Biography Books > J Biography Books > less than 5 GBP

Advantages: a good read
Disadvantages: depressing

I found this book in our local charity shop for a £1 its original price should have been £7.99. I dont usually read biographies, but something in the title intruiged me. It is about an east end family who grew up in depressing conditions with little money. Jenny and her sister oftern suffered under their father who used them to gain moeny from the authorities..The father failed to work as he supposedly had fits. Although he was still capable of ...
...but is not believed. The girls only repireve is when they go to visit thier Aunt. The thing which touched me is Jenny has included family photos in the book, these photos say so much that words cannot, the expressions on the faces, the body language being portrayed its all there, the photos upsset me more than reading the book. The shocking thing near the end is that jenny is martin mccutheons mum. (tiffany in eastenders) ... Read review

Advantages: True Story. Fantastically Wrote.
Disadvantages: Makes you cry a lot!!

...are in foster care at the start of the book, their mother and stepfather then take Janey back and leave Jimmy who then gets adopted. (all names in the book have been changed to protect identities) Janey is a 4 year old girl who starts to get abused by her stepfather Richard who she refers to as 'Silly Git' the abuse last up until she is in her 20's. Sill Git would call her names such as 'Paki Slave' because she had dark skin. He would also punch,slap,kick ...
...virginity to one of them the abuse got worse for her as now Richard could have full on sex with her! Near the end of the book Janey wins her case against Richard but ends up getting beating up because of this. There is so much in this book about her abuse, it's hard to think people actually go through things like this in real life. It doesn't seem real. It's hard to belive what Janey wen through in this book it's totally heart breaking. It's great ... Read review

Advantages: very readable account, interesting perspective on eighteenth/nineteenth century
Disadvantages: none

...desire for fame, nor for the satisfaction of seeing his name in print, that he reluctantly agreed. It was with the simple hope that it might help rescue him from destitution by securing for him a small pension. He could hardly have anticipated that in 1937, over 100 years after his death, and again in 1997, new editions of his life story would be published for entertainment purposes. The editor responsible for the new edition, Tim Flannery, claims ...
...from Alexander Laing's preface to the 1937 edition, about the stranger who was responsible for the very first recording. A ghost writer before the term had been coined, John Howell was a bookbinder by trade but also a prolific inventor and clearly a maverick character. In a scene reminiscent of Good King Wencelas, he spotted John Nicol, aged 67, walking the streets looking for fragments of coal to use to keep warm and the scene aroused his compassion. ... Read review

Advantages: true story
Disadvantages: hard to put down

...finieshed reading this book ' no turning back' by joanne lees. It was a very good book, has recently been broadcasted on television although i am not a tv fan so read the book instead, this is a true story wrote by the author joanne lees, a book about her own experience. her boyfriend was killed in the australian outback while they were travelling, it reads on to explain how the media had managed to have people believe it may have been her and the ...
...the killer convicted guilty for murdering her boyfriend. A very very good book that just makes you want to keep reading more and more, it does have the predictable ending that you would want it to have but it really makes you want to keep reading, a very hard book to put down. ... Read review

Advantages: Honest, brave, funny.
Disadvantages: The endings too sad to contemplate.

...honesty that shines through. He often describes himself as a hack, but he's not. For anyone with such dreadfull illness in their family C is a must. In it John Diamond tells the story of his cancer from the beginning, although, sadly, he cannot reach its end. Read this book! ... Read review