I was inspired by the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a wonderfully loving family (unless you hop over to China for "Mao's Last Dancer" and I'll never forget how the little boy had to teach his legs to go down in the splits and pop back to standing like a clown) but back to Germany for the life of Martin Luther, another audio book I enjoyed hugely. I hadn't realized when his career was upset and the whole church by what he'd done, he married a nun whose life was also upset. They had a big family and he LOVED being a daddy, wrote the hymns we love and gave us so much.
I too,love biographies,memoirs,diaries, and letters. Reading, 'The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym', -Paula Byrne, as I have enjoyed Barbara Pym's books for some years now. Georgette Heyer,whose novels I've been reading since the 1970s, also a favourite of mine.
I absolutely love your longer videos like this one. You have such a nice, comforting voice and so many interesting things to say. I always listen to your videos repeatedly because I just like to have them on when I'm doing some cleaning or whatnot. But I am of course sorry that your lovely dog has to wait for a treat when a video is longer. Hope she doesn't mind too much. Sending much love 🥰
I really enjoyed this video because your choices seemed to touch upon a few similarities in subject matter to those I myself enjoy, and for equally similar reasons. Tom Jones's biography is one that I have on my own TBR because I think he's one of the most gorgeously loveable, utterly down to earth men of "The Valleys" who has always seemed to want to embrace new and different genres, despite knowing that he'll probably always still be known for "It's Not Unusual" and "Delilah. I love that he still keeps his hand in with the industry - and that he still has that powerful, sonorous voice, will forever give me chills! I really do need to bump this biography of his farther up my TBR methinks! It got me thinking about one of my favourite musician biographies: the vast two-parter by Peter Guralnick, detailing the rise and demise of Elvis Pesley. 'The Last Train To Memphis' charted the king's ascendancy. 'Careless Love' then detailed his waning career, the personal problems in his relationships, his growing dependency on substances, before culminating in his early death. I had never even been a fan of Elvis. I'd read the book 'Child Bride' about Priscilla (although she has challenged the veracity of many details in it) after cultural references to Priscilla kept cropping up in Lana Del Rey songs (I'm a huge LDR fan!). After reading 'Child Bride' I felt I needed to read & learn about more of the bigger picture between both her and Elvis; so I sought out the most highly acclaimed biography I could find, with Gulranick's being the most positively reviewed. And quite rightly too. It's so well researched and quoted extensively, with the two volumes coming in at over 1,000 pages. By the end of it I felt like I finally "got" what all the fuss was about. Guralnick didn't write a gushing fan's bio, not did he wish to create a tawdry sensationalist book. What he did do was go through the life of Elvis Presley from beginning to end, showing the truth of the man behind the legend, in what I felt to be very fair, balanced and with great attention to detail. I finished it wanting to revisit his music, check out his movies, and get to flesh out the detail of Guralnick's brilliant biography, with some exposure to the king's captivating performances. It's a truly great biography that even someone who - like me - hadn't been a fan and only knew the basics, could easily become fast absorbed in, before coming away feeling incredibly glad that they had given it a chance. Your Katharine Hepburn recommendation also struck a chord with me, as after having watched her recently in 'Suddenly, Last Summer' with the exquisitely beautiful Elizabeth Taylor & handsome (if troubled) Montgomery Clift, I decided to procure a biography on all three stars. The Hepburn one I settled on however was 'Me: Stories Of My Life' which seems to be a much more recent publication and more in the autobiographical vein. (I would of course not be averse to checking out the one you recommended too!) In keeping with the theme 'Old Hollywood' I currently have a biography of Kay Francis nearing the top of my TBR, along with 'Bombshell: The Life And Death Of Jean Harlow' which became of interest to me having read Donald Spoto's bio of Marilyn Monroe. Again his book seemed to want to show the good, the bad, and the ugly of MM, whilst still having her come across as hard working, endearing and someone who suffered with various health problems and who made seemingly incongruous choices when it came to the men in her life. It made me want to read more about her life, the men in her life and another bio in her own words; along with a couple of the biographies out there on the actresses she looked up to and wanted to be like, from a very young age. Your choice of Elton John's biography also seemed to be connected to another bio I have on my TBR, which is the most recent one written about George Michael. George's death was one of the only celebrity ones that actually upset me, to the point where I just haven't felt ready to read it yet. He was so much more than a gorgeous man, with a pure & pitch-perfect velvety vocal. Nor was he simply the troubled man who kept hitting the UK headlines for all the wrong reasons, in his later years. He was a truly warm, kind, generous man, who carried out so many private acts of charity while he was alive, that he did not wish to become publicly known. That is true charity and it was probably his having been raised by a warm, Greek Orthodox family (with of course, a wonderful matriarch) that informed his sense of duty to those worse off than him. I WILL get around to reading it soon, although the fact that I begin to well up as soon as I hear 'Last Christmas ' means it might be waiting a little longer. One of the most pleasantly surprisingly discoveries in the genre, was actually an autobiography of a man, whom I had very little knowledge of, prior to reading his memoir. It's 'I Wanna Be Yours' by John Cooper Clarke, the UK's notorious punk-poet. I knew who he was and could vaguely remember seeing him on 'Pebble Mill At One' in the 80s, but it was his connection (however tenuously) to The Arctic Monkeys, which had brought his book into my orbit at the end I last year. And it's just such a brilliant book for so many reasons: it starts off with an in-depth description of Manchester in the 1950s onwards, painting a lively picture of working class life back then; it charts the changing music scene and subsequent evolution of fashion, as clothing became an individual's brand or identity, denoting what tribe one belonged to. Clarke's life as an emerging poet on the punk scene is brilliantly recounted, as are all the various harem-scarem encounters that one would expect in a life so full of adventure, with wild walking trips through Europe, meetings with other famous people, a near-miss from a bombing on the one and only night he went to Belfast, his preoccupation with his eccentric hair-do, run-ins with various unsavoury types, and his eventual settling down with his wife and new born baby. It's up there in my top 5 books ever (alongside Lolita, Infinite Jest, Jane Eyre and American Psycho...lol!) And whilst Guralnick wrote the technically better biography of Elvis, 'I Wanna Be Yours' is like curling up with an old friend and hearing him tell his own life story with such warmth, affection, humour and intrinsic Britishness, it makes me smile just thinking about it. As the man himself would say: pure, unadulterated, luxury! This post/comment is getting ridiculously long now, so I apologise for cluttering up your notifications. I've become incredibly drawn to auto/biography of late and your own choices seemed to just strike a chord with my own tastes. I'm very much interested in reading that Dickens one by Ackroyd that you recommended; especially as I'm also in the mood to read Elizabeth Gaskell's bio of Charlotte Brontë (after I re-read Jane Eyre again for the umpteenth time for this year's 'Victober'.) I'm also probably going to read Paula McLaine's 'The Paris Wife' shortly, once I complete 'A Moveable Feast' again. Seems only right to let Hadley have her say, after Hemingway has had his, right? Anyway, sorry again for such a long response - and thank you for just the exact kind of thought provoking video I was hoping for. Have a lovely December, Bex
I was inspired by the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a wonderfully loving family (unless you hop over to China for "Mao's Last Dancer" and I'll never forget how the little boy had to teach his legs to go down in the splits and pop back to standing like a clown) but back to Germany for the life of Martin Luther, another audio book I enjoyed hugely. I hadn't realized when his career was upset and the whole church by what he'd done, he married a nun whose life was also upset. They had a big family and he LOVED being a daddy, wrote the hymns we love and gave us so much.
I too,love biographies,memoirs,diaries, and letters.
Reading, 'The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym', -Paula Byrne, as I have enjoyed Barbara Pym's books for some years now.
Georgette Heyer,whose novels I've been reading since the 1970s, also a favourite of mine.
I absolutely love your longer videos like this one. You have such a nice, comforting voice and so many interesting things to say. I always listen to your videos repeatedly because I just like to have them on when I'm doing some cleaning or whatnot. But I am of course sorry that your lovely dog has to wait for a treat when a video is longer. Hope she doesn't mind too much. Sending much love 🥰
I really enjoyed this video because your choices seemed to touch upon a few similarities in subject matter to those I myself enjoy, and for equally similar reasons. Tom Jones's biography is one that I have on my own TBR because I think he's one of the most gorgeously loveable, utterly down to earth men of "The Valleys" who has always seemed to want to embrace new and different genres, despite knowing that he'll probably always still be known for "It's Not Unusual" and "Delilah. I love that he still keeps his hand in with the industry - and that he still has that powerful, sonorous voice, will forever give me chills! I really do need to bump this biography of his farther up my TBR methinks!
It got me thinking about one of my favourite musician biographies: the vast two-parter by Peter Guralnick, detailing the rise and demise of Elvis Pesley. 'The Last Train To Memphis' charted the king's ascendancy. 'Careless Love' then detailed his waning career, the personal problems in his relationships, his growing dependency on substances, before culminating in his early death. I had never even been a fan of Elvis. I'd read the book 'Child Bride' about Priscilla (although she has challenged the veracity of many details in it) after cultural references to Priscilla kept cropping up in Lana Del Rey songs (I'm a huge LDR fan!). After reading 'Child Bride' I felt I needed to read & learn about more of the bigger picture between both her and Elvis; so I sought out the most highly acclaimed biography I could find, with Gulranick's being the most positively reviewed.
And quite rightly too. It's so well researched and quoted extensively, with the two volumes coming in at over 1,000 pages. By the end of it I felt like I finally "got" what all the fuss was about. Guralnick didn't write a gushing fan's bio, not did he wish to create a tawdry sensationalist book. What he did do was go through the life of Elvis Presley from beginning to end, showing the truth of the man behind the legend, in what I felt to be very fair, balanced and with great attention to detail. I finished it wanting to revisit his music, check out his movies, and get to flesh out the detail of Guralnick's brilliant biography, with some exposure to the king's captivating performances. It's a truly great biography that even someone who - like me - hadn't been a fan and only knew the basics, could easily become fast absorbed in, before coming away feeling incredibly glad that they had given it a chance.
Your Katharine Hepburn recommendation also struck a chord with me, as after having watched her recently in 'Suddenly, Last Summer' with the exquisitely beautiful Elizabeth Taylor & handsome (if troubled) Montgomery Clift, I decided to procure a biography on all three stars. The Hepburn one I settled on however was 'Me: Stories Of My Life' which seems to be a much more recent publication and more in the autobiographical vein. (I would of course not be averse to checking out the one you recommended too!)
In keeping with the theme 'Old Hollywood' I currently have a biography of Kay Francis nearing the top of my TBR, along with 'Bombshell: The Life And Death Of Jean Harlow' which became of interest to me having read Donald Spoto's bio of Marilyn Monroe. Again his book seemed to want to show the good, the bad, and the ugly of MM, whilst still having her come across as hard working, endearing and someone who suffered with various health problems and who made seemingly incongruous choices when it came to the men in her life. It made me want to read more about her life, the men in her life and another bio in her own words; along with a couple of the biographies out there on the actresses she looked up to and wanted to be like, from a very young age.
Your choice of Elton John's biography also seemed to be connected to another bio I have on my TBR, which is the most recent one written about George Michael. George's death was one of the only celebrity ones that actually upset me, to the point where I just haven't felt ready to read it yet. He was so much more than a gorgeous man, with a pure & pitch-perfect velvety vocal. Nor was he simply the troubled man who kept hitting the UK headlines for all the wrong reasons, in his later years. He was a truly warm, kind, generous man, who carried out so many private acts of charity while he was alive, that he did not wish to become publicly known. That is true charity and it was probably his having been raised by a warm, Greek Orthodox family (with of course, a wonderful matriarch) that informed his sense of duty to those worse off than him. I WILL get around to reading it soon, although the fact that I begin to well up as soon as I hear 'Last Christmas ' means it might be waiting a little longer.
One of the most pleasantly surprisingly discoveries in the genre, was actually an autobiography of a man, whom I had very little knowledge of, prior to reading his memoir. It's 'I Wanna Be Yours' by John Cooper Clarke, the UK's notorious punk-poet. I knew who he was and could vaguely remember seeing him on 'Pebble Mill At One' in the 80s, but it was his connection (however tenuously) to The Arctic Monkeys, which had brought his book into my orbit at the end I last year. And it's just such a brilliant book for so many reasons: it starts off with an in-depth description of Manchester in the 1950s onwards, painting a lively picture of working class life back then; it charts the changing music scene and subsequent evolution of fashion, as clothing became an individual's brand or identity, denoting what tribe one belonged to.
Clarke's life as an emerging poet on the punk scene is brilliantly recounted, as are all the various harem-scarem encounters that one would expect in a life so full of adventure, with wild walking trips through Europe, meetings with other famous people, a near-miss from a bombing on the one and only night he went to Belfast, his preoccupation with his eccentric hair-do, run-ins with various unsavoury types, and his eventual settling down with his wife and new born baby.
It's up there in my top 5 books ever (alongside Lolita, Infinite Jest, Jane Eyre and American Psycho...lol!) And whilst Guralnick wrote the technically better biography of Elvis, 'I Wanna Be Yours' is like curling up with an old friend and hearing him tell his own life story with such warmth, affection, humour and intrinsic Britishness, it makes me smile just thinking about it. As the man himself would say: pure, unadulterated, luxury!
This post/comment is getting ridiculously long now, so I apologise for cluttering up your notifications. I've become incredibly drawn to auto/biography of late and your own choices seemed to just strike a chord with my own tastes. I'm very much interested in reading that Dickens one by Ackroyd that you recommended; especially as I'm also in the mood to read Elizabeth Gaskell's bio of Charlotte Brontë (after I re-read Jane Eyre again for the umpteenth time for this year's 'Victober'.)
I'm also probably going to read Paula McLaine's 'The Paris Wife' shortly, once I complete 'A Moveable Feast' again. Seems only right to let Hadley have her say, after Hemingway has had his, right?
Anyway, sorry again for such a long response - and thank you for just the exact kind of thought provoking video I was hoping for.
Have a lovely December,
Bex
'Dickens a Life' by Claire Tomalin is also good!
Yes I think I read that some years ago- it is good!
I guess the book for me that left an impression was the diary of anne frank x
Oh yes - I still have my school copy of that. Extraordinary - and so tragic...
You've got me to start a computer list of celebrity biographies.