Biography Books > J Biography Books > P > less than 5 GBP

Advantages: Great story, lots of humour
Disadvantages: Sad ending

He was one of our most legendary disc jockeys, not one of those DJ's that rabbled on insistently about things that are absolutely no interest to the listener, but a disc jockey that put the music first. John Peel was if anything quite a reserved character, down to earth & very endearing. I loved his dry wit & although some of the music he played on his late night radio shows left a lot to be desired, he won the hearts & minds of so many listeners ...
...that would never have made it in the music world if it hadn't been for John Peel, and that includes some household names. He was the latter day 'X' factor all in one, send it your tape recordings & if he thought it had potential it was played on his late night show. From there, who knows? Some were lucky, but many got there one & only chance & it never went any further. It was a sad day in the music world when he died whilst on holiday in Peru a ... Read review

Advantages: Remarkable story of a modern day Saint
Disadvantages: none

The fact that this book which was first published in 1980 is still being printed 20 years later is a good indication of the greatness of the contents. The book is an account of how the writer, not sure what to do after leaving college, came to live amongst the most depraved people in the world in the walled city – Hong Kong. Through her Christian faith and prayer she was able to reach out to the inhabitants mostly hardened criminals, pornographers, ...
...change in many of their lives – leading them away from the depraved, breaking the drug addiction and for them to develop into Whole people. This is a remarkable book and gives a strong impression of what it must be like to live in such a “dark place” and for many of the inhabitants their encounter with the writer was the first time they had been shown human kindness. I would find it hard to believe that anyone could read this book and not have a ... Read review

Advantages: Well written, easy to read
Disadvantages: Nothing new, its all been written before

Madonna - love her or loathe her, it seems that everyone has an opinion about her. With a career that now spans over 25 years her rise to fame from the early days when she first arrived in New York, penniless but with huge ambitions has been well documented many times. Madonna - Queen of the world by Douglas Thompson could at first glance quite easily be dismissed as yet another regurgitated account of Madonna's rise to fame but from the sleeve notes ...
...that everyone claims to already know everything there is to know about. Madonna has given many interviews throughout her life. Usually these interviews are carefully timed to coincide with her latest project, be it a new album, movie, book or other project and the new image that compliments the project is always flaunted to its maximum effect. When it comes to being interviewed Madonna always calls the shots, so how can anyone really expect to know ... Read review

Advantages: A true life account of a terrible accident.
Disadvantages: You don't always get a happy ending in real life.

The book I will now review contains probably one of the worst nightmares any parent could anticipate, the fact is a biography detailing the entire scenario makes it even more difficult and heart wrenching to read. The book I will now review is "Shattered", by Mavis Marsh and ghost written by Andrew Crofts. The book starts with the awful words of the doctor that has done the pre assessment on Mavis's son Mathew - "Your son will be a cabbage for ...
...a vegetable, or what-ever you want to call him". From that awful statement the story goes back to Mavis's ( the mother, writer and teller of this somewhat frightening story), childhood, first detailing her parents life, from jobs and home life, through to her father serving in the war and the untold horrors he had witnessed. From this she went on to her school life, until reading further into the book I never quite understood the purpose for all ... Read review

Advantages: vivid and real
Disadvantages: none

"Cider with Rosie" has to be one of my most memorable, poignant and haunting reads. I discovered it when I was 16 in an English class whilst learning about descriptive writing and use of imagery. I didn't have to read it, I was just shown an example of his work, but it lured me in hook line and sinker and I couldn't put the book down. The book is an evocative memoir of his childhood growing up in a Cotswold village. He captures the time and the ...
...in such a manner that conveys reality - he paints a picture with his words and he excels in this art. I think the opening paragraph is simply magical, "I was set down from the carrier's cart at the age of three; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life in the village began. The June grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each ... Read review