Biography Books > C Biography Books > less than 5 GBP > by Title (First Letter)

Advantages: A great read, if you like his humour, you'll love this book
Disadvantages: Sad in places

...fan of the 2 Ronnies, and was gutted whenever Ronnie Barker died. This is the story of the 2 Ronnies, how they met, and their career in showbusiness. This is autoboigraphical in a way, it catalogues Ronnie Corbett's life, but soon, Ronnie Barker's presence takes over the story,and it seems more of a memoir than a biography. This book is written in a very conversational style, you can hear Ronnie's voice as he tells the story, and he paints some ...
...up to the present day, and paints a very different side of the 2 Ronnies than we have seen on TV. You see their lives offscreen and what sort of people they really were. This is an excellent tribute to Ronnie Barker, well written, and both laugh out loud and poignant. I did giggle through some parts of it, including some of the sketches that were included in full, and also some of the stories. Really worthwhile read for any 2 Ronnie's fan ... Read review

Advantages: Amusing. Easy reading. Will ring true for many teachers.
Disadvantages: Not all comprehensive schools are this bad, honestly.

Angela Mason, the supply teacher who filmed Channel 5’s documentary ‘Classroom Chaos’ was banned from teaching a year for her pains. Frank Chalk — it’s a pseudonym — will escape punishment for this more humorous and more detailed whistle-blow. First I should say that I’m a teacher — not a supply teacher but I’ve often covered lessons for absent colleagues (and some teachers are absent a LOT). A good lesson requires that you know the pupils, are ...
...plan. A supply teacher is lucky if even one of these factors is present. I dread cover lessons. I guess the main reason that I thoroughly enjoyed Frank Chalk’s book is that I empathised with him. Taken together his anecdotes convey the powerlessness and frustration of the supply teacher. Chalk sounds like a reasonable, level-headed kind of person and he does point out some of the benefits of teaching, but overall his view of the education system ... Read review

Advantages: A fitting monument to a literary giant
Disadvantages: Will appeal only to a limited audience

...a Johnson play - "human like the rest of them." As a result, there is a wry scepticism in some of Coe's humorous asides. For example, quoting an overwrought early poem full of virgins and unicorns, Coe asks "is anything really being recorded here, apart from Johnson's frustration at not being allowed inside somebody's pants for several weeks?" Having devoted such a chunk of his life to Johnson, I think Coe is entitled to such a robust attitude. ...
...it, I imagine they would, like me, first seek out Johnson's novels (four are still in print, three in an omnibus edition). Plausibly, those interested in literary biography as a genre would read it too. Coe wrestles with biographical conventions throughout the book. Much of it relies on verbatim extracts. He makes sardonic asides to the reader ("No flicking forward by the way, this is a bound object, a work of 'enforced consecutiveness' not some ... Read review

Advantages: emotional, informative
Disadvantages: more photographs would have been nice

I read this book after seeing it advertised online at Amazon.co.uk.I ordered this book for £7.99 from a local book shop. 222 pages, paperback format. Set in the perilous years between the fall of the last Emporer and the Communish Revolution, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang tells the story of her Great Aunt Yu-i's life in China and America where she strives for independance. Yu-i refuses to have her feet bound, as was the tradition of her time and so starts ...
...This is a dual biography of author and Great Aunt, giving the reader an insight into the customs and traditions of Chinese heritage. There is a small selection of black and white photographs in the middle of the book, which I constantly turned to, to put faces to the names I was reading about. There is a chronology of events at the beginning of the book which i found helpful to put dates and events in order as I was reading this book. At £7.99 ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to read and very funny
Disadvantages: Bit too short and could have been more indepth about some events

I was recently at the airport and realised that I had nothing to read with me so I ventured into WHSmith. I circled the store many times before spotting this book and decided immediately to buy it as I’ve wanted to read it for ages. I’ll admit that my initial interest was in finding out if the rumour on Friends reunited that he went to my old school was true as I didn’t believe it. You know how people always reckon that they have connection to someone ...
...boarding. It wasn’t really what I expected as I thought it would revolve around Pop Idol but it was very interesting seeing how he didn’t do at all well at school (mostly because he just couldn’t be bothered) and had to start off at the very bottom of the ladder. It has only been a great deal of long working nights, risk taking and sweat that he managed to get to where he is today. I thought that the style of writing was quite comical and I managed ... Read review