Biography Books > H Biography Books > by Author Name (First Letter)

Advantages: if you like Ruby, this explains a lot. Entertaining-a really good read
Disadvantages: if you don't like Ruby, this explains a lot! I did not like the font used.

...beating and i don't know how she put up with it. I certainly couldn't have done it. It has given me an insight into her and a wish to say "Good on you Ruby" that I had not got before. I really had a chuckle at her "fame" chapter -which opens with a simple test on how much envy we carry around. Her questions " Are you happy for those smiling celebrities , living in perfect homes with perfect partners? Or do you somewhere, secretly in you bowels, wish ...
...they are...after everyone tells you how wonderful and beautiful it all is, she says "do not listen to these people - it is f****ing hell. " Her final words which tell of her tears when her father told her he loved her moved me a lot- given that he had been a tyrant all of her life. However now he is old, his mind has gone and she feels freer than she did. He is not capable of insulting her any longer. The book contains some really good photos -and ... Read review

Advantages: original, well-written
Disadvantages: Subject matter may not have a wide appeal, bit disjointed in parts

Julie Myerson is a novelist living in Clapham, South London. Whilst researching for one of her books set in Victorian London she came across the home, she and her partner and three children were living in, listed on a census and started on a remarkable labour of love researching its history. As I enjoy researching my family history I thought this sounded a very interesting read. The book is basically a biography of her home. She starts in the logical ...
...tracks down their adult children and asks them for their memories regarding their former home, and invites them for a visit. Obviously as time goes by it becomes harder and harder to track down past residents or their descendants and Myerson and her long suffering partner, Jonathan, send out lots of speculative letters to people and Julie spends many hours in various public records offices. Whilst I knew this was about the people in the house, I ... Read review

Advantages: The authoritative work on Hitler.
Disadvantages: A huge book which takes time to read - and this is only the first half.

Ian Kershaw, the historian behind the BBC’s excellent series, ‘The Nazis: A Warning From History’, is also the author of what I feel is the definitive biography of Adolf Hitler. It is fascinating not just in terms of the details it unearths, but also from the point of view that Kershaw has taken a style of writing typically alien to him and made it his own. Modern ‘revisionist’ historical perspectives view history through ...
...previous historians tended to focus on individual people at the centre of importance (e.g. Hitler, Stalin or Napoleon) more modern writings examine the influences around them that shaped history. As the latter is the style adopted by Kershaw, it is surprising that he has chosen to write a biography of Hitler. As Kershaw mentions in the introduction, there is estimated to be over 120,000 works on Hitler, so why is another needed? The existence of ... Read review

Advantages: see opinion
Disadvantages: see opinion

...for presuming to write without his authorisation. He claimed that he and he alone, or someone he anointed, could write his life story, but no one else was allowed to do so." Having pursued the matter through the courts for over a year, his allegations of misrepresentations and misconstructions were proved groundless and eventually the case was dropped in late 1984. Her book followed two years later. Again this is a study where few stones, if any, ...
...the Mafia figured largely throughout his career. This made his connections with the Presidential Kennedy family all the more interesting gossip-wise. His involvement with women is explained in great detail throughout. First, his poor long suffering wife Nancy, quickly followed by all the famous and beautiful women that took his fancy. Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow are some of his well known romantic conquests, but what about Nancy Reagan or Lauren ... Read review

Advantages: Beautifully written, very moving
Disadvantages: Heartbreakingly sad

...Housden who wanted to share Hannah's story. Maria tells us how Hannah's progresses through the cancer and the treatment and predominantly how she deals with it. I must admit I read this book whenn my own daughter was about 3, and it really hit home how precious life is and how extremely precious children are. It is a truly heartbreaking story, one that you cannot fail to be movved by. I won't give too much away, but the shoes on the front cover ...
...look at another pair of red shoes the same again - heartbreaking stuff. It is a lovely book, very easy to read and set out in small chapters. The only thing I would say is that you have (especially) young children, you will find this truely heartbreaking. You cannot fail to be moved and like me you will find yourself often moved to tears. Maria has since written another book - Unravelled - the true story of a woman who dared to become a different ... Read review