Biography Books > C Biography Books

Advantages: Well written, you felt you knew them all a little better when finished
Disadvantages: None

...(Cathy Glass) with an extremely damaged young girl that came into her care was truly harrowing. I was in tears after the first few chapters as the story unfolded, the mental damage that had been done to this young child was portrayed perfectly through the excellent writing of this book. Life is really put into perspective when you read about the awful things that this young girl had been subjected to from a young age. Cathy and her family had some ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to Read, gentle storytelling
Disadvantages: Chapter topics chop and change a bit

...Southern Spain where they have a farm and a relaxed pace of life that comes across in the book. Occasionally the books seems a bit jumpy as he addresses different topics in each chapter, rather than writing of events in a chronological order, but this should not detract from Stewart's tales. Non-Alpujarras chapters cover sheep-shearing (and driving over ice) during a Swedish winter, not being in Genesis (whom he joined at 17, and was replaced by ...
...eco-pool and the arrival of a dam in the region. Regardless of the topic Chris tells you exactly as it is without dressing it up for comic effect, as Chris often sees the comedy in everything (apart from, possibly, the dam) and has no need to exaggerate. All the chapters are well-written and I enjoyed all of them in spite of their diversity. I have marked this book four stars as the sometimes random nature of the chapters can be a bit annoying, however ... Read review

Advantages: Contains a lot of Moyles Wit and Observations
Disadvantages: Feels Rushed and not as good as it could have been

...it a go, but The Difficult Second Book wasn't just difficult in title, it was also difficult to read. The book is described as an insight into the double life that Moyles lives. In the mornings he is the award winning host of Radio's breakfast show, helping millions of people to start their day. Then for the rest of the day he is just your average guy, with the exception of a few celebrity mates. Throughout the book he looks at events over the last ...
...to be the self-proclaimed saviour of Radio 1. Having woken up to Moyles on the way to work for the last 5 years I've actually enjoyed listening to him whilst stuck in traffic. I thought the book would be an extension of the radio show and while to a degree it is, there just seems something a little forced about it all. The ideas for each of the 18 chapters seems to have been a little rushed and in fact one of these is apparently republished from ... Read review

Advantages: Thought provoking, gritty in parts & honest
Disadvantages: none

Dame Catherine Cookson (1906-1998) Our Kate is the autobiographical accounts of Dame Catherine Cookson, struggling with her demons and early childhood memories made the writing of the book especially difficult. In fact it took her over 10 years to complete and was only published in 1969 after her mother passed away. Nothing came easy for this amazing woman, born Katie McMullen in 1906 she talks of her desperate childhood in the North East of England.... ...
...95 million novels sold. Our Kate is compelling reading for lovers of social history in our country. Catherine Cookson allows you to gain knowledge into her triumphs and all too often tragedies. She overcame literary critics disdain that had in the past dismissed her work as romantic nonsense. She took offence to these comments and I agree as Catherine Cookson put a little part of her life into each book whilst challenging the hypocrisy of her own ... Read review

Advantages: Much more readable than the diaries
Disadvantages: None really

I first came across Samuel Pepys in a TV serial, with Peter Sallis (of Last of the Summer Wine fame) in the lead role. That was a good few years ago – anyone else remember it? Since then I have considered reading the diaries themselves.However I have always been put off by the thought that it might be a tedious read, if modern diarists were anything to go by, and the comments of others who did try Pepys. That all changed earlier this year when I ...
...in a three for two display in one of the High Street bookstores. The cover proclaimed that the book was the “2002 Whitbread Book of the Year” and that the Sunday Times had described it as “A fabulously entertaining biography of the great diarist” The book itself is published by Penguin at £8.99, and is 500 pages long. More than 100 pages are reference pages, backing up quotes in the main text. In this respect the book itself is very thorough, not ... Read review