I really enjoyed reading Adam Ant's

'The Mitford Girls' by Mary S. Lovell is my all-time favourite - about the lives of 6 extraordinary sisters living at the early part of the 20th C.

* Nancy Mitford was the eldest and a talented author, with many famous friends.

* Diana Mitford first married into the Guiness family then controversially divorced to live as the mistress of Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosely, who she later married. She met Hitler a number of times and spent a lot of the war in prison because of her fascist sympathies, which she never truely denounced in all of her long life.

* Unity Mitford, also met (and fell in love with) Hitler, who admitted her into his inner circle, when war was declared she shot herself in the head (but survived).

* Jessica Mitford (Decca) married her cousin Esmond Rommily, became a communist and ran off to the Spanish Civil War. They ended up in America but Esmond was killed in a plane crash and his body never found. She later married an American and lived there for the rest of her life - she found herself subject to McCarthy's questioning for her communist sympathies.

* Pamela was a quiet sister, friend of poet John Betjeman, who was in love with her. She married Millionaire scientist Derek Jackson.

* Deborah Mitford was the youngest - she married the Duke of Devonshire and turned Chatsworth into the most successful country home in Britain.

This is a really riveting story and a true - must-read.

Ally

Alan Bates Biography was an extremely good read, learnt alot about the actor and his life and times. it was a biography with afew surprizes but not so much as to colour my view of the man
Lesley Phillips - was a good read but got alittle fed up of the 'big myself up' type of writing
Love biographies in general but prefer the person to be at least old enough to pen about a life rather than some of the so called cellebs who seem to think that 23 means you have had a life

...I've just picked up 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings', Maya Angelou's autobiography and so far I'm loving it.

The mitfords was a great read. I loved the fact the sisters kept the letters they wrote to each other. On the matter of the younger/living celeb autobio I really enjoyed Peter Kay' the sound of laughter but this is probably because i enjoy his humour and i could hear his voice as i was reading.

However is a biography not just an elongated version of a tabloid report on the daily comings and goings of a famous individual. Following on from this is does an autobiography not then provide a source for mutual gratification, as it allows the subject/author to talk about themselves in whatever light they choose and the reader to devour the information provided.

What does anyone think?

I think the autobiographies of the so called famous ones usually disappoint, whereas true life accounts of more interesting people usually raise an eyebrow or smile, try The Odyssey of a Malcontent by J.P.Prior about a guy on the rigs as a diver. 100 mile an hour ride..

I agree with the Mitford Girls. It's a great read.

Alexander Graham Bell's biog Sounds Out of Silence is worth a read. Hubby is distantly related to AGB which I why I read it but he was a fascinating man and it's an interesting book.

Another fascinating book I read a couple of years ago was about diplomats wives over the centuries - some feisty women in that one and tales of some amazing journeys. If anyone knows what it's called please let me know as I would like to get another copy.

Of the modern books I enjoyed Richard Hammond's book about 'THE' accident. His love for his family shines through. I would never usually read a so called celebrity book. Their lives are manufactured rather than lived.

Hi, I am waiting for my exam results at the mo so have more reading time on my hands. I am reading Ellen MacArthurs book 'Taking On The World'. Although I know nothing about sailing I have always had an affinity with the sea. I am finding this book both relaxing and interesting. I think Ellen is amazing from her experiences of sailing alone.

I have also had some lovely dreams while I have been reading this book. A great read!

The last outstanding autobiography I read was "Unreasonable Behaviour" by Don McCullin, the war photographer.

With regard to biographies, anything about Byron or Richard Francis Burton (the explorer) is going to be interesting. "No Man knows my History" by Fawn Brodie about the founder of the Mormons is also a good read.

I'm replying to the message of SharynF on 11th July. I think the book about the Diplomats' wives is called 'Daughters of the Empire', and that reminds me that I lent my copy and didn't get it back!!

I thought Edmund White's biography of Jean Genet was excellent. Much better than his rather glum novels!

Did I not see an "autobiography" by some clown of a footballer by the name of Wayne Rooney? I'm 99.9999999999% certain that he wrote very little of it! I'll never find out what it's like as I am more likely to go to the Moon than ever buy it!

I've read "Mr. Speaker, Sir" by George Thomas who, as the "older" members here will know, was a former Speaker of the House of Commons and was Speaker when radio transmissions of Parliament were introduced many years ago. A very interesting read.

I've read a couple of Alan Whicker's books - the second one was autographed by the man himself at a book signing in Edinburgh many years ago.

I've also read a few of Chris Bonnington's books - again I got one autographed after a public talk in Edinburgh.

Alan

The Story of My Experiments With Truth by Mahatma Gandhi covers his life from early childhood through to 1920. Hence a few readers might find this book rather in complete. Moreover, this would be a challenging read for readers not familiar with the Indian history.

The book is a good insight into Gandhi, the man rather than Gandhi, the public figure. For Gandhi, Truth was the sovereign principle; inclusive of many other spiritual principles and schools of thought.

I must say that I very rarely read autobiography, principally because I don't trust anyone to tell the truth about their own lives. After all, even in general conversation we all tend to exaggerate our good points, and downplay our bad ones. I also assume that we all have something to hide, some little, or great, point that we would not want the rest of the world to know about-(one T Woods comes to mind)! Recently, for instance, I read an assessment of David Niven's autobiography The Moon's a Balloon. This sold like the proverbial hot cakes when it came out in the seventies-I was in bookselling then-and was thought to be an hilarious account of Niven' time in Hollywood. Now it turns out that almost all of Niven's best stories were pinched from other people. Often he would be at a dinner party etc telling a story ostensibly about himself to the person he had pinched it from! No, I prefer biography, and preferably written by someone I feel I can trust, and preferably some years after the subject has departed this mortal coil, so that said subject can't get at the biographer. For instance I have just finished reading John Carey's biography of William Golding, subtitled 'the man who wrote Lord of the Flies'. An excellent text, clear, informative, entertaining, which leads us chronologically through Golding's life and books. Everyone knows Lord of the Flies, it's been taught as an O Level-GCSE text for fifty years, but Golding wrote a stream of great fiction-often, too, puzzling fiction,- over a long life, and is one of the country's few Nobel prize winners in literature. He got better, that is more comprehensible, as the years went on, and his sea trilogy is very accessible, a 'good yarn'. He knew about the sea, having been a lifetime sailor and an officer in the Royal Navy in WW11. An excellent book. Now, of course, I've begun a 'Goldingfest', determined to read all of Golding I can get hold of. After that I've got the new biography of  Somerset Maugham on the stocks, another great author ( although he put himself ' in the first rank of the second rate'). However that may be, Of Human Bondage ( biographical fiction), Cakes and Ale, The Moon and Sixpence, and many short stories, including Rain ( the prostitute and the clergyman ) are great fiction, and worth rediscovery.                                        
And Wain(s/p?) Rooney's ghost written autobiography? Surely that can only be: born, football, school, football, work, football football football, ad infinitem. Excuse me while I get some sleep!
 

I am also an avid reader of biographies. Some that I would recommend are as follows:
 
Graham Greene - Ways of Escape
Peter Ackroyd - Dickens
Beniter Eisler - Byron - Child of Passion , Fool of fame
Adrian Desmond and James Moore - Darwin
Ann Wroe - Being Shelley
Leone Frieda - Catherine de Medici
Miranda Carter - Anthony Blunt - His lives.
George Bull - Michaelangelo
Richard Ellman - Oscar Wilde
Roy Jenkins - Churchill
 
Almost all are biographies and whereas I agree that the biographer is often selective and may not tell the story of a person fully, I enjoy learning about people I admire or find interesting for different reasons.
 
These biographies are particularly good and I hope it gives you some ideas for future reading.

I really enjoyed;
The Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela
and
Malcolm X autobiography.
Jo :)