read the RBG book as well. Look forward to hearing what you think.

>16 VioletBramble: & >19 JayneCM: - My book club read that a few years ago and loved it! I just watched the documentary a couple of days ago that was I believe based on the book. Really enjoyed the documentary as well - she's an amazing woman.

>20 LittleTaiko: I've seen the documentary and the movie. I had never heard of her until last year when someone posted an RBG doll they saw in a bookshop. So I had to look her up - truly amazing.

I get an email on Fridays from Hourly History and download free short books that are biographies.

>22 mnleona: I get those emails too. I like Hourly History because it is basic information about the person or event. If I want more information, I find another book about the topic.

I am planning to read Herman B Wells: Memories of a Colleague by Mildred J. Hennessy, which is a self-published book by a woman who worked with Herman B Wells when he was President of Indiana University. This is of local interest and significance for me, since I am an I.U. grad.

I think I'm going to pick up Life of Python by George Perry (about the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus and it's history) again.

Nous n'avons pas vu passer les jours (We didn't notice the days passing) by Simone Schwarz-Bart and Yann Plougastel is the biography of André and Simone Schwarz-Bart. André is Jewish of Polish origin and Simone is black and from the Antilles (Guadeloupe more precisely).

Several of André's relatives, including his parents and a baby brother, died during the holocaust. He entered the resistance very young. He later became a writer and his first book, about the holocaust, won the prestigious French Goncourt prize. When he visited the Antilles he found a link between the misery of the Jewish and the black people and explored that, together with Simone who is also a writer, in the next part of his work. This led to a lot of controversy.

The book was interesting and very moving at times but did not really make me want to read André's or Simone's books. Still it is a quick, very worthwile read.

I didn't know this was a biography before starting it, otherwise I would have waited for March! I'll try to read American Hunger by Richard Wright in March to feel like I really completed the challenge.

I ended up reading An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew a few days early for this challenge but will still count it. It was an interesting look at a rather strong willed woman, her many husbands, and life during two wars. Really quick read!

I've started An Autobiography of Anthony Trollope.

I had planned to read a presidential biography every quarter, and I've got The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler queued up.

I've just started The long walk to freedom which is the autobiography of Nelson Mandela.

For those who haven't decided what they will read I can also recommend The autobiography of Malcom X which I read last year and learned a lot from.

>29 chlorine: I have both of those on my bookshelf and have not read either. I really need to get to them.

>30 JayneCM: At more than 700 pages the Mandela one is intimidating but so far (I'm 50 pages in) I'm finding it well written and engaging. Mandela makes an effort to describe the society he lives in as well as his life, which is very interesting. So I expect to read it rather quickly.

I found the Malcolm X one fascinating as well.

Last night I did a quick read of Nnedi Okorafor's Broken Places, Outer Spaces. I had read her Binti trilogy last year and really enjoyed it, but didn't know her back story.

In the summer after her freshman year in college, she had scoliosis surgery. She went under anaesthic as an athlete and pre-med scholar, to waking up paralyzed from the waist down. She felt that science had let her down.

This is a Ted book - an expansion of her Ted talk. It's less than 100 pages and you can read it quickly in one sitting as I did. I promise you will find it inspiring!

Thanks to whomever recommended this one.

Last night I did a quick read of Nnedi Okorafor's Broken Places & Outer Spaces. I had read her Binti trilogy last year and really enjoyed it, but didn't know her back story.

In the summer after her freshman year in college, she had scoliosis surgery. She went under anesthetic as an athlete and pre-med scholar, and woke up paralyzed from the waist down. She felt that science had let her down.

This is a Ted book - an expansion of her Ted talk. It's less than 100 pages and you can read it quickly in one sitting as I did. I promise you will find it inspiring!

Thanks to whomever recommended this one.

>32 streamsong: I also read and really enjoyed the Binti series last year. I will definitely be looking fot this one.

>31 chlorine: I definitely need to get to them, but I have Victoria for this one and that is a huge doorstopper of a book too!

>32 streamsong: I will have to look out for this one. I have the Binti series down for SFFKIT later in the year.

>31 chlorine: One doorstopper a month is enough, enjoy Victoria!

Read Brain on Fire about a young woman's memoir about her illness and path to recovery.

Does anybody have recommendations of biographies of Che Guevara? Depending on who you speak to the man is a hero or a mass murderer and I realize I'm completely ignorant about what he did. A good biography addressing both aspects would be very interesting to me (though I most probably won't have time to read it this month).

Read Genghis Khan: A Life from Beginning to End an Hourly History book. These books are free on Fridays and short reads.

I have completed Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran, a memoir of her days in service. This was both an interesting and fun read.

My dad sent me Icebound by Jerri Nielson, so I think I'm going to read that. We've been out of touch for two decades and it's something we can talk about.

Her Little Majesty / Carolly Erickson
4 stars

When Queen Victoria was a child, she was treated fairly coldly, and mostly “used” by her mother and a friend of her mother’s, knowing that she would likely be on the throne one day. This backfired on them when Victoria did reach the throne just after her 18th birthday. She married a cousin she loved, and once they were married, he did most of the political work, but he died young. Victoria mourned for the rest of her life for Albert. They had 9 children. Victoria varied on whether or not she got along with various elected Prime Ministers over time. She ruled for decades and she lived to be 81 years old.

I really liked this. The book is not that long, so I’m sure there was plenty left out, but I thought it was very readable and almost read like fiction. Despite all her kids, I didn’t have too much trouble following who was who, but maybe the author made sure to remind us? I didn’t notice. I have read a couple of fictional works about her, but this, I think, is the first nonfiction. I liked some of the extras thrown in about things that were happening at various points in time over the course of Victoria’s life, including fashion.

>38 chlorine: I would be interested in a Che Guevara biography too. Last month I read The Motorcycle Diaries and while I wasn't thrilled with the book, it was interesting to read a book written before he was 'Che'.

I listened to a really quick memoir this morning, Break Shot: My First 21 Years by James Taylor. This was offered free from Audible. It was interesting. I didn't really know anything about him. I liked that he threw in some songs too.

I wasn't in the mood for a 500+ book on a single person, so I took Die Herrscher Sachsens from the shelf, which contains potted biographies of all the rulers of Saxony. Very interesting about an aspect of German history I am less familiar with: the difficulties the smaller territories had to navigate between the domineering powers of Prussia and Habsburg.

April thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/317724

The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price
4 stars

Jill Price can remember everything she did and any major or minor events that took place on any date from the time she was about 11 years old. Before that, she remembers some, starting from when she was 2- or 3-years old. Problem is, the memories bombard her all the time; it just doesn’t turn off. When she was younger, she didn’t know this wasn’t the case for everyone. But, as she got older and tried to explain, people didn’t understand.

Her memories include both the good and the bad, everything. This book explains what’s going on in her head, then goes back to explain how it has affected her at various points throughout her life.

I found this really interesting. I don’t understand the low ratings, though from reading reviews, it seems like some didn’t like the biography/memoir part of the book, but I thought that really illustrated things. Apparently, she was the first person (in the early 2000s?) diagnosed with this: what they called “hyperthymestic syndrome”, but there are others now, as well. Scientists have been studying her (and she seems happy to have them do so to figure out how her brain works), and papers have been written about her, using a pseudonym.

>43 JayneCM: Oh The motorcycle diaries do seem interesting!
The Paris digital library has a biography of Che Guevara by Alain Foix which seems interesting, I may get to it someday if I don't have a better recommendation. At least the digital library is still open!

>47 LibraryCin: This seems very interesting, thanks for the review! I can see how not being able to forget must be maddening.

I listened to Inheritance by Dani Shapiro, whose life changed after taking a dna test.

I finished An Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by ..... guess who!

It's interesting to see the variety of biographies people are reading. Please remember to add them to the wiki, https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2020_Non-fiction_CAT#March:_Biography

I had never thought of poetry as being nonfiction, but I've just finished reading Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, who tells the story of her ancestry and childhood in poetry. Although her family had plenty of hard times, Jacqueline always knew that she was loved. She knew very early in childhood that she wanted to be a writer; her writing is lovely.

I'm still planning to finish Jane and Dorothy, a comparative biography of Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth,
which is written in a scholarly and detailed manner.

>49 chlorine: I know, crazy, hey!? I would hate it!

I'm a few chapters into The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler and it's really not a biography - it's really a history - should've believed the title (duh!). So, I will finish it, but for this month I have a short biography of John Tyler that I will read instead, before I finish the book on the two presidencies.

I'm reading Effie: the passionate lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais by Suzanne Fagence Cooper. I knew nothing about any of these three so finding it very enlightening.

Finished John Tyler, a good short bio of a not-very-good president.

I finished Long Walk to Freedom, the autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
I was completely ignorant about the history of Mandela and South Africa, so this was a very interesting and important read for me. The book is long, at more than 700 pages, but is well written and though I confess to sometimes being a bit confused about who was who among the multitude of activists that Mandela worked with, he did a very good job at giving a clear narrative.
I was particularly interested in this biography because although Mandela is very commonly described as a hero and got the Nobel prize for peace, I also heard him referred to as a terrorist by people saying that there is no excuse for terrorism. In the end, though I'm not sure that I completely agree with him that the armed struggle was imposed upon them by the violence of the apartheid regime, I still respect that those acts of armed struggle he planned were targeted at things such as power stations and not meant to hurt people.

He and his colleagues really achieved something extraordinary.

>57 chlorine: I just went to check to see if this was on my tbr. It wasn't, but is now!

I am considering this the dog's biography, though the human's memoir. I have not posted the memoirs I've read here, only biographies, but this is the dog's biography. :-)

Giant George / Dave Nasser
3.5 stars

George was the runt of his litter, a Great Dane who came home with Dave and Christie when he was only 7 weeks old. By the time he was fully grown, though, he was almost 250 lbs! (Almost 100 lbs larger than the average adult Great Dane!) He was also very friendly and loved people. George eventually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest dog.

This was a good story. He’s a sweet dog. There are photos included, as well.

>59 LibraryCin: Memoirs and autobiographies also count as biographies for this CAT.

>58 LibraryCin: Great, I hope it will be a good read for you when you get to it!

>60 sallylou61: That's ok! I've read (I think) 3 that I counted as biographies, as well (+2 memoirs), this month. So, I definitely have this CAT covered. LOL! (I was also one (of the few) who did the BioKIT a few years back and would love to do one again, I read enough of them... although 5 in one month is still a lot for me!)

I read Lauren Graham's memoir, Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls and Everything in Between. I'm a huge Gilmore fan and have always admired Lauren Graham, so I enjoyed this one. It's not particularly deep or groundbreaking in the world of celebrity memoirs, though, so only recommended if you already know and like her!

>63 christina_reads: I will have to look for this one. I really enjoyed Parenthood as well.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge. I hope that you enjoyed reading biographies.

I managed two biographies in March - oddly enough, both were graphic biographies.

Bernie by Ted Rall
I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi by Gina Siciliano

Both were good, but the Gentileschi bio was particularly fascinating.

I still haven't finished the biography I intended to, but I'm hopeful it will be finished in April, I'll post back here when I'm done.

I'm going to post one more (in a bit). Technically finished today, but there was only a little bit left to finish it off.

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology... / Jenna Miscavige Hill
4 stars

Jenna is the niece of the head of the Church of Scientology. From a young age – 6 years old, I think – her family was very high up in the Scientology world, and this kept her mostly separated from her parents as she and her older brother were indoctrinated into the Church. It seems their lives were very different from what they call “public Scientologists”, who mostly live normal lives, but are part of the Church. They really didn’t get to be kids.

I really knew nothing about Scientology before reading this. Wow, crazy – the manipulation – of kids, no less! I guess you brainwash from a young age... There is a lot of terminology (and acronyms) that she has to define, and much of it I forgot, even as I read the words (or acronyms) later, but mostly had the gist of them (but there is also a glossary at the back). Of course, I would like to read more now. I think I have one celebrity biography on the tbr, so hopefully I can get to that one sooner rather than later.

>69 LibraryCin: That's one I'll add to my TBR.

>70 LisaMorr: Hope you like it!

>69 LibraryCin: Going clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the prison of belief by Lawrence Wright was recommended to me by a coworker.

>69 LibraryCin: Leah Remini’s tv series about Scientology is very good too. I read her memoir Troublemaker which is also good. The whole Scientology ‘church’ is just crazy.

>72 markon: Thank you!

>73 raidergirl3: I haven't seen the tv show, but her book is on my tbr.

Very late to the party, I finally finished Lindsey Hilsum's In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin. It was excellent - my tardiness was due to taking on too many reading challenges, rather than due to the book! Definitely recommended.