Biography Books > M Biography Books > S

Advantages: It's certainly enlightening!
Disadvantages: Might offend some people.

Please note, Ciao's product description "Intuition is not some magical property..." is not for this book, thanks to Jesi for pointing this out! Introduction Conscious of the fact that my supply of books was starting to get a bit low, I picked some random books off the charity book list at work (for 25p each). Normally I check books out on Amazon first to see what they're about, but I took a chance with this one as it was in the autobiography ...
...my hard earned cash! Getting the book When I received "Confessions of a Working Girl" I took one look at the cover and thought "Chick Lit" (you can see the picture!). I'm not a girly girl I have to say, and rarely read the 'chick lit' genre, so I was initially a bit apprehensive. However, on reading the blurb on the back I was assured that it was a true story, so was fairly eager to get stuck in. The Book Itself The book is set ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting read and good insight into Hellé Nice's life
Disadvantages: Too absorbing - you'll finish it too quickly

...I found this book in the biography section of my local bookstore, I had never heard of Helene Delangle, or Hellé Nice, the stage name that she took. The synopsis on the back cover intrigued me, and once I'd started reading the opening chapter, I knew I had to purchase and read this book. Helene Delangle was born in 1900 in a tiny French village, just outside of Chartres. She moved to Paris and became a dancer but went on from there to become the ...
...along the way. A serious accident almost ended her racing days, and then later, after the Second World War she was accused of having collaborated with the Gestapo. I'm not going to use this review to go into her life further, as Seymour does this during her book, and frankly, I don't want to ruin it for you! Seymour lays out this book extremely well in order to capture each different period of Hellé's life in equal measure. She begins the story ... Read review

Advantages: A beautifully grafted story which makes for a riveting read
Disadvantages: It ends too soon

...at their home, Thrumpton Hall in Nottinghamshire. His obsessive love of this 400 year old, rose brick, mansion came to dominate his life. Even at seven , in a school essay, he wrote, “When I am the squire of Thrumpton Hall, I shall look after my people and I shall preach to them on Sundays” and this desire never left him. The author is at pains to discover the roots of and reasons for this house becoming her father’s ‘raison d’etre’. Maybe it was ...
...career and job in banking This is accounted for by the fact he was “ an insufferable little prig” ridiculously spoilt and indulged by his mother, father and aunt alike. Maybe his loneliness and frequent isolation from his mother and father made him regard the house as a security blanket. More likely it grew from his own pretentious nature. From his very early years, he demonstrated all the attributes of a sanctimonious snob. He never failed to mention ... Read review

Advantages: Quite amusing
Disadvantages: but not very amusing

...Rural GP. In this book, Repeat Prescription, Further Takes of a Rural GP, we again meet Dr Sparrow. The introduction is very amusing, so you know you are on to a good thing from the very get go. He provides the hapless reader with a humorous "Traveller's Guide to Visiting your GP." He advises people to book an appointment well in advance "before you are ill, preferably." He must mean your doctor, surely? And mine, too… He claims to have been born ...
...a mile outside Wellingborough in Northamptonshire in 1957. His further claim to fame is that his" father was one of the few people who actually ran away from the circus to become a teacher, rather than the other way round." This does rather set the tone for the rest of the book! He relates how, after obtaining his medical degree, he spent a year working within the NHS before deciding to embark on a career as an RAF doctor. His time in the RAF was, ... 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