Autobiography/Memoir

[Acid Angel]

do u guys have any suggestions about good autobiographies or memoirs?

i have to read one, write a paper and give a presentation to my senior seminar class. i really dislike the genre and any suggestions would be great.

[LordKinbote]

Night by Elie Weisel.

[sonnylarue]

Lost Moon, by James Lovell about the Apollo 13 crisis

[Gavin]

A Soldier's Life by Omar Bradley

Truman by David McCullough

[YouStayClassy]

http://a1204.g.akamai.net/7/1204/1401/04110517011/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/8490000/8490197.jpg

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

Maus, by Art Spegielman

[ItsDLEVY]

Maus, by Art Spegielman

Maus is neither autobiography nor memoir. It's history, and the author appears in it, but it's really his parents' story, not his own.

[xyzzy]

What don't you like about the genre? Maybe if we knew more, the recommendations could be catered more to your tastes.

Anyway, just looking at my shelf, I'd say check out Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

[dimeshop]

I liked Boy by Rohald Dahl when I read it, but I was much much younger.

A Cure for Gravity by Joe Jackson I read recently and loved, but I don't know how much non-Joe Jackson fans would like it.

[bartleby]

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0684863472.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[Jacob Lyon Goddard]

Maus is neither autobiography nor memoir. It's history, and the author appears in it, but it's really his parents' story, not his own.
but the story is about his impression of his father as a human being, based on how he knew him, what he became in his old age, and what happened to him in his life
and Art talks about how the book affected his life, in the actual book,and the affect of his father's overbaring personality and his mother's suicide

[Simps]

but the story is about his impression of his father as a human being, based on how he knew him, what he became in his old age, and what happened to him in his life
and Art talks about how the book affected his life, in the actual book,and the affect of his father's overbaring personality and his mother's suicide
That doesn't make it an autobiography or his own memoirs.

[copypastepuke]

confessions of a dangerous mind.
;)

[Simps]

Night by Elie Weisel.
I second that because he's a professor here at BU and the go to punchline for half of our late night show's jokes.

[Acid Angel]

this is what we've read in my "Autobiography/Memoir" class so far. i'm not a fan of the genre because i just feel like a lot of the books are very self-indulgent and kinda boring. the class has opened my eyes.

The Woman Who Watches Over the World - Linda Hogan (kinda liked it)
Black Elk Speaks - Black Elk (really liked it)
The Color of Water - James McBride (didn't like it)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley/Malcolm X (loved it)
Night - Elie Wiesel (liked it)
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (didn't like it)
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey (really liked it)
An Unquiet Mind - Kay Jamison (liked it)

loving the suggestions so far, any film or comic related ones?

[Genius J]

"Ham on Rye" by Charles Bukowski.

"Women" and "Post Office" are good ones, too.

[xyzzy]

Kinda funny that you say that you like A Million Little Pieces so much since, I'd consider it the most self-indulgent out of the ones you listed.

Anyway, here are a couple that you might like:

Poker Face by Katy Lederer - Probaby the least pretentious poker memoir you'll read, since it isn't written by a poker pro. There are plenty of those, too.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell - Kind of half history lesson, half travelogue.

[copypastepuke]

this is what we've read in my "Autobiography/Memoir" class so far. i'm not a fan of the genre because i just feel like a lot of the books are very self-indulgent and kinda boring. the class has opened my eyes.

The Woman Who Watches Over the World - Linda Hogan (kinda liked it)
Black Elk Speaks - Black Elk (really liked it)
The Color of Water - James McBride (didn't like it)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley/Malcolm X (loved it)
Night - Elie Wiesel (liked it)
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (didn't like it)
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey (really liked it)
An Unquiet Mind - Kay Jamison (liked it)

loving the suggestions so far, any film or comic related ones?
i think there are thousands of classes that tell you to read the same books.
i had to read those two for a "spiritual autobiography" class... i liked black elk as well.


THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOM X IS FUCKING AWESOME. i read it in 8th grade and got to use it to write papers all four years of high school!

[Acid Angel]

i totally agree that A Million Little Pieces is super self-indulgent, but at the same time i read it as a fiction novel. As a memoir it is terrible, but i did find myself drawn into it. i enjoyed it.

and The Autobiography of Malcolm X is by far my favorite i've read this semester. totally blown away, loved it all.

[Craig C]

One Man Tango Anthony Quinn
Batman and me Bob Kane

One film, one comic related

[Shane W]

Running With Scissors - Augesten Burroughs


Thread Closed.

[TIP]

Loitering with Intent (two books so far) by Peter O'Toole.

T

[Shane W]

How to Talk Dirty and Influence People - Lenny Bruce

[Seltzer Water]

Speak, Memory by Nabokov

[Seltzer Water]

Also

The Dirt - Motley Crue

[pornbot2.5]

Rotten : No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon (Johnny Rotten)

The Dirt : Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band by Motley Crue & Neil Strauss

Both are disturbing and funny.

[Taki Soma]

Chaplin

[SteveZegers]

Personal Memoirs of General Ulysses S Grant. Edited by Mark Twain, he finished writing it right before his death to give his family financial security. And for when it was written, it's very readable. He's very humble and writes like a real person. Not too much flowery language. I think it's an amazing book.

[Doug]

Groucho and Me by Groucho Marx
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306806665/sr=8-1/qid=1143477392/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-5778720-3089409?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743244583/qid=1143477455/sr=12-3/103-5778720-3089409?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

These are the last two that I've read (don't read too many biographies auto or otherwise), but I highly recommend them.