Biography Books > T Biography Books > C

Advantages: Non really
Disadvantages: Horrifying

This is the story of a woman who used to be a nanny for Fred and Rose West. She was unaware of their behaviour even when she was living with them, but as soon as something went wrong, she ran a mile. Caroline didn't have a normal life. She was born to a woman who wasn't married and her father didn't want to know after a few years as he was a devout Catholic. Soon her mother remarried to a man named Alf who she argued with and did a typical "step ...
...normal. She was introduced to the children and she got on fine. However she wasn't happy with the Wests' behaviour. They had men coming round all the time and Rose would take them into the bedroom. She soon found out that she was not a massager like first thought, but was part of a "sex circle". At the first chance, Caroline ran back home, only to be caught again by a deceiving Rose. Caroline was sexually aussaulted by both Fred and Rose, then raped ... Read review

Advantages: Well-researched, interesting for Hardy fans
Disadvantages: Not a lot of info (certainly not beyond basic facts), disappointing

...am a huge fan of Thomas Hardy. This caused me to be somewhat of a pariah during school and college, but I love his novels (and the short stories and poetry that I've read) and I don't care if my friends - or anyone else - think I'm weird. That's why I bought this book: not because I'm slightly interested in one of the greatest writers Britain (and the world) has produced, but because I'm slightly obsessed. I was also drawn by the quote on the front ...
...I did enjoy reading about Thomas Hardy. As much as I love Hardy, even I have to admit that this biography will only be of interest to fellow fans. He didn't lead a very eventful life - not more so than the average person anyway - it is his work, not his private life, that makes him such a fascinating individual and Tomalin doesn't give enough weight to half of this. It does sort out the wheat from the chaff, laying unfounded rumours to rest, but ... 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: Pictures are good
Disadvantages: Just a rubbish book to read. Very poor text formation not the standard book tex.

...didnt flow that well and the type is very difficult to read. The book isn't very intresting and now very funny!! I think he is trying to hard with it and doesnt work. The book has a few pictures in it which is nice but it would be nice to read more about him and the celebrities he met. i gues i would of liked more dirt dishing and not pointless stories. I really dislike the text formation in it because it makes more difficult to read and not something ... Read review

Advantages: Hmmm, not sure, female insight I guess
Disadvantages: There's only so much you can read before it is boring!

The Sexual Life of Catherine M - Catherine Millet Muffin has always banged on about Anais Nin to me, and someone else had once mentioned that 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M' was also shocking and explicit if not more so than that of Anais. So when I saw it in Fopp's £3 book section I thought 'oh stuff it… shock me.' 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M' is Catherine Millet's (now a famous publisher and art critic) autobiography of not her life, but ...
...they do with some blockbusters. The writing is sometimes blunt but mainly very clear concise and expressed daringly from a womans honest open point of view. Sadly, having hardly any plot and having quite a repetitive sex life it all becomes a little dull… there's only so much you can read about before you start wandering off to thinking "when did I last feed the cats" or "maybe the washing is dry by now". Overall not the best or actually the most ... Read review