Biography Books > A Biography Books > S > less than 5 GBP

Advantages: well written, gets you involved, doesn't spend ages on the politics
Disadvantages: You don't want it to finish and you may want to be him!

...he strikes me as being a man who has met hundreds of very interesting people and has seen places that I can only dream of going in daydreams or nightmares. It is not all terrible war stories though, there are parts that will have you laughing out loud such as the interview he did with Colonel Gadhafi in 1998 which the Colonel himself was constantly breaking wind, him and his team crawling past a customs desk on their hands and knees due to lack of ...
...This book is a must read for anyone – I have to admit I am very slack when it comes to current affairs and history but this book isn’t about the wars its about the people he met and the places he has been. The other details: ISBN number: 0-330-35567-8 Book price £7.99 but is on Amazon for £6.39 new and cheaper for used copies. It has been published by Pan Macmilliam books, URL http://www.panmacmillian.com Photos – which are also stunning - are ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to Read, gentle storytelling
Disadvantages: Chapter topics chop and change a bit

...Southern Spain where they have a farm and a relaxed pace of life that comes across in the book. Occasionally the books seems a bit jumpy as he addresses different topics in each chapter, rather than writing of events in a chronological order, but this should not detract from Stewart's tales. Non-Alpujarras chapters cover sheep-shearing (and driving over ice) during a Swedish winter, not being in Genesis (whom he joined at 17, and was replaced by ...
...eco-pool and the arrival of a dam in the region. Regardless of the topic Chris tells you exactly as it is without dressing it up for comic effect, as Chris often sees the comedy in everything (apart from, possibly, the dam) and has no need to exaggerate. All the chapters are well-written and I enjoyed all of them in spite of their diversity. I have marked this book four stars as the sometimes random nature of the chapters can be a bit annoying, however ... Read review

Advantages: Well written, easy to read
Disadvantages: Nothing new, its all been written before

Madonna - love her or loathe her, it seems that everyone has an opinion about her. With a career that now spans over 25 years her rise to fame from the early days when she first arrived in New York, penniless but with huge ambitions has been well documented many times. Madonna - Queen of the world by Douglas Thompson could at first glance quite easily be dismissed as yet another regurgitated account of Madonna's rise to fame but from the sleeve notes ...
...that everyone claims to already know everything there is to know about. Madonna has given many interviews throughout her life. Usually these interviews are carefully timed to coincide with her latest project, be it a new album, movie, book or other project and the new image that compliments the project is always flaunted to its maximum effect. When it comes to being interviewed Madonna always calls the shots, so how can anyone really expect to know ... Read review

Advantages: A true life account of a terrible accident.
Disadvantages: You don't always get a happy ending in real life.

The book I will now review contains probably one of the worst nightmares any parent could anticipate, the fact is a biography detailing the entire scenario makes it even more difficult and heart wrenching to read. The book I will now review is "Shattered", by Mavis Marsh and ghost written by Andrew Crofts. The book starts with the awful words of the doctor that has done the pre assessment on Mavis's son Mathew - "Your son will be a cabbage for ...
...a vegetable, or what-ever you want to call him". From that awful statement the story goes back to Mavis's ( the mother, writer and teller of this somewhat frightening story), childhood, first detailing her parents life, from jobs and home life, through to her father serving in the war and the untold horrors he had witnessed. From this she went on to her school life, until reading further into the book I never quite understood the purpose for all ... Read review

Advantages: vivid and real
Disadvantages: none

"Cider with Rosie" has to be one of my most memorable, poignant and haunting reads. I discovered it when I was 16 in an English class whilst learning about descriptive writing and use of imagery. I didn't have to read it, I was just shown an example of his work, but it lured me in hook line and sinker and I couldn't put the book down. The book is an evocative memoir of his childhood growing up in a Cotswold village. He captures the time and the ...
...in such a manner that conveys reality - he paints a picture with his words and he excels in this art. I think the opening paragraph is simply magical, "I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began. The June grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each ... Read review