Biography Books > H Biography Books

Advantages: may teach you to just stay small time
Disadvantages: will take you from reallity

oddly found in the departure lounge of east midlands airport. from the start to the finnish this was an incredable book. to be honest it was the first book i ever read from cover to cover. as im not a big reader of books and didnt really learn to read while i was at school. i could not put it down the more i read the more i wanted to read. all the way through i could see these things happening to him everything he discribed every word he wrote. for ...
...in its self there aint meny books that can keep my mind going as to want to read it. this one had me from the start and didnt let go till i had finnished it and when i had well i just put the book down went for something to eat then picked it back up and gave it another go once i had finnished a second time i that was it this man had got me so the more books he writes the more ill read ... Read review

Advantages: Fantastic, gripping pacy story
Disadvantages: None

...and had the code number Kilo 17. He found himself in some instances possessing powers that dated back hundreds of years that not even police officers possess. He also found himself facing men who, although they like to give themselves a veneer of respectability, not even their own family members were safe from their wickedness and perversions... Although Harry was based in the south east, he saw action all over the UK and abroad, working with other ...
...at times. He introduces us to the other members of his team, former SAS officers, hardened ID investigators and The Widow, his mysterious and tougher than nails boss. Some of his colleague resented him because of his MI6 background, others he got on with well. Harry pulls no punches about the terrible strain that his job (often being on call via pager 24 hours a day) put on his marriage. He meets informants, and the strangest of these is a private ... Read review

Advantages: Stimulating writing; packed with facts; expert art analysis
Disadvantages: Perhaps too lengthy for those uninterested in Frida Kahlo

Monobrowed and moustached Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has become a popular icon on an international level since the peak of her career in the 1940's. Arguably unknown to many until the release of the 2003 movie Frida which was inspired by Herrera's biography, Frida Kahlo's striking surrealist art and inspirational story deserve to be exposed to those in the dark in the most vidid way possible. This is where Hayden Herrera's definitive biography ...
...in empathetic detail and insightfulness - not one stone was left unturned in the author's quest for knowledge. Not only do we learn of Frida's polio, the infamous bus accident that left her near dead and in perpetual pain, and her stormy marriage to muralist Diego Rivera, but we discover details of her own bisexual affairs (with among others, Leon Trotsky), political leanings, further medical complications and death and cremation. Based on secondary ... Read review

Advantages: Very well-researched, packed with facts
Disadvantages: Too much historical and political detail

This study of the ill-fated Victoria, Princess Royal (1840-1901), later the German Empress Frederick and mother of Kaiser Bill, is exhaustively researched. The author has had access to some very useful sources, and this is bound to remain the most complete book on the Empress for some time to come. I particularly like her sympathetic tone; 'Vicky' has had her detractors, who have accused her of being tactless, domineering towards her husband, and ...
...her life, but Pakula proves that these judgments show a distortion of the evidence, or else stem from a lack of understanding and insight. The main problem with this book is that its 600 pages or so of closely-printed text often tend to lose the central character from time to time. There is considerable detail about the court of Berlin and the various wars, political issues of the time et al, but I think it would be much more readable if some of ... Read review

Advantages: A humourous and poignant love story
Disadvantages: maybe a little dated in some respects

...over the years and visits 84 Charing Cross Road, dusty and empty but with copies of her book displayed in the window. Here she describes herself standing on the stairs in remembrance and silently saying “ How about this, Frankie? I finally made it!” She gets caught up with exploring the familiar streets and sights and her descriptions display an almost naïve excitement. Her humorous and quirky observations on London landmarks, its people , its language, ...
...to the publication of “ 84 Charing Cross Road”, Helen Hanff had been writing plays that never got produced, while eking out a precarious existence reading scripts for Paramount Pictures, writing articles for encyclopaedias, television scripts, and children's history books. After publication, she continued writing into the 1990s. Her books included The Apple of My Eye (1978), a quirky look at New York, and Q's Legacy (1985) - about the work of Sir ... Read review