Biography Books > A Biography Books > M

Advantages: Difficult to determine
Disadvantages: Disturbing

Becoming Anna is an autobiographical account of a sixteen year old girl, born as Tiffany Blake in America’s Midwest. Tiffany’s Father physically abused her or showed her no love whatsoever, while her Mother and Grandmother who lived next doorwere emotionally cruel to her, and blamed her for all the family problems including her mother’s own illnesses and diabetes which had started after her younger brother was born. Her mother and grandmother labelled ...
...kids tried to cope by becoming friends with each other and becoming involved as girlfriends/boyfriends although they could not even enjoy physical comfort with one another in friendship as touching other patients was “against the rules” as was passing notes to one another, although sometimes these things went on. Being committed to a mental institution when you are not ill is bad enough for any child to endure but Tiffany’s parents went one step ... Read review

Advantages: Epic Story
Disadvantages: How Much Is True?

...plan. The members of Bravo Two Zero were Andy McNab, Dinger, Chris, Stan, Mark, Vince Phillips, Bob Consiglio, and Legs Lane. On January 22 McNab and his men were taken by helicopter from a base in Saudi Arabia and dropped into enemy territory in Iraq, and encountered problems from the start. The patrol was dropped into the middle of open desert and had to cross 20km with all their kit before finding a dry riverbed (wadi) to hide out in during ...
...equipment as they were given the wrong frequencies to use, so the entire mission was a virtual write-off before it had even started. The true ordeal began after the group was spotted by a young goat herder as they hid in the wadi, and knowing their position had been compromised they were forced to dump most of their kit and leave. They were soon confronted by what McNab describes as an enemy force of 200 to 250 enemy soldiers and an armoured personnel ... Read review

Advantages: Funny at Times, Very Dramatic and Suprising
Disadvantages: Chapter Length

...on any event in particular, Immediate Action portrays his life in the Regiment, from when he first went into selection, all the way through to the various missions he endured in his time there. Each chapter is fairly lengthy, with a lot of detail in it, helping you to understand how the task at hand was for those who had to do it. Some of them are quite shocking. The book follows on from where Bravo Two Zero left off really. While McNab's previous ...
...and his team in Iraq, Immediate Action focuses more on his life as a solider, but does brush briefly past what happened in Bravo Two Zero. The book itself is extremely well written, with a lot of technical terms used for the weaponary and equipment they used. It is also quite informative, describing how the SAS go through selection in the Breken Beacons and their various tactics and strategies. It's incredibly interesting. Immediate Action features ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining, authorised biography, informative
Disadvantages: Lacking some warmth

...have been a fan of Hattie Jacques for as long as I can remember. I loved the Carry On films since I was a young child and I also watched her in Sykes on TV and live on the stage twice in Lincoln and Blackpool. So when I heard that there was a biography out on her, I bought it as soon as I could. Hattie by Andy Merriman is an authorized biography too, so this isn't some gossipy, muck-raking kind of life story. It has been written by Andy Merriman ...
...and private life, but reading Hattie really brought out her personality and character. She comes across as warm, funny, generous, loving, caring and willing to help as many people as she could - whether by fund-raising for charity or offering a bed, a meal or a friendly ear for any friend who needed one. Her career is also detailed from her early days to her work with the Player's Theatre to her more famous roles on radio, TV and the stage. Along ... Read review

Advantages: Totally factual
Disadvantages: You already know the ending

...their goal was to produce a book that respected the memories of those involved while explaining the awful predicament they were placed in, then this achieves it and much, much more. Totally factual, fascinating, absorbing and sometimes shocking, we see the start of the great romance between Alexandra and Nicholas before their marriage. They corresponded daily and kept detailed diaries throughout their lives together which covered many events, both ...
...that he wouldn't die with a pinch of salt, believing them to be the fevered imaginings of of revolutionists, but I was wrong. And this book showed me how wrong I had been in my preconceptions about the time in history, the family, the revolutionists and their leaders. About Russia in general, really. The schools should find a way of introducing this book into the History lessons - there wouldn't be a better teacher. Detailed reviews are obviously ... Read review