Biography Books > T Biography Books > B > less than 5 GBP

Advantages: A wonderful and rare insight into life from someone who knew its true meaning
Disadvantages: It's a sad book.....

Jean Dominique-Bauby, the editor-in-chief of the French magazine Elle, was just 43 on the 8th of December 1995 when his life changed completely. Following a stoke, leaving him with damage to his brain stem, Bauby was left with a condition known as 'locked in syndrome'. Locked-in-syndrome is a thankfully incredibly rare condition which leaves the sufferer unable to move any part of his or her body, excepting the eyelids and unable to speak, whilst ...
...Jean Dominique-Bauby wrote The Diving-bell and the Butterfly after about 18 months into his life as a sufferer of locked-in-syndrome. He dictated the book to his nurse using just one eyelid. This nurse, to whom the book is dedicated, devised a system in which the French alphabet was re-arranged according to use. The nurse read this aloud and Bauby would blink when the letter he required was read aloud. And so, using this system Bauby slowly dictated ... Read review

Advantages: The mix of personal experience and international crises
Disadvantages: none

...books have you read about the second world war from a German perspective? To be fair, Christine Bielenberg isn't German, she's an Anglo-Irish woman married to a German and that perhaps makes this book even more readable. "The past is myself" follows her life as the wife of a German from just before the outbreak of the second world war to its end. Having missed the opportunity to escape to England she manages to avoid internment. She and her family ...
...move to the safer rural area of the Black Forest. The story includes arrests, plots, rescues and living in hiding. Throughout the book Bielenberg blends domestic detail with international events. On the one hand she writes about the problems she has when her hens invade the neighbours garden, and on the other hand she describes her husbands involvement in the plot to kill Hitler. What makes it such a good read is that Beilenburg is an ordinary person. ... Read review

Advantages: An engaging true story, moving, funny and quite educational
Disadvantages: Subject matter may not appeal to all

...enjoy reading a book about the effect of changing consumer demands and habits, the growth of large supermarket chains and the effects of these factors on British farmers and the countryside, I would have been very sceptical. But, whilst Richard Benson’s book delivers a very clear message on these themes, it is very different because it is his own personal and very moving account of the fate of his farming family, told in a very engaging manner with ...
...on the land in the West Yorkshire for generations but he never took to farming being clumsy when it came to farm machinery and unable to even “ shoo a pig along without falling over”. Fifteen years after he left for London and established himself as a journalist, he received news that his father and brother were giving up the struggle to run the pig and arable farm where he had grown up. With the farm facing mounting debts, the bank had forced upon ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic writing, amazing story
Disadvantages: You will probably cry (I did!)

...we would ever see him on tv again, would he be the same person? The first television appearance was on Jonathan Ross, and I tuned in eagerly, to see if the Hamster we all loved was still there. It seemed yes he was, apart from a new love for celery, and an uncanny ability to recall everyone's phone number! What relief. During this time we had been watching the media storm against the BBC and more specifically Top Gear, claims it was dangerous, it ...
...I had found Hammonds interview on Ross fascinating. Being stingy however, I waited until I could pick it up at two books for £7 in the supermarket! (In all fairness, it's only now Mia's reaching one that I get chance to read anyway!). To be honest, I didn't expect a talented writer when I thought of Hammond, which in hindsight, was silly, he is a journalist after all. I was shocked by the unique and direct writing style he used. Somehow, there ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent read
Disadvantages: None

Russell Watson first came to my attention when I heard him sing at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. He sang 'Where my Heart Will Take me' (one of mine and my hubbies all time favourite songs) and I suddenly realised what an amazing voice he had. When I knew he was writing his biography I could not wait to get a copy and read it. Russell starts the book in October 2007 at the time of his collapsed and when he was told he needed ...
...We are then taken back to his childhood where he tells about how he grew up in Sunningdale Drive in Irlam, Manchester. He lived there with his mother and father and his younger sister Hayley. He openly talks about how he had a happy childhood due to the fact that his father always worked his hardest and his Mother always had her radiogram playing, he believes this is where his love for classical music came from. He tells us about the group of friends ... Read review