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Any Port in a Storm :: On the Plaza :: The Library :: Biographies
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AuthorTopic: Biographies (Read 3,627 times)
casimira
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Biographies
« Thread Started on Mar 1, 2009, 1:54pm »		[Quote]
What is the most recent biography or autobiography you've read?
Memoirs?
What prompted you to choose it? Did you come away admiring the person more or less? Would you recommend it?
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tillystar
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #1 on Mar 5, 2009, 5:30pm »		[Quote]
I don't usually read biographies or autobiographies very often at all. Someone at work recommended to me Barack Obama's "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" and shoved it into my hands. I only started reading it as I had nothing else to read on the way home.

I have been really surprised by this book, it is a treasure. It isn't the usual political autobiography written to self-promote (it was written in 1995). It is a very beautifully written memoir that explores the idea of personal history and how this makes a person.

It is very honest about his struggle with his self-identify as someone with a mixed-race background and an absent father. It comes accross as very raw when he talks about his relationship with his father and with his grandparents his teenage years. Even if he hadn't become who he is today I think I would still enjoy the book for what it is "A Story of Race and Inheritance" although it now has an added interest knowing what happens next to the confused teenager.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #2 on Mar 5, 2009, 6:33pm »		[Quote]
The last biography I read was the two volume biography of Che Guevara by the famous Mexican author whose name has slipped from my brain (but you will be hearing about him soon, because I have something to write concerning him).
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gyro
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #3 on Mar 5, 2009, 7:32pm »		[Quote]
I'm not a big fan of Biographies as a rule, as they're normally written with an agenda to etiher a). Show how FANTASTIC that person is, or b). Show what scum they are. Exaggerated, possibly, but they're very rarely as objective as I want them to be.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #4 on Mar 5, 2009, 7:33pm »		[Quote]
Although I quite enjoyed Kirk Douglas' autobiography until he got too Jewish and all.

And David Nivens' were classic too. The last BIOG I read was one about Oliver Reed (Bad Spirits, I think). It was pretty fair, preferring to mainly stick to an anecdotal approach, which was fine by me.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #5 on Mar 5, 2009, 7:36pm »		[Quote]
However, until you read them (the biographies), it is not really possible to know whether you should admire or despise them. If you know your opinion of the person ahead of time, there is often no point in reading the biography at all, unless it is an idol of yours (Robbie Williams, Angelina Jolie, Barack Obama....).
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gyro
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #6 on Mar 5, 2009, 8:26pm »		[Quote]
Indeed. I've started many biogs, only to bin them after 20 or 30 pages.

So, Robbie, Angelina AND Barrack are all your heroes ? Who'd have thunk it ?
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casimira
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #7 on Mar 5, 2009, 10:45pm »		[Quote]
The most recent Biography I read was of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera. I thoroughly enjoyed it,a fascinating life she led, her relationship with Rivera,Trotsky,and numerous artists and musicians from the era of the 1920's through the 1950's. It covers not only her time in Mexico but travels to NY, Paris,LA, and a large chunk of time in San Francisco. Also accompanied by great photos.A good read.
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bixaorellana
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #8 on Mar 6, 2009, 5:23am »		[Quote]
I was going to say that I hadn't read a biography in so long I couldn't remember. But Tilly reminded me that I did indeed read "Dreams of my Father" a year or so ago. What mostly interested me in the book was the insight into his thought processes and how they led him to his world view and convictions. The Africa part of the book really disappointed me, as I found it too stilted.

Two or three years before that, I read Marianne Faithfull's autobiography. Pretty interesting.
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gyro
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #9 on Mar 6, 2009, 6:00am »		[Quote]
Mars Bar ?
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #10 on Mar 6, 2009, 6:13am »		[Quote]
Erk. No, I don't think that was in the book.

She mostly talked about her drug addiction, which was monumental. One thing that really sank in while reading the book was how very young all those people were when they got fame and fortune. Since I was young, too, during their era, it never really hit me before that these were teens who were actually able to say screw you to the parents. We all dreamed of it, but they had the money to do it. Take that and the extreme adulation they received and the general breaking loose of the times, and it's amazing any of them survived at all.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #11 on Mar 6, 2009, 6:42am »		[Quote]
You'd have thought a book about Marianne would have AT LEAST mentioned the Mars Bar incident.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #12 on Mar 6, 2009, 6:43am »		[Quote]
Sorry, the ALLEDGED Mars Bars incident ...
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #13 on Mar 6, 2009, 10:39am »		[Quote]
Oh Bix I am loving this book but haven't got to the Africa part yet, I don't want to be disappointed :-/

I once sat on a 3 hour train journey and watched the woman opposite me alternate between laughing and cry almost uncontollably the whole way. She was reading Toast, Nigel Slater's autobiography and when I got off the train I went straight into the book shop and brought it.

I laughed and cried all the way home on the return journey. Nigel Slater tells his life story through memories of food. Its a quick light read, I had finished it by the time I got off the train, but had been totally absorbed and entertained all the way home.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #14 on Mar 6, 2009, 10:41am »		[Quote]
Oh and another good food related one was Writing at the Kitchen Table, an Elizabeth David biography.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #15 on Mar 6, 2009, 1:48pm »		[Quote]

Mar 1, 2009, 1:54pm, casimira wrote:
What is the most recent biography or autobiography you've read?
Memoirs?
What prompted you to choose it? Did you come away admiring the person more or less? Would you recommend it?


I have read hundreds of biographies and autobiographies. Usually I chose them because I admire and respect the person and want to understand their lives. Some people have given me great hope and inspiration when I need it.

Recently, I have reread Appetite for Life: the biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley Fitch. She was a remarkable woman and her story is fascinating. When she moved to Paris in her late 30's, with her new husband, Paul, she spoke very little french and could barely cook. Paul was the chef in the family. It is fascinating to see her growth and the evolution of her groundbreaking cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck, 1970. Her book was developed over ten years, start to finish. This always calmed me when I felt that something I was working on was taking too long and that it would never be achieved.

The biography itself is rich in humour, a feel for life in France and is a wonderful discussion of food. I have read it many times, especially if I feel 'blocked' and/or depressed. I simply read my favorite parts, the Paris and Provence chapters, and I feel a surge of energy.

Noel Riley Fitch has written several excellent biographies:

Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation
A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties
Hemingway in Paris
Literary Cafes of Paris
Anais: The Erotic Life of Anais Nin
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casimira
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #16 on Mar 6, 2009, 3:38pm »		[Quote]
Thanks for the recommendations Jazz. Julia was a true character,the fact that she served in the O.S.S.(pre CIA). Also her ability to be able to laugh at herself. In the 1970's she had a Food Shop in Cambridge ,Mass.,not at all trendy,pretentious,or chic,chic.We used to go there alot when I was in school in Boston. A genuine treasure she was.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #17 on Mar 6, 2009, 5:06pm »		[Quote]
Oh Tilly ~ I'm sorry! I read that sloppily & didn't realize you hadn't finished the book yet. TRULY, there is nothing wrong with the Africa section. It was my fault for expecting some entertaining exoticism or something that really didn't go with the rest of the book. You will enjoy it, don't worry.

This is wonderful -- I feel like a whole other genre of writing has been opened up to me, since I generally don't read biographies.

Jazz, thanks for those recommendations. The first two you list by Fitch are classics that I've never read, but am now prompted to remedy that.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #18 on Mar 6, 2009, 7:37pm »		[Quote]
I haven't read this recently, but it is worth reading, Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankel, 1945. This is his story of his three years in concentration camps, Thereseienstadt, Auschwitz and Turkheim and 'in this book he describes the life of an ordinary concentration camp inmate (him) from the objective view of the psychiatrist.' The book is short, searing, loving and a triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive. Any problem you think that you have becomes somewhat trivial. Or, to quote William Faulkner, on receiving the Nobel prize, "Man will not only endure, he will prevail."
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #19 on Mar 6, 2009, 7:52pm »		[Quote]
I will never forget on one of Julia Child's cooking shows where she had a mishap and dropped everything on the floor. She picked it all up (uncooked ingredients) and put it right back in the pot. Looking directly into the camera, she said, "Remember, you are alone in the kitchen and nobody can see what you are doing."
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #20 on Mar 6, 2009, 9:19pm »		[Quote]
haha :D...I saw that show, wonderful. I've rented many of her early television shows and they are very funny and good. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that Julia was the first person to have a cooking show on television.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #21 on Mar 6, 2009, 10:26pm »		[Quote]
I think Julia was the trailblazer on the TV although Mr.C. says he thinks it was this guy called Floyd who had a show Floyd on Food,it took place on boats in different ports around the world,also very funny,we loved it.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #22 on Mar 6, 2009, 10:34pm »		[Quote]
I don't know of Julia, but I do know of Keith Floyd. He wasn't a trailblazer, he was just a half decent cook who was famous for being pissed all the time.
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casimira
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #23 on Mar 7, 2009, 3:45am »		[Quote]
Gyro,you don't know of JULIA CHILD?
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bixaorellana
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #24 on Mar 7, 2009, 3:54am »		[Quote]
He's too young. Also, I think the tv aspect of Julia may have been strictly American.

Remember Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet? I saw a live program of his where he was demonstrating gently rolling pastry over the rolling pin in order to lift it onto the baking dish. He was using one of those ball bearing rolling pins, and paused to gesture and say something to the audience. He gestured with the hand holding the pin & pastry and the roller went flirrrrrrip and the pastry fell to the floor. He looked down at it, then back at the camera. Brandishing the rolling pin, he smoothly said, "The Galloping Gourmet does not endorse this brand of rolling pin"
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #25 on Mar 7, 2009, 12:02pm »		[Quote]
Speaking of incredible women food writers and biographies,we cannot
overlook one of my all time heroines,MFK Fisher. Born 1908,she began writing about food in the 1930's after a trip to Provence. Based in California she went on to write some of the classic books on eating e.g.THE ART OF EATING:Five Complete Books in One Volume; How to Cook a Wolf, Consider the Oyster, Serve it Forth,The Gastronomical Me,An Alphabet For Gourmets. and many others. I've read just about anything I could get my hands on. One book THE BOSS DOG is a tale of living in Paris with her two daughters and this stray dog that they 'adopt' who take them anywhere and was well known in all the best cafes in Paris. Delightful! She and Julia were great pals.
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #26 on Mar 7, 2009, 7:59pm »		[Quote]
No Cas, I don't. Why is that SO SHOCKING ?
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casimira
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #27 on Mar 7, 2009, 9:22pm »		[Quote]
My misconception,it's just that she was such a great in the food world .
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #28 on Mar 9, 2009, 9:39am »		[Quote]
I only knew her from TTGS as all the Americans used to talk about her. She isn't so well known in the UK. I guess she is your version of Elizabeth David?
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Re: Biographies
« Reply #29 on Mar 13, 2009, 12:26pm »		[Quote]
Bixa if you're interested(or anyone else),Terri Gross is interviewing Marianne Faithful on FRESH AIR,NPR this evening.
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